Summer Classes and Events

Make time to enjoy these fantastic Summer offerings at California Midwifery Service!

Spaces are limited, so sign up today.

Bellies in Bloom
with Param Matharu and Stephanie Freeman
Saturday, July 14th 10am - 1pm
Cost: $40 per mother
A celebration of pregnancy through the celebratory adornment of your belly in henna and the creation of an art belly for you to take home and enjoy for long after your baby has arrived.

More information

Sibling Preparation Class

With Stephanie Freeman

Wednesday, August 1^st, 4-5pm

Cost: $25 per child (parent/child)

An interactive workshop for children to prepare for the birth of a new sibling. This workshop is appropriate for all ages of children. Children 3yrs and under require a parent to be present.

More Information/Register

Birthing From Within™ Weekend Intensives
with Stephanie Freeman
certified Birthing From Within™ mentor
Saturday, August 4 10am-5pm & Sunday, August 5 12pm-5pm
Saturday, October 6 10am-5pm & Sunday, October 7 12pm-5pm
Saturday, December 8 10am-5pm & Sunday, December 9 12pm-5pm
Extraordinary childbirth preparation
More Information/Register
"I respectfully think of new mothers (and their partners) as uninitiated. In traditional cultures, the uninitiated were not expected to initiate themselves." - Pam England, author of Birthing From Within



Mothers Renewal Group™
with Rosanna Davis LM, CPM, and Maeve Jordan
April 17 - Sept 18, 6:30-9pm
Six month facilitated series,
Third Tuesday, Monthly
Monthly support group for mothers, guided by experienced women's group facilitators. Before registering, please call the office for me details - 650-964-2229.
More Information/Register

All classes and workshops open to the community. Spaces are limited; register today to save your space!

All class fees collected for classes led by Param Matharu and Maeve Jordan are used to support their midwifery education.

Getting ready for baby? Come play with us!

There's still time to enjoy these fantastic offerings at California Midwifery Service!

Spaces are limited, so sign up today.

Dancing For Birth™
with Param Matharu
FREE demo class - Sunday, March 25th 2:00-3:30pm
Register here

Weekly class, Sundays 2:00-3:30pm
6 class package: $99 ($16.50 per class)
or $20 drop in
Joyful movement to celebrate your pregnancy
More information

"Modern day women want to celebrate birth and be transformed by it!... Dancing For Birth™ classes help awaken their abilities." - Stephanie Larson, founder of Dancing For Birth™



Birthing From Within™ Weekend Intensives
with Rosanna Davis, LM, CPM
certified Birthing From Within™ mentor
Sat., Mar 17, 10am-5pm & Sun., Mar 18, 12-5pm
Extraordinary childbirth preparation
This is a rare opportunity to be guided by Rosanna Davis, LM, CPM. Space is limited.
More Information/Register
"I respectfully think of new mothers (and their partners) as uninitiated. In traditional cultures, the uninitiated were not expected to initiate themselves." - Pam England, author of Birthing From Within


Mothers Renewal Group™
with Rosanna Davis LM, CPM, and
Maeve Jordan
April 17 - Sept 18, 6:30-9pm
Six month facilitated series,
Third Tuesday, Monthly
Monthly support group for mothers
More information/Register
All classes and workshops open to the community. Spaces are limited; register today to save your space!

All class fees collected for classes led by Param Matharu and Maeve Jordan are used to support their midwifery education.

Upcoming Events and Activities at California Midwifery Service

Dancing For Birth™
with Param Matharu
Demo class January 11 7:00-8:30pm
On-going six week series, Wednesdays

Dancing For Birth™ prenatal/postpartum dance classes incorporate dance moves from around the world that best prepare you to give birth. Birth can be like a marathon, and Dancing for Birth™ classes prepare you for the challenge. You'll become stronger, more agile, more at ease with your body and both mentally and physically ready to embrace your unique birth experience. Weekly classes are offered to keep you dancing thru pregnancy, and postpartum with your baby.

click here for More information/Register

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Mothers Renewal Group™
with Rosanna Davis LM CPM and
Maeve Jordan
February 21st - July17th, 2012 6:30-9pm
Six month facilitated series, Third Tuesday Monthly
click here for More information/Register
Monthly support group for mothers, guided by experienced women's group facilitators. Learn the power of self-care; uncover the keys to balanced living; adopt "good is good enough" attitudes; manage and increase your energy; be more present with those you love and experience more joy; and get more comfortable saying no, asking for help and building a support network. Breathe. Relax. Join our supportive community. Bask in the joy of female friendship, support and companionship. Support material: The Mother's Guide to Self-Renewal by Renee Trudeau
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Birthin' Again™ -- Childbirth Refresher
with Rosanna Davis
Sunday, January 15
click here for More information/Register

A “refresher” class for parents who are experienced in birth and want to:

• Reflect and learn from their previous birth
• Dust off old pain-coping techniques that worked & learn new ones
• Take time to enjoy this pregnancy
• Connect with this baby through interesting and enjoyable journaling and art.

