Birthing Preparation with Emily: Session 1 of 4

You have made the right choices and plans for where and how you will give birth. You trust your body to take you through this amazing process in a safe and supportive environment. But what does labor and birth really look and feel like? What can your partner and birth team do to support you? What do you need to know if things take an unexpected turn?

This four-part series will cover:

• Healthy practices for the last months and weeks of pregnancy
• What to have in your home for labor and the early postpartum period
• Signs of labor and what to do in the early stages
• Extensive pain coping options, including tools, positions, use of water for pain relief, acupressure, breath work, visualization, etc.
• The role of the partner and birth team
• When to check in with your midwife and when it may be time to leave home (if giving birth at a birthing center)
• Monitoring of mom and baby
• Navigating changes of plan or labor moving in a different direction: potential transfer to hospital, technology that can be used in labor
• Indications for cesarean surgery and important questions if this becomes a possibility
• Active labor, pushing, and what happens in the first hours after baby’s birth

Your baby’s birth is the culmination of the care you have given him or her in utero and the beginning of a life of nurturing and love at home with your child. This class will give you the tools to ensure that your baby’s entrance into the world goes as smoothly as possible and that you will feel comfortable with the changes you experience during labor (and know what to do during the various stages).

Emily Cohen-Moreira

Emily Cohen-Moreira is a Childbirth Educator, doula, and Certified Lactation Counselor and the Founder of Lucy the Laborer Birth and Lactation Education and Services. Her work in the field of women’s health started out in advocacy and women’s rights as a bilingual patient advocate at the Philadelphia Women’s Center. As a result of this work, she views birth choices and postpartum support for mom and baby as an issue of the rights of women and babies.

After a year teaching English in Taiwan, she worked as the Manager of Education at Realbirth. She was then the Founding Director of Tribeca Parenting, a pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding education program based in Manhattan. Emily provides prenatal support and education and teaches private and group childbirth, infant care, and breastfeeding classes. She also attends births as a labor support doula and does postpartum in-home lactation support visits.

This class is taught in English, but Emily is fluent in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and can offer additional support in these languages to English language learners.