CBEs: Thoughts on 3R's & Comfort Measures DVDs?

[mchbirth]

Hi all,

This may have already been posted, so forgive me if I didn't see it, but I'm a doula who is brand new to the childbirth educator path and starting to explore DVD clips to share with my future classes. I'm familiar with the 3R's DVD as we watched some of it during my doula training, but would love to hear people's thoughts on the newer "Comfort Measures" from Penny Simkin. Do people prefer one over the other, or both for different uses? I'm working on a budget and trying to decide which to purchase first, which will be more useful, etc.

If anyone has used both and would like to share your thoughts, I'd be very appreciative! Thanks!

[phathui5]

These clips are good:

http://www.injoyvideos.com/mothersadvocate/videos.html

I don't remember much about "Comfort Measures." I think we watched some of it in my doula training.

[TO Doula]

Originally Posted by mchbirth

Hi all,

This may have already been posted, so forgive me if I didn't see it, but I'm a doula who is brand new to the childbirth educator path and starting to explore DVD clips to share with my future classes. I'm familiar with the 3R's DVD as we watched some of it during my doula training, but would love to hear people's thoughts on the newer "Comfort Measures" from Penny Simkin. Do people prefer one over the other, or both for different uses? I'm working on a budget and trying to decide which to purchase first, which will be more useful, etc.

If anyone has used both and would like to share your thoughts, I'd be very appreciative! Thanks!

I don't have either of them, so my comments will be limited. :-)

I chose not to purchase the 3Rs because I thought it was a high price for a short video and because I couldn't use the whole thing. There are pieces of that video that I like, but there are others that I would never use in a prenatal class - too scary. There is a woman who screams in it (who I think is actually Penny's own daughter!) and *I* find listening to her very upsetting, and I'm an experienced doula and educator. I think if I were the average pregnant-for-the-first-time woman I might decide that if that's what giving birth is like, I'll just go to the hospital *now* and ask for all the drugs they've got!

I use the Injoy Childbirth: A visual guide (or similar name) to explain labour 101 and the standard big city hospital setting, and then over the weeks I use a variety of clips of alternative settings to show a variety of ways of giving birth. For the alternatives I have used part or all of: Birth into Being: the Russian waterbirth experience; Giving Birth and Being Born, which takes place in a hospital in Vienna with a mattress in the corner and obs who sit on the floor while women push on a birthing stool; Birth Day, the Naoli Vinniver one of her own home birth; some Youtube clips; Naitre Enchantee, which I was able to download when it was available on the web. I don't know if anyone's got that one back up yet.

It takes time and money to develop a collection, but I think variety is good. You never know which video is going to inspire someone. So, if you can borrow videos from people before making a purchase, that really helps. You can ask family to give you cbe-related gifts at birthday or holiday time. You can keep your eyes peeled for used videos on eBay, etc.

You may also want to check out the clips that are now available on the Lamaze website. I don't know if there's a download option, but if you can hook up a laptop into your tv or projection system you can use those in class, too. They're Injoy productions, I think, and use some of the same families that are in the first birth 101 video I mentioned.

[JessicaE]

I own both the DVDs you mentioned, and have often used The Three R's in class (I teach an 8-week natural childbirth series, and show that one around class 6, when they're very used to the sights and sounds of labor). It usually goes over just fine with some explanation. I also distribute a handout on The Three R's from Penny's web site. However, I think this video is getting to be quite outdated, and I haven't used it in the past few series.

As for Comfort Measures, it is an extremely long video, but you could use clips at various classes. I bought it to use as a doula trainer and for my own growth. I don't use it in my CBE classes, as I prefer to demonstrate and then have them try comfort measures one at a time, hands-on, so that they can feel it in their own bodies and I can help guide them on technique.

If you have a chunk of money to invest, the best use of that, IMO, would be to buy "Understanding Birth" from Injoy. On this one DVD you will have a very nice, natural, hospital birth story, stages of labor, comfort measures, and a section on cesarean birth. This one video could be used in 4 separate sessions! They do offer a discount for independent educators. There is a new revised version just out this year, and I heard about a month ago that they still have some copies of the "old" version, which they're selling at 1/2 price. That would be a good deal! I own both the old and new versions, and feel that the old one would still be very useable in class, it is certainly more updated than the Three R's.

Also, there is a Childbirth Supplies Swap Yahoo group, that can be a nice place to find educators who are selling DVDs and other teaching tools.

Good luck!

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I screamed during my labor, so I like the screaming woman. I warn them about her in advance and share my story, how for me the way I was vocalizing was a release, a comfort measure in itself. It was releasing all the intense physical emotions in a vocal way, so it looks like torture or something but on the inside it doesn't feel that way. and then they show her lying back and smiling a minute later. I think it's good to prepare them for as many possibilities as I can, so I do show the 3 Rs. I don't LOVE; I'd love, love, love a more modern hospital birth video. But I can't find any so I take what i can get. Responses to it have been mostly positive.

[AmieV]

on the screaming note...I think it's good for parents to see some more "out of control" births. I have a good friend who hollered at her midwives "This doesn't feel like LOVE!" through he contractions because she almost felt ill-prepared or like she was doing something wrong based on all the zen-like stuff she saw in movies like Birth Day. I had a student tell me just last week that she really liked the Business of Being Born because you see Kara freaking out during her birth and it let her know that if she freaks out, it's still ok, which is an important message. We need to let women know that natural births are crazy and messy and loud sometimes too, and just because someone is screaming doesn't mean they need an epidural!