*Beyond The Birth Plan Childbirth Course + Birth Profile Assessment

A Different Kind of Childbirth Class

There are lots of birth classes out there. Why choose this one?

As many expectant moms prepare birth plans and and fret over of how childbirth will be, we have built a childbirth class that encompasses all you need to have a great and healthy birth for you and your baby.

We have taken into account your personality, beliefs, and personal heath factors to craft a personalized birth class experience that is tailored for you.

The Beyond the Birth Plan class is everything you need in a childbirth class to feel confident and empowered to bring your baby into the world.

The Beyond the Birth Plan Childbirth Course is a comprehensive, evidence-based childbirth course that teaches the science and physiology of birth. We aim to help you see how amazing your body is designed and how capable you are to give your baby the best possible birth.

Every birth class has an agenda, and a way of looking at labor. Hospital birth courses often teach you how to be a good patient, and what to expect at that particular labor and delivery unit. You might not learn as much as you’d hoped about normal birth and how to labor without medical intervention.

Many natural online birth courses, on the other hand, give parents great information about the process of normal childbirth and tools for coping. The downside is that they can set you up with a birth plan that is too rigid for the inevitable ebb and flow of natural labor. A change in the labor process, or a nurse that isn’t on the same page, might completely undo the preparing you did with some of these other birth courses.

This birth course and birth class is different. Beyond The Birth Plan focuses on YOU, the laboring woman, instead of a one-size-fits-all method for birth.

Labor is a unique and individual experience for each person. The best labor preparation happens on the inside, using many tools to help you relax, focus, and welcome your baby. This birth class brings evidence based birth education and you as the woman giving birth to the forefront.

Our online birth class helps you understand how your body works and helps you learn what you need to bring your baby into the world in the best possible way. However your baby is born, we want you to be well prepared, whether you have your baby with a midwife, obstetrician, at home, at a birth center, or in a hospital.

Regardless of how you approach birth, we want you to have the education and support you need to bring your baby into the world with joy and confidence.

Did You Know?

The number of people who take a birth class in pregnancy has gone down in the last 20 years. Simultaneously the rates of cesarean, induction, and mortality have gone up. We don’t want to imply causality, but we do know from experience and research that people have better outcomes when they’re involved in their own care (Source).

A recent study found that those who attend an out-of-hospital childbirth education class have an increased chance of having a vaginal birth and a decreased risk of cesarean surgery (Source). 

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Isn’t a Birth Plan Enough?

Just as every mother is unique – bringing a different personality, history, and skill set to the delivery room – every pathway to birth is unique. It’s important to acknowledge this right at the beginning of your birth preparation. There is no Place, Provider, or Plan that can guarantee a specific outcome for you and your baby.

That’s why we want to take you Beyond the Birth Plan childbirth class to help prepare you for any twists and turns that your labor might bring.

This birth course is much more about shaping you, the person, than it is about teaching one specific way to birth!

What is right for someone else may be not best for you. We want to give you and your partner the tools to have the best birth possible. Beyond the Birth Plan prepares you and your partner for the all of the possible birth choices you have. This childbirth class will help you prepare for your birth whether plan on giving birth in the hospital, a birth center or at home. This childbirth course also will prepare you for working with any type of birth provider – Obstetrician or a Midwife.

What You Get When You Purchase the Beyond the Birth Plan Childbirth Course

Personalized Labor Preparation

After going through this birth course, you will have a customized plan for going through labor. You might even choose to have a written birth plan for your support team. And you will also gain the internal skills and confidence that you need to remain in the drivers seat of your labor experience, however it unfolds.

You will learn about normal birth, common interventions, and how to make the best choices for you and your baby.

No matter what happens in the course of your labor, you will know that you are strong and wise.

You will be able to adapt without feeling discouraged. You will feel equipped to accept and surrender to your labor, while maintaining power over the things you can control.

At Pregnancy By Design, we believe that you are designed, body and mind, to grow, birth, and nurture your baby. This is the only natural birth course that prepares you personally for both the physical and emotional journey of labor. Our birth course equips you for wise decision-making, and gives you the flexibility to ride the twists and turns of labor with confidence because our tools help shape who you are as a birthing woman.

Birth Coach Training

This a great online birthing class for couples! Why is labor support and having a birth coach important? Good labor support can help prevent postpartum depression and birth trauma. Nearly 1 out of 3 women in the United States view their births as negative or traumatic.

