Prenatal and Parenting Classes
If your heart's desire is to welcome, with utmost confidence, your baby's arrival.... being prepared and as ready as you can be.... I invite you to explore Ecstatic Birth ™ prenatal & parenting classes with me.
Please note: Classes, private sessions, consultations and Info Events are currently offered virtually.
Doulas of Vancouver Info Events
Each month our doula collective presents a free info event on a topic relevant to birth and babies. Please join us for an informative session and meet the doulas in our group. These events are open to our clients and other expectant and new parents. Registration is required.
www.doulasofvancouver.ca/infonights
www.doulasofvancouver.ca/infonights
Consultations
Private consultations (home sessions) are geared to those with busy schedules or limited time. You will enjoy personal attention with the flexibility to create your own schedule and content.
Group classes with a structured format are shared with expectant and new parents. *Organize a group of your own (minimum 2 couples) for a private class on any topics!
"We really want to thank you! My husband and I were discussing how lucky we are to have such a content and easy baby for the most part. Up until he was about 5-6 weeks old we thought we were in for it and we struggled. Then we connected with you, and honestly ever since your visit here things have become easier and better day by day. You really reassured me that my instinct was the best to follow, and that I shouldn't be ashamed or worried about creating bad habits with co sleeping and baby wearing.
I did some research along with the tips you gave me, and I truly believe what we have been practicing is best for our baby. I have a whole new understanding and commitment to our baby now and it's working beautifully! So thank you for bringing all of this to light for me and for your continued support with our little guy! You have been a tremendous help!" Kayla & Ryan
Infant Sleep Education
Two hour home session to understand normal newborn/infant sleep; learn about nursing and nighttime; choices for sleep space ie. family bed, solitary bed, co-sleeping and how to nurture positive, pleasant sleep habits for your infant based in knowing their capacity and stage of development.
Fee: $120
Fee: $120
Practical Baby Care Preparation
Receive valuable wisdom from a doula who's cared for hundreds of babies.
In this two hour home session inexperienced parents (both expectant and new) practice and learn
essential baby care skills.
Never held a newborn? Never changed a diaper?
How to hold a baby to burp... when.. for how long?
How DO you bathe a baby? What bathtub is best? How OFTEN should you bathe a baby, use soap?
Fee: $120
In this two hour home session inexperienced parents (both expectant and new) practice and learn
essential baby care skills.
Never held a newborn? Never changed a diaper?
How to hold a baby to burp... when.. for how long?
How DO you bathe a baby? What bathtub is best? How OFTEN should you bathe a baby, use soap?
Fee: $120
“We cannot put in words how much Debra's baby prep session has helped our family! In a few hours that we have spent with her, we had all our questions answered and much more! Her wisdom, calm demeanor and ability to listen to the needs of parents and babies has helped me and my husband regain hope and confidence that we can take a good care of our baby boy. As first time parents without extra support here, we are really grateful to Debra for ensuring that we can gain enough knowledge to provide comfort for our newborn.” Diana and Cedric
'Making Sense of Your Baby' Class
Expectant parent... turning your focus toward ‘life with baby’? New Parent... your baby has arrived and you need answers?
This three hour home session focuses on the basics of preparing for ‘life with baby’.
Parents gain an understanding of their baby’s fundamental needs and how to fulfill them.
Topics covered:
· What to expect from your infant; attachment needs; brain development
· What is normal infant sleep? Strategies to maximize your sleep!
· What’s your baby trying to tell you? Learn to understand an infant’s cues and pre-cry
sounds
· 5 ways to calm a crying baby. Learn soothing techniques that work!
· Why baby wearing? Demos and practice with different carriers
Content is based in current research and neuroscience pertaining to an infant’s primal needs in the first year of life.
Parents gain an understanding of their baby’s fundamental needs and how to fulfill them.
Topics covered:
· What to expect from your infant; attachment needs; brain development
· What is normal infant sleep? Strategies to maximize your sleep!
· What’s your baby trying to tell you? Learn to understand an infant’s cues and pre-cry
sounds
· 5 ways to calm a crying baby. Learn soothing techniques that work!
· Why baby wearing? Demos and practice with different carriers
Content is based in current research and neuroscience pertaining to an infant’s primal needs in the first year of life.
Private session fee: $180 (3hr.)
'Debra's newborn class was definitely insightful for a pair of total newbie parents and well worth it! Learning about the 5 S's was helpful for calming our new baby. Almost four months later we still use most of those techniques to help her settle!
The universal crying sounds and identifying hunger cues information were also incredibly helpful for navigating the new baby haze.
The combined knowledge and expertise of Debra & Bonnie really helped us feel more confident about life with our new arrival.' Simone
Breastfeeding Class
In this class expectant parents learn the essentials of the art of breast (chest) feeding.
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Topics covered:
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Home Birth Seminar
Why birth at home? Isn't the hospital the safest place? Research shows
that planned home birth is as safe as planned hospital birth for healthy pregnant persons. How could being at home benefit both mother and baby?
