Comprehensive childbirth education series to prepare you for the birth of your child. Come and join us as we explore your choices surrounding childbirth, help you gain understanding of the labour process, and practice comfort measures, breathing and relaxation techniques each week, as well as partner strategies, breastfeeding tips from an expert, home birth vs hospital birth prep, DVDs and more, all in a casual atmosphere. Come meet new friends who are also about to become parents as you all prepare to greet your little ones, calmly, gently and lovingly. You can’t always control how birth happens, but you can be prepared for the journey.
Tuesdays 7:00-9:00, 8 weeks $260
Starting: Sept. 6th and Nov.1st
birthrhythms@shaw.ca
683-0852
This Birth Support Skills Couples Workshop is a great 4 hour refresher or crash course for the time crunched couple.
Birth is hard work. Women are made to do the work. This course is specially designed to prepare couples to do this work together. Great support is one of the key elements in experiencing an easier and more satisfying birth. We will walk you through physiologic sequence of labour and birth as we teach moms how to work with the changing sensations, rhythms and intensities of birth. Partners will walk out with a tool-kit of hands-on support skills and resources to really engage in the birth and be the kind of support you want to be! Together you will feel more prepared to navigate hospital and care-giver policies and protocols, and to create your own birth plan.
2nd Wednesday of every month, 6- 10 pm $130
Sept. 12th, Oct. 10th, Nov. 14th, or Dec. 12th.
birthrhythms@shaw.ca
683-0852
Birth Plan Consultations:
Sit down with one of our experienced Certified Doulas to discuss all the elements of your upcoming birth. Like a wedding planner, we take all your needs and preferences into account and help you identify your own philosophy of birth and pin-point what is truly important to you for your BIRTH-day. When you feel prepared for all the possible scenarios , you can birth more confidently and will feel more satisfied with the experience.
Understanding evidenced –based care and the reasons why your care providers make the recommendations they do will help you engage in the process of informed decision making while you are birthing because you have a plan, and a plan ‘B’ if things change along the way. The doula can suggest resources, and make referrals to appropriate supports as needed to help you see clearly in what may feel like a labyrinth of medical appointments, terminology, procedures and policies . Then, you can create your own birth plan to use as a conversation starter with your health care providers and a guideline for hospital staff, family and friends. Some things are beyond our control, sometimes there are surprises, but you have many more options than you think!
Session includes an initial one hour consult to identify concerns, and resources. Session two is an in depth planning session, followed by email support to edit and complete your plans.
$125 by appointment only. (Best time to complete your planning is before 36 weeks gestation).
Birth Story Workshop
It is common for mothers to feel disappointed or confused by how their child's birth unfolded. Care-giver attitudes, course of labour & unexpected family input are just some of the things that can color the experience you hoped for.
This is a group workshop meant to explore our birth stories and reframe them in a way that explores how our needs were or were not met during this powerful and vulnerable transition to motherhood. We will use a variety of writing, art and movement activities to help us craft our stories and share them in a safe circle.
November 2011 TBD
Birth Trauma Counselling
The truth about birth, traumatic or otherwise, is that we do not just leave our birth at the hospital or in the birth pool. Birth’s impact has a ripple effect on a woman’s whole life. Trauma is defined as any event that causes actual, perceived or threatened death or serious injury, or damage to self or others. The person’s response could involve intense fear, helplessness or horror. Note that it says “actual, perceived or threatened”.
So, and this is really important. Even if everything SEEMS completely ok to an outsider during the birth; if a woman PERCEIVES that she or her baby is threatened with damage; or FEELS horror, fear and helplessness at a procedure…even if this procedure is ROUTINE to medical staff; she can experience that as a traumatic event. This is REGARDLESS of her level of pain relief at the time. It is REGARDLESS of the fact that she and her baby leave the hospital alive and physically healthy.
If you have felt like some things are just not right since you birthed, but can’t put your finger on it, we can review your experience together , examine the context of your birth and look for ways to resolve feelings that may be lingering. Sometimes baby-blues are more than that. Sometimes you have a story to tell. Sometimes you have tried to tell it, but were not heard. This is a safe place to explore the experience and re-frame it in a way that allows you to move forward.
*Fathers are also very often traumatized by birth events and have no avenue for healing. Birth trauma counseling can be done together or separately as needed. By appointment only.
Please read more at
Birth Trauma Canada
Infant Massage
Massage is effective relief, relaxation, interaction and stimulation for babies. It is very effective for babies born who are pre-term, suffered birth trauma or have colic, and whose mother’s have postpartum depression. Learn to massage your baby. Taught by Sunava Hintz RMT, who brings over 20 years of massage, birth support and early parenting skills and experience to each class.
Wednesdays 11:15am-12:15pm 5 weeks $125+ manual
Please register with Birth Rhythms
birthrhythms@shaw.ca
683-0852
