This is the class for people who like to have information. It builds on what you learn in Birth Basics, so I highly recommend taking that class first.

In this class, we discuss interventions as tools. We create "birth goals," and we see interventions as tools to reach those goals. For every family, the first goal is a safe and healthy birth, but our planning doesn't end there. I want you to have a birth that is also satisfying, and that creates a memory you can look back on with joy. You may have specific goals in mind: a physiologic birth, a birth without an epidural, a birth with one, an idea of how you want to feel, or something else entirely. I want to help you prepare for your best birth, however it unfolds.

In this class, you'll learn:

• Your options, including the "secret menu" at the hospital: options many families don't know to ask about. Curious about sterile water injections for pain management? Want to catch your baby? Keep your placenta attached to your baby for an hour? We cover it.

• How to advocate for your wishes, communicate with your care team, and be an informed decision maker

• All the types of fetal monitoring, when and how they're used, and why you might choose different types at different points

• A deep dive into induction: the evidence-based strategies that may work at home, how to decide when induction is right for you, the methods used, and how to support your physiology in a more medicalized birth

• Less common interventions, like amnioinfusions, vacuums and episiotomies, and when they might be the right choice

• Real birth scenarios, and how to navigate the unexpected

• Evidence-based strategies to reduce your risk of cesarean

• The current guidelines California hospitals actually use when writing policy and providing care, so you know what to put on your birth plan and what's already standard practice

Birth can get pretty weird, so I don’t make promises, but my hope is that you don’t encounter anything you’ve never heard of before, and if you do, you feel empowered to communicate and ask questions about what is happening with your body and your baby.