I do not know where to begin in Thanking Julie Clarke for sharing her knowledge and expertise in our transition to parenthood classes. My husband and I attended because we felt we wanted to try and have a really positive birth experience and we had heard good things about Julie's classes...first of all, the classes were AMAZING! Julie's knowledge is quite astounding. The days we attended were absolutely FULL of relevant information from what you can actually DO in your pregnancy to increase your chances of having a good labour, how to approach your labour and how to make informed decisions in the lead up to labour and when situations arise in the hospital to give you the best possible outcome, what to take for labour and the hospital that is actually useful, basics on how to care for baby afterwards, and heaps and heaps of links to resources for those times that you are challenged with baby once you are home. Julie gave us a book that she has perfected over the years with resources that we continually looked back on over the final time before our first baby was born, and then pulled out as soon as i was pregnant again with our second. Julie's classes gave my husband and I HUGE amounts of knowledge which completely empowered us. My first birth was a completely relaxed, natural drug free experience because of what I knew from Julie's guidance. Without her course i KNOW i would have been panicky but because of what Julie had taught me I trusted in my body and all that happened. YES - It hurt! But it was the type of pain I could bear because in between contractions there was relief and I could literally feel my body opening like it was meant to. My first birth was amazingly empowering and the whole time i knew what was happening.
My second birth was much much quicker than my first and again, was a completely drug free waterbirth. Again, I felt very prepared and believed in my body. Birth really can be amazing and empowering if you know enough to make the right choices for you. The staff in hospitals are fantastic but at the end of the day YOU need to be informed to make the right decision for you as more often there will be things you were not happy with after the birth and you wished had gone differently. If you are educated by someone who really does seem to know it all and has an amazing ability to pass it on to you your birth experience will be completey different. Mine are cherished experiences that I want to always remember.