Section I – Getting Started

• Contemplate your own philosophy of birth and then read the philosophy of CIMS (Coalition for Improving Maternity Services).
• Consider various teaching strategies and learning styles.
• Organize your classes, with the help of our topic outlines for weekly and weekend classes.
• Devise your own “review sheets” using our example.
• Use our suggestions for letters to the class and information for instructors.
• Copy sign-in and sign-up sheets.
• Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses as a speaker by reviewing our chart of teaching styles and a “vaccine” for visual aids.
• Review the purpose of Icebreakers and try some of the ones we suggest.

Section II – Teaching Page by Page

This section is filled with suggested teaching methods, learning activities, visual aids, references, and discussion questions that may be used for topics taught in most childbirth classes. We follow the topics covered in our handbook, Prepared Childbirth–The Family Way, but the suggestions are helpful to educators using any resources. We have included relaxation scripts, birth-ball safety tips, reproducible masters for visual aids, labor station ideas, role playing ideas, and international and national guidelines for care in normal birth. Hints for teaching about cesarean birth, unexpected outcomes and grieving, breastfeeding, and postpartum are also included in the 137 pages of ideas.

Section III

Here you will find numerous evaluation forms and surveys, with permission granted for you to reprint.

Section IV

The heart of this section contains outlines and activities for meeting the special needs of teen parents, parents of multiples, those in early pregnancy, or those who just need a refresher for a subsequent birth.

Section V

This is an extensive resource list, including approximate cost and where to get:

• teaching aids
• items for a labor bag
• videotapes
• books

We include websites of childbirth-related organizations, bookstores, sources for teaching aids, and journals.

Appendix

There is still more we want to share with you here. We give you position papers, KEGEL stickers, informed consent cards, and beautiful color illustrations of the stages of labor which you may reproduce. We also give you options/intervention game cards, and answer keys for our puzzles.

We have converted some pages from the guide to PDF format for your review.