A BALANCED, FEAR-FREE APPROACH TO CHILDBIRTH
What is The Balanced Birth Method™?
The Balanced Birth Method is a complete, balanced approach to birthing for couples that utilizes education, teamwork, mindset, and planning to improve birthing outcomes for families. It utilizes the best and latest research-proven birthing information and techniques to empower both partners to work as a team to have a confident, joyful, and positive birth experience. Our approach is designed to work for any couple, regardless of their birth plan.
Most birthing methods do not cover all birthing options in a comprehensive or unbiased manner, which causes couples to be ill-informed and inflexible in their approach to birth. Many methods instill fear and offer false promises. For example, some birth classes emphasize the risks associated with childbirth or labor pain, reducing women’s confidence to trust their bodies. Conversely, other approaches emphasize the risks associated with medical interventions, preventing couples from understanding when those interventions may be beneficial. In both cases, fear dominates couples - whether fear of experiencing pain or fear of not having an unmedicated birth. As a result, many classes offer false promises, guaranteeing that a perfect birth can be achieved using their methods.
But birth is unpredictable. It’s personal. Therefore, a more personalized approach to childbirth education is needed. Our Balanced Birth Method incorporates the best elements of popular birthing methods (such as Lamaze, Hypnobirthing, The Bradley Method, and others) into one comprehensive birthing method that includes up-to-date research so couples can develop a personalized birth plan while also being 100% prepared for unforeseen events.
The Balanced Birth Method is built upon these four pillars:
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Education
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With comprehensive, evidence-based education, couples will advocate for themselves and engage in truly informed decision-making with their provider as a team, which results in better birth outcomes and satisfaction.
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Teamwork
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Trained birth support improves birth outcomes, which is why our method educates and trains partners to empower the mother through physical support, emotional support, and advocacy.
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Planning
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We teach couples how to develop a flexible plan for childbirth so they can achieve their goals but be ready to make decisions when unpredictable circumstances arise. We emphasize open dialogue between the mother, partner, and provider so the right personalized plan is created.
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Mindset
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Modern-day culture depicts birth as a painful and frightening event, but it’s not supposed to be that way! We teach couples how to overcome fears, tap into their intuition, and shape a healthy mindset toward labor.
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Is the Balanced Birth Method right for you? You will find our method ideal if you want to:
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Know the benefits and risks of all birth types including unmedicated birth, epidural birth, inductions, c-sections, home birth, and hospital birth.
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Understand the evidence and research about interventions so you can advocate for yourself and make decisions with confidence.
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Master comfort measures and relaxation techniques to cope with labor pain.
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Adopt a balanced mindset about labor - where you embrace your body’s incredible, natural ability to birth, but also understand when interventions may be beneficial for you.
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Feel joyful, informed and confident about your birth, no matter what happens.
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Have an involved, informed birth partner. (Birth support is research-proven to reduce anxiety, postpartum depression, c-sections, labor duration by 41 minutes and the need for pain medications. Support increases the rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration as well as accelerates postpartum depression recovery.)
The Six Steps of the Balanced Birth Method
1. Learn your options
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We don’t make you decide what type of birth you want before you take our class - we help you decide by summarizing all your options along with the pros and cons. We include the latest research on all birth options such as:
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Unmedicated, vaginal birth at home or at a birth center
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Unmedicated, vaginal birth at a hospital
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Vaginal birth with an epidural
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Induction of Labor
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C-section
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2. Face your fears
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Fear is a powerful emotion that can make or break your birth plan and experience. Fear causes you to feel tension in your body, and tension in your body creates more pain. Whether you decide to give birth without medications or get an epidural, you need to face your fears and get in the right mindset because the most difficult aspect of birth is managing your mind. We teach you how to release your fears, change the way you think about birth, and provide practical tools to keep your mind relaxed and at peace.
3. Train yourself and your support
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You wouldn’t run a marathon without training, right? We approach birth the same way. We teach couples how to birth together through interactive practicums for both parents that include comfort measures, relaxation techniques, affirmations and visualization.
4. Make a flexible plan
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Going into birth without a plan is a recipe for anxiety, confusion and negative birth outcomes. However, too many couples make a birth plan that’s rigid, without consideration of other options. We lead couples through a process to create a Birth Wish List, which is a succinct and clear birth plan that allows room for changes if necessary.
5. Practice
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Research shows that it takes seven times for a piece of information to sink in, which is why we assign practice homework after each module. This is an opportunity for couples to discuss and practice what they learned so they feel more comfortable and confident when labor begins.
6. Birth with Confidence!
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Now that you have the education, plan, training and practice, you can give birth with confidence. This confidence doesn’t come from you expecting that your birth will go to plan; it comes from you knowing exactly what questions to ask, how to reduce pain during labor, the pros and cons of interventions, and how your partner can support you through the four stages of labor.
Birth is Just the Beginning
One of the most interesting outcomes we have seen over the years with our method is it better prepares couples for parenthood. This is because the manner and mindset you adopt towards birth set a foundation for how you approach parenting. Couples that tend to be rigid in their thinking or gripped by fear often struggle in the fast-paced, unpredictable world of raising children. On the other hand, couples who learn how to educate themselves and face their fears can confidently make informed decisions while trusting their intuition. This leads to a more joyful, positive journey through parenthood.
If The Balanced Birth Method resonates with you, we encourage you to discuss this with your partner. Most couples prepare for birth in this way: the mom-to-be does most of the research and preparation through social media or blogs, and feels anxious about her birth and what to expect. Or, she may sign up for a childbirth class, but the class is one-sided and doesn’t really include her partner. She wants her partner to be involved and is frustrated that he seems so clueless. We find that most partners want to be involved but they just don’t know how. As a result, they end up sitting on the sidelines.
We believe there’s a better way to prepare for childbirth that will remove all anxiety about having a baby and grow you closer together as a couple. The result is a strong foundation for parenting in the future because birth is just the beginning.
If you’re ready to learn how to birth as a team, sign up for The Birth Class for Couples today!
THE BIRTH CLASS FOR COUPLES
LEARN TOGETHER.
BIRTH WITH CONFIDENCE.
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