We hope that you're enjoying finding out more about our incredible instructors at A Mother's Haven Boutique & Educational Center. We are so thankful to have them here to teach all of our moms & babies and to create our wonderful community!
Our next interview is with Lauren Ryan who teaches our Supported Birth and Caring For Your Newborn classes.
Supported Birth is a four week course that educates women and their partners in making conscious choices about the birth of their baby with the help of technical knowledge, confidence in the natural biological process of birth, self exploration, and a variety of coping tools and techniques.
Caring For Your Newborn is a 3 hour class held once a month on a sturday that teaches expecting parents the essential skills they'll need to take care of their new baby in this fun, informative, hands-on environment.
AMH: Lauren, what can expecting moms learn or get from your classes?
Lauren: In Supported Birth – Couples will learn about stages of labor, nutrition, medical interventions, drugs, cesareans, and postpartum issues. More importantly, moms will learn relaxation techniques and explore fears they might have about giving birth. Couples will feel much more prepared and confident about giving birth. Supported Birth teaches couples that there is no “right” way to give birth, which empowers the couple.
In Caring For Your Newborn – couples will learn all about what to expect from their newborn – appearance, newborn procedures, bathing, diapering, dressing, swaddling, holding, soothing and a lot more. It’s meant to make them feel at ease by what can be an an overwhelming procedure while taking away some of the anxiety of the unknown.
AMH: What is your philosophy on birth and parenting?
Lauren: I think it is important for a woman to give birth the way she wants to and do what feel right to her. With parenting, I believe parents need to hold their babies (not haul them around in a car seat when they are not in the car) and talk to them – this makes them smart. Also, parents need to forgive themselves for not being “perfect” and relax.
AMH: How would you describe yourself in 5 words or less?
Lauren: Positive, laid back, friendly, authentic, energetic
AMH: What inspires you?
Lauren: I’m inspired to help make birth a positive experience. If a woman has a baby in a hospital she is not going there because she is sick. She is going there because it is a safe option to give birth in. Laboring women should not be treated as a patient. Caregivers need to treat birth as a natural event and take out unnecessary interventions.
AMH: How do you stay current in your field?
Lauren: I read articles pertaining to pregnancy/childbirth/newborns on sites like Medscape and Mayo Clinic. I am involved in several “networking” groups geared towards childbearing woman that I have learned so much from. Also, I love to read so I stay current with books on pregnancy, labor and newborns. My work as a doula keeps me very up to date on practices going on within hospitals so I can give my students insight into what their hospital experience may be like.
AMH: What products/resources would you recommend to new or expecting moms?
Lauren: I love wraps. They are the best way to carry your baby around. Babies can hear your heartbeat so it calms them down and moms have 2 free hands. Wraps also protect their baby from the rest of the world.
AMH: What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
Lauren: I still love roller coasters and going to Hurricane Harbor in the summer.
AMH: Favorite hobby? pastime?
Lauren: I love to read, ride my bike, and play games and watch movies with my family.
AMH: Favorite spot in LA?
Lauren: The old farmers market on Fairfax and the Grove. The farmer’s market has the most amazing food and the Grove is great for people watching.
AMH: Favorite place to travel?
Lauren: Any place tropical with beaches and warm water.
AMH: What is the best advice you've ever gotten?
Lauren: When people (strangers especially) tell you what you are doing wrong with your baby just smile, say thank you and walk away. I would get angry with people but my husband taught me to let it go.
AMH: Favorite advice to give new/expecting moms?
Lauren: Take a childbirth class independent of a hosptial. Get help from friends and family after the baby is born. Tell them what you need – meals, errands, house cleaned, etc. If anyone wants to come visit you and the baby make sure they can help you out in some way.
Lauren Ryan, CSBE (Certified Supported Birth Educator) and a SBLD (Supported Birth Labor Doula) teaches our Supported Birth and Caring For Your Newborn classes. When she was pregnant with her daughter in 2000, she took Supported Birth childbirth education classes and felt incredibly empowered about giving birth after it. When her teacher approached her in 2003 about getting trained as an educator, she was already interested so jumped at the chance to be able provide support for moms like herself. A couple of years later, she yearned to expand her knowledge and so became a labor doula in 2006 and now specializes in the third trimester of pregnancy to one month old infants.
Check out some of our other Featured Instructor and Staff interviews:
Synthia Praglin - teaches Mothers' Gathering
Terri O'Donnell - Store Manager
Danielle Vorzimer - teaches Mothers' Gathering
Leslye Adelman - teaches the Prepared Childbirth One-Day Intensives, the Breastfeeding 101 prenatal workshops, and the Caring For Your Newborn prenatal workshops. She also facilitates our weekly Breastfeeding Support Group, and is available for private Lactation Consults
You can learn more about Supported Birth and Caring For Your Newborn classes on our website. For more information about Lauren, feel free to also check out the Supported Birth website.
Comments
Post a Comment