Birth Explained

05/31/2023

Classes may be paused, but I am still providing pay-what-you-wish 1:1 help on an as needed basis. Please reach out if you have questions about pregnancy, birth, newborn care, and/or lactation. I am here for you!

01/26/2023

01/16/2023

January is already halfway through! Make sure to secure your spots on the upcoming Birth Explained classes.

Jan. 22 - Lactation Education
Research shows that people who learn about lactation and bodyfeeding their baby before birth nurse longer and have less anxiety overall. Let’s talk about what to expect in the first weeks, months, and years of bodyfeed a child!

Jan. 28 - Baby Talk Meet Up
Come talk and connect with other parents! Bring babies!

Jan. 29 - You Name It
Bring all your questions, comments, and concerns. We will make sure you leave with answers on whatever topics you choose.

07/27/2022

Take a look at your calendar and see which classes you can take in August!

*Postpartum Preparation focuses on what to expect the first 6-8 weeks after birth.
*Baby Talk Meet Up Group meets every other Saturday. Share stories and connect with other parents!
*Tell Me More dives deep into the world of birth. This class assumes a foundation of knowledge. Childbirth 101 is a great way to gain that foundation, but is not required.
*Lactation Education is where you can learn all about bodyfeeding.
*You Name It doesn't have a strict agenda! You bring the questions and leave with answers.

07/27/2022

It's not too late to register for classes in July!

Follow the link in bio to the Birth Explained website to check out all of our class options. There's bound to be one that you're interested in! If not, send an email or DM and we'll get you the information you desire.

REMEMBER! All classes are pay-what-you-wish. Get evidence-based, nonjudgemental, inclusive information so you can make your own informed decision for a price you can afford (yes, even free).

07/25/2022

I'm Claire! I am the founder and educator at Birth Explained.

At Birth Explained, the goal is to provide access to reproductive and sexual health information (specializing in pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and lactation) to people of all backgrounds.

Before the institutionalization and medicalization of birth, knowledge was passed down from generation to generation. Friends and family would attend each other's births, so there were fewer unknowns since physiological birth was witnessed regularly.

I want to get back to this as much as possible. This is why all classes are pay-what-you-wish.

Classes are broken up into individual topics so you can pick and choose what information you want to take in. It's recommended that all classes are taken, but that is not required by any means.

Even if you aren't pregnant, you can take a class! The Basics of Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum is perfect for people who want to know more about reproductive health, their rights, and choices.

Private lactation support is offered, although not free of cost since it is usually a lengthy visit at your home. Please reach out for information regarding lactation counseling.

Click the link in bio to go to the Birth Explained website where you can learn more and check out the many class options!

07/24/2022

Number one parenting tip: take care of yourself.

This looks different for everyone and is different day to day.

When you take care of yourself, you have the mental and physical capacity to take care of others.

Follow link in bio and check out our pay-what-you-wish classes!

07/18/2022

Repost by because it is incredibly true —

No other mammal doubts their ability to give birth.

They seek out isolation - darkness - quiet - and they let the process unfold.

It really is silly, after all, to doubt our ability to procreate when it is quite literally what keeps our species alive.

But the indoctrination is real.

From before we can remember we’re told how painful & dangerous & impossible birth is. We’re told how long aunt Sally’s labor was & how many interventions were “required” & how she almost bled to death.

And then, once we start seeing birth on TV and in the movies, it’s always portrayed as a dangerous, intensely medicalized experience with a lot of rushing around, screaming, and machines constantly beeping.

So it’s no wonder that, by the time we get to be pregnant ourselves, we have no idea what our bodies are capable of.

But the truth is, you were made for this.

If we trusted our bodies to birth like we trust them to digest food or pump our blood or do any of the other incredible processes they do without help or even a thought, the birth world would be in an entirely different place.

For anyone who is about to comment that birth doesn’t always go well & that, even in undisturbed births there can be complications, of course that’s true. My informational posts are always about how the majority of cases go, not the outliers, but I don’t deny that the outliers exist.

Do you trust that your body knows how to birth?

06/25/2022

Pregnancy centers are NOT the same as clinics that offer abortion services.

Pregnancy centers are more abundant in the US and are often run by religious organizations.

A person seeking care may find out they are pregnant at this location, but no services are provided. Instead the pregnant person is offered information about staying pregnant only.

In many states, a pregnant person must receive state mandatory counseling 24-72 hours prior to abortion treatment. These two separate visits must happen with the same physician.

This means if someone first goes to a pregnancy center to confirm their pregnancy, they still must schedule a visit at a clinic that offers abortion and go through another counseling visit before the wait period, then the decided treatment.

This process could add another week+ to the gestation because of scheduling availability, travel time, lack of funds, etc.

