Nearly 4 million babies are born each year in the United States, with statistics showing a slight decline in births in 2021 to 3.7 million. Currently, the majority of births (98.4%) happen in hospital settings. Before the pandemic, one quarter to one third of birthing parents reported their births as traumatic. Birth trauma, perinatal depression and anxiety, and PTSD are on the rise greatly attributed to the COVID pandemic, and the impact of these experiences can be measured in the billions of dollars. The projected cost of maternal morbidity from birth trauma from conception through age 5 is $32.2 billion dollars.

It is our hope that this course will support parents to gently prepare for pregnancy, birth and parenthood to prevent birth trauma. We know from supporting parents that historical traumas from our ancestors, complex early trauma, previous birth trauma, insecure attachment and more all play a role in birth trauma. We have created this course to decrease trauma and stress so parents can birth and bond with the babies more freely, with greater ease, with less trauma, and if there are difficult moments, more resilience.