All experienced parents are welcome: parents who took, and those who did not take, a BIRTHING FROM WITHIN Class during a previous pregnancy, can sign up for Birthin’ Again.

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Birthing From Within™ Weekend Intensives
with Stephanie Freeman,
certified Birthing From Within™ mentor
Saturday, February 4th from 10am to 5pm and Sunday, February 5th from 12am to 5pm
OR
Saturday, March 17th from 10am to 5pm and Sunday, March 18th from 12am to 5pm

Your childbirth and postpartum classes are limited to six couples to allow you to receive personal attention. You will meet in a lovely and nurturing space. Refreshments and supplies will be provided. BIRTHING FROM WITHIN™ Classes are fun, and relaxing, while you learn a lot about birth, babies and parenting.

Highlights of what you'll learn include, but aren't limited to:
A nutritional check in to make sure you and your baby are eating well
A "map" through Laborland Birth as a rite of passage
A variety of ways to cope with fatigue, pain, the unknown and the unexpected.
A Special Class just for fathers and partners
How to Welcome Your Baby
Preparing for your Transition to Parenthood

There is no bias or pressure to birth normally or avoid drugs. The emphasis is on birthing-in-awareness, doing your best, and cultivating a coping mindset and self-love and respect… regardless of how your birth and postpartum unfolds.

click here for More information/Register

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Breastfeeding Class
with Marielle Warren IBCLC
February 11 10-11:30am
click here for More information/Register

This class will provide information regarding breastfeeding, how it works, and what to expect during the first few hours and days after your baby arrives. Significant time will be dedicated to exploring as a group any questions about breastfeeding as well as taking time to visualize how your breastfeeding relationship might unfold. You will leave this session with a framework for creating an environment in which your vision may thrive.

'we are mothers, seasoned birth professionals and compassionate care-providers whose passion is to empower parents'

Radical, Compassionate Childbirth Preparation

by Virginia Bobro, January 2011, reproduced with permission

Radical, Compassionate Childbirth Preparation
What does this mean? We like to think that our holistic classes and workshop prepare anyone--pregnant women, dads, and birth professionals of all stripes--for the mystery of birth. Stepping into the unknown, the intensity, the surprises of birth isn't for the faint of heart. We are radical enough to know that positive thinking, book-learnin', and a doula may not be enough to get through the intensity of birth. Whether labor is fast and crazy, long and hard, ecstatic or mind-blowing, you really can't truly prepare. So, what are Birthing From Within classes and professional workshops for?

We propose something radical: beyond affirmations, pretty pictures, and obstetrical facts. Seeing Birth as a Hero's Journey means that we aren't so concerned with achieving a "natural" or "vaginal" birth, or, vaguely, "empowering women." (What does that mean, anyway?) Our focus is on preparing the Birth Warrior inside each woman--so that she is ready to do whatever it takes in each moment. Sometimes, that will mean digging deep for the strength to keep going or to surrender to a power beyond her understanding. Sometimes it will mean doing "the next best thing" and having a cesarean birth, though she tried with every ounce of her being to avoid it. Sometimes it will mean looking "weak," moaning, crying, being confused or vulnerable. Sometimes it will mean making peace with not being able to speak up for herself, or not doing whatever it was she hoped she could do or say. Sometimes it will mean that the the wise and compassionate action is getting an epidural.

Compassionate means: Reducing the anxiety and fear that parents have as they approach the initiation into parenthood. In our classes, we don't make promises, and we don't make threats. So our childbirth classes and professional workshops go deeply into personal exploration, into the realm of the Mystery, mindfulness, intimacy, myth, art, emotions, beliefs, and learning from every part of who we are: body, mind, spirit, and soul. We strongly believe that our workshops and classes reduce or prevent emotional birth trauma, fear, burn-out, frustration, disappointment, and guilt-- for everyone at the birth.

When we struggle so hard--as birth activists or as pregnant women--to "Get what we want," or achieve particular birth statistics, perhaps something is lost. Perhaps the outcome of the birth is none of our business and beside the point. Maybe... there is something more important to psyche and the arc of our lives than "a good outcome."

We hold the strong belief that we are preparing true Birth Warriors: they do not hope, or distrust, or try to control. They do what needs to be done in the moment. She knows what to do when she don't know what to do.

Join our Birth Warrior tribe: take a Birthing From Within class or workshop.
Birth and life will never be the same.

Fantasy, Control, and the "Heart of Birthing From Within"

by Pam England

Mothers giving birth in hospitals today have a wide variety of experiences. Some have the experience they hoped for. Others are surprised by how labor unfolds, by how many decisions they had to make, or by how many interventions were offered or used.