This three hour seminar explores all aspects of preparing for a home birth.
Topics covered:
2020 Dates: Dec. 20
2021 Dates: Feb. 28, April 18, June 6, Aug. 15, Oct. 17, Dec. 12
that planned home birth is as safe as planned hospital birth for healthy pregnant persons. How could being at home benefit both mother and baby?
This three hour seminar explores all aspects of preparing for a home birth.
Topics covered:
- Is home birth safe?
- Who is eligible?
- Reasons people choose to have their baby at home.
- How to prepare for a home birth/water birth. Benefits of water immersion.
- What to tell friends and family.
- What supplies one needs to purchase.
- Specific pros and cons.
- How to maximize the benefits and minimize any risks.
2020 Dates: Dec. 20
2021 Dates: Feb. 28, April 18, June 6, Aug. 15, Oct. 17, Dec. 12
"My husband and I attended the Home Birth Seminar hosted by Debra at the Childbearing Society. We were sure we wanted to have a home birth but felt the information on home birth classes was limited. I was so happy to come across the home birth seminar with Debra and felt the seminar gave us great information on home birth, was an open and friendly environment and only made us feel more confident in our decision of having a home birth. Thank you Debra" Susan
Ecstatic Birth ™ Class
This four hour class delves into birth: the history, our cultural ideas, expectations and dominant social messages, to examine how this paradigm impacts our birth experience. This class presents a unique perspective for creating a new paradigm for birth - one that has the potential for pleasure.
Through group activities, brainstorming, and investigation into their assumptions, participants will unravel their own beliefs about birth and address their fears to access awareness and understanding. Participants will gain eye-opening insights that reframe birth as an empowering and pleasurable experience. This personal exploration opens up the possibility to envision an ecstatic birth!
Are you ready to release the story of pain in birth?
Topics covered:
Register: http://www.childbearing.org/ecstatic-birth-class/
2021 Dates: Jan. 16, March 13, May 8, July 17, Sept. 18, Nov. 13
Through group activities, brainstorming, and investigation into their assumptions, participants will unravel their own beliefs about birth and address their fears to access awareness and understanding. Participants will gain eye-opening insights that reframe birth as an empowering and pleasurable experience. This personal exploration opens up the possibility to envision an ecstatic birth!
Are you ready to release the story of pain in birth?
Topics covered:
- Our dominant birth culture and its impact on our beliefs and experience
- Reframing: shift from fear and avoidance of pain to open to the potential for pleasure
- Birthing hormones/sensations – allies to enhance the power and pleasure of birthing energy
- Sensual Expansion: pleasure both as a holistic birthing tool and an outcome
- Preparation for an ecstatic birth: creating a conducive atmosphere; birth ambiance; holding the tone for pleasure
Register: http://www.childbearing.org/ecstatic-birth-class/
2021 Dates: Jan. 16, March 13, May 8, July 17, Sept. 18, Nov. 13
“This class has opened lots of windows for my partner and I to discuss afterwards, and to plan for our team work during birth. The class made us think and “forced” us (in a good way) to confront our opinions (with my partner) and to confront (with myself) my own intuitions/fears/norms/expectations.” Nina de Saint Vincent
Ecstatic Birth ™ Private Sessions
This series of one on one private sessions provides practices and offers tools to deepen your awareness about your body and birth. Together we explore how to recreate your birth vision from one of fear and avoidance of pain to empowerment and the potential for pleasure in birth.
These sessions will support an integration of pleasure into your life, and for giving birth. It's possible to experience an ecstatic birth.
Ecstatic birth is about how you feel, not based on a specific set of circumstances, or a particular outcome. Ecstatic birth is an ideal meant to inspire and elevate, not a standard by which to judge performance.
Topics covered:
These sessions will support an integration of pleasure into your life, and for giving birth. It's possible to experience an ecstatic birth.
Ecstatic birth is about how you feel, not based on a specific set of circumstances, or a particular outcome. Ecstatic birth is an ideal meant to inspire and elevate, not a standard by which to judge performance.
Topics covered:
- Raising Consciousness: delve into your beliefs about birth; uncover assumptions; investigate other possibilities
- Navigating your Options: current birth vision; feeling into decisions
- Pleasure as the Most Holistic Birthing Tool: learn ways to bring in pleasure; understand the interconnected nature of birth and sex
- Sensual Expansion as Birth Prep: body sensing practices, deepening ability to experience pleasure through senses
- Disarming Fears: examine fears, address and release what can disrupt the birthing process; understand your own barriers to pleasure
- Dancing with the Unexpected: how to still have an ecstatic birth when the unexpected arises
- Motherhood and Beyond: preparing for pleasure postpartum!
Fee: $375
‘The hormones of love, pleasure and transcendence, excitement, and tender mothering form the major components of an ecstatic cocktail of hormones that nature prescribes to aid birthing mothers. Might it be possible to experience pleasure during birth?’ Sarah Buckley MD
