As I dove deeper into birth work, the answer became clear. Many women feel disempowered because modern-day maternity care often follows a one-size-fits-all path, perpetuating our cultural disconnection from the experiences and possibilities within childbirth. I call this the Maternity Conveyor Belt, and it goes like this:

let's look at the cycle that nearly every first-time-parent-couple takes:

1. Couple receives positive pregnancy test

2. Care begins at a hospital-clinic

3. In the second trimester, couple signs up for a hospital-based childbirth education class.

Is this popular cyclical pattern serving families well? Consider this:

I talk about birth often. If we’ve had the pleasure of meeting, we’ve probably chatted birth! I have yet to hear of one family, ever, who has reported that they felt extremely confident and prepared as a result of their hospital based birth education class alone.

I have yet to meet a partner who knew his partner’s birth plan thoroughly, and how to advocate with appropriately-timed “yes, no’s, or let’s wait’s…”

I have yet to meet mamas who told me the 5, 6, 7 different positions she knew to work through as early labor turned active, active turned transitional, transitional turned pushing.

Friend, as you can see, more than head-knowledge is needed to adequately prepare for birth. One simply cannot expect that a four-week series class is going to lead to adequate birth preparation. This is a vital component—the process of education translating to preparation— that most first-time parents completely skip over, and it does not fair well on labor-day.