Obvious Hint: Don't just wing it! Knowledge is Power.
You're pregnant! You're excited! You're maybe vomiting at the sight of what used to be your favorite food. You're planning your shower registry and nursery theme. Maybe you're even starting to get your postpartum plans set up. And you've definitely signed up for a childbirth education class, right? Right?
We put a lot of thought and research into many, many things related to pregnancy and our adorable, squishy, new baby. We debate which vitamins to take, which pregnancy pillow is better, which monitor to buy, whether to swaddle or not, what kind of bottles and pacifiers to get, whether to get a swing or rent a Snoo.
What we don't often do is give the same attention to how we prepare for birth. And, unfortunately, there are still many care providers who don't emphasize this either. You may be hearing things like, "Oh, don't worry about that now," "You still have a lot of time," "The hospital will see to that part," or "We'll take care of it all on the big day." Yeah, that may work for the care provider who has a ton of experience with labor and birth and already knows all the details, but that's not helpful for a pregnant parent.
If you don't know what to expect, how will you what's normal?
Childbirth education classes not only help you learn what typical birth looks like, but they help you build your confidence, provide you with coping techniques, and increase your chances of having a better birth experience.
Need more evidence? Here are 10 reasons you should take a childbirth education class.
1. Learn the Physiology of Labor and Birth
You've likely already discovered that there's a lot going on physically with pregnancy, both for you and your growing baby. From morning sickness to round ligament pain, you're experiencing an insane amount of changes and sensations. And the ride's not over. There's a whole new set of changes that take place once labor begins. Childbirth education classes walk you through what are called the Stages of Labor so that you know what typically happens at the onset of labor, what to expect in the early hours of labor, and how things will progress. You learn what your uterus, placenta, and cervix are actually doing to help birth your baby. You also learn how baby moves along the birth path and what happens immediately after baby is born.
2. Feel Confident and Decrease Fear and Anxiety
Learning all of the ins and outs of the physiology of birth helps you know what to expect. This is honestly half the battle in feeling confident. For example, if you know that it's okay to see a little bit of blood or a pinkish hue in the amniotic fluid when your water breaks, then neither you or your partner will freak out and start panicking. Or if you know that it's not medically necessary to be induced at 41 weeks, then you will feel more confident in your decisions.
The fear of the unknown is one of the biggest causes of anxiety. A birth prep class will take away a lot of that scary unknown factor, so that you can feel excited for labor to begin and then feel ready to ride whatever waves come your way.
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by experience in which you really stop and look fear in the face." – Eleanor Roosevelt
3. Discover Options for Labor Support
Doula, spouse, partner, parent, or best friend — there are many people that you are welcome to have accompany on your birthing journey and who can offer you emotional and physical comfort throughout.
Some childbirth classes actually have partner support lessons built into their curriculum, so make sure to seek those out if that's something you're interested in. For instance, my husband and I did a birth prep activity where he essentially learned what not to say to me! These are important things to figure out ahead of time if possible. You don't want
your labor support partner rocking up with eucalyptus essential oil when you clearly said lavender. (Partially kidding.)
Wherever you fall on the medicated-unmedicated spectrum of birth (and know that all are 100% legitimate ways to birth), there are many options for pain management. Some are pharmaceutical, like epidurals, and can only be offered in a hospital setting, while others are completely natural and can be used anywhere, like hip squeezes. A good childbirth prep class will help introduce you to all the various options and may even go over some of the pros and cons of each.
4. Increase Odds of a Vaginal Delivery
For the record, I don't believe in assigning value-based judgments to birth, so I don't think that one type of birth is "better" or "more right" than another. I've had both a c-section and a vaginal delivery myself. There were amazing things about both of them, and I had a positive experience with both.
While I will save the details of vaginal birth vs. c-section for another post, it’s important to know that vaginal deliveries come with far fewer risks to both mom and baby. Studies have shown that birth prep classes improve the chances of that outcome. A 2016 issue from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology published research showing that women who had attended a childbirth education class and had a birth plan were much more likely to have a vaginal delivery. (https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(15)01623-3/fulltext)
5. Improve Communication with Support Team
Hopefully, you have the most amazing care provider in the world, who takes plenty of time to listen to you, to ask you questions, and to explain everything very clearly. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. Doctors are often encouraged to fit in many patients in their workday and can't always spend as much time as they'd like with you. Childbirth education education helps this relationship in multiple ways.
First, you gain a better understanding of your own physiology and the birth process, so you're not in the dark about what's going to happen. If you are birthing in a hospital setting, your care provider will likely not be with you throughout your labor and will only arrive towards the end right before baby is born. You and your partner won't need to ask as many questions as someone who didn't take a childbirth class and really doesn't know what's going on.
Second, because you know what's normal, what procedures aren't necessary, and you've gained confidence, you will be prepared to advocate for yourself and your baby. You won't be afraid to ask questions when a procedure, treatment, or plan of care is presented to you. So if you do end up with a provider who isn't super forthcoming with information, you'll be able to get the information you need to make your decisions.
