Business Stuff - Part I

Right now there is a lot going on in my business life....way too much for one post!

The first thing has to do with Lamaze.

Earlier this year I had the privilege of attending a Passion for Birth training, which was fantastic! Passion For Birth is one of the steps that I took on the path to becoming a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator. We learned all kinds of interesting and innovative ways to add some life to our childbirth education classes.

I've been teaching private childbirth education classes for almost four years, and I teach a mix of methods - a little from Column A, some from Column B, etc. My thinking is that I want to give my couples all of the tools that I can to help them in their labor - that there isn't one "best" method. So why certify with Lamaze - probably the most well known method of childbirth education?

First of all, I discovered that Lamaze doesn't even CALL itself a "method" anymore! This is NOT your mama's Lamaze at all! They are changing, expanding, and not stuck in the 20th century. You can read more about today's Lamaze here.

And they aren't all about the breathing either! When I used to think of "Lamaze" the first thing I used to think was patterned breathing - hee-hee-hoo-hoo"

Boy was I wrong. Here is what their philosophy of birth is -
their philosophy is in BOLD with my comments in blue italics -
notice there is nothing about breathing at all!!

Birth is normal, natural and healthy. I can certainly get on board with this! Most of the time if you leave birth alone, women's bodies know what to do. Birth is not an illness!

The experience of birth profoundly affects women and their families. Exactly! This is one reason I work as a doula - to help make that experience the best that it can possibly be.

Women's inner wisdom guides them through birth. It amazes me seeing women in labor who have never been in labor before - they KNOW what to do! They don't need anyone teaching them how to breath or reminding them of what positions facilitate birth - they instintively KNOW what the best positions are for them, the best breathing for them.

Women's confidence and ability to give birth is either enhanced or diminished by the care provider and place of birth. This is HUGE! Women who trust and feel comfortable with their care provider and hospital have a much more positive experience - no matter WHAT happens in their labor and birth.


Women have the right to give birth free from routine medical interventions. They are not anti medical interventions - they are saying no ROUTINE interventions. If there is a reason that a particular intervention is needed for your particular birth - great! There is a time and a place for every intervention out there. And this is not anti-epidural either. All it is saying is - don't do things to everyone for no reasion. Don't give EVERY woman in labor an IV . Don't give EVERY woman in labor continuous monitoring, which will limit what she can do to manage her labor. Don't induce EVERY woman when she reaches her due date. Don't cut an episiotomy on EVERY woman. Don't assume that EVERY woman wants an epidural.


Birth can safely take place in homes, birth centers and hospitals. Lamaze is not anti-hospital and they are not hospital-only. They realize that some women feel safer and more comfortable in a hospital, some at home, and some at a birthing center. I only wish that the women of Central NJ had the CHOICE of a birthing center birth - if a Central NJ woman wants a birthing center birth, she needs to either travel to Pennyslvania, New York, or Delaware.

Childbirth education empowers women to make informed choices in health care, to assume responsibility for their health and to trust their inner wisdom. Hey - these are what MY goals are for my pregnant couples! I want them to be able to make informed choices in their labor and birth, to assume responsibility for their health - to ask their doctor questions, get information, etc. I want them to trust themselves and trust their bodies.

And that's their philosophy! I can't find anything on their website about breathing, and there is nothing about HEE-HEE HOO HOO, nothing about watching videos from the 70s.

The more I read about today's Lamaze, the more I felt like, "HEY! That's me! That's what I'm teaching!" And in today's world, I can't expect people to just take my word for it that I know what I'm talking about - it helps to have an outside organization to confirm that.

So I decided to pursue certification, and the Passion for Birth training was a part of that. Then in October I took the Lamaze exam and then three days ago, the results came out and...:::::drumroll::::::I passed!!! YAY!!!!!

So, I am now Lamaze certified, and am proud to be affiliated with Lamaze. I'm looking forward to helping more couples in the Central NJ area to develop more confidence about their choices in childbirth, and to help them to have the confidence, the information, and the tools they need to have a great birth!