Inclusive and community - focused prenatal education
When you’re preparing to bring a new baby into your family, there’s a lot to learn. Rainbow Roots is a new queer-exclusive in-depth childbirth education program for parents who don’t simply want to listen to a lecture for 3 hours and call it a day. Featuring hands on practice with comfort measures for labour and newborn care, practical conversation prompts to help prepare yourself and your relationship for your labour and birth, and an opportunity to make connections with local parents and supports - this program has it all.
Roots of Birth
When
Wednesdays 6:30 - 8:30 pm, starting June 18th, final session July 23rd - best for parents with estimated due dates in fall and winter.
Where
Located at Encompass Health & Wellness - a fully accessible location near downtown Kitchener and the Go Train station.
Who
Willow River Doula Collective facilitators Sasha and Christine.
Why
Why choose Rainbow Roots by Willow River Doula Collective?
The only in-person prenatal education program in KWC that is for 2SLGBTQIA+ families
Sessions are not lectures, but conversations with questions to help you prepare yourself and your relationships for birth and life with a newborn
Allllll the hands on learning!
Opportunities to connect with parents outside of session and stay in touch once your little ones are here
Cost
$385 $275 per family - early adopter discount, plus no HST this round!
Session Topics
Week One: Stages of labour and birth basics; what to expect from your care team and your birth location
Week Two: Conception stories; medical technologies including induction, pain management, and risk management; and building a birth plan
Week Three: Medical technologies continued; using your senses and emotional safety to have a better birth experience
Week Four: Hands on practice with comfort measures and positions for labour, including Spinning Babies techniques
Week Five: Newborn care basics - bodyfeeding, formula feeding, pumping, sleep, newborn development, and self care for parents
Week Six: Hands on newborn care including diapering, swaddling, and using baby carriers; community support resources; conception stories for kiddos
FAQs
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We are not content with our childbirth education program being something to check off a to-do list and move on from. We want to genuinely teach parents what to expect from birth and the newborn phase, and that means diving deep over the course of six weeks, leaving lots of room for discussion and questions, as well as time to practice hands on skills without rushing.
We also are hopeful that through a longer form prenatal education program, families will find others due around the same time to connect with during and after our classes are over - facilitating community building and preventing the all to common isolation of new parents.
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Rainbow Roots was created with first time parents in mind. We know you are getting overrun with information from friends, family, and the internet, and we want use our expertise to teach you all the things you need to know, and what things you can worry about later!
That being said, experienced parents are more than welcome, since you definitely forget a lot in between pregnancies! And this is CBE like you’ve probably never had it before, so you will certainly learn something new.
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YES! Willow River Doula Collective is just getting started on our prenatal education offerings. Keep a look out for Roots of Birth: Prenatal education for all families; Not Your First Rodeo: Childbirth education for experienced parents; Birthing After Trauma; and more.