I am Lamaze-Certified!

After a long, long process, I am very happy and proud to say that I am now a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE). I took the certification exam in October and I just received my results--Pass!

In October, I wrote of my intentions for Lamaze Certification and how it will impact my birthing career, my HypnoBirthing practice and what it means as a professional credential.

As a HypnoBirthing practitioner, I have always felt a little under-qualified. I think we all know what it is like to feel like an imposter, like we are doing something that we just barely have the qualifications for. It is actually a very common sentiment--The Imposter Syndrome (see it described here on Wikipedia). The reasons I felt this way were complicated. I do not have children myself (I have never given birth), which seems like a standard among childbirth educators! Also, teaching HypnoBirthing came out of my interest in childbirth as a specialization of my hypnotherapy training. And HypnoBirthing is not recognized, for example, as a complete childbirth education class by some (including DONA, Doulas of North America). So, pursuing Lamaze Certification was a step in gaining knowledge and respect within the professional birthing world.

The process for becoming certified through Lamaze is complicated. Since I already teach HypnoBirthing, and have been teaching for quite some time (and for hundreds of hours), I was able to be certified through documentation of these teaching hours and by examination.

The examination was intense! The study guide for the exam, as provided by Lamaze, fits snuggly into a 1.5" binder. It is chock full of bullet points, references (especially websites and research studies) and important articles that emphasize the Lamaze philosophy. The test itself was conducted at a testing center, took about 1.5-2 hours to complete, and really challenged my thinking about birth. Unlike HypnoBirthing (which is solely focused on birth), Lamaze discusses physiological & psychological aspects of pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding, in addition to labor and birth.

What I will do as a Lamaze instructor is still up for debate! I hope to offer supplemental classes to my HypnoBirthing childbirth classes (because I still think that HypnoBirthing is the best childbirth preparation program), such as Comfort Measures and Breastfeeding preparation.

Of course, I am now also offering Infant Massage instruction, because I am certified in this modality, too.