Tag Archive for: childbirth classes

Frederick 5 | Our Favorite Spots in Frederick, Maryland

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Big News! We’re excited to announce we’re expanding our classes into Frederick. Our signature educational series with the same committment to evidence-based curriculum will now be hosted at Indigo Physiotherapy.

Uplifting the local community that we serve is always a goal of ours so we’ve gathered 5 of our favorite spots from our two favorite Frederick residents on the team.

Join us on May 4th for our one day Birth Basics class and then head to one of our favorite spots and make a day of it!

Shopping

Curious Iguana Bookstore

Hours: 

Monday & Tuesday 10AM–6PM

Wednesday – Sunday 10AM-8PM

Website: https://curiousiguana.com/

Instagram: @curiousiguana

Address: 12 North Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701

Curious Iguana is an independent bookstore located in downtown Frederick. Since 2013 they have offered a wide array of books written by diverse authors for children and adults alike. In addition to being a mainstay gathering space, they’re also a benefit corporation, donating a portion of their sales to different non-profits. Enjoy the warm and inviting atmosphere and pick up a new favorite read while you’re there!

 

Dancing Bear Toys

Hours: 

Sunday – Tuesday 10AM–6PM

Wednesday – Saturday 10AM-8PM

Website: https://dbeartoys.com/

Instagram: @dbeartoys

Address: 15 East Patrick Street, Frederick, MD 21701

First opened in 2000, Dancing Bear Toys is owned and operated by the very same people who brought you Curious Iguana! A fiercely Frederick-loving space, Dancing Bear believes that fun, play, and giving back are important for all. Carrying a wide array of toys that help spark imagination and creativity, you’ll find everything from the latest slimes and fidget toys to retro and classic toys like stuffed animals and wooden blocks.

 

Food & Beverages

Frederick Coffee Co & Cafe

Hours: 

Monday – Sunday 6AM-6PM

Website: https://fredcoffeeco.com/

Instagram: @FrederickCoffeeCo

Address: 100 N. East Street, Frederick, MD 21701

A part of Frederick since 1991, Frederick Coffee Co & Cafe moved into its current location, which was previously a southwestern furniture store, one year after they opened. Creating specialty coffee drinks like their Sweet Bee or Almond Joy as well as offering classics like a Chai Latte and a London Fog, coffee and tea lovers alike will easily find their favorites. In addition to a full drink menu, the Cafe also offers wraps, sandwiches, and soup combos!

 

Prospect Point Brewing

Hours: 

Monday – Wednesday Closed

Thursday 3PM-7PM

Friday 3PM-9PM

Saturday 12PM-9PM

Sunday 12PM-6PM

Website: https://www.prospectpointbrewing.com/

Instagram: @prospect_point_brewing

Address: 5500a Jefferson Pike, Frederick, MD 21703

Located on Carroll Farms, Prospect Point Brewing is just outside of Frederick. Offering outdoor seating, this family owned and operated brewery is child and pet friendly! Indoors, the taproom offers a view of the brewery’s operations alongside large windows for a bright and beautiful experience. Offering a draft list ranging from IPA to Sours and Seltzers as well as Sodas and Juice boxes for the kids, this is a great spot to come with friends, on a date, or the whole family.

 

Black Ankle Winery

Hours: 

Monday – Thursday 12PM-5PM

Friday 12PM-9PM

Saturday 11AM-9PM

Sunday 11AM-6PM

Website: https://www.blackankle.com/

Instagram: @blackanklevineyards

Address: 14463 Black Ankle Road, Mt. Airy, MD 217713

Outside of Frederick you’ll find the beautiful Black Ankle Winery. Worth the short drive, this sustainable and ethical Vineyard offers handmade wine in a gorgeous setting. With regular food trucks and live music, you’ll be able to make a full trip to their tasting room. They pride themselves on growing all the grapes used to make their wine and offer both indoor and outdoor seating.

 

Frederick is an understandably up-and-coming area with incredible pride for their city and tons of opportunities to support small, family-owned businesses. We couldn’t be more excited to share our evidence-based education with the community and help share this vibrant place with others!

 

To register for our upcoming Spring Session of Birth Basics visit this page.

Doula Support & Childbirth Education Are Like Cookies & Milk

Some things in life are made better when they’re together. Milk and cookies. Peanut butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Doula support and childbirth education. All solid choices independently but the combination of the two is unmatched. Maybe you haven’t heard of that last one, but I promise you, it’s just as cohesive of a relationship as milk and cookies! 

Hiring a birth doula helps ensure you and your partner are supported and confident during your pregnancy and birth journey. Just knowing that you will have someone whose sole focus is YOU during this process can relieve so much unanticipated stress. 

