Free Lamaze sessions starts Wednesday

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

Pregnant and need help on how to prepare for childbirth? Then the 2005 Prenatal Education series is for you.

The Department of Public Health is inviting pregnant women to the 2005 Prenatal Education series that will be held every Wednesday night from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at the Continuing Education classroom next to the cafeteria at the Commonwealth Health Center.

This education series is for every woman or couple who is expecting a child, in order to be knowledgeable and prepared for childbirth.

Also called the Lamaze preparation for childbirth, women can have the confidence to give birth normally. In these sessions, women can learn to understand and trust normal, natural, physiologic birth. They are encouraged to work actively with labor and to plan carefully for the freedom and support they will need. The Lamaze sessions will also urge women to let labor start on its own and keep their babies with them after delivery.

The sessions, according to DPH, will prevent a couple from having a Caesarean delivery by teaching them the six basic care practices that include avoidance of induction of labor except for medical reasons, encouraging freedom of movement throughout labor, providing continuous labor support, avoiding routine interventions, encouraging upright or side-lying positions for birth, and promoting a “no separation of mother and baby” policy after birth.

The free monthlong course will also cover stages of labor, movement in labor, breathing and relaxation techniques, breastfeeding education, and healthy baby care.

The prenatal exercise offered in this class promotes flexibility and stamina for labor to reduce stress.

Pregnant women who have high-risk conditions are welcome to attend the sessions. The class will discuss whether prenatal exercises are also good for them. Women are advised not to worry since the exercises will be gentle and is designed for pregnant women.

By February, prenatal yoga will also be added to the series.

These courses are free of charge. Schedules of classes will be every Wednesday, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Prenatal exercise is set from 5:30pm to 6:30pm while the Lamaze childbirth preparation is from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. New courses will be scheduled every month. Women and couples are advised to wear their most comfortable clothes.

For more information, contact Roxanne Diaz of Latisha Lochabay at 236-8703 or 236-8712.