Finally, your support team also includes your partner and any other people who are contributing to your birth experience, like a doula, placenta encapsulation specialist, chiropractor, or acupuncturist. The better you understand your body, your pregnancy, and how birth works, the better you will be able to ask for specific help.
6. Discover Birth and Care Provider Options
If the sound of the doctor in my previous example didn't get you pumped about going to prenatal appointments, then a childbirth education class is a great place to learn more about what your options are for maternal care. Most courses will explain the differences in providers and care models, so that you can make the best decision for you. The one caveat here is with a hospital-based childbirth class. Not all, but many of these are only going to discuss OB/GYN, hospital care and delivery because it's what they know.
In addition to helping you figure out what kind of care provider you might prefer, birth prep classes can also help clarify your different birth options. You have choices on the type of delivery you prefer: vaginal, surgical, unmedicated, medicated. And you have choices on the setting for your birth: home birth, birth center, hospital birth. Many childbirth education classes will explain what these different models of care, births, and locations can look like.
7. Create Birth Preferences and Postpartum Plan
In most birth classes, you will create a birth plan that outlines what you want at every stage of labor. For example, how long do you want to labor at home when the party starts, what kind of snacks do you want to bring with you, what position do you want to labor in, etc. These are fantastic documents to create because it helps you and your partner figure out exactly what kind of birth you'd like to have. It forces you to think through all the different options throughout the whole process of labor and birth.
In my class, we call these birth preferences instead of a birth plan, because birth is unpredictable and you won't always get everything that you've listed on your document. Thinking about these as preferences keeps you from having feelings of failure if something doesn't happen the way you originally wrote it.
If it's a really good childbirth class, it will also encourage you to create a postpartum plan to think through what you want the early days at home with baby to look like. Unfortunately, this is often overlooked and it can make postpartum more difficult than it needs to be.
As you make your plans, it's always so helpful to have a checklist, especially when you're combatting that pregnancy brain fog. And since most of us don't have all the time in the world (sigh), I've made a free resource for you that gives you a packing list for your birth bag and a postpartum checklist to get you going! You can get them right here!
8. Meet other Parents
If you're a first-time parent, sometimes it can be hard to meet other people in the same stage of life as you. Or maybe you've recently moved to the area and don't know many people. Childbirth classes can be a great way to build a parental community and network.
I've known people who formed fast friendships in their birth prep classes that ended up lasting for decades. They knew they were going to have children around the same age, so it created a built-in playgroup when the kids were little.
If you end up taking a specific style or method of class, you also know that you already have something in common with these other parents, so it helps you find likeminded people a little more easily. Having a group of other parents to connect with around birth and postpartum can be super beneficial, especially when children are young and we can end up feeling really isolated.
9. Strengthen your Family Bond
Taking a birth prep class with your spouse or partner not only creates a shared, learning experience, but it is one that asks you to delve deep and think about details that will lay the foundation for your family culture. Some methods emphasize the role of the spouse more than others (shameless plug for HypnoBirthing® here), so if you want to make sure that you and your partner are connecting throughout, look for those types of classes.
And let's not forget that it's not just about you and your partner: your baby is the third part of this story, not to mention any other children that may already be part of the family. Comprehensive childbirth classes will make a point of consistently bringing baby's important part of the equation into the curriculum. Even before the actual birth, you should be strengthening the bond of the entire family unit.
10. Prepare for a Positive Birth Experience
A lot of people really like to use (and overuse) the phrase, "A healthy baby is all that matters." Honestly, this drives me crazy. It implies that a parent doesn't automatically want a healthy baby. Of course we all do! And, worse, it diminishes you and your part in the birth experience.
I always say that birth is a dance between you and your baby. It's about BOTH you and the baby. You are working together, you both have a unique experience of the event, and you'll both have your own memories of it as well.
You have the right to have a positive experience in which you feel in control. Even if things don't unfold exactly as you preferred, if you prepared for the emotional transformation that is birth and you felt like you were the one making the decisions, then you are wayyy more likely to remember the experience positively.
"For far too many women pregnancy and birth is something that happens to them, rather than something they set out consciously and joyfully to do themselves." — Sheila Kitzinger
Choose what's right for you
Childbirth education classes are beneficial regardless of how many babies you’ve had. Each pregnancy and birth are completely unique. You and your body are different, your provider or birthing location may be different, not to mention it’s a completely different baby! Don’t forget, baby has equal say in how labor and birth go. So even if you had a super smooth, easy birth with your first baby, there’s no guarantee that things will unfold exactly the same way. In fact, if I were a betting woman, I would bet that at least one thing would go differently.
One of my favorite sayings for birth education is Be Prepared for at least One Unexpected Turn. We can plan and prepare all we want, but birth is one of those truly natural and wild parts of life that we just can’t have control of. That’s honestly part of what makes it so amazing.
Full disclosure, I am a childbirth educator, so no surprise I’m writing on this topic. While I teach HypnoBirthing®, there are many options out there for your childbirth prep, so I encourage you to look around, ask questions about each one, and find out which one is the best fit for you.
If you're interested in learning more about HypnoBirthing, you can read more in this post browse other site pages, or contact me directly.
I wish you all the best in your childbirth prep!
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