Whatever stage of pregnancy you're in,
Great Starts offers helpful resources to guide you on your journey.
Early Pregnancy
Class:
Early Pregnancy. Learn about
nutrition, exercises, coping with common discomforts, prenatal
care, and choosing a birth place.
Register Now! Full
details.
Articles:
Coping with common discomforts of
pregnancy,
Choosing a Care Provider,
Choosing a Birth Place,
10 Questions to Ask Birth Places,
Choosing a Doula,
One page
summary of the Great Starts Guide to Seattle area hospitals, birth
centers, and midwives.
Web Resources:
March of Dimes
and
WomensHealth.gov offer information on nutrition, exercise, prenatal tests, and
substances to avoid.
Consulting: If you would like
personalized information about choosing a care provider or
birthplace, or preparing a plan for your birth, you can schedule a
one-on-one meeting with Penny Simkin, author and educator.
More
info.
Childbirth Preparation
Classes. Plan to take your
childbirth preparation classes so they end about 2 - 5 weeks
before your due date.
Birth & Parenting Preparation Series.
Our most comprehensive class, most recommended for first-time
parents. Includes info from Labor & Birth, Newborn Care, and
Breastfeeding classes.
Register Now!
Full
details.
Labor & Birth Only.
The essential
information about what to expect: how labor begins, what labor and
birth are like, ways to cope with labor pain, and information about
medical procedures. Register
Now!
Full
details.
Working with Labor Pain. A workshop
which focuses on pain coping skills, and hands-on practice of labor
support. Appropriate for first-time or experienced parents,
especially those planning a birth without pain medication.
Register Now!
Full
details.
Better Birth Refresher.
For
experienced parents. Interactive, and customized to meet the needs
of class members, focussed on the information they most need to
prepare for this birth. Includes info on VBAC.
Register Now!
Full
details.
Articles:
Basic Guide to Labor & Birth.
The "3 R's" of Coping with Labor Pain,
Decreasing your Chances of an Unplanned Cesarean.
One page
summary of the Great Starts Guide to Seattle area hospitals, birth
centers, and midwives.
Caring for Baby.
Don't forget to check out all our
classes under
Preparing for a New Baby. These include breastfeeding, newborn
care, sibling preparation. Infant safety and CPR classes
can be found
here.
Helpful Resources for Pregnancy and Birth
Recommended Books: We believe that the best available
books on pregnancy, labor and birth are the ones that we write! Find out more about our books
here.
You will find some additional book
recommendations
here.
What Students
Have Said About our Birth Classes.
"Great Starts is a fantastic program that provided me the tools and
confidence I needed to have a natural labor and delivery."
"Great Starts birth class is really fun. It's neat meeting a group
of people who are all due at the same time that you are. Being
pregnant for the first time you have no idea what to expect of
labor, delivery, or the first weeks of parenthood, but being part of
a birthing class takes a lot of the fear out of this uncertain time."
"We have already recommended the class
to our friends: Great Starts does a great job of presenting a
balance of perspectives, draws a diverse group of parents, and has
wonderfully experienced instructors!"