In order to ensure you receive the most out of your experience with a birth doula, it is beneficial to ALSO invest in a quality childbirth education workshop!

Here are three reasons why you (and your partner) will benefit from the combination of doula support and childbirth education workshops:

Your DOB doula is intimately familiar with our childbirth education curriculum. 

She is able to help you recall 3rd trimester health and safety information and communicate your preferences and priorities for your birth experience with your care provider through your pregnancy. Recognizing that your body was preparing for labor (hello too many trips to the bathroom!) meant you were able to give your doula a much appreciated heads up at 9 pm instead of 3 am! During labor, your doula can offer reminders to use your  B.R.A.I.N. to make decisions and ensure your partner feels confident with how and when to use the hip squeeze they learned during Comfort Measures. 

Your childbirth education workshop will set the framework for what to expect. 

Having a foundational knowledge of the ‘what ifs’ of pregnancy and birth can help you to avoid potentially serious complications. Unfortunately, not every aspect of pregnancy, labor, birth, and/or postpartum always goes perfectly according to plan. For example, because you’ve taken a childbirth education course together, your partner was able to recognize that the persistent headache you’ve had for the last 24 hours, may be outside of the range of normal and requires a call to your provider. Having the knowledge of what is expected at each stage of this journey helps you to better understand the process, communicate your concerns, and make decisions that are best for your family.

A well-prepared partner means better support for you.

Taking a workshop together takes the responsibility to inform and educate your partner, off of your shoulders. Chances are that you, as the birthing person, have shouldered much of the responsibility in researching and preparing for the birth of your baby. You may have sent resources – books, podcasts, TikTok videos, and articles in their direction but most partners benefit more from receiving information directly from a unbiased professional. 

Having access to a professional birth doula throughout your pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum experiences means having a sounding board for thoughts, questions, and concerns.

But the saying is true, you don’t know what you don’t know. Taking a childbirth education workshop and conferring with your doula can help you to devise questions for your providers so you aren’t left responding “I don’t know; what should I be asking?” at the end of your next prenatal visit!

3 Ways Independent Birth Classes Stand Out

There are pros and cons for all the birth classes on the market, and depending on what you are looking for from a class (your personal goals for your birth, your schedule, and the like) many of the mainstream birth classes can be unappealing.

You may feel like taking a childbirth series is one more thing to do before your baby arrives, but this is one thing that could make an incredible difference to your birth experience.

Childbirth education classes share information that is not just about the physiological birth process, but the myriad of options that could be present at the birth of your child. And, if you pick a quality class, it is about much more than that.

Most parents are asking their providers for recommendations of where to attend, and for many, that means signing up for the hospital’s class. But not every childbirth class is created equal.

We want to share why choosing an independent professional childbirth education class could be one of the best things you do for you and your baby.

1) All The Options

Because our childbirth classes are taught outside of the hospital, our instructors are free to share all options and not only those that support hospital policy. As independent instructors we focus on sharing information, explaining the many options available during labor and birth, and the various scenarios that may arise. This way our students feel informed and prepared to enter their own experience.

We are invested in getting you the knowledge for the type of birth that you desire, and the delivery you will have.

Are you looking for a low intervention birth?

Are you curious about epidurals?

Are you curious about what to do before you get an epidural?

We give easy-to-understand knowledge, and tools to help you bring your plan to life, and, if necessary, help to navigate the unexpected.

2) Specialized Birth Educators

Once you decide to take a childbirth class, why not rest assured your instructor is someone connected and knowledgeable about birth in your area. To be a childbirth educator with Doulas of Baltimore, years of study, hundreds of hours teaching, and first-hand experience helping families in labor are what make the difference.

The nuance of birth is such that there is no pattern that everyone will follow. However, with enough time working with families, a new kind of skill develops which your teacher is happy to share with class attendees. It may be silly to say, but that ability is having trust and confidence in birth. When you know what is possible, and learn the necessary skills to discuss needs and wishes with your care providers, you increase the potential for an excellent birth experience.

3) Partners Enjoy Them

There’s a stereotype that non-pregnant partners are uninterested in attending or participating in birth classes. We find birth partners engaged in our classes and happy to feel more confident when class has ended!

We do not shove you into a classroom with grainy videos of birth from the 1970s, and we don’t make a screen the focus of the class. We know your time is valuable, and endeavor to make our time together result in you having more confidence about your child’s birth. And more confident about how to interact with one another during your baby’s birth.

If you’re not convinced yet, read testimonials from former students and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. If you are ready to get started – head straight to our class registration page!

