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Alabama Babies
Childbirth Classes in Birmingham Area
Hi Everyone,
I was wondering what others have found in the Birmingham area for childbirth classes (besides what St. Vincent's offers). I am hoping for a natural childbirth and want to take something besides what the hospital offers. I found some Lamaze type classes through Birthwell in Birmingham and some Bradley method classes in Tuscaloosa. Has anyone found anything else?
Thanks!
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Re: Childbirth Classes in Birmingham Area
Well I will say I read about both, though I didn't take any classes-but I used the Hypnobabies self study course. It was great before labor and helped me greatly with my confidence (especially considering things didn't go as expected, but I was very calm/together throughout.) But, it wasn't as useful during labor as I read about from others. It helped with focus, but not with pain. Of course, taking a class would be very different.
But as many labor books describe, I didn't end up thinking about any method-I just did what worked in the moment. For me, that was very long breaths (which I do credit Hypnobabies with helping me practice! So I definitely glad I did that) and using my birth ball. Just a suggestion, but my bible was 'The Birth Partner' by Penny Simkin. I feel like it encompasses pretty much everything you need to know.
You won't go wrong either way, but if I could do it again-I might take Bradley classes and then incorporate elements of Hypnobabies (visualizations ,practice breathing with the tracks, etc.)
I will definitely check out "The Birth Partner." The more I learn, the more I'm thinking about concentrating less on one particular method and instead on a few different ones.
Another question for you, did you feel like your OB practice was supportive of natural birth (assuming you went natural)? If so, do you mind sharing who you used? I'm beginning to get the feeling my OB practice is not going to be as supportive as I would like for them to be.
I had a med free birth plan, and I did feel supported by my OB. I love her. She's Dr. DeRosier at St. Vincents, with OBGYN Associates of Alabama. I met everyone in the practice and liked them all, but she was my primary doctor and she delivered Owen. As I rotated and met everyone, they were all okay with my plan. Like most OBs, mine would say things about you never know what will happen and we'd be prepared , but she was never negative to me about trying to go without pain meds. None of them ever told me not to, or anything like that.
The nurses were really amazing at St. Vincent's I mention this because I only saw my OB for a short time during labor (once at a check in about 9 hours after I got there, and then when it was time to push.) The nurses were all completely supportive and helpful. I gave my birth plan to my first one, and she immediately got me a birth ball and did intermittant monitoring, and I had a hep lock.
My only complaint is we asked for DS to not get the eye ointment, and a totally separate nurse deals with the newborn procedures and didn't know-so she gave it to him. That was honestly a miscommunication, as I previously didn't realize DS would have separate nurse from my own take care of him right after the birth. But that was the only thing they didn't do as I asked. And I really wasn't upset about it, but I know a lot of people get concerned about supportive staff, but they were all great overall.
I went med free as long as possible, for about 9 hours after I arrived at the hospital after my water broke. My labor wasn't progressing because Owen as occiput transverse, with his head to the side. So long story short, I needed pitocin, and asked for an epidural-and had DS 3 hours later. Not as I planned, but it was necessary intervention and I have no regrets
Sorry my posts are so long!
I second Birthwell! They do Lamaze and Hypnobabies, I believe... My doula works with them and she is wonderful!
ETA: The Official Lamaze Guide, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way are all EXCELLENT reads. We originally were going to go with one method, but as time has gone on we ended up deciding to read whatever we can and just go with whatever works when the time comes. I'm a FTM, but it was comforting to read about unmedicated delivery from three different methods because really, they all have the same premises but go about them in slightly different ways so I felt like I was putting a lot into my 'toolbox', so to speak. We also decided to hire a birth doula.
I'm not sure what to tell you about your OB, but at BW they are very supportive of unmedicated -- I learned the most about lamaze from the birth class the hospital offered! There were 28 other women in my class from all different practices and what I observed is that while their OBs may have had reservations about certain unmedicated practices (some weren't fans of water labor and others didn't like the idea of a heplock, for example), but they were all willing to work with the girls in the class on the big stuff like being mobile, spontaneous pushing, etc.