Birthing From Within Childbirth Classes

Birthing From Within style classes with Shelley Rahim offer a comprehensive preparation for childbirth, focusing on building confidence and resilience for both you and your partner. Through a blend of practical information, hands-on activities, and heartfelt discussions, Shelley guides couples through the emotional and psychological aspects of becoming parents. By the end of the classes, participants not only gain valuable knowledge about labor, birth, and postpartum but also develop essential skills to navigate the unpredictable nature of childbirth with grace and trust.

Birthing From Within classes with Shelley Rahim offer a comprehensive preparation for childbirth, focusing on building confidence and resilience for both you and your partner. Through a blend of practical information, hands-on activities, and heartfelt discussions, Shelley guides couples through the emotional and psychological aspects of becoming parents. By the end of the classes, participants not only gain valuable knowledge about labor, birth, and postpartum but also develop essential skills to navigate the unpredictable nature of childbirth with grace and trust.

Shelley’s approach emphasizes the importance of forming a supportive birth community, fostering deeper connections between partners, the baby, and the birthing process. Couples leave her classes feeling empowered, connected, and excited to give birth!

Overview of the Class Series

Class #1

Examining Beliefs about Birth
Pain vs suffering in Labor and Birth
Breathing practices for mindful pain coping
Labyrinth exercise for understanding Labor, Birth + Postpartum
Proper food for Postpartum healing (actually get to eat Shelley’s amazing postpartum food)
Physiology of Labor and Birth
Stages of Labor
Models for Birth (Medical model and Midwifery model)
Hormones of labor, birth and postpartum
Mental Focus techniques for pain coping
Dance as a labor pain-coping technique

Class #2

Partner Support (massage techniques for labor)
Learning how to get information and make decisions using the BRAIN acronym
Wise and compassionate use of interventions
Decision-making role play
Thorough and holistic support for making a “birth plan”
Pain coping practices -- circular breathing technique
Optimal Fetal Positioning, spinning babies techniques practiced
Archetypes of Birth and Hero’s Journey discussion
Positions for labor

Class #3

The power of sound in labor and birth (vocal toning)
Positions for labor with partner massage
Inanna story / Hero’s journey initiation story
Process art and discussion
Placenta education
Foods for lactation (Shelley’s treats)
Pushing Baby Out
Getting Primal in birth
Cesarean in awareness Role Play
Facing our fears exercises

Class #4

Postpartum Preparation
DIY postpartum caregiving
How to set up your home for optimal rest
What to feed the mother for optimal healing and milk production
How to track your digestion and gradually increase the complexity of foods
Why exquisite postpartum care matters
Belly binding tutorial and why it’s important
Organized framework for caregiving so you can REST, HEAL and fall in love with baby
Closing Ritual

Cost includes:

18+ hours of instruction/mentoring
Binder with handouts for the lessons
Recipes and Meal Plan for Post-Birth Recovery Nourishment
Freshly made Postpartum teas and snacks
A magical time connecting with your partner and other couples
Home-study component

Summer Series: July 6, 13, 20, 27 REGISTER HERE

Fall Series: September 7, 14, 21, 28 REGISTER HERE

Winter Series: November 2, 9, 16, 23 REGISTER HERE

Classes held at A Family Affair Birth Center

$475 per couple

Client Love

Words From Our Thriving Mothers

There is no way I could have had the empowering birth that I had without this woman's guidance!

The birth of my son would have gone completely differently had my partner and I not taken Shelley‘s Birthing From Within classes. She masterly combined left and right brain elements that prepared us both physically and emotionally for birth. I was able to avoid a cesarean by drawing on lessons I leaned in Shelley’s magical birth warrior Birthing From Within classes. If you do nothing else to prepare for birth, take Shelley’s classes - it’s absolutely worth it for both mothers and fathers (and your baby)

Shelley's teachings touched the deepest places of my heart (and continue to do so). Her Birthing From Within style classes fully prepared me and my husband for whatever birth outcome may have unfolded (and I really needed it, to say the least). My husband was a solid rock through the entire experience and it's all because of Shelley's guidance and preparation. Shelley's birth classes helped deepen my connection to my baby, my husband, and most importantly my innate strength as a mother.

And most of all, Shelley is such a fun, sweet, caring, lovely human being, and she carries an uplifting energy that any pregnant woman would appreciate! I highly recommend experiencing her magic!

Shelley's class gave me so much more than the strength to bring a life into the world, it gave me the strength and support I needed to be a mother.

Shelley’s wisdom and encouragement proved invaluable to me and my family and I am forever grateful.

Shelley’s Birthing from Within™ classes gave me such great insight into what to expect for labor. I was worried I would not know what to do to support my wife in labor and honestly had NO idea what to expect. All that we explored and talked about in Shelley's classes prepared me much more than I expected for the process of labor. Shelley shared numerous techniques on how to massage and help guide breathing for the intense moments and I found myself using these techniques in the heat of the moment and thank goodness for them!

Each class was unique and different and I drew from all the lessons. Seeing how intense this was for my wife, I am so glad I had the confidence to know what to do (and what NOT to do) during labor to support her and having Shelley prepare us was invaluable.