Rates of medical intervention during pregnancy and birth are critically high and reducing these is an international priority. Acupuncture and acupressure are evidence-based non-pharmacological pain management options to support pregnancy, labour and birth. Women and midwives support the use of acupuncture and acupressure during pregnancy and the perinatal period for management of various conditions of pregnancy and to support birth, but there is a lack of awareness of effectiveness, availability and skills to support this. Therefore, training of basic skills through childbirth education and integration into routine care practices would help to fill this gap in care.

Participants may earn 1.0 Lamaze Contact Hour and 1.0 hour of CNE.

You might have heard that squatting is great for labor! Did you know that when and how you squat makes a difference? Let's take a deeper dive at what actually happens during a squat, why body mechanics matter, and how to squat to effectively open the pelvic diameters in unmedicated and medicated labor and birth.

Participants may earn 1.0 Lamaze Contact Hour and 1.0 hour of CNE.

Up-skill and expand your offerings to your pregnant clients with evidence-based practices using the birth ball. Add purposeful movement to your prenatal meetings - in person or virtually. You will learn 7 strengthening and stretching exercises for pregnant people in all stages of pregnancy, as well as best practices for use in labor and birth for optimal client experiences. Have your own birth ball ready and a mat and get ready to roll through this fun session with laughter and purpose!

Participants may earn 1.0 Lamaze contact hours and 1.0 hour of CNE from CBRN, approved provider #15932.

We know that progression of labor through movement and upright positions is key to our goal of spontaneous vaginal birth. In this session, we'll examine 3 popular labor tools (Birth Ball, Peanut Ball, and the CUB) and how we can use them at the inlet, mid-pelvis, and outlet to aide in optimal positioning and progression of labor. Be ready to think outside of the box and learn a few tricks and tips. 

Participants may earn 1.0 Lamaze Contact hour and 1.0 hour of CNE (CBRN).

Research shows that the excess force from long periods of breath holding while sustaining pushing and pushing in an uncoordinated way may be harmful to the perineum, resulting in tears and weaker pelvic floor muscles, months or years after birth. This class will cover the relationship between the baby and the pelvis and the role of the pelvic floor in birth. Education on physiological 2nd stage of labor and how to push with or without an epidural and how to best to protect the pelvic floor and core to minimize damage. This presentation will provide an overview of physiologic 2nd stage, some birth positions, and breath for the different phases of pushing. 

Participants may earn 1.0 Lamaze Contact Hour and 1.0 hour of CNE (through CBRN) for attending this webinar and completing the participant evaluation. Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 15932 for 1.0 contact hours.

In this one-hour, interactive webinar, Brittany Sharpe McCollum will guide participants in exploring how laboring people can facilitate progress in labor by creating space within the three planes of the pelvis. Participants will visualize simple ways of connecting pelvic movement to the station of the baby. Emphasis will be placed on better understanding the relationship between labor positions and movements to encourage the baby's descent and rotation. Movement will be explored in both big and small ways, with a focus on supporting both medicated and unmedicated births in reducing unnecessary intervention through a biomechanical approach. Although the approach is completely non-clinical, this evidence-based content can easily be incorporated into the practices of both clinical and non-clinical labor support with the intention of restoring autonomy to the laboring person and supporting the physiological process. 

Participants may earn 1.0 Lamaze contact hour and 1.0 hour of CNE through CBRN; approved provider #15932.

There are two concepts of neuroendocrine reflexes associated with the expulsion of the fetus through the birth canal during the second stage of birth: the Ferguson reflex and the fetus ejection reflex. These concepts are often confused with one another and treated synonymously, thus interchangeable. However, the two not only refer to different phenomena, but they also represent the birthing woman differently. The Ferguson reflex treats the birthing woman as simply a biomechanical body. In contrast, the fetus ejection reflex does not ignore women's conscious states during birth and recognizes what is currently a well-known empirical fact: The event of birth is a complex biophysical process affected by many mental, social, and environmental factors. In that, it has a connection to the phenomenon of birthing consciousness, which is the positive altered state sometimes experienced during a physiological and undisturbed childbirth. We argue that birthing consciousness and the fetus ejection reflex, made possible by reduced cortical control, are extremely helpful in promoting physiological human childbirth. Therefore, treating a woman giving birth as a biomechanical body is not only erroneous but can also lead to medical mismanagement of the second stage of physiological childbirth with associated mental and physiological consequences.

Participants may earn 1.0 Lamaze Contact Hour and 1.0 hour of CNE.