I have just enough time to run another six-week series of childbirth classes before I leave for Bali. I can start any time in the next two weeks. Classes will be on Thursday evenings from 6:30-9 pm. Please call 719-369-4368 to register and get started soon!

{P.S. Don’t forget that I can do single-class workshops for your own specific needs. Perhaps a refresher course, breastfeeding class, sibling or postpartum care class? Just call to schedule!}

I’m going to start offering a series of communication/parenting classes based on the award winning book “How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk.” As my children have grown, I’ve found that I’m outgrowing my skill set, but I also wish that I had had this tool a few years ago so that I could have been better prepared for these more “communication-challenged” years.

This workshop is not only useful for parents but teachers or any other professional that works with children.

Participants will receive a workbook and a copy of the following books:

How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
Liberated Parents, Liberated Children: Your Guide to a Happier Family

The workshop runs for 6 weeks, and will begin on June 5th. It will run until July 10th (but I must beg some flexibility in case of a birth, etc.). It will be held at my office, 4736 Eagleridge Circle, from 7-9 pm. Unfortunately, childcare is not available at this time, but of course nursing or non-separating babies are welcome.

For this first series, I am only going to cover my costs. Because I want to guarantee a good rate for the first group, I will cancel the classes if I don’t get four individuals or couples signed up. Here is how the pricing will work:
4 registrants (either an individual or a couple): $100
5 registrants: $88
6 registrants: $80

Since I need to order materials, I’ll collect $100 when you register, but refund the difference if we end up with more registrants. In order to get materials in a timely fashion, I need at least the first four registrants signed up by April 27th. I can take a check or credit cards via Paypal (send money to ginapueblo@gmail.com).

I hope to see lots of interest! Feel free to forward this to any parents, teachers, childcare worksers, etc., that you know. Please call 369-4368 or email with any questions. More information about the workshop follows:

What Will Be Covered in Each Session?

1. Helping Children Deal with Their Feelings An exploration of what happens to children when their feelings are denied. Specific skills that help children to recognize and cope with their negative feelings-disappointment, envy, frustration, resentment, anger, etc. Ways to accept children’s feelings, limit unacceptable behavior, and still maintain goodwill.

2. Engaging Cooperation How children react to commonly used methods to get them to cooperate: threats, warnings, orders, name-calling, sarcasm, lecturing, etc. Five ways to invite cooperation that will leave parents and children feeling good about themselves and each other.

3. Alternatives to Punishment How do children normally react to punishment? Is it necessary to rely on punishment as a means of discipline? Some alternatives to punishment that enable parents to express their strong disapproval as well as encourage children to assume responsibility for their behavior.

4. Encouraging Autonomy Ways to help children become separate, responsible people who can one day function on their own. Specific skills that help children to become more self-reliant.

5. Praise An exploration of the kinds of praise that build a positive and realistic self-image-and the kinds that do not. A variety of ways to help our children become aware of their strengths so that they can put them into action.

6. Freeing Children from Playing Roles A look at how children are sometimes cast into roles (bully, whiner, dawdler, mischief-maker, etc.) and how we can free them from playing out these roles. Six skills that help children see themselves in a different and more positive light.

Natural Childbirth Classes Starting Soon!

This 8-week series of independent, comprehensive classes are held on
Monday nights from May 4 through June 22, from 6:30-9:30 pm.

Classes cover a wide range of topics including:
       Birth in our culture
       Pregnancy and prenatal care
       Labor and birth physiology
       Comfort measures and techniques
       Interventions and complications
       Postpartum and baby care
       Breastfeeding
       Community-building

Classes are taught by an ALACE-certified instructor, who is also a
certified doula and lactation consultant. Two excellent books and many
informative handouts are included with registration.

Call Gina today to reserve your spot! 719-369-4368

Come join us for a screening of the “hot” new birth movie, “Orgasmic
Birth” on Friday, April 17th at 7 pm. We’ll watch the movie at my
office at Lancaster Chiropractic, 4736 Eagleridge Circle. The movie is
free. Please bring a snack or beverage to share. Please RSVP by
calling Gina at 719-369-4368 or emailing to
safepassagebirth@gmail.com.

