Tell me about lamaze...

[waterbirth]

My name is Melissa; I am a SAHM of 3 expecting #4. I have been interested in helping others during pregnancy and birth since the birth of our 1st child 7 years ago. I'd love to apprentice as a homebirth midwife--that is my ultimate dream--but it won't happen until my kids are older.

So, I'm leaning toward becoming a cert. CBE. I'm thinking that to get clients in my area, I would probably need to have "name recognition". I'm considering Bradley also, but have read lots of negative things about their training/rigidity.

So, what about Lamaze? At first, I thought "no way", but that was before I even looked at their website. It isn't anything like the lamaze that I heard about in years past. It seems very natural-birth oriented, and they even mention homebirth. My only concern is that that Lamaze name might carry negative connotations (I know it did for me), and that the hospital in our town (of about 36,000--the largest city in our rural county) also teaches a "Lamaze" class so I'm wondering if that would detract from what I would be offering under the Lamaze name.

I definitely appreciate any input as I consider my choices. :)

[Wendyesm]

Hi, Melissa!
I'm working on my Lamaze certification right now, and I had some of the same feelings and thoughts you're describing. I thought it was the really conservative, medical, old-timey childbirth preparation, but it's really not. Finally, a very wise woman friend of mine who has been a Lamaze-certified educator and Dona doula for years encouraged me to get my lamaze cert as well. Basically, I'm finding that it's actually very open and holistic, "birth is normal" is the motto, you probably saw. I like that they don't force you to teach any one way (there are guidelines for the curriculum, but they're basically what you would want to teach anyway) and there's a lot of room for you to individualize your teaching style. (In fact, they encourage it.) I think the *good* thing about the Lamaze name is that *everyone* has heard of it-- and so lots of parents who don't know where else to start go there, and then you can hook them in to natural birth. ;) The certification process really isn't too bad once you just take a deep breath, make the commitment, and jump in. It's also a well-regarded certification, so you can get a job teaching at a hospital or birth-center or something, which takes the constant stress of finding clients out of a career in childbirth education. I've been teaching privately for the past couple of years, after working on a Birthing from Within program, which I really loved from a philosophical and practical perspective. But getting certified in that is really difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and while it's personally very valuable (it's a FABULOUS philosophy and method), it doesn't get you very far professionally-- since very few people have heard of it, and most hospitals wouldn't hire a BFW-certified educator anyway. So it depends on what you're looking for. (I mean absolutely no disrespect to Pam England, who pioneered BFW. She is fabulous and her method is fabulous, and I strongly recommend that EVERY childbirth educator attend her level one workshop, at least-- it's amazing and mind-blowing, and will forever change what you will do with clients). But I think having the LCCE credential is a very useful thing for your professional status and money-making potential (which, let's face it, women should be able to consider ONCE IN A WHILE, right!!???!). Being a LCCE is also really useful for your continuing education-- they send fabulous research summaries, a great journal, and really keep you well-informed and up on all the latest things happening in birth. And the Lamaze instructors are a great network. I'd also recommend trying to do a doula training, if not actually becoming a doula, since the two "jobs" go really well hand-in-hand (I'm also a CD(DONA), and love it.)

BEst of luck with your journey, and with blending birth work and motherhood!!
Wendy
mom of a five-year-old DD, and a two-year-old DS

[waterbirth]

Thanks so much for the reply Wendy. :) I'm glad to hear about your experience. I did get the impression that teaching Lamaze would allow more "freedom" so I'm glad to hear you confirm that.

Did you do the workshop? I'm still trying to figure out exactly how the training works.

As far as hospital teaching goes, I'm not really sure that I want to be affiliated with the hospital (not the one where I am anyway). I do realize that most of my clients would be having their babies in the hospital, though. And I have considered doula cert. The 1st birth I attended as an "assistant" doula was in our local hospital and it was horrible because they require constant EFM, IV, etc. (they have a C-sect rate of 50%). They told the mom at one point that she would just *have* to lie on her back because they couldn't pick up the heartbeat any other way w/ the continuous EFM. This was a totally normal pregnancy and labor BTW.
BUT, many moms in our area go to a different hosp. that is about 40 min. away so I might be able to doula there. In fact I have a friend who lives in that town and does a lot of doula work there.

Anyway...sorry to ramble. :)

[gemasita]

You might also just look into Hypnobabies. The reason I looked into it was that I was reading some posts about birth hypnosis and people seemed to love Hypnobabies. I didn't hear as many positive comments about Hypnobirthing (I am not knocking them - just telling you what I read) so I decided to look into Hypnobabies instructor training. It is not as well known - there are only about 30 certified instructors whereas Hypnobirthing has a thousand or so. And the curriculum is very set, I believe (which I happen to like but you may not). This may not be the direction you are going in but I just thought I would mention it as another method that's out there. I agree with you that Lamaze (and Bradley for that matter) have certain connotations but I definitely need to learn more about them so that I will know what I am talking about with my clients and can give them accurate information about the methods.

I am a doula-in-training, btw, and plan to teach Hypnobabies in addition to that once I go to the training.

[Wendyesm]

My goodness! Your experience at your local hospital sounds awful! I can understand why you'd have doubts teaching at a place with such rigid protocols! (So the women in your community REALLY need you to be there to give them confidence in normal birth!!) Private teaching is very appealing for that reason, because nobody's monitoring what you're saying and teaching (i.e., you can actually admit that there are benefits *and* risks to epidurals, not just introduce the anesthesiologist). Every hospital and community are different, so you have to find what works best for your and your own philosophy of birth, your lifestyle, and your needs.

As for the Lamaze workshop, it is three days (or two and a half, really), and they have them in lots of different places around the country. I was able to attend one only a couple of hours from my home, although I did stay overnight for two nights to do so. It worked out for me, because I was able to get my sister-in-law to watch my kids during the day while my husband worked. Sometimes it's tricky, of course, to figure all that out with childcare and all-- but when you make the commitment to just do it, and the time is right for you, the arrangement will just present itself. Don't give up!

BEst of luck with your journey,
Wendy

[shayinme]

I am bumping this because I am interested in training to become a CBE through Lamaze and want to know if there are any other folks with Lamaze expeiriece around here?

Shay

[doula and mom]

I took Lamaze before the birth of my twins, and did not like the experience. Basically we were taught how to breathe until active labor, when we'd get the epidural. Seriously. :(

[shayinme]

That's interesting, their website sounds like they have really overhauled their approach to childbirth and it seems a lot mpre holistic than what I would have thought. However before I sign up I really wanna get feedback from someone who is familiar with their POV.

[ldsapmom]

I am working on my LCCE through Passion for Birth. If you are interested, I would highly recommend that program. Their philosophy is to stomp out boring birth classes, so they have excellent ideas and approaches for teaching. I am super excited about it all. I am also a DONA birth doula. Check out www.passionforbirth.com for more info. What is nice, too, is you don't have to fork out all the cash at one time, which helps our family.