How My Birth Class Impacted My Birth

When you think about your birth experience, does it make you smile? Do you cringe, or is it a memory that you treasure? I'm not just talking about the moment that your baby was born but the experience as a whole. From the moment you walked into your birthplace, your time laboring, your interactions with your care providers, your interactions with your significant other and family members...what would be the one word you would use to describe this memory? I love talking to mamas and hearing their birth stories. I have talked to countless women as they describe their experiences to me.  Surreal. Painful. Beautiful. Scary. Quick. Long. Healing. Intense. Traumatic. Birth can be so many things.

My first birth was hard. It was tiring. There were sweet moments and then it would get hard again. It was long and even complicated at times. And it was incredible. But in the midst of all the ups and downs and roller coaster of emotions that I experienced, because my husband and I took an in-depth comprehensive childbirth class, I felt more-than-prepared for it all. I knew that birth could be hard. I knew it could be exhausting. I knew that it could be unpredictable. I knew that there would be moments that I would want to give up.

But I was prepared for those moments. I was prepared with techniques to help manage the pain naturally. I was prepared for dealing with the exhaustion. I was prepared mentally to combat the fear and doubt that I would face. I was prepared to know how to choose a care provider that would support me and my desires for my birth. I was even prepared for the possibility of needing medical intervention and how to make informed choices about those interventions should the need arise. 

My husband was prepared as well. He knew what the stages of labor would basically look like, and how to support me during each stage. He was prepared to support me physically, through comfort measures, as well as emotionally, through affirming and encouraging me. And when our baby was born, we were prepared for those first precious moments of breastfeeding and bonding. 

It was because of this preparation that I can also say that my birth was empowering! I googled this word and the definition I found that I loved the most was "to make someone stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights." This is exactly what my birth experience did. Because of my childbirth education, I was more confident going into my birth, confident of my body and what it was capable of. I was empowered to make informed decisions about my pregnancy and birth instead of someone else making them for me.

This is why I became a Birth Boot Camp Instructor. I wanted other mommies and daddies to step into their birth prepared, confident, and realizing that same sense of empowerment. Knowledge is power and that especially applies to childbirth!
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