Research suggests that women who feel alone and unsupported during labor are more likely to have mental health problems in the months following their births. On a more positive note, good labor support can help a woman to achieve an empowering birth experience.

Feeling good about her birth lets a mother start out on the right foot as she bonds with her baby and recovers from the process of childbirth.  

My Birth Profile Assessment

Beyond the Birth Plan is a thorough, natural birth course, conveniently available online to complete when you have time. You’ll start by creating your Birth Profile, your unique starting point for labor preparation. Your Birth Profile is based on your individual personality, health background, and beliefs and knowledge about birth that have an impact on how you personally experience labor.

My Birth Profile Assessment is the first tool of its kind – designed to help pregnant women get amazingly personalized information and identify their exact needs across 7 key areas that influence a better birth experience.

My Birth Profile is included free with the purchase of the Beyond the Birth Plan Course.

You want to make the best choices for yourself and your baby, and you want to give your baby the best birth possible.  There are important decisions that directly impact your birth experience.  How can you know you are making right choices for you personally? 

The Birth Profile will help you find answers to questions like:

• Where should I give birth?
• What kind of healthcare provider should I work with? Or have I chosen the right provider?
• How can I make sure I have a good birth?
• What kind of birth course makes sense for me?
• How is labor going to be for me?

What People Are Saying…

I am loving the course! It has been extremely helpful, and the best one I have gone through so far. I am almost finished with it, I’d like my husband and I to read through the birth coach section soon together. I think it has equipped me far better to make educated choices during the birth process, which is wonderful! I am not a flexible person when it comes to dealing with change, so that has calmed me down in regards to having the confidence in making a decision if something unexpected happens. I feel really blessed to have access to such a database of information. My favorite thing has to be the course reference book. I think that will be the most valuable resource to me when my labor begins.

Shay S.

I gave birth to my second child just a little over a month ago and this course helped me achieve the natural birth I always wanted. After a bad birth experience with my first I knew I wanted something completely different. What I love about this course is that it was specific to my personality, my needs and even my fears. It was incredibly informative, clear and practical. I recommend it to any mom to be!!

Catalina G.

Bonus Printable Reference Guides!!

• Common Pregnancy Discomforts and Remedies
• Prenatal Exercises Handout 
• Early Labor Cheat Sheet
• Help I think My Water Just Broke!  PROM Cheat Sheet
• Encouraging Labor at Home
• Birth Affirmation Printable
• Birth Fear to Birth Affirmation Worksheet
• Birth Visualizations
• Ways of Handling Pain
• Deep Breathing Exercise
• Guided Relaxation for Coaches
• Comfort Measures Cheat Sheet (doula-approved!)
• Labor positions Cheat Sheet
• Decision-Making in Labor: Think SHARP!
• Cheerleading Cheat Sheet for Coaches:
  • Encouraging Statements
  • Take-Charge Routine
• Birth Bag Packing Checklist
• Postpartum Mental Health Symptom Guide
• Writing a Postpartum Plan Worksheet

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Still Not Sure?

FAQ’s

Is This a Natural Birth Class?

The class covers all your options. A significant portion is dedicated to setting yourself up for low-intervention birth, comfort measures and ideas for drug-free pain relief, but the Birth Profile Assessment will walk you through what may be best for you. 

I Plan to Get an Epidural. Will This Class Still Help Me?

Yes! Even if you get an epidural, you will probably still have to make decisions and experience some labor. Epidurals don’t always work, and don’t always work well. You’ll most likely still need comfort measures. 

Can’t I Just Watch Online Videos for Free?

You can, but it will take you considerably more time to find and filter through them. It’s also very difficult to construct your own comprehensive curriculum from trustworthy sources. Just in birth videos, there are so many online that are not a good idea to watch when you’re preparing to have a baby. With Beyond the Birth Plan, we’ve gathered all the necessary information and skills and put it together in an easy-to-use format. A full, comprehensive birth education for you and your partner written and approved by long-time birth educators who know what makes the childbearing year–especially birth itself—easier, safer, and more fulfilling. 

Does It Really Make a Difference?

Oh yes. Birth Care Providers say they can tell if a couple took a good birth class by how they are experiencing labor. Birth is a big deal! It’s intense and life-changing. There’s a lot you can do to prepare and make it a smoother experience, no matter where or how you plan to deliver.

My Friends Say They Didn’t Learn Anything.

