I offer Lamaze childbirth classes for expectant parents – both small group classes in Jersey City and Hoboken as well as private and semi-private childbirth education in the comfort of your home.
{certification & experience}
I am a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE), the only childbirth educator certification accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). In addition to my Lamaze training and certification, I am a DONA Certified Birth Doula with practical experience with laboring women in different settings, including a variety of local hospitals.
{LAMAZE childbirth education}
This is not a class about breathing. The goal of these classes is to empower you and your partner in knowing childbirth is normal & natural and your body has been designed to create & sustain life, bring your baby to this world, and nourish your baby. The Lamaze Healthy Birth Practices help simplify your birth process with a natural approach that helps alleviate your fears and manage pain. Evidence-based information and knowledge you gain through these classes will boost your confidence and allow you and your partner to take a more proactive approach during the birth of your child.
“If I don’t know my options, I don’t have any.”
Diana Korte
{topics covered}
Important terms, choosing the right caregiver and place of birth, prenatal testing and ultrasounds, recognizing labor, anatomy and hormonal orchestration of labor and birth, common interventions (monitoring, induction, augmentation, labor-related drugs, episiotomy, etc.), pain management options, comfort techniques, labor support, environment (the role of intimacy and privacy, etc.), pushing options, immediate postpartum procedures (skin-to-skin, bonding, breastfeeding, etc.), immediate newborn procedures (umbilical cord, vernix, placenta, eye ointment, first bath, etc.), newborn care and more.
{learn more}
Learn more about class schedule, location, registration and pricing.
{private childbirth education versus hospital classes}
There are not enough quality childbirth education classes in our area. By quality classes I mean those which would offer unbiased, evidence-based information while leaving you empowered and confident. So I created {Fearless Mama l Gentle Birth} classes to fill the gap. Currently, majority of childbirth classes in our area are being offered by local hospitals – these classes present biased information and cater to their own interest and policies rather than your own satisfaction and well-being. Hospital c-section rates are a valid proof these classes fail to work. If they worked, majority of women giving birth in these hospitals would be giving birth vaginally. Instead, a staggering half of laboring women ends up under the scalpel in the O.R. This is not OK. Check out the 2012 cesarean rates of our local hospitals:
Taking a childbirth class in a hospital with a c-section rate between 40-55% is a waste of time. It’s like taking a course on organic meals from a farmer who uses pesticides on half of his produce. He may talk a little about organic apples, but does it really matter when half of his apples are sprayed with chemicals? Surely, he may try to sell you the pesticide-covered apple too. He may even trick you to believing it’s good for you and you need it! Conclusion: if you want a quality, unbiased, evidence-based information, stay away from our hospitals’ childbirth classes. Choose truthful information. Because information is the only weapon in your battle for a safe, beautiful, gentle childbirth.
Bamboola Baby 