online birth classes - more important than ever!

Women are giving birth in a time of crisis.  Hospitals are limiting birth teams to one person, leaving women to choose between taking their partner, their private midwife or doula, or anybody else that may have been a part of their birth team and support network.

Of course most women will naturally choose their partners, making childbirth education for couples more important now than ever before.  Your partner needs to step up, learn as much as possible about birth, birth support tools, how to navigate the health care system to be able to advocate for your choices and how to support you postnatally.  That’s a lot right?

When looking for an online birth education program, you need one that:

• educates both of you about birth so you know how to prepare and what to expect
• demonstrates and teaches how to support a labouring mother so your partner can use tools and techniques to help you labour both at home and in hospital
• promotes communication between couples, enabling you to get on the same page when it comes to what you want and to work as a team
• teaches you to determine when the best time to transfer to hospital is and how to advocate for your choices once you get there
• outlines the needs of the fourth trimester (postpartum) for mother and baby and how best to support and navigate this time as a family unit.

So, how do you choose the right class?

1. Know what you’re purchasing.  Is it a live online class or a pre-recorded class?  Don’t get trapped into buying a pre-recorded class or webinar thinking you are buying a class delivered in real time.  If you want to meet your instructors, interact with others and learn everything you would in a face-to-face class but learn it online then ensure the class is live.
2. Is it interactive? Is your instructor able to adapt to teaching online and use a variety of tools to ensure a blend of communication, interaction, pair and group work and practical activities?  This is definitely worth asking if it’s important to you to learn in a dynamic environment that caters to differing learning styles.  Just sitting and listening to an instructor give information is very different to learning through all the senses e.g. learning aurally through listening, visually through seeing demonstrations and videos and kinaesthetically through doing activities and experiencing things first hand.
3. Do you get support from your instructor? Is your class instructor available for you throughout the learning experience and beyond to provide you with additional support?  Online learning can limit casual opportunities to ask questions, have a chat about something that’s on your mind or ask for more information or research about an issue affecting you.  Discovering how much individual access you’ll get to your instructor is important when making a decision on a course or class that is right for you.
4. Will you be a part of a community? For some people this is a key factor in choosing a group learning environment.  You might want to meet others, enjoy the experience with others and form new friendships and relationships.  Does your online class enable this, are you able to interact with others (yes, it’s possible in an online class) and does your program allow you to join a community that supports you and fosters those friendships long after your program has wrapped up.

So, choose wisely when picking a course that is online and don’t be afraid to ask these questions to determine if it’s right for you.

If you’d like to join a course that encompasses all of the above, we’re running our Birth Boot Camp Workshops online.   Use your time together in isolation to start learning about your birth from the comfort and safety of your own home.   Our next online course is:

Sunday May 31 & June 7
9am - 4pm
Live via Zoom
$450 (includes class materials sent to you prior to your workshop starting)

with Carla Morgan and Moran Liviani
Birth Boot Camp Australia 

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