Childbirth Prep 5 Week Series: In-Person
Please note: Registration includes two caregivers of the same child.
The non-member rate for this 5 Week Series is $536 and the member rate is $429. The registration fee includes two caregivers. Click here to purchase your membership today.
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Class Description
We strongly recommend that you complete your prenatal education before your 36th week of pregnancy. Starting this course between weeks 28-32 will allow you time to comfortably integrate the content into your birth preparation and further explore topics that spark your interest.
Note: Many classes fill up quickly! The earlier you register, the more options and flexibility you'll have regarding class dates and times.
The Natural Resources Childbirth Prep 5 Week course educates and empowers parents to make informed decisions around the birth of their child. Each educator presents the skills and knowledge which most greatly encourage a supported, calm, and positive labor and birth. Built into the framework of the course are practices of deep relaxation, breath work, visualization and mindfulness. Educators thoroughly frame birth as normal and natural while providing tools for understanding and working with fear.
At times, the curriculum may resonate with Hypnobirthing or HypnoBabies, Bradley, Lamaze, Birthing From Within or Birthworks, Mindfulness Based Childbirth Prep or Calm Birth. Rather than a single method, the Natural Resources Childbirth Prep course is designed to cover extensive ground which is particularly relevant to labor and birth in the San Francisco Bay Area. This ensures that each family is empowered and informed to find what works best for them. All of the Childbirth instructors also draw from practical experience attending births or working with new parents and babies directly. While many of the birthing people taking this class will go on to have unmedicated births, our real focus is on "normal" or physiologic birth. We define "normal birth" as birth with confidence and joy rather than with fear guiding decisions or actions.
Please Note:
-Content covered in these sessions is included in the Details section below.
-The course fee includes a supplemental digital booklet filled with supporting information and resources.
- You may be eligible for full or partial reimbursement for this course through your insurance. Click here to view more details.- Registration includes the pregnant person and one support person.
-This class is intended for pregnant people. If you or your partner are not pregnant, or you are interested in attending as a professional, please contact us at classes@naturalresources-sf.com for more information.
IMPORTANT IN-PERSON POLICY: If health and safety concerns warrant it (uptick in COVID-19 infection, poor air quality due to wild fires, etc) all in-person classes may be moved to a virtual format. Refunds and rescheduling, would not be offered in these circumstances. By signing up for in-person classes you are agreeing to this stipulation. We reserve the right to make this change at our discretion.
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Details
The outline listed below is intended to serve as a loose guide for your class time pending the interests of each cohort. Our facilitators skillfully prepare for each cohort by reading through student submissions before the start of session 1. You will receive a welcome email 5 days prior to the series with the link to the questionnaire.
Your facilitators welcome feedback throughout the course to ensure they are meeting student expectations while presenting accurate and up-to-date information.
Class 1: Overview & Stages of Labor, Anatomy & Physiology, Preparation in Pregnancy
Class 2: First Stage of Labor
Class 3: 2nd & 3rd Stages of Labor, Interventions
Class 4: Comfort Measures & Pain-Coping
Class 5: Common Routines, Your Newborn & Postpartum
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Facilitator(s)
Amita Graham MSN, RN, WHNP-BC, CNM, I became a doula in 1998 when my daughter was 2 years old. My own low-intervention, birth center birth attended by midwives, and working as a doula, validated my desire to become a midwife. I recognized how hard it is to attend births with a little one at home. Since I had a young family, I chose the slow path to midwifery. I focus my career on breastfeeding and lactation support, health education, and nutrition. I raised my daughter in Tucson, Arizona, where I also attended the University of Arizona, earning a BS in Community Health Science and an MPH in Family Child Health/Global Health. I became an IBCLC in 2007, and I still hold this certification. Eventually, when my daughter graduated from high school in 2014, I moved to California and attended the Nurse-Midwifery program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). I have worked in Family Child Health professions for over 20 years. I worked at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) - Newborn Connections as a lactation consultant from 2014 to 2020. During my time in midwifery school, I had the privilege of working in Women’s and Children’s Services at many Bay Area hospitals, including UCSF Mission Bay, Zuckerberg San Francisco General, Kaiser San Francisco, Stanford, Sutter Mission Bernal, Mt Zion Women’s Health Clinic, and Highland Hospital in Oakland. Through the years, my professional roles have included Doula, Health Educator, Early Childhood Health and Nutrition Director, Public Health Consultant, Lactation Consultant, Nurse Practitioner, and Midwife. I have experience working with national programs aimed at improving health outcomes for families and children, including CenteringPregnancy® Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, Head Start, and the Women Infant and Child’s (WIC) programs, Currently I serve as the President of the California Nurse Midwives Association (CNMA), doing what I can to support policy and practice for women’s health and midwifery care in California and nationally. I find joy in working with a diverse population and have a special interest in improving health outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). As a BIPOC person, I understand the importance of racially concordant care. I strive to bring a humble approach to the communities I serve. As a compassionate health care provider, I provide highly effective, personalized emotional and physical support and gender-affirming care to people of all ages and stages of life, including pre- and postmenopausal, pregnant, and postpartum. My goal is to improve health outcomes for families and communities in the Bay Area. I enjoy spending time with my family. I live with my husband, Aaron, and my niece, Nora. My 18-month-old granddaughter, Dakota, lives in Arizona with my daughter, Lily, and we visit each other often. In our free time, we love cruising around San Francisco Bay in our sailboat. I also enjoy gardening and making herbal teas, salves, and remedies. I like to cook, dance, and spend quality time with friends.
Briana Tejuco is a wife, mother of three boys and an active community advocate. She is passionate about educating, validating, and celebrating life transitions. Briana provides doula support to expecting families in the Bay Area. However you choose to give birth, Briana honors it as a sacred ceremony. She is here to serve you through physical, emotional, and informational support during pregnancy, birth & postpartum.
Nile Nash MSN, RN, WHNP-BC, CNM is a mama of two little boys and currently offers postpartum midwifery care packages and sleep consultations. Nile is also certified as a Child Passenger Safety Technician through Safe Kids Worldwide and will renew her certification every two years. Nile's technician number is SKID #T839019. Her practice, Mama Lion, was born in 2005 when she started out as a DONA Doula and Birthing From Within Mentor before attending UCSF’s MEPN Master’s program from 2007-2010 to become a nurse midwife. Mama Lion Midwifery thrived in San Francisco for 9 years in the beautiful community of homebirth midwives in the Bay Area. The last few years have been consumed by birthing and raising two little ones during the pandemic and tending to her family. The newest chapter of her calling as a midwife has focused Nile’s professional role on the fourth trimester postpartum period. Mama Lion now cares for families who birth in the hospital but have the wisdom to set up a postpartum plan. Nile is thrilled to be working with the Natural Resources family as the newest facilitator of the New Mothers Circle and the Pregnant Together Circle. www.mamalion.org.