Prenatal Support + Childbirth Education
Are you feeling unsure or overwhelmed about your upcoming birth?
Worried about how you’ll cope with the pain and intensity?
Want your partner to have all the tips so you won’t have to worry on the big day?
Prenatal sessions are about identifying what you really need to know to feel more calm and prepared before your birth, regardless of the type of birth you’re hoping for.
Getting Prepared for the Unknown
Prenatal sessions and childbirth education will help you clarify your values and beliefs as well as leave you with practical tools to navigate the unknown terrain of your upcoming birth / parenting journey.
Helping you feel more relaxed, confident and supported to welcome your baby into your family with love and ease.
“What impresses me about Anne’s class is the diversity of information offered and how it was delivered. I appreciated that Anne’s approach came from many different perspectives and she respected my and my partner’s opinions and ideas.”
How I Support Expecting Parents
My role is to help parents prepare for their birth compassionately and realistically for facing what can be a very challenging life transition. My passion is to help newborn mothers and fathers to meet this challenge with an abundance of confidence and self love.
I support parents to cope with pain, intensity, and the unknown so they can meet their labour, birth and early parenting time with courage. In this way parents can take heart-felt action, and do what needs to be done next, instead of being frozen with fear.
Childbirth Education Philosophy
The approach I use to support parents during their transition to parenthood is grounded in the Birthing From Within philosophy. The Birthing From Within approach to childbirth preparation is based on the popular book of the same name written by Pam England.
Birthing From Within is much more than a type of childbirth class, it is a philosophy that considers birth to be a profoundly sacred event worthy of our attention and preparation.
Regardless of whether birth happens at hospital or at home, with medical assistance or naturally, with wild movements and yelling or in a state of deep relaxation, every woman is capable of giving birth from within.
“Birthing from within” is the process of doing what needs to be done, at each step of the birth journey. It is not about “getting it right” and giving birth one particular way. This philosophy honours a woman’s ability to listen within and follow her instincts- as well as real, practical ways of cultivating this ability during her pregnancy.
It is not enough to say ‘everything she knows is already inside her’. In many ways this is unfair on women considering all the complex barriers there are to natural birth in our culture, and it puts unnecessary pressure on women to feel like they should know everything about birth before they have made the journey, or as they are becoming a mother again.
Childbirth Education Done Differently
The Birthing From Within philosophy values non-attachment to any specific birthing outcome or process. Instead the aim is to give birth with self-love, awareness, and courage by doing whatever is needed in each moment. The focus of Birthing From Within is about realistic and compassionate preparation for birth and parenting, acknowledging that sometimes unexpected events happen despite what you had hoped for in your birth plan.
Being guided by your inner world and listening within about what you need to do each step of the way means there is no need to ‘get it right’ in your birth. The emphasis is on releasing the need to compare or judge yourself about whether you are birthing ‘right’ or not. This gives mothers and fathers freedom to get on with the hard and rewarding work of labour, birth and parenting in the way they need to.
Partners and dads are undergoing their own transformation, and need loving support and guidance themselves. Because of this it is unhelpful to expect all dads to step into a role of being a ‘labour coach’. Instead dads can be supported to understand how to support their birthing partner to cope with pain and intensity and to respond by listening within as well and doing what’s needed in each moment.
What to Expect During Prenatal Sessions
Labour and Birth Education: What you really need to know, and practical techniques both parents can do to help the process;
Support for Dads + Partners: Childbirth education taught from a dad’s and partner’s perspective. Answering any questions or concerns dads and partners might have, including: ways to best help during labour, what to expect with a newborn, etc;
Pain Coping Practices: Evidence-based practices including breath work, visualisation, and relaxation techniques you can use to help cope with pain and intensity during birth (and life);
Preparing for the unexpected: Preparing for the different possibilities and how to give birth with love and awareness, regardless of the how the birth happens (with or without medical intervention);
Birth Debriefing: Supporting you to make sense of difficult or traumatic previous birth experiences;
Physical Preparation: Teaching gentle and safe techniques to prepare the pelvic space to give birth with greater ease, and to support optimal fetal positioning (“Spinning Babies” techniques);
Self-Care and Early Parenting Survival: Feeding and settling a newborn, exploring the roles of each parent, and making a postnatal plan.
Holistic Childbirth Education Fees
FREE 15 min consultation to discuss your needs before booking in.
Childbirth education sessions are offered at It Takes A Village Midwifery, or online via video call, and are approximately 1 hour per session.
Sessions offered on Fridays or Saturdays between 10am – 3pm (other days may be arranged where possible).
Materials and handouts provided.
Payment via EFT or credit card.
Fees: $150