A natural birth is hard…and I didn’t even go through it being a dad. But I supported and watched my wife push through the natural hospital birth of both our sons, which was truly incredible. We were fortunate enough to have the means to hire the same, excellent doula for both births. We paid $900 for our doula, which was an amazing price especially given how great she was and how vital a role she played in helping my wife achieve a natural birth for each of our sons. You can read my posts, A Dad’s Doula Story And Why You Should Consider One and A Dad’s Second Doula Story, if you’re interested in my first hand account of using a doula. Doulas are expensive running from around $800-$2,500 with an average of $1,200 according to this whattoexpect.com article.
I think doulas are amazing, but having one isn’t going to be possible for every mom. For some, it may simply be the cost. For others, it may be the lack of access to a good doula in the area they live. Or perhaps, some are just not comfortable with having this additional person be part of their labor. Whatever the reasons, if a doula isn’t going to work, but you are committed to a natural birth, I highly recommend seeking resources and educating yourself. One of the absolute, best online resources is the Kopa Birth Childbirth Course.
What is Kopa Birth?
Kopa Birth “is your trusted resource for pregnancy, natural hospital birth, and baby care.” If you are serious about a natural birth (especially in a hospital setting), the Kopa Birth Childbirth Course is truly fantastic. These are incredibly comprehensive classes consisting of over 12 hours of instruction. In case you’re wondering, yes, this dad went through the entire course!
When my wife was pregnant with our first son, she was set on a natural birth from the start. We educated ourselves including going to a class titled, “Childbirth Education for the Planned Hospital Birth” at The Birth Center in our local Delaware area, which is a wonderful place. As I mentioned, we also hired a doula. The natural birth of our first son was very challenging, but I honestly found the whole process to be amazing. After the natural birth of our second son, which went much smoother, I continued to read online and learn about natural births (yes, pretty rare for a dad). This is how I found Kopa Birth. When I read about their online childbirth course, they truly seemed like such a great and useful resource for moms desiring natural births.
I actually contacted Katie Griffin, the creator and instructor of the course, as I was interested in her Kopa Birth site especially as I had just written my post, A Dad’s Doulas Story. We corresponded and she asked if I was interested in blogging about the course, and I was more than happy to be an affiliate for the course because as I wrote her, “I want to help educate others (both men and women) on natural birth and doulas.” So, here we are 🙂
The Kopa Birth Childbirth Course
Katie Griffin is a registered nurse and Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator. She also has six kids, five of whom were natural hospital births. She certainly has the relevant credentials and experience as the creator and instructor of the course.
Kopa Birth offers two levels of its Childbirth Course. One is the KOPA PREPARED Essentials Course ($195) and the other is the KOPA PREPARED Plus Course ($245). The Plus Course includes everything in the Prepared Course along with the additional features as noted below. One other very important thing to consider is that the Essentials Course is a 3-month course access whereas the Plus Course is a 7-month course access.
Both courses offer:
– 8 COMPREHENSIVE VIDEO CLASSES TOTALING 12+ HOURS OF INSTRUCTION
– NATURAL HOSPITAL BIRTH FOOTAGE (this is the real thing!)
– MOCK LABOR EXPERIENCE
– RELAXATION AUDIO TRACK & COURSE MANUAL DOWNLOADS
– 100% RISK-FREE, 30-DAY, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!
Additional features of the Plus Course:
– KOPA MEAL PLANS
– RELAXATION TRIGGERS CLASS
– PRENATAL FITNESS PROGRAM
– NEWBORN BABYWEARING BASICS
– PARTNER LABOR GUIDES
– ADDITIONAL AUDIO DOWNLOADS
Class Outline for Kopa Birth Childbirth Course
The webpage of the Kopa Birth online birth classes has a detailed description of each of the eight classes about 1/3 of the way down the page. I listed the title of each class here.
– Class 1 – A Foundation of Relaxation
– Class 2 – Birth Process & Early Labor
– Class 3 – Breathing & Active Labor
– Class 4 – Transition & The Pushing Phase
– Class 5 – Positioning & Sensory Techniques
– Class 6 – Medications, Cesareans, Inductions
– Class 7 – Benefits & Risks of Intervention
– Class 8 – Birth Plans & The Mock Labor
– Bonus – Katie’s Natural Hospital Birth (with baby #5)
Accompanying these video classes is the Course Manual. The Course Manual is a 100+ page workbook. I told you this was a comprehensive course. The goal of the course is to really educate those who seriously want to prepare themselves and their partners for a natural birth.
Are You Serious About a Natural Birth?
Is a natural birth the experience you want? For my wife, a natural birth was very important. She knew, like most women, she would only get a couple opportunities in her life to have the birth experience, so she wanted to give herself the best chance to have the experience she wanted. We are incredibly grateful to have had the resources of The Birth Center as well as a doula to support her in this goal. Unfortunately, not everyone is as fortunate. Being passionate about a natural birth, I sincerely want others to be able to achieve a natural birth as we were able to do with our sons. The Kopa Birth Childbirth Course is one of the best online resources that can help you achieve this goal. Good luck!