Seeking Recommendation for Birthing Classes

I had two wonderful Bradley births. It's a partner-coached, natural birth method. My instructor (Melinda Delisle-Clark) is currently on sabbatical, but we had a great experience with her and she might be able to recommend someone.

http://www.bradleybirth.com/
http://www.birthofafamily.com/

We used Baby Steps. It's 3 women that started this company. They all used to teach Bradley, but wanted to revise the method to take out what didn't work and add some things they've found through their experiences that did work. I believe it's www.babysteps.com. Laura Fields taught our class. We love her! Even my husband who was somewhat resistant to so many weeks of class. I was successful in a natural drug-free birth, and it was amazing. I highly recommend her. Good luck!

Hi D.. I used hypbirthing for the birth of my son, and I loved it! I didn't use an epidural, and I had a wonderful experience. I purchased the set online for about $180. At first it seemed a little new age, and I didn't notice a difference, but within two weeks, I was sleeping better than I had my entire pregnancy! It isn't magic, and you are still very aware of the contractions, it just changes your focus. It made me comfortable with the fact that birth was a natural process that my body knew how to handle. My midwife also told me to focus on contractions as an unusual pressure in an area of the body I wasn't accustomed to it, instead of pain. During the strong contractions my mantra became "it is pressure, not pain", and it made me focus and stay calm during the labor. A little about my labor/delivery, in case it helps: My son was nine days past the latest due date they gave me. At birth he was 7 lbs., 12 oz. and 23" long. My water broke at 4:45 a.m., the contractions slowly started at around 6:00 a.m. and I gave birth at 9:53 p.m. In between my water breaking and delivery, I went to the grocery to get the snacks and ice I wanted to have with me during delivery; my midwife had me walk endlessly before I had him, so I didn't actually go back in bed to have him until about 8:40 p.m. It made the labor much faster/easier than sitting in a bed focusing on it all day.) I hope this helps! Take care.

I second the A Labor of Love classes. I really, really recommend them. We took a Birthing In Awareness class through them and it was the best thing for my husband and I. We had a wonderful natural childbirth and I think a lot of that is due to all the empowerment and preparation that came from the class. www.alaboroflove.org.

Best of luck!

I'd really recommend Labor of Love's classes!:

http://www.alaboroflove.org/classes&events.html#child...