Bringing a baby into the word is no easy task, but as Nobel Prize-winning physicist Marie Curie wrote, “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”

Knowledge is power. When you know what your body is doing during labor and delivery and you understand your options, you’re no longer wandering down the road hoping for an exit. You have the map, you know where you’re going, and you know how to get there.

Care Net’s BrightCourse Labor and Delivery program hands you the map through seven lessons:

1. 1. Learn how education about childbirth facilitates a confident birth.
   2. Understand the parts of the body involved in labor, how they work together for a successful delivery, and the stages of labor.
   3. Understand how a woman’s body is uniquely and well equipped to bring a baby into the world naturally, including the remarkable flood of hormones involved in the process.
   4. Gain confidence to make decisions during if necessary by using the BRAIN method: Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, INtuition.
   5. Learn the options for medical pain relief as well as interventions and procedures that might be needed.
   6. What to consider when you make your birth plan and the advantages and disadvantages of each option
   7. What to expect post-partum (after birth).