Birthways

My husband and I moved to Oakland while I was about 7 months pregnant and Birthways was our go-​to place for all things baby. We took our birthing class in preparation for our son’s arrival, and then I signed up for a new Mom’s group a few weeks later. Both classes were very helpful to establish community in the East Bay and were incredibly informative. We most recently took an infant CPR class at Birthways and it too was excellent. Birthways was and continues to be a one-​stop-​shop for motherhood!

Really disappointing overall. One week the lactation consultation «forgot» to come to class, and all the busy parents-​to-​be came to find a locked building and no teacher. We were also promised a «special postnatal reunion class» for all the couples to gather with all the new babes, which never happened. I had been warned by my midwife and doula that many people had similar negative experiences with this place, but we liked the location and time so went went for it. Big mistake.

My partner and I attended the Intensive Childbirth Program (2 saturdays from 9am to 3pm). We learned a lot of things from Tisa and we enjoyed:
— her willingness to share her experience (good and bad)
— her openminded attitude to everyone’s personal choice, she made her preference clear, but was always very respectful of other path to childbirth and gave relevant information for many different birth plans
— her ease at creating a nice dynamic group, where people are open to sharing fears/​questions/​hopes
After this class, we feel more confident in our ability to experience childbirth positively, we have some tools to use in the various stages of labor and postpartum. I cannot speak for «experienced parents», but I strongly recommand this class for first time future parents!

We’ve now taken two classes at Birthways in preparation for the arrival of our first child. We took the Labor Comfort Methods class taught by Stacia and had a private birthing class with Tisa. Both were fantastic and we can’t believe we didn’t find Birthways sooner!
We had originally planned to attend classes at the Kaiser we plan to deliver at, yet after the first class, it became very clear that the teaching methods and style were not going to work for us. After checking out recommendations from a few different places, we settled on Birthways. And I wish we’d done this from the start!
Not only were both classes taught by super qualified and experienced people, who respected our individual choices and shared their own birthing experiences, but they made the learning process engaging, dynamic and natural. There was a good mixture of learning styles, and the chance to practice what we learnt. There were also plenty of opportunities to ask questions — which were honored and answered fully.
So much of what we’ve taken away from the classes has stuck with us as we get ever closer to our arrival, and I am so grateful to Stacia and Tisa for their advice and guidance. We honestly can’t recommend Birthways enough and will definitely be going back to be part of other classes as and when appropriate!

We completed the Childbirth Preparation Intensive class with Tisa in March 2015. Tisa was a great communicator and teacher. She was clear, straight-​forward, personal, friendly, warm, generous and knowledgeable. She listened to the groups questions and responded in a clear way. I recommend this class to any couple wanting to learn about the birth process. Thank you Tisa for your warm and sincere guidance.
Eric and Clara.

I received a phone call from Tisa apologizing for my bad experience. Apparently they never received my emails and their phone system has been permanently disconnected. I feel a lot better about everything after speaking with Tisa, she was very helpful and I look forward to my classes.

BEST MOMS GROUP EVER! Fantastic facilitator, wonderful women, we’re still hanging out months later. This group will save your sanity.
And their CPR classes are crucial too!

I took a Birthways new mom class that started when my son was just two weeks old. It was such an amazing experience to be with about 12 or so other new moms going through the same things I was going through. I learned a lot about breastfeeding, sleeping issues, massage, and much more for my son, but also self-​care for me. It’s been three years and our group still keeps in touch. I feel a deep connection to those kids, too. When I see those little guys at the Y or around town I think back to those early sleep-​deprived days and actually miss it. Birthways is such a great supportive environment. Highly recommended!

I didn’t take any classes because these a-​holes were kind enough to cancel my CPR class in my 8^th month of pregnancy. They claimed «low registration». Obviously my $ 100 wasn’t good enough to keep them open so I went ahead and canceled the other class that I had registered with them.
I was hella pissed because I had made plans wrapped around the East Bay for that day around this class.
I’d look elsewhere. They might just cancel on you…
BTW, I meant it when I said a-​holes!!!

My husband and I just completed our fourth of fifth hypno-​birthing class at birthways. We are very disappointed and do not feel like we’ve learned the methods very well from the instructor. Most of the class is the repetitive and the instructor just talking to talk or watching the same type of birthing videos over and over. I feel the class has a lot of negativity and projects fear around the fear of birth. Its counterintuitive. we did a long meditation that was full of «affirmations» of what birth should be. I think it’s ridiculous to prepare for something so intimate by focusing on external situations that are out of your control. I was trying to stick the class out but after tonight I don’t think I’ll be going to the last one. I did not get anything out of the class that I didn’t get from the book or my own research. I feel like we wasted money and a lot of time that could have better spent relaxing and preparing at home. This class could have been condensed in a few hours. Additionally the seating here is horriblely uncomfortable and the outside noise from other businesses can make it difficult to hear the soft spoken words.

Great resource on everything birth related from diaper free babies to a class on homebirth (which I took in 2009 — then taught by Laura Todaro). Each class has it’s own teacher so your experience will likely be driven by that, but the physical location is very comfortable and clean.
Highly recommended

My wife and I attended a childbirth prep class there that was taught by Anna Hurty. We LOVED her! She is so experienced and knowledgeable. We loved our doula (Rachel Shaw), but would’ve been extremely happy to have Anna at our birth. As it was, she came after to pick up our placenta, which she encapsulated for us. Anna was prompt in answering our call, came by the hospital to pick up the placenta and oooh and aahhh over our new baby, and my wife’s wonderful, natural birth. She brought the placenta pills to our house in a lovely package, with directions on the proper use of the pills. For those of you who don’t know, taking these pills after childbirth help tremendously with the postpartum depression/​baby blues, low energy, and recovery. I told my wife to just think of them as vitamins. She took them for a few weeks, and recovered better than I did!

