Active birth classes?

[chipsandmushypeas]

Has anyone taken active birth classes? I was planning on booking the weekend workshop at the activebirth centre. Was it helpful? I want to get tips for staying calm, good movements to do during labour, breathing etc.

Dh and I did that workshop - it was phenomenal. Best money we have spent. Learned loads about how to help birth go as smoothly as possible whatever the circumstances. Lots or relaxation and massage and how best to work with your body in labour, but also really strong info on different interventions, the circumstances where they really might be needed and how to work with them. Dd was prem and so I needed continuous monitoring and a drip. But the workshop gave ne and dh the confidence to take as much control as we safely could - and dd had a very positive birth in spite of the circumstances. She was distressed and needed to be born quickly and I'm pretty sure I would have ended up with a c section without the workshop. Also did an Nct course to meet other local parents and there was no comparison in the depth of info. The active birth workshop was also hugely valuable in helping dh and I work as a team in labour. Both of us would recommend it more than wholeheartedly.

Yes, I have an had three out of four children with only gas and air and I wouldn't say I have a particularly high pain threshold. I lived in Oz when I had DD1 and went to classes by JuJu Sundin. She has a book called Birth Skills you can get on Amazon that I read for the other births as we were back in the UK. She is not anti-drugs as she had them herself just gives you techniques for getting as far as you can without drugs. She also gives easy to understand explanations for the pain ie. muscle fatigue in non-medical terms for anyone to understand.

A book I would definitely recommend.