Comfort & Coping in Labor Workshop
An in-depth practical workshop for women and their partners - in person in Moscow, ID.
Upcoming dates: November 2nd, 2024 2:00-5:30 PM; January 2025 TBD
$85/couple, sliding scale available.
Childbirth is formative in a family's journey. Without preparation, labor can be a time when partners feel helpless and laboring women feel alone. This workshop provides the tools and practice for you and your partner to go into labor prepared, whether you are planning to birth unmedicated or to request pain medication. This course teaches basic principles of coping, birth anatomy and positioning strategies, and comfort techniques, with lots of hands-on practice. It will provide your birth partner with a toolkit that they can combine with their closeness and knowledge to support you well through your labor.
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Comfort & Coping is a three-and-a-half-hour workshop that serves as a wonderful compliment to a traditional birth class or as a stand-alone refresher course. This session will give you the guidance and space to understand and practice what may work best during each stage of labor - with or without pain medication. Comfort & Coping also provides the ideal space for partners to experiment with hands-on support strategies and become more confident in their role as a labor support person.
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We will explore nutrition during labor, breathing techniques, birthing positions and movement, massage and comforting touch, and tools such as the birth ball, peanut ball, relaxation and visualization, birth affirmations & sound, TENS unit, and basic aromatherapy. This class is geared to prepare partners to take a confident and active role in support.
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Because this course contains so much information and hands-on practice, I ask that you be at least 28 weeks along by the date of the workshop (***if possible) so that it will stay fresh on your minds.
"I loved the use of pictures and videos, because just talking about something doesn’t normally stick with me. I loved the reminders to eat drink and use the bathroom as well as the end practice of going through different stages of labor and what to do during them! GET RUTH AS YOUR DOULA!"
Paige - Pullman, WA
"Ruth's class was one of the most supportive parts of our preparation for labor and birth during this pregnancy. Our childbirth class was very informative, but left dad feeling a bit left out when he was seeking really practical ways to support. Ruth's class intentionally involves the dads/support persons and gives them practical tools so they can feel confident supporting mom in every stage of labor. My husband walked away beaming and feeling so ready to support, having very concrete tools he could use, and feeling valued as an important part of the labor process rather than feeling like he's just on the sidelines."
"Ruth is an intelligent, well-informed, birth educator. I recommend her class because it is unique in the way that it is partner AND mother focused- instead of just mother focused. Centered around knowing that a healthy parental relationship is foundational in parenthood."
