Empowered Natural Birth

Are you struggling to find the information you want about pregnancy, labor and delivery? Do you hope to have a natural birth and find unbiased information hard to find? You are not alone in your quest and have come to the right place for answers. Understand what this course is about and a bit more about your instructor in this lecture.

My passion for birth started after my own experience with having a natural childbirth. I believe that stories are a powerful teaching tool and this lecture discusses my frustration with finding the information I wanted to know when I was pregnant, along with an overview of my birth story.

Learn how to optimize pregnancy, labor and delivery through exercises geared towards helping your body prepare for birth.

Discover how to eat to keep yourself and your baby healthy during pregnancy. More importantly, however, learn how food can help optimize how your body functions during labor and delivery.

Relaxation is key to childbirth, especially when trying to achieve a natural birth. Learn the different kinds of relaxation and how you might employ them during your birth experience.

Giving birth, especially with limited interventions, is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge. Learn how to think about birth, how to set reasonable goals and how to stay mentally focused during labor and delivery.

Learn what is measured during labor, how labor generally progresses and what first stage is all about.

Discover what the process is as you move from home to your birth place. Learn how to decide when it's time to go to your birth place and reasons why you may or may not stay there given how far along you are in the labor process.

Listen to an example of a birth story. Stories are powerful learning tools because the more stories you hear, the less your experience will surprise you and the more prepared you'll be.

Learn how to decide if you are in labor (and not in false labor). Discover how you and your partner can work together during this time to mentally stay in the game.

Learn what questions you should be asking yourself before labor to make the experience smoother and more fufilling.

Students will be able to identify what 2nd and 3rd stage labor are and key components of both. This section includes example from real birth stories, as well as tips for making these stage easier.

Learn what position your body works best in for 2nd stage and why.

Discover how to be more effective at pushing. In addition, learn about the often forgotten 3rd stage of labor and understand why it is important.

Now that you have the whole picture, here's a text book overview of birth from onset of labor to birth.

So much time is spent during pregnancy reading and researching about baby gear, pregnancy, labor and delivery options; few people think about what those days and weeks immediately following the birth are like and what concerns they may have during this sensitive period. This lecture highlights basic concerns for the newborn baby and postpartum mom. This lecture is an introduction to the postnatal period and opens the door for you to explore further on the topics that interest or concern you.

Thank you for participating in Empowered Birth. I hope this has been helpful. Please contact me with further questions.