The added time may mean they are no longer legally allowed an abortion in the state. Thus resulting in forced continued pregnancy, harmful self-managing, or attempting to go to another state to start the entire process over again.

Many people cannot afford to travel for abortion care. They cannot get off work or school. They don’t have the funds to pay for an abortion (at least $300 in Texas). They don’t have the funds or support system to travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles to receive abortion care.

05/20/2022

We’ve been away from social media for a few reasons, but that does not mean we have stopped learning and sharing radically important evidence-based information.

In the coming weeks we will be making big changes to how classes are structured and priced.

Classes will be 1-2 days long and have focused topics, allowing you to choose which classes suit your needs best.

Classes will be on a “pay what you can” scale. Childbirth, lactation, and newborn care education used to be free, passed down from generation to generation. In honor of how things used to be, classes will be on a sliding scale.

It will take some time to get everything in order. If you are wanting to join a class while things are still in flux, send an email and we’ll make sure to set you up!

03/31/2022

The reason that the stages are "kinda irrelevant" is that the lines between them are pretty grey. ​​​​​​​​
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The first stage is the opening of the cervix and is typically broken down into early labor, active labor, and transition. ​​​​​​​​
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The second stage is pushing and the birth of the baby.​​​​​​​​
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The third stage of labor is the birth of the placenta. ​​​​​​​​
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I cannot stress enough how much wiggle room these stages of labor have, especially between stages 1 and 2...​​​​​​​​
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In my own labor, I slept through all of my early labor, and most of my active labor and I was going through transition within a couple of hours after waking up that morning. ​​​​​​​​
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So, please do not feel like these are the rules of birth.​​​​​​​​
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Get out of the logical brain and let birth happen.​​​​​​​​
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Follow for more 👉🏻 Kyleigh✨Birth + Doula Educator] 🥰​​​​​​​​
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Autonomous Birth Academy is open for enrollment!!!​​​​​​​​
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Childbirth Education for the expecting mama who would rather follow her intuition than the status quo:​​​​​​​​
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✅ Lifetime access to ABA, the only online childbirth course rooted in mindset and autonomy.​​​​​​​​
✅ Lifetime access to a private community of like-minded mamas.​​​​​​​​
✅ Monthly mothers circles and one-on-one coaching on zoom.​​​​​​​​
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The link is in my IG bio or you can head to theautonomymommy.com/enroll to join today 🤗​​​​​​​​
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REPOST BY Kyleigh✨Birth + Doula Educator]

03/28/2022

Repost by who reposted from

‘When will a baby sleep through the night’ may well be the most googled question for new parents. But what is the truth?

Well, it depends on your definition of sleeping through the night. The 1957 Moore and Ucko definition is 5 hours straight. This is the one most often cited by medical textbooks but it is often misinterpreted. The paper actually acknowledged that after a period of consolidated sleep, most of the babies in that sample resumed more frequent waking again. That part is often missed…

A recent study by Pennestri and colleagues (2020) defined sleeping through as 6 hours. Some books imply that sleeping through the night means 10, 11, or 12 solid hours, but this is pretty unusual.

The Pennestri study found that only 6% of 6 month olds were sleeping 6 hours straight. They also commented that sleep tends to worsen between 6 and 12 months, and blips coincide with developmental changes.

That’s a far cry from what parents are often led to believe but it certainly tallies better with our experience of talking to thousands of families over the years.

I know it would be nice if we could tell you a genius way of getting babies to sleep for long stretches, but it’s not what we’re about. (Lying that is, not the genius part – lol).

But seriously, you can’t make babies sleep longer that they are supposed to, and they need to wake up, fill their tummies, fill their nappies, fill their love tanks. It’s normal. Hard, but normal.

03/10/2022

When babies are born, their vision is excellent from about 6-12 inches away. This is about the same distance the lactating parent’s face is while nursing. So don’t be fooled when someone says babies can’t see well — they can see your face just fine when held nice and close!

If baby receives antibiotic ointment on their eyes after birth (an optional hospital routine that can be denied if certain the birthing parent does not have any STIs), this will blur their vision until it’s gone. It’s like putting Vaseline on a camera lens. Once the ointment has done its job, let baby look at your sweet, sweet face because they’ve been waiting just as long to see yours as you have theirs.

02/21/2022

Repost!
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"The phrase ‘we need better support for breastfeeding’ can sometimes feel like a suggestion that if women just had a little more help latching their baby on, and tried a little harder, then all their problems would disappear. It can attract a lot of backlash, and with that perception you can understand why.

But when we call for ‘more support’ we don’t mean that at all.

Yes, support for breastfeeding can mean someone to sit and help you latch your baby on, moving them a little left or right so that latch is more effective and comfortable for you. And timely, skilled support like this can make all the difference to breastfeeding working out.

