Heightened demand for Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital’s two year-old childbirth education series has prompted hospital officials to expand the program and increase the frequency of course offerings.
As of January, The Labor Of Love Childbirth Education Program, which was previously held over a six-week course, will now be offered over a seven-week span with the addition of the Transitions to Parenthood class that was typically offered independently.
“While most new parents prepare themselves for many of the changes they expect to encounter following the birth of their child, they often fail to prepare themselves for the tremendous psychological changes that they will experience during this time,” said Sally McGann, RN, MSN, director of the Women’s Services Unit. “This class offers critical information about what expectant couples should expect and helps them understand the changes involved within their relationship and emotional well being.”
Diana Lynn Barnes, PSY.D. a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in the assessment and treatment of postpartum illness, will teach the class. “We live in a culture that romanticizes pregnancy and childbirth without accounting for any of the stress of this extraordinary life change,” she says. “The physiological gestation period is also a time of psychological gestation as parents move towards this transitional period.”
Classes that make up the Labor of Love Childbirth Education Seven-Week series include:
• Session 1: Introduction, Communication, Exercise and Pregnancy Tips
• Session 2: Stages of Labor including Relaxation Techniques, Breathing Techniques
• Session 3: Active Labor, Transition, Pushing and Epidurals
• Session 4: Cesarean Section, Newborn Appearance and Newborn Care
• Session 5: Transition to Parenthood, with Dr. Diana Barnes
• Session 6: Child and Infant Safety
• Session 7: Breastfeeding
Childbirth education classes take place Tuesdays from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Greeley Education Center. The cost per couple is $225. Seven-week sessions begin January 8; February 26; April 22; June 24; September 2 and October 14.
A reduced offering of classes for busy parents or second-time parents is available on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The intensive Saturday classes cover Sessions 1-4 only and costs $150 per couple. Saturday classes take place January 12; February 9; March 8; April 12; May 10; June 14; July 12; August 9; September 13; October 11; November 8 and December 13.
For more information about Henry Mayo’s Labor of Love Childbirth Education Program, call 661-253-8607. To register for classes visit www.henrymayo.com.