When the mother believes the interventions are supportive and necessary, she often feels more accepting of them, during and after labor. Even so, she may wish they weren't necessary. She may regret that her labor was not what she hoped it would be. She likely won't  have only one feeling about her birth experience; it is quite common to have two or three emotional responses, because the experience is big and it takes a while to integrate.  

When a mother is not sure that the interventions are necessary, she may feel they were not “supportive.” There will be more conflict, doubt, and remorse--both during birth, as well as afterwards. There is a dilemma that women in our culture face when hoping for one kind of birth and being faced with something different in reality. For some women, having lots of interventions is really overwhelming. Sometimes medical interventions are distracting and unwanted. When the image of giving birth (our fantasy) excludes interventions, then, if medical support is used, she may believe she did not give birth--or did not do it “right.”

The mind works in a particular way in response to missed expectations, attachment to fantasy, and unrealistic hopes: the mind heads right into disappointment, anger, betrayal, guilt, shame, or depression. When women believe they did not birth well (i.e., how they imagined or hoped), they may blame themselves for not doing more, for not knowing more, because it is so hard for humans to allow that life happens without our input.

We think we have control over our lives, because that gives us a sense of power. Birth plans, rigid expectations, and blind hope are ways that we seek to control birth. However, the truth is that however hard we plan or hope, we cannot, through the power of our minds or the power of surrender, single-handedly CREATE the birth we want. We may have influence, but not absolute control. If birth doesn’t help us learn this, then parenting certainly will!

Compassion for ourselves and for other mothers, flexibility in our plans, and awareness of our own motivations, beliefs, fears, and inner voices are some ways to work with our desire for control in birth. This is the heart of “birthing from within.”
 
Copyright 2010 Birthing From Within LLC. May not be reproduced without prior written permission. Published here at California Birthin' with permission.

Getting Down and Dirty

GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY from Birthing From Within, by Pam England

Soldiers are trained to give everything in battle. They expect to return from war grimy, sweaty, disheveled, and sometimes bloods; it's their badge of honor. Likewise, a gutsy football or baseball player who ends the game wearing a uniform caked mud is perceived as having given his all. Some cultures (not ours) honor women in the same way when they return from battling in the trenches of labor.

Wouldn't it be great if childbirth teachers and health profession's instilled that same tough mindset in mothers and fathers? Rather than promoting the reassuring, but unlikely, illusion being comfortable and relaxed comfortable and relaxed in labor, teachers should help mothers and fathers muster the courage and determination to get through it. That's why Birthing From Within works at helping couples prepare to face the rigors of "battling with nature," fleeing the battle field when the going gets tough. Here's how we help do it:
First, we help mothers experience themselves as part a larger whole, a link in the chain of mothers throughout time. we do this using exercises described in Chapter 4.
Second, we explain that to give birth with power, without drugs, means having to to the edge, and beyond. and beyond.

Third, we point out that the hospital "battle field," in
striving to be sterile and clean, inadvertently sends a confusing message to women giving birth. Birth-warriors don't stay clean, together made-up, and poised (see sidebar pg 128).
Finally, mothers must make a heart-felt commitment: birth normally, but to give it their all, moment-by-moment. Once they've done that, to then to be okay with whatever happens.

Get all the Down and Dirty (also fun and practical) info you'll need to give birth in awareness with a Birthing From Within Class:

www.blossombirth.org
www.harmonybirth.com
www.californiamidwifery.com

Birth of a Midwife

The first human birth I attended was in 1981. I was nine months pregnant, planning to give birth in the free-standing birth center, The Birth Place, in Menlo Park, CA. I had recently made friends with a woman in my Bradley childbirth classes. She and her husband were planning to find temporary quarters during her due date window because they didn't want to expose their growing baby to the aerial spraying of malathion that was going on at the time.

There wasn't any spraying going on in our city, so my husband and I invited them to stay with us for a couple of weeks. During that time, she went into labor and left our home one night around midnight to head over to the birth center. I lay awake in bed excited and talking to my husband. He suggested I call her ask if I could come help out or be present for the labor/birth. Wow, I did, and she said yes she'd be honored if I came. I'll never forget the thrill of the honor.

It was a transformative experience for all of us, one that ultimate called me to the profession of midwifery. I still feel so utterly fortunate that my first exposure to birth was midwife attended, woman-centered, peaceful, fierce, and moving.

My friend expressed later that my words were appropriate in every moment, she'll never forget the warmth and energy of my hand on her shoulder. And in a moment when she felt lost and unsure, I spoke up in my youth and innocence and asked her if there was something she was afraid of . . . and bringing this awareness to the moment apparently helped her move through the next piece, pushing her baby out and into her arms.

Her little one was born just before sunrise on my birthday in 1981.