Even during a pandemic babies WILL be born & Calmbirth will be there to help support, empower & educate pregnant couples in a virtual classroom

Due to the current threat of the Coronavirus and the increased risk of cross infection between class participants, all major maternity hospitals in Sydney have suspended face to face antenatal education classes. 

It is anticipated that hospitals in other states will soon apply the same restrictions and private practitioners may also need to adopt the same boundaries. As a result of this pandemic, Calmbirth has come up with an innovative solution that enables pregnant couples, whose anxiety levels maybe peaking with all the uncertainties to still be able to access quality and evidence based childbirth education in a virtual classroom via ZOOM, where the couples can engage with other pregnant couples, their Calmbirth Educator as well as calm their fears about giving birth.  

Recent Australian research evaluated the effectiveness of evidence based complementary medicine techniques to reduce pharmacological pain relief during labour and childbirth. The results of this study show antenatal education not only reduces the rates of medical interventions during childbirth, but can also save the healthcare system up to AU$97million dollars. Perinatal depression and anxiety affects almost 100,000 expectant and new parents in Australia each year.

Now, Australia’s leading Childbirth Education program Calmbirth, has pioneered a solution to the restrictions imposed which will put pregnant couples’ minds to rest and reassure them that help is at hand in educating couples about dealing with the stress of pregnancy, labour. and birth.  Their teaching and tools are also transferable to life and will help couples manage their stress during these emotionally and financially unprecedented times, as well as be used in their postpartum and parenting journey.

Calmbirth was founded in 2004 and has 100 qualified Midwives and Doulas delivering childbirth education to birthing couples in Australia New Zealand and France.  Their solution now is to continue to provide high quality and evidence based Childbirth Education to couples in a safe and socially responsible manner by moving all of its Cambirth Courses to Zoom.

Zoom is an innovative, live, interactive and virtual platform allowing Calmbirth to deliver courses to couples at the same time, as if they were in the face to face classroom environment, but are in fact sitting in the comfort and safety of their own homes.

Karen McClay, Owner and Director of Calmbirth said: “It’s reassuring to know our solution is working so well and we believe the rapport that is developed through face to face education is vital to couples overcoming their anxieties about birth and parenting and replacing them with knowledge and confidence. This means we can continue to do what we love most – empowering couples in Australia to have better birth experiences.”

Calmbirth have conducted over 15 Calmbirth ZOOM courses since the suspension of face to face hospital antenatal courses and here is what a few couples from the Cambirth ZOOM Course had to say.

“This past weekend Ryan and I got to participate in the Calmbirth course via the zoom platform. This course was so empowering and informative that we now have this huge tool box of  knowledge to head into our next part of this pregnancy excitedly. Doing this from the comfort of our own lounge room was actually amazing and definitely do not feel we missed out on anything, in fact we both agree that there were many positives to this. We were in our own space, we were able to interact with each other affectionately and get that oxytocin going (your best friend in labour), but also we were able to interact with the other couples and beautiful educator, Karen, who is a passionate midwife. I have had many moments in the past few months of fear and anxiety around our baby’s birth. These stemmed from not knowing what to expect, preconceived expectations, beliefs, social conditioning etc. This course is also great for your support partner. It provides them with tools and knowledge to assist during labour, birth, and afterwards. I’d happily recommend this course to anyone, especially any couple who is expecting during covid-19. 

We both left feeling like we understand what is ahead of us now, but we are also very much looking forward to our baby’s birth.

Peta & Ryan”

“Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, insights, experience and above all for your positive approach to birth. We thoroughly enjoyed the Calmbirth zoom course and will recommend it to all our pregnant friends. Being first time parents we wanted to gain an understanding of the birthing process and how to best prepare. We can honestly say we are walking away armed with a toolkit and feeling prepared to tackle the birthing journey with confidence. We were a bit hesitant about using Zoom, however this worked much better than we expected and allowed us to have a class room feel in the comfort of our home. 

“Thank you for your warm approach Karen, we also really valued the factual data shared throughout the course, we feel confident and at ease to bring our little one into the world. “ Jess and Luis 

The Calmbirth Program is evidence based and embodies the connection between the mind and body in pregnancy, labour, birth and family. The program draws on research from neuroscience, psychology, midwifery, obstetrics and epigenetics, and uses extensive understanding of the relaxation response and its influence on birth.

To BOOK a Calmbirth ZOOM course with the nearest Calmbirth Educator go to calmbirth.com.au