The Best Birth

The Best Birth is the latest delivery from Sarah McMoyler, R.N., B.S.N., who has already helped thousands of expectant couples prepare for their big day. McMoyler gets couples ready to bring their babies into the world armed with information, effective coping techniques and confidence. With The Best Birth, you can experience McMoyler's engaging and comprehensive childbirth preparation class in the comfort and convenience of your living room. Available in both a DVD and Webcast format, the video is supplemented with electronic workbook pages and frequently asked questions, as well as Sarah's personal picks for great baby products and services. The Best Birth is also a book by Sarah McMoyler (co-authored by Armin Brott) that serves as a great companion piece to the DVD. The Best Birth offers the ultimate childbirth preparation for today's busy moms and dads-to-be.

At the core of The Best Birth is McMoyler Method, the brainchild of veteran labor and delivery nurse Sarah McMoyler, who witnessed so many laboring women enter the hospital terrified and unprepared, accompanied by partners who were clueless how to help them and unable to communicate effectively with health care providers. Inspired to help these couples bring their babies into the world safely and with a sense of confidence, she created a truly innovative approach to childbirth preparation.

According to McMoyler, the goal of every birth is a healthy mom and healthy baby, however you get there. Asking for pain medication when you intended to have a natural birth is not a failure and having an unplanned c-section is not cause for regret if the end result is a healthy baby in your arms. They are simply means to an end; viable options you can use to reach your goal. After all, McMoyler states, "[childbirth] is not a competition."

The cornerstone of McMoyler Method is reality: a clear understanding of the realities of labor and the childbirth process, a solid command of common obstetric terminology, realistic expectations of what you and your body are capable of, and most importantly, "reality-based goals" for your labor and delivery instead of firm "plans." Creating a set-in-stone birth plan is to set yourself up for frustration, disappointment and regret because "no one but the stork knows how your labor and delivery will proceed," as McMoyler says. Instead, McMoyler Method gives you the information and skills you need to cope with contractions, remain flexible during labor, communicate and work with your health care team and make decisions along the way in order to achieve that healthy mom-healthy baby goal.

A vital component of the childbirth process, according to McMoyler Method, is your labor partner. In her classes, McMoyler uses the partners, instead of the moms-to-be, to demonstrate coping and relaxation maneuvers to ensure they fully understand the concepts so they are able to be effective coaches on the big day. As she tells expecting moms, during labor "You will not be going through the file box in your brain pulling up what I said about coping with active labor contractions. Partners, on the other hand, will not be having uterine contractions." Your partner is there to recall the coping and relaxation techniques learned in the classroom and to remind you to release and let go, vocalize, and change positions; help you make decisions; and offer encouragement and support. According to McMoyler, your body was designed to give birth, it knows what to do; it's your brain that needs to be engaged, supported and encouraged in order to cope with labor.

One way to increase your coping ability is to repeatedly change your environment. The McMoyler Mantra of "Up, Walk, Rock, Change Positions" keeps your body in motion to prevent your brain from habituating, increase your pelvic opening by up to 25 percent, and help labor to progress. Vocalization is also an important part of coping with intense contractions. (How often have you reacted to painfully stubbing your toe with silent, "hee-hee-hee" breathing?) The human response to pain has noise attached to it, and while McMoyler discourages screaming, which is counter-productive and can trigger an escalating Fear-Tension-Pain cycle, open-throat moaning is an effective way to redirect tension, stimulate endorphin release and increase your ability to cope with pain.

While other childbirth techniques focus almost exclusively on coping with difficult contractions, McMoyler considers the time between contractions to be just as important. During her 20 years of assisting with deliveries, she has observed the inability of many laboring women to fully relax once each contraction is over - a waste of valuable energy those women need as labor progresses. Those precious few moments are the only chance you have to mentally regroup, reorganize and recharge, so McMoyler Method includes a number of effective relaxation techniques you can use to help you "release and let go" between contractions and prepare for the work ahead.

McMoyler Method has already helped more than 10,000 couples manage their labor and delivery with confidence and a sense of control and is quickly becoming the childbirth method of choice for OBs around the country. For more information, go to The Best Birth.