About the movie:

Joyous, sensuous and revolutionary, Orgasmic Birth brings the ultimate
challenge to our cultural myths by inviting viewers to see the
emotional, spiritual, and physical heights attainable through birth.
Witness the passion as birth is revealed as an integral part of
woman’s sexuality and a neglected human right. With commentary by
Christiane Northrup, MD, and midwives Ina May Gaskin, Elizabeth Davis
and other experts in the field . . . and stunning moments of women in
the ecstatic release of childbirth.

Orgasmic Birth has had an international impact on the film festival
circuit and was screened this year at the prestigious Rio de Janeiro
International Film Festival; The Baltimore Women’s Film Festival; Usti
Film Festival in the Czech Republic; Festival Caminhos in Portugal;
and ‘Official Selection’ The European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU)
2009 in Paris. Orgasmic Birth also won the Audience Choice Award at
the 2008 Motherbaby International Film Festival in Bermuda.

Five years in the making, Filmmaker Debra Pascali-Bonaro reveals a
revolutionary approach to birth that is statistically safer for both
mother and child than the birthing and delivery methods that are
standard in many parts of the world today. The viewer becomes an
intimate part of the birth stories of 11 women during this 85 minute
documentary.

The evocative score for the film was created by John McDowell,
composer of the score for the Oscar-winning documentary Born Into
Brothels, with additional composition by Sabina Sciubba of the group
Brazilian Girls.

Article can be read online here.

Published: February 26, 2009 03:10 am |

MOTHERS’ HELPER

Pueblo woman specializes in childbirth education, encouragement
By MARY JEAN PORTER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Her services can be described in a word: support.

Gina Gerboth is a certified childbirth educator, a certified birth doula (assistant), an intern midwife and a certified breast-feeding consultant, and in each case she provides help for the mother-to-be or the new mom.

“My job isn’t advocacy as much as it is support – educational, physical, emotional,” says Gerboth, whose office message board bears the words, “If you don’t know your choices, you don’t have any.”

Gerboth started her career working for the USDA as a policy analyst for food stamps, but the Women Infants Children program staffers were nearby and she overheard a lot about the benefits of breast-feeding. Watching her eldest son thrive on breast milk – after initial difficulties – led her into a new line of work. Her degree in political science from University of Colorado-Denver has been helpful with midwifery issues and policy, “but I just didn’t think it would lead to this.” Sariah Walters is one of Gerboth’s clients and says her help as a birth doula made daughter Auriella Coffman’s birth easier.

“She helped me stay calm. At first, I didn’t want the medicine, then I did and it was too late. She got me calmed down and she helped me by telling me, ‘This is where you are at (in labor).’ She let me know what to expect.”

Since Auriella’s birth, Gerboth has helped Walters with breast-feeding problems.

“She wasn’t gaining weight. I thought I was going to quit,” Walters says. “I asked my mom some questions, but having Gina here helped. She could see me in the daytime when I needed her. Now Auriella is gaining weight and is a lot happier.”

Gerboth says support for a nursing mother – information, practical suggestions, encouragement, understanding – is the No. 1 indicator of whether a mom successfully breast-feeds her baby. She urges new moms to attend local meetings of La Leche League to get help and information and to be with other breast-feeding mothers.

Gerboth says she tailors her services to a client’s needs. Her work as a birth doula – the word is Greek for “woman’s servant,” referring to the continuous, hands-on support given to a woman in labor – means she works with fathers-to-be as well.

“A lot of the time dads just don’t know what to do. I think they appreciate that I can start something like rubbing the mom’s back during labor and they can continue it. A lot of times dads worry that having a doula means they are being pushed out of the way, but it’s nice to have a second person there. One can talk to the mom face to face while the other rubs her back.”

Gerboth teaches independent childbirth education classes and has taught weekend childbirth classes for Parkview Medical Center. And she’s working to become a certified professional midwife. In Colorado, midwifery falls under the Department of Regulatory Agencies, and a midwife must meet requirements established by the North American Registry of Midwives, Gerboth says.

