MOMS-TO-BE-SAY: NO PAIN, NO WAY WOMEN ARE REJECTING NATURAL CHILDBIRTH IN FAVOR OF ANESTHESIA, LEADING TO A DECLINE IN CHILDBIRTH CLASSES.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem

Staff Writer

Beverly Hills obstetrician Peter Weiss sometimes jokes that some of his pregnant patients ask for their epidurals at the moment of conception.

And Weiss, who practices at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, isn't far off the mark.

This generation of mothers-to-be -- whose own moms thought "natural" childbirth was the only way to go -- consider anesthesia a standard part of the birthing process, easing the pain only a woman knows.

"More and more women are planning on getting epidurals, and I don't blame them," said Dr. Jerry Konialian, a fertility specialist at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, who has delivered thousands of babies since 1985.

"They were not common 20 years ago, but now they are demanding it. You don't even have to suggest it. It's wonderful, and it's safe. I tell my patients who do question it, 'You wouldn't have a tooth pulled with no local, so why would you want this huge baby pulled out of you with no anesthetic?"'

That change in philosophy since today's new moms were born has resulted in a decline in childbirth classes.

Fewer are attending those six-week courses where swollen-bellied young wives of the '80s learned to breathe and push, to ask for ice chips and to fight homicidal tendencies when well-meaning husbands urged them to "just relax."

"It's not so much they're shunning classes because they think they know everything," Weiss said. "They're educating themselves in other ways."

Some are squeezing in one-day Sunday classes, like the eight-hour sessions offered at Burbank's Providence St. Joseph Medical Center. Others study the drill online and still more learn the ropes -- the breathing techniques, the hospital check-in and the labor and delivery protocol -- from DVDs supplied by their doctors, Weiss said.

"Less and less they're taking prep classes, even though we recommend Lamaze as a good educational class," Konialian said. "They can learn a lot from classes, in terms of labor and delivery, what to expect in pregnancy and labor, how the husband can assist."

Diana Limon, a childbirth educator at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City, said new parents who skip the class are missing out on a special kind of socialization.

"Even today's parents, they get that connectiveness, they support each other in the class," Limon said. "Some of them stay in touch. They all have children the same age. It's a common bond."

Limon said fewer people are taking classes because they don't know there's much more information offered these days.

"They don't understand what we've done to change it," Limon said. "They think it's the old-fashioned breathing."

Instead, the focus now in childbirth programs is to help women -- and men -- understand the entire process and to make choices about their own experience.

"They learn how to be with their babies and make that connection in this busy culture we have, to slow down and connect with our partners and as a result of that connect with our babies," Limon said.

And, yes, they do learn breathing techniques in Kaiser's five-week, 12-hour program.

"The thing they don't understand is even if they plan on having an epidural, they still have to be familiar with breathing and comfort techniques."

Learning with others in the same position, she added, helps enforce the information women gather from varied sources.

Most of Monica and Steve Barron's friends opted against childbirth classes, though the Sherman Oaks couple are enrolled in their second series offered by Kaiser Panorama City.

"My one friend said, 'I'm having an epidural so I don't need the class,'" said Monica, 34, expecting the couple's first child, a son, in April. "I really want to try to go natural without drugs as long as possible, so I wanted to learn the breathing, the relaxation techniques."

Steve, a Long Beach city firefighter, said he's delivered babies in the line of duty, but this time it's different.

"This time it's my wife and my baby," he said. "It's a whole different set of circumstances."

Classmate Shoma Seelall, 27, of Canyon Country, is expecting her second child, also a son, in April. Her 31/2-year-old daughter was born by Cesarean section, but Seelall expects to deliver her little boy vaginally.

"I want to make sure I remember the breathing, and to be calm," she said.

Lainie Josephson, 35, of Sherman Oaks, expects little Ellie in April. She and husband Gregg are taking a childbirth preparation class, and she's been gathering information on her own -- to the point that she's overwhelmed.

"There's so much information and so much conflicting information -- it's so ridiculous I stopped reading the books," Lainie said.

"Do we do drugs, do we not do drugs? I can eat this, but not that. Our mothers all did this, and they smoked and drank and traveled and ate whatever they wanted."

Gregg is enthusiastic and doesn't want to miss a thing. Lainie, however, isn't so certain she wants him there for the grand finale, reflecting yet another trend.

Some husbands are opting for the decades-old option when nervous dads-to-be paced the waiting room floor, cigars at the ready for when a nurse finally brought news, doctors and nurses said.

Women whose mates are antsy about witnessing the up-close-and-very-personal reality that is childbirth are asking their mothers, sisters or friends to join them for moral support.

"He'll be in the room the whole time, but I don't want him to see her come out," Lainie said. "I don't want him to see all that because he won't want to come back in a few weeks."

She has an ally in Konialian.

"I think a woman's mother or sister who has done it before can be a lot more effective," he said.

"It's nice to involve fathers in the delivery process, but I don't know how much they enjoy it, and I don't know how much they want to be traumatized."

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Sarah and Butch Kania practice relaxation techniques during a one-day childbirth class at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The all-day class was created for couples who don't want to do the full six-week program.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Many parents-to-be, like Maria and Sean Casey, above, and others, at left, are opting for condensed childbirth preparation classes, such as this one-day session at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.

(4 -- 5) Diana Peterson teaches a one-day childbirth class at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The all-day class was created for couples who don't want to do the full six-week program. Many expecting parents supplement their knowledge with books, Web sites and DVDs.

Matthew Simmons/Special to the Los Angeles Daily News