Childbirth Education to give you the mental strength you NEED for labor & birth

Education, Yoga, and Somatics to prepare you for labor and birth

Childbirth education classes are meant to prepare you for the physiological process of labor and birth as well as the possible intervention, complications, and choices you have to make within your own birth experience.

What sets this class apart from others is that we explore ways to navigate the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of labor and birth. What makes an unmedicated birth possible (in most cases) is when the birther is able to access mental stamina, emotional regulation, and somatic practices in the gritty hard parts of labor and birth.

This class is here to support you in navigating those challenges and allowing those challenges to exist without trying to change, fix, or alter them.

You'll have access to video lessons, audio practices, worksheets, research studies, and other resources to guide you in your journey through birth.

Course Logistics

This class contains mostly self-paced videos and resources that will open the first week of March 2024. There is one live class that will take place via Zoom on March 16 from 12:00 - 3:00 CST.

The content of this course overlaps and has similarities with the hospital childbirth education course, however, this course is distinct in that it covers and explores how to prepare for a homebirth, discussing the process of transferring care into the hospital system, and learning how to best support yourself postpartum after homebirth.

The live class is also a part of the YFYB Doula Training. This course counts towards the childbirth education requirements for Southwest Wisconsin Technical College Direct-Midwifery Program.

If you need a payment plan just email me at [email protected] so we can coordinate!

Virtual Course Content

  • Physiology of Labor & Birth

    You'll learn the stages of labor from a medical perspective, your felt experience, and what your partner might look for and notice in the various stages.

    We'll talk about things like the Bishop's Score and it's importance, the power of maternal positioning through each stage of labor, fetal positioning, and how to build your unique birth plan.

  • Intervention & Complications

    We'll learn about variations of normal, complications, urgent and emergent situations, explore when and why you may transfer to a hospital from home or birth center, how to navigate making choices in the heat of the moment, and explore the options you have in several of these circumstances.

    We'll also talk about different times in labor that are 'intervention heavy' and what types of interventions are common place, their efficacy, as well as their risks and benefits.

  • Mental Prep & Consent

    Preparing your mind includes preparing your nervous system, your voice, and understanding your preferences as your body is expressing them to you.

    In this course we use practices that connect you to your bodily experience, give your fears an expression point, and practice what it means to advocate for yourself or your partner.

    I want you to leave this class empowered to express your preferences and to trust yourself as a decision-maker for your family.

Course curriculum

  1. 1
  2. 2

    • Move Your Body Every Day!!

    • The Miles Circuit

    • Spinning Babies: Three Sisters

    • Building Pelvic Mobility and Power

    • Prenatal Yoga for Fetal Positioning

    • Prenatal Yoga - Lower Back, Twists

    • Prenatal Yoga - Pelvic Strength and Stability

    • Prenatal Yoga - Outer Hips & Birth as the Unknown

    • Prenatal Yoga - Hip Mobility and The Sacred Pause

    • Prenatal Yoga - Gentle Yoga, Circles

    • Prenatal Yoga - Gentle Yoga, Fluidity

    • Prenatal Yoga - Gentle, Hips and Shoulders

    • Restorative Yoga with Meditation

    • Restorative Yoga for Stress Relief
  3. 3

    • Stage 1: Cervical Changes | Phase 1: Early Labor

    • Stage 1: Cervical Changes | Phase 2: Active Labor

    • Stage 2: Pushing & Birth

    • Stage 3: Birth of the Placenta
  4. 4

    • Bishop's Score Basics

    • Active Labor & Labor Dystocia

    • Stages of Labor: Video

    • Cervical Dilation: Video
  5. 5

    • The Fear-Tension-Pain Cycle

    • The 3 R's by Penny Simkin: Relaxation, Rhythm, Ritual

    • 3 R's Movement Practice

    • Building a Circuit

    • Maternal Positioning and Pain Relief

    • Labor and Birth Positions

    • Labor and Birth Positions with Epidural

    • Counter Pressure

    • TENS Unit

    • Nitrous Oxide

    • Other Pain Relief Options
  6. 6

    • Advocacy and Informed Consent

    • Making Decisions
  7. 7

    • Birth of the Placenta (Third Stage of Labor)

    • The First Hours After Birth

    • Circumcision

    • Circumcision pt 2

    • Vitamin K

    • Eye Ointment
  8. 8

    • Vaginal Steaming as Labor Preparation

    • Herbs and Castor Oil

    • The ARRIVE Study

    • Waterbirth

    • Induction Methods

    • Fetal Monitoring

    • Gestational Diabetes - Induction

    • Pitocin

    • Inducing for Due Dates

    • IV Fluids

    • Continuous Fetal Monitoring

    • Fundal/Uterine Massage

    • Epidurals

    • Epidurals During the Second Stage of Labor

    • Effects of Epidurals on Breastfeeding
  9. 9

    • Big Babies

    • Group B Strep - GBS

    • Failure to Progress

    • Gestational Diabetes - Diagnosis

    • Postpartum Hemorrhage

    • Premature Rupture of Membranes

    • Neonatal Hypoglycemia
  10. 10

    • Questions to consider...

    • Plan A

    • Plan B

    • Plan C

    • Build Your Own Birth Plan

    • Gentle Cesarean Document by Camille Vidal
  11. 11

    • Why do I need a hospital bag??

    • Signs for the Door

    • Hospital Bags
  12. 12

    • Envision Your Ideal Birth

    • The Power of Affirmations, A Study

    • Make Your Own Affirmations
  13. 13

    • The Second Stage of Labor - Complete Dilation & Pushing

    • Breathing Baby Down

    • How to Push

    • Yoga for Core Strength to Prepare for Pushing
  14. 14

    • Prenatal Nutrition & Blood Building

    • Postpartum Nutrition for Healing and Milk Building
  15. 15

    • Creating Your Postpartum Sanctuary

    • The 7 Principles of Postpartum

    • The Postpartum Plan

    • Postpartum Vaginal Steaming Study

    • The Forth Trimester

    • Sleep

    • Caring for Your Postpartum Body

    • Infant Feeding

    • Diaper and Feeding Cart

    • Postpartum Resources and Supports

Meet Your Instructor: Jess Gruber

Student Midwife & Yoga Therapist

When I was pregnant with my first, I decided to plan a homebirth and while I knew it would be hard, I found that it was deeply challenging in ways I totally didn't expect. I knew that my yoga practice and understanding of yogic philosophy played a huge role in my ability to choose to stay home even after a very long and challenging labor.

When when I was pregnant with my twins, I was able to employ these practices of yoga to maintain my sense of autonomy, trust in myself and my babies, and make choices from my gut through a "high-risk" pregnancy and birth.

And now! I want to share those principles, practices, and philosophies with you!

I value making educated choices that are also in alignment with your nervous system. Meaning: birth where and how YOU feel safe and then prepare your birth education around that choice. There is no 'right' way to give birth, only the way that is informed, supported, and honored. All birth is beautiful.