But it’s certainly not the only thing we mean. We mean that women deserve high quality information about how to know when breastfeeding is working... and when it isn’t. A better environment to breastfeed in. Acceptance. Value in what they are doing. Investment in the infrastructure that makes it that bit easier. And more than that again.

‘More support’ doesn’t suggest that with a bit of help and determination that all women can breastfeed. Rather it highlights how women are currently being let down at every level. The list is long, and likely incomplete. We have far to go but while women are still falling through the gaps at every stage we will keep fighting for ‘more support’ across every dimension this entails.

Examples of what we mean include:

🤱Antenatal education
🤱Support during birth
🤱Support after birth
🤱Specialist support
🤱Training across professional groups
🤱Rapid identification of difficulties
🤱Accurate information for complications
🤱Donor milk provision
🤱Mixed feeding & formula support
🤱Funded peer support
🤱Support from friends and family
🤱Positive public attitudes
🤱Legal rights and protection
🤱Enhanced maternity leave
🤱Supportive workplaces
🤱Industry legislation
🤱Value for mothering and families
..And all of those ultimately require investment

02/21/2022

What’s a midwife? Why would I want one?

I get this question a lot. I’ll be frank: I am a big fan of midwives!

Midwifery has been around as long as humans have. It’s has changed throughout the years for reasons I won’t get into (hint: the patriarchy), but the core goal is the same: offer woman-centered or birthing person-centered care to pregnant people prenatally, during labor, and postpartum.

Midwives often offer continuity of care, meaning you hire this person for your prenatal visits (often lasting 30-60+ minutes so you can talk about your feelings), labor and birth support, and postpartum care (typically 6 weeks postpartum). This varies depends on who you hire and where you are planning to give birth; a birth center with a group of midwives differs from hiring a private practice midwife for a homebirth.

Time and time again, research is showing the midwifery model of care is proving to have overall better outcomes for parents and babies: fewer interventions, less birth trauma, less postpartum mental health difficulties and more.

In the United States, the laws around midwifery differ state to state. Check your state laws to see if you can have the glorious care of a midwife for your birth.

02/19/2022

Duh, right? Well that’s not always how it goes.

The birthing person is often treated as secondary to everyone else.

There is often more focus on the baby, obstetrician, nurse, and/or midwife than the person in labor. This is not empowering or helpful for the person in labor.

If providers actually focus their care on helping the birthing person feel safe, secure, heard, and loved, then there is no need to worry about baby. The baby is being protected by the person in labor better than any provider could.

The baby is not the property of the provider. I have heard many providers say things like, “Let’s check on my baby.” This statement erases the birthing person’s existence and steals their power.

There are many instances when the birthing person is invisible, all the power is given to the provider and others. This needs to stop.

Take care of the birthing person because they can take care of the baby.

Of course, there are instances where medical intervention is necessary. But this statement still remains true regardless of where or how the birth is happening.

02/18/2022

Just because it’s routine doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you and baby.

Babies are not born dirty. They are born with a layer of vernix caseosa on their skin, some with more than others. The vernix is there to protect the baby’s skin. In fact, 29% of the vernix is made up of antimicrobial properties.

The vernix does so much. It helps hydrate the baby’s skin, has antibiotic properties that help with protection against infections, and more.

Washing the vernix off immediately following birth can cause the baby to become hypoglycemic. Keeping the baby skin to skin on parent’s chest for at least an hour helps regulate baby’s temperature.

There is also research showing delaying the bath at least 8 hours (ideally 24 hours), promotes breastfeeding and bonding between parent and baby.

All in all, if there is not a medical reason to bathe a baby directly after birth (because there are times it is necessary), then no need to rush it!

Personally, my baby didn’t take his first bath or shower until he was at least two months old. I never saw the need since he wasn’t dirty! Even now, at one year old he takes a bath or shower maybe once a month.

Resources: The World Health Organization. The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses. The International Childbirth Education Association.

02/15/2022

At Birth Explained, there’s a class for everyone.

If you’re pregnant, consider taking one of our childbirth classes! The classes are open for all pregnant people, regardless of how far along you are.

Childbirth Course - this is your classic childbirth class with a focus on learning the phases of labor, your many options, basic human rights in labor and birth and so much more.
You can take this class as a 4 week course or weekend intensive.

Tell Me More! Class - knowledge is power, so let’s arm you with all the power for birth! Take this class for a deep dive in the physiology of the human body during labor, explore more labor positions, and more. Bring your questions, we’ll supply the answers!
This is a one day class.

Refresher Childbirth Course - if you’ve given birth before or you took the Childbirth Course in your first trimester, join us for a refresher class! We’ll go through the basics and answer any lingering questions.
This is a one day class.

Check out our website to sign up!

Not sure what you need? Reach out and we will discuss your options.

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