There is noth­ing so joy­ful as a group of moms-to-be, at var­i­ous stages of preg­nancy, mov­ing freely and fully. Cel­e­brat­ing this spe­cial state of being by main­tain­ing strength, endurance and range of motion pro­motes emo­tional well-being as well as health dur­ing this major life transition.

By select­ing activ­i­ties that pro­mote fit­ness, health and well-being for their pro­grams, our teach­ers insure that moms-to-be receive the max­i­mum ben­e­fit from the time they spend in class.

Here are some birth sto­ries from our clients (edited for privacy):

• We’re happy to report that [our baby boy] was born on Sat­ur­day at 12:31 am…our exer­cise classes were ESSENTIAL in the later part of labor — the doc­tor and nurse described me as a “nat­ural” at push­ing, but I had to admit to them that I’d been prac­tic­ing my c-curves twice a week for a few months already! — G.S.

• We arrived at the hos­pi­tal at 8pm on Fri­day and I was 6 cm dilated…I deliv­ered by 1 am with­out pain meds.  It was an amaz­ing expe­ri­ence. You really do focus inward.  I found sit­ting in the shower hold­ing the sprayer to be help­ful.  Def­i­nitely try dif­fer­ent posi­tions.  I used the bar for when it can time to push.  Just know that there is an end in sight and just hold­ing your baby at the end is the most won­der­ful, amaz­ing feel­ing in the world!  — P.E.

• We arrived at the hos­pi­tal at 6am and I was already 4cm dilated…[at] 5cm dilated, I requested an epidural. The anes­the­si­ol­o­gist did a great job, and I was still able to move my legs with the epidural. I found move­ment dur­ing labor to be very help­ful, and in par­tic­u­lar, cir­cu­lar move­ments of my pelvis (i.e. belli danc­ing). Post par­tum recov­ery has been quick. No doubt that [your] guid­ance and prepa­ra­tion was cru­cial to this end. I would like to thank all of you for your sup­port…  — K.L.

• On Sunday…after more than 26 hours of labor, [my wife] gave birth to [our baby boy]. Through the help of her birth sup­port team she was able to deliver with­out pain med­i­cine. She did a tremen­dous job, and we used many of the skills learned in class to focus, draw her out of her body, breath and relax.  — M.&L.S.

• I just wanted to share with you the very good news that [our baby boy] was born at 8:38 pm last night. He weighed 8 lbs 11 ozs and mea­sures 21.5 inches long. He finally enabled me to put my c curves and such to direct use by arriv­ing a mere 8 days late (instead of the 11 days late that would have led to my sec­ond c-section).  We are hav­ing a very nice time right now…and look for­ward to mak­ing our joint return to the gym in a few weeks!  — F.A.

• Our beau­ti­ful baby boy was born Tues­day night at 9:09 p.m. The deliv­ery went well (drug free!) and I received many com­pli­ments on my 50 min­utes of push­ing. Thanks for every­thing and I hope to see you in 4 weeks or so!  — A.E.