She plans to go to Bali, Indonesia, for the month of September so she can volunteer at the Bumi Sehat birth center to get clinical experience and help the midwives there provide safe, gentle births for all women. The maternal mortality rate is extremely high in Indonesia – 373 per 100,000 live births compared with 13 per 100,000 in the U.S., according to Gerboth.

Gerboth’s office is located at Lancaster Chiropractic Center, 4736 Eagleridge Circle. The center will have an open house from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday to explain its services for pregnant women and babies.

For more information about Gerboth’s work, call her at 369-4368 or e-mail safepassagebirth@gmail.com .

Come visit Pueblo’s premier natural pregnancy and baby care center! Learn how chiropractic care, natural birth experiences, breastfeeding, massage, aromatherapy, and natural baby care products can help your baby get off to the very best start!

Tuesday, March 3rd, 6-9 pm
4736 Eagleridge Circle
Pueblo, Colorado, 81008

Call Gina at 719-369-4368 for more information.

The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk by Diana West

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I finally sat down with this new release and was very impressed. I had the good fortune of attending a conference where Lisa Marasco was one of the keynote speakers, but this book is going to be an invaluable reference for my practice.

Written for the mother, it is equally useful to the lactation consultant. It’s informative but accessible. It was filled with tidbits that were new to me (for example, that studies have shown chiropractic to be an effective intervention for low milk supply).

I would caution the average reader to remember that far more women have TOO much milk, rather than not enough milk, and the tools in this book (especially the preventative ones) are directed to people who concerned that their supply will be compromised for a good reason–past history, fertility complications, breast shape, etc. Your mother or grandmother’s reports that she didn’t make enough milk should be taken lightly, as lactation management was poor in previous generations and it’s not unlikely that their problems were created by poor management.

View all my reviews.

I am pleased to announce that I have scheduled two childbirth class
series–one in Pueblo and one in Monument for your convenience! If you
know anyone who is pregnant, please share this information with them.
Classes are ideal for first-time parents, parents planning a birth
experience that is different from what they’ve previously had (i.e.,
are planning an unmedicated or homebirth after a previously medicated
birth, etc.), or parents who didn’t feel they received a thorough
coverage of childbirth topics from previous classes.

These are eight-week, ALACE-inspired (www.alace.org) course covering
the physical and emotional aspects of pregnancy, birth, and
breastfeeding.

The classes cover :
Class One-Birth Today
Class Two-Pregnancy and Prenatal Care
Class Three-The Physiology of Birth
Class Four-Designing Your Birth
Class Five-Complications and Unexpected Outcomes
Class Six-The Postpartum Period and Your New Baby
Class Seven-Breastfeeding
Class Eight-Practice, Networking, and Community Building

In Pueblo…
Monday Nights, 6:30-9:30 pm,
Starting February 16th
Location: 4736 Eagleridge Circle

In Monument…
Thursday Nights, 6-9 pm,
Starting March 5th
Location: TBA

Cost: $150, includes The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by
Sheila Kitzinger and Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws For
Nursing Mothers by Nancy Mohrbacher, as well as an extensive notebook
of handouts and resources.

“Bundled” pricing available for Doula and Midwifery Clients.

Private classes can be arranged, but I encourage parents to take
advantage of the community-building that can happen in childbirth
classes.

Please call 719-369-4368 or email safepassagebirth@gmail.com to pre-register so that books can be ordered ahead of time.

Thanks for helping me get the word out!

The Birth Partner, Third Edition: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkin

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book from the perspective of a birth attendant, but think it would be useful for the mother. Expectant women often have a hard time getting their partners to read “their” books, and I like the fact that this is directed toward the partners and support people. It is equally useful for Dad, Grandma, Doula, Partner, or Friend. The book is really an overview of birth as much as it is a book about supporting the laboring woman, so that helps educate those reluctant birth-book readers, in addition to specifically offering comfort measure techniques. I would recommend this for anyone who is planning on attending a woman during birth, and would give it a higher recommendation than the Doula Book for someone who is less familiar with the normal process of birth, since it goes into more detail regarding those topics.

View all my reviews.