My husband and I took the Natural Childbirth Intensive class and the Breastfeeding class here — I really liked both the educators (Anna Hurty and Paula Santi, respectively). All were very knowledgeable, approachable, and create a comfortable, open environment for moms and dads to be.
The educators weren’t too preachy about ‘natural’ either — they obviously taught a more low-​tech perspective to birth and breastfeeding, but were in no way judgmental about other perspectives. It really was JUST what we were looking for.
We also loved visiting this neighborhood — so many fun restaurants to check out!

My husband and I took a cloth diapering class at Birthways and it was the best $ 35 we have spent thus far. Erin was our instructor and she was informative, unpretentious, open mined and very personable. We got all of our questions answered and now feel comfortable with our choice to use cloth diapers. She spoke about traditional cloth diapers as well as other choices that are better for the environment. I haven’t taken any additional classes at the center but we hope to in the near future.

We took the Childbirth Intensive Preparation class with Constance Williams and I can not say enough positive things about the class and the instructor. We had an amazing birth experience at Alta Bates Hospital and we owe a huge part to the things we learned in this class. Constance helped us learn many aspects of childbirth from the stages of labor to comfort and labor techniques. Many things that I thought we wouldn’t even use during labor ended up completely helping us to have a natural pain-​medication-​free birth experience. Constance provided support for helping us to learn natural childbirth techniques but also provided support and knowledge regarding pain medication options in case we should need it. She was very organized, thorough, down to earth, and made the class fun and interesting. Birthways has a very nice space for the class and we would definitely take other classes there. This class and Constance’s teachings allows you to learn many different aspects about birth and labor and then take what you need to make your childbirth your own, unique, beautiful experience.

I took the Childbirth Instensive Class in January with Constance. It was an amazing experience and I largely attribute my beautiful natural birthing experience to Constance’s teachings.
The class takes place in a comfortable enviornment and all the information was very helpful. It is definitely a class for those interested in a medication free birth. Constance prepared us to have a home-​birth at the hospital. And even though this is the angle, I felt very well informed about my medical options were I to need or want them when I went into labor.
My partner found the class very helpful as well and he was extremely involved, confident, and supportive during my labor. Constance is supportive, easy to understand, and absolutely wonderful. Birth Ways is a must for all expectant couples searching for a natural, medication free labor and birth.

We had some negative experiences in another class, so it was refreshing to have such a positive experience in preparation for our coming baby. The teacher was knowledgeable, the room was very comfortable and the class was direct and to the point.
I would recommend this class if you are interested in a more holistic approach to childbirth.

We just completed the Childbirth Preparation Intensive class with Constance, and overall we were very disappointed.
Constance couldn’t seem to go for more than 15 minutes without throwing some kind of anti-​hospital, anti-​medicine, anti-​doctor, and/​or anti-​nurse barb. Given that competent hospital care saved my life when I was a child and (more recently) the life of our newborn niece, and the fact that my wife works at a medical school, you can imagine how unimpressed we were with this demonizing approach.
My wife and I absolutely hope to get through childbirth without any unnecessary medical care, and we do understand that modern western medicine isn’t perfect. We also understand that we need to advocate for our own points of view with regard to care. But, we do not agree that western medicine is generally bad, hospitals only care about profits, doctors and nurses don’t care about patients, nor many of the other ideologically-​driven over-​simplistic ideas put forth in this class.
Some of the anti-​medicine vitriol was not just aggravating, but actually downright dangerous — e.g. poo-​pooing the importance of Group B Strep tests, downplaying the danger of smoking & drinking during pregnancy, etc.
We also got very tired of the hard-​sell doula pitches. We hired one already! We don’t need another one! And if we chose not to hire one, that would be our private decision, not subject to Constance’s review!
There was some good information, and overall we walked away with some good techniques for handling labor, which was our goal. But the useful information could easily have fit within one 4-​hour session instead of three.
It sounds like the other BirthWays classes might be better, but I doubt we’ll be back.

Birthways is a chill, friendly environment and since they’re a non-​profit you get the feeling that they’re less concerned with filling up classes and charging lots of money, and more concerned with helping parents. The vibe is very relaxed.
We had a great Comfort Measures in Labor class with Stacia Biltekoff that we loved — she was so great and we learned a huge amount. Our breastfeeding class was not so good — the instructor was from La Leche League and we felt that she didn’t present a balanced viewpoint. Still, there was some valuable info in there.

Birthways is a wonderful organization that helped me tremendously with pregnancy & birthing classes. They have a wonderful and knowledgeable staff. A must visit place if you’re pregnant in the Bay Area.

I would happily give birth ways a 5 star review for their reasonably priced parenting programs, if I didn’t have negative experience at the end of my childbirth class that I had with the teacher Constance.
During the last session of our class, she asked the whole group who would be having a son. Then she asked us those of us considering circumcision to raise our hands. I was the only one to raise my hand (knowing full well that it would be an unpopular choice at a natural childbirth class in Berkeley) Constance then said before the entire group that I should really reconsider because my son would need his «papoose» and suggested that I stay after class to watch the movie she had about penis integrity… I was pretty offended to be publicly challenged for my decision, which was based on my religious beliefs.
I realize that circumcision is not medically necessary, many people deem it to be mutilation– blah blah blah, but I did not want to engage in that debate in that environment. Challenging my religion just wasn’t appropriate or professional. Aside from this incident, the other classes were excellent:
breastfeeding with Maya from La Leche League was excellent
Infant CPR was inexpensive and very helpful
I found the four series Childbirth class to be ideal in length. I think the Alta Bates one might have been too brief and clinical and the Bradley method to be way to long.