 

4 Lessons from Childbirth Education that Helped Us Get Through COVID

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At the very beginning of our Complete Childbirth Education classes in Baltimore, we ask you to fill in sentences about how you feel about birth. While “I am nervous about…” is definitely not the same for everyone, over the last year, COVID-19 has made expecting parents nervous. And it brings up lots of questions for new moms: What does coronavirus mean for a hospital stay? Could baby meet grandma and grandpa? Who will be able to help me after delivery? 

Although 2020 was totally unexpected, at Doulas of Baltimore, we’ve tried to keep the safe, nurturing, and smart perspective we’ve had serving you for the last 7 years. As things are slowly getting back to normal, we wanted to share how 4 lessons from our CBE classes helped us get through this past year. 

Need to Make a Decision? Use Your B.R.A.I.N.!

Use your B.R.A.I.N is a philosophy we use in class. When making a decision, think about benefits, risks, alternatives, intuition, and what would happen if you did nothing. At the very beginning of the pandemic, we used this philosophy to think about what services we could safely offer to you all. While we’ve always known the benefits of comprehensive support, there were many risks involved in continuing in-person classes and doula support. Our intuition (and clients and friends who work in medicine) helped us make the call to move all of our support to an alternative – virtual classes and support – until it was safe to be in person again. 

Confidence and Support Help Get Us Through

Doulas are experts who provide steadfast and nonjudgemental support to you and your family during pregnancy, labor, and after baby arrives. While our classes continued with all of the regular topics, we also dealt with the most pressing issue: navigating the obstacles of COVID. What is the absolute need-to-know information? How can we help make this a less stressful situation in a very stressful climate? Like in all of our classes, we focused on evidence-based information and provided straight talk about birth and postpartum care in the pandemic. We also used that same evidence-based information to make decisions about how to run our business and what we could safely offer to clients. 

Take a Deep Breath 

Was that a contraction? A real contraction? Or just pre-labor? In our classes, we always go over the stages of labor  and how to tell the difference. Over this past year, each time a wave of infections started coming down and businesses started opening up, it was almost like Braxton Hicks contractions. They are stressful, because you are trying to figure out if they are real or not, but ultimately, they are not the real thing. 

When we went virtual, we wanted to wait until it was safe and realistic to provide in person support again, and we wanted to know the difference between pre-labor and real labor. The last thing we wanted to do was tell a client, “Yes, we can be with you in the hospital,” and then back out. Now, as vaccinations are available for everyone, case numbers remain low, and hospitals have permanently re-opened for professional doula support, we can offer in-person support again. 

Adapting is Key

If you’ve been in one of our classes or been pregnant, you know: labor takes many paths. And what you want to do is know the unexpected situations and what to do about them. No one knew what 2020 would bring us or when, and adapting to the ever-changing scenarios has become key to keeping our support going. We were able to bring classes to a virtual space, and some aspects of online meeting and learning are great (including no commutes on weeknights!). This is one reason we plan to continue to offer some classes online in the future. However, some things such as comfort measures, are hard to teach over Zoom. And, a big part of what we do is supporting you during and after birth, in person. So, we are adapting again. This fall, we will be offering a few classes in person in addition to our online Complete Childbirth Education class, and we have begun working one-on-one with families in person again for both birth doula support and in-home postpartum and newborn care

You can find out more about our classes here and contact us to find out more about in person doula support this summer and fall. 

Pregnant & Worried about COVID-19?

Are you pregnant and worried about how COVID-19 will affect your pregnancy care and birth? We have been reading all we can. Of course, the available information is new and constantly changing. 

Our goal is to provide you with solid resources so that you can have answers you are looking for while cutting out all the extra static.

As of now (3/21/2020), we have located two informative pieces that cover a lot of expectant parents’ concerns:

Please let us know what questions you have and share with us any links or information that you have found particularly helpful. 

As for Doulas of Baltimore, we have moved to virtual childbirth classes and virtual birth doula support. Our in-home postpartum support is on a brief pause as our doulas and clients get through a minimum of 14 days of social isolation and then schedule in person support of a case by case basis. **

We know the services and resources we offer are needed, in this time more than ever, and want to ensure that we continue to deliver professional, consistent support to the expectant and new families in the Baltimore area. This will not look like you had been imaging but together we can help relieve some of your worries.

** UPDATE 04/01/2020: We have redesigned our services to meet the current needs of expectant and new families during this time. We are now offering three separate options for doula support during this time of social distancing – Pregnancy Support, Virtual Birth Support, and Newborn Care Support. More information is available on our Virtual Doula Support page.