A wide variety moms and birth partners have taken these classes!

Many moms had birth partners who were their husbands or boyfriends.  Sometimes the mom's mom was the birth partner.  Sometimes the mom's sister.  Sometimes the mom's father.  Sometimes a cousin.  Sometimes a friend.  Sometimes the mom brought a couple people to a class.  Any birth partner the mom wants to bring is welcome, and they're encouraged to participate as they would like.  And moms are encouraged to recruit birth partners, but you don't have to have a birth partner in order to take this class.  

I think just being able to attend classes together and then discuss the information at home together was really great.  Until now, I was the only one who had read much, but now we think about the birth more as a team effort. 
-- Mom

About half of the mom/partners have a connection to Ohio University -- faculty, administration, undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, international students, etc.  I've had a few moms who were still learning english, and I'm careful to work with them to make sure they and their partners are getting the key points we might be talking about. 

About half the moms and partners are not directly linked to Ohio University.  Some are local business owners.  Others, school teachers.  Some have several jobs, and some are looking for jobs.  All are about to start their most important job! 

Some mothers have taken the class preparing to use natural comfort strategies.  Others took it planning to use pain medication as early as possible.  I help moms identify what you would like, how best to make that happen, and how to handle it if things don't go as the mom and partner had hoped.

Some mothers take the class planning to breastfeed.  Others might not have been planning to breastfeed.  I don't ask who is planning on breastfeeding; I assume everyone will do it for at least some time, and we spend about an hour or so of the last class on it.  However, it isn't necessary to be planning on breastfeeding to take this course.  Most of the course focuses on labor and delivery.   

In all, more than 100 moms/partners have taken this class since Autumn, 2007.  Class size has ranged from 2 to 14 moms, averaging 5 moms in a class, plus birth partners.