Why is prenatal education important?

• Having a baby is a major, life-changing event. Childbirth education helps you feel more prepared for your labor, birth and life with your new baby. Knowing what to expect will help ease your mind and can make everything more enjoyable!
• Parents have the right to make their own decisions about what is best for their family during pregnancy, labor and birth. Knowing the pros and cons of each decision will help you make informed choices.
• Childbirth education is important whether you’re planning to use pain medication or have an unmedicated delivery. Although coping with labor pain (through "natural" methods or with the help of medication) is important, the birth of your child is so much more than just the pain of contractions!
• Pregnant couples have many options in birth--many of which most people don't even know about! Knowing these options is the best way to help you and your baby achieve the healthy, safe, and satisfying birth experience you both deserve. Knowledge is power!

Why not take the hospital childbirth class?

Unfortunately, the content of some hospital birth classes can be dictated by the hospital administration. For example, a hospital may not allow their instructors to fully explain the risks associated with certain "routine" obstetric procedures. Childbirth is a very lucrative business for most hospitals, so oftentimes any class discussion that might reduce the hospital's overall profit would be discouraged (i.e., the hospital makes a larger profit on a highly medicated (or cesarean section) birth than it does on a natural birth). Taking a childbirth class from an independent 3rd party will allow you to get more complete, unbiased information.

You might be encouraged to take the hospital childbirth class so you can get a tour of the labor and delivery ward. You don't need to take the hospital childbirth class to do that; it is always possible to take a tour separately! 

"During pregnancy, a lot of women do not feel it necessary to take a childbirth class, or even pick up a book to read about childbirth in general, and I wholeheartedly believe that this accounts for a large portionof negative or less-than-ideal birth outcomes. Many think that today you can just waltz into a hospital and have an amazing experience because the birth of any child is such a joy-filled occasion. Unfortunately because of the state of maternity care and hospital births in our country, the one-size-fits-all style of experiences because of "hospital protocol" leads to something which I personally like to compare to a factory conveyor belt."

--Danielle Elwood, birth advocate