Loving Arms Childbirth

I know there are lots of great options for classes out there. I can personally recommend Loving Arms Childbirth Center--my husband and I took their class when I was pregnant with our first and it was the best thing we could possibly have done to prepare. I know they have a shorter class for 2nd time parents that I'm sure is also excellent. If you are looking for hypnobirthing specifically and do well with self-paced online classes, I absolutely loved Hypno-Babies. I did the whole course when I was pregnant and it had an enormously positive impact on my birth experience, not only helping me feel less scared and anxious beforehand but using the hypnosis tracks during labor is a big part of what allowed me to have a labor that progressed fairly quickly and easily. It's quite affordable too and I think they have a separate course that is just for partners (we didn't do this so I can't attest to it but I expect it is also very high quality). Good luck!

Adding another reco for Loving Arms’s birth class. Molly was an amazing teacher!! We gave birth at Pacifica (a stand-alone birth center) and wanted something a bit more in-depth, and Loving Arms provided just that. 

My husband and I took the childbirth ed class at Loving Arms and it was, hands down, the best thing we did to prepare for the birth of our son. The class was 8 weeks (although I believe they have since shortened it to 6 weeks with 2 optional add-on sessions) and each class was a couple hours so it's definitely a commitment but every single week we were blown away by how much we learned. Our class was co-taught by Janaki and Molly, who are exceptional teachers with years of experience as a doula (Janaki) and lactation consultant (Molly). I know they have other teachers too and friends of mine who have also taken the class with other teachers have raved about them. We came away from the class feeling prepared and confident and we carried those feelings with us into the birth experience and the early postpartum period. The best testament to the impact of the class is that there were 8 couples and we all had really different birth experiences (planned and unplanned C-sections, medicated and unmedicated births) and we all felt good about those experiences (we were able to share about them in a reunion get together when our babies were around 2 months). Everyone said that they felt like they knew what to expect and could advocate for what they wanted. That was for sure thanks to the class. Lastly, what I didn't expect when signing up for the class but was a huge bonus, was that I would also be connected with this really sweet group of other parents in the exact same stage as me. We had a WhatsApp group with all the moms and in those early days, it was such a huge help knowing I could send a message at 3 am and someone else would also be up nursing and would reply! One couple has become very close friends and our boys are only 1 week apart, which is so special. Clearly, I have a lot to say about this class because I know how much it helped us and helped others who took it!

I'd recommend both Loving Arms/East Bay Lactation Services (https://www.eastbaylactationassociates.com/) and Happy Milk (https://happymilk.us/). Ellen at Happy Milk is based in Berkeley, and will come to your house or do virtual consults.

My personal experience: I was very stressed about using a nipple shield with both my kids, especially because there seemed to be so much pressure to stop using it in case it was impacting how much the baby was getting, my production, etc. Weighing the babies showed that the shield was not impacting how much they were able to drink in a feeding session. We tried every other day or so to nurse without the shield, but they just didn't get it. Then, around 8-12 weeks both kids seemed to become more coordinated/stronger in their nursing, and very suddenly were able to latch without the shield. Doesn't happen for everyone, but wishing you luck and patience!

Welcome to Berkeley! My husband and I took an 8-week class at Loving Arms with Molly as our instructor. The class was great - we learned a lot and felt prepared going into our birth. It was a good way to meet other young couples who will have similarly-aged babies. I've heard almost universally wonderful things about Molly though not as amazing things about other instructors at Loving Arms. Loving Arms does have a natural birth bent, which may or may not be what you're looking for. We didn't cover much newborn care-related information in the class, but for what it's worth, I found that you learn that stuff pretty quickly by doing. On the soothing front, I highly recommend googling the "5 S's" - they were a lifesaver in the early days when we needed to help our baby calm down!

Congratulations! My husband and I took the Loving Arms childbirth class last fall, and we were really happy with it. Our teacher was Molly Brannigan, who is also a lactation consultant, and she was really great! Our class was about half Kaiser/half Alta Bates deliveries, and half midwives/half OBs doing the deliveries, and the class covered a lot of different viewpoints and scenarios, which I really liked. We got a lot of information in the classes, but it didn't seem like too much either. Our class was eight couples, I think, which was a good size. We live by Lake Merritt, so the class wasn't super close, but the drive wasn't too bad for us.

I haven't experienced any classes at Then Comes Baby, but we're actually going to start a baby sign language class there this weekend! My husband stopped by there earlier this week to check it out, and he though it looked good as well.

I am taking the Loving Arms class right now and I would highly recommend it! Not only does it cover more content and go more in-depth than other classes, it's a great venue for meeting other soon-to-be-parents and connecting with your partner on a deeper level.