Bummer! There are many kinds of birth classes and even more instructors. The value of a class (online or in person) depends so much on not just the curriculum, but the experience, knowledge, and passion of the instructor. A former labor and delivery nurse who is asked to teach the hospital class might blow your mind with useful and informative content, or she might just be trying to make the hospital boss happy and put in her hours. It does matter that you find a class that aligns with your approach to birth and a teacher who inspires you. While birth classes can be boring or ineffectual, most aren’t. Most people (especially those who want to be active or involved in their births) swear by taking a class. Some take two or three and then take another with their next baby! Childbirth classes are worth it.

Aren’t All Classes the Same?

Definitely not. (See above.) Always look at the credentials of the instructor, online reviews, and a curriculum overview before you decide on a class. There is one for every need and birth plan. Unlike every other birth class, Beyond the Birth Plan was written to fit your personal, individual needs. Take the assessment, learn about your birthing personality, and then you’re able to focus on the aspects of birth prep that will benefit YOU most. 

I Don’t Have Much Time.

Not a problem. Beyond the Birth Plan is fully online and at your own pace. Plus you will get a full year of access. Go through the modules when you have the time, as fast as you like.  The course is set up to allow you to skip around and watch the modules that are most important to you first.

I Want to Take a Local Class.

Great. Beyond the Birth Plan is the perfect supplement. Use it to fill in the holes that your instructor left and to make what you learn in class, online, and in the modules apply to YOU. Your local class can’t identity your birthing personality and tell you where to focus your efforts and attention. Using Beyond the Birth Plan online resources will help you take home and apply what you learn in a physical class. You’ll be able to review and add-on knowledge from important class topics plus see how it applies specifically to your personality.

I Already Took a Class.

Good for you! Most people don’t and are unable to advocate for themselves in a meaningful way or feel overwhelmed about options and how to approach the intensity of birth. You’re already a step ahead. We still recommend doing the Birth Profile Assessment and learning more about how what you learned can work for your individual needs and personality. Beyond the Birth Plan online class is an excellent supplement—and a way to take home and ‘keep’ the important stuff to refer back to. 

I’m Planning a Home Birth. Do I Still Need a Class?

Yep. Even if you have an awesome, attentive midwife and doula, you can’t learn while in labor. It’s best to know what your options are and how to approach labor in advance.

People Have Been Baving Babies for Millennia. Why Do We Need a Class For it?

This is the best question! The short answer is: You don’t. Your baby will come out. Especially for first world people with a lot of resources, you can just show up at the hospital and they’ll take care of everything. You don’t have to do much or make any decisions. But if you want to be involved in your care, you need a class.

We Need Birth Classes Because:

1.    We need help navigating choices in maternity care. There are considerably more options in maternity care than there were even when your mom had you. Two hundred years ago, babies were born at home with a local midwife and there were not any options for the family. Anything you knew about how to be in labor was from friends and family who had done it in their own bedrooms. Now, just the question of where to have the baby is important. Hospitals vary widely with how they manage labor, their cesarean rates. You can also choose birth center or home birth. Beyond that, there are multiple pain relief options and even more interventions that may be suggested to you. It’s a good idea to know about those.

2.    There are pain relief options now. In the past, pharmaceutical pain relief for labor was not an option. Everyone had to do it under their own power. Now that it is an option, it’s good to know what those look like, how they affect labor and your experience of it, and what the risks are. If you want to have an un-medicated, natural birth, knowing multiple drug-free pain relief options makes that outcome more likely. 

3.    You’ve never seen a live birth before. Before birth moved primarily to hospitals, people attended each other’s births and talked about them in detail. By the time you were ready to have a baby, you had probably personally witnessed and been involved in multiple births of family and friends. Even men who weren’t permitted in the birthing room would have been around it, hearing it, talking about it, witnessing how it changed the people around them. Most of us modern, first world folk experience our first birth as we do it ourselves. Birth education—and well curated videos—can make a huge difference here. 

4.    It’s preparation for the partner. Dads have been attending the births of their children for a little over 50 years. That means your dad was probably at your birth, but his dad was almost certainly not at his. All partners benefit from some preparation for what they will see, hear, and likely think. All partners benefit from having some concrete ways to be there and be supportive.

5.    The current maternity system in the U.S. isn’t ideal for everyone. Families of color and people in rural or low-income areas are often under-served and it can be dangerous. We have a disturbingly high maternal mortality rate compared to other developed nations, and the brunt of the loss falls to families of color. Everyone should learn what their rights are and how to protect themselves. A good class will do that.

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