Product Details

• Actors: Sheri Bayles
• Directors: Expect This LLC
• Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Expect This LLC
• DVD Release Date: April 21, 2007
• Run Time: 260 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (415 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PLXFSS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,120 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Comprehensive and very entertaining! Great to watch in your own time at home. A great buy!" --Pregnancy Magazine

"Sheri Bayles manages to make even small details about childbirth entertaining." --American Baby Magazine

"What makes this class so special is the humor Bayles uses to teach couples." --Costco Connection

Product Description

Product Details Actors: Sheri Bayles Directors: Expect This LLC Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen Language: English Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.) Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Number of discs: 2 Rated: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Expect This LLC DVD Release Date: April 21, 2007 Run Time: 260 minutes

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

162 of 164 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very informative and convenient--but annoying at times January 12, 2005

By B. DeMoss

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This DVD is divided into 6 classes, just as a regular, live prenatal course would be. The classes are

1. Anatomy and Preliminary Signs of Labor (31:45)

2. Three Actual Signs of Labor and Two Breathing Techniques (57:50)

3. Labor and Delivery (49:25)

4. Pushing and Third Breathing Technique (49:25)

5. Medications Used in Labor, Induction, Forceps, Vacuum, and Monitoring (56:50)

6. Cesarean Delivery, Post-op C/S, and Postpartum Vaginal Delivery (40:50)

As a physician, I recommend it. I purchased this because my husband and I had way too much going on (moving, new jobs, etc.) during this pregnancy, and could not find a class that fit our schedule.

Sheri Bayles is extremely informative and experienced. She explains everything clearly and with good diagrams and props. She is very organized. She seems friendly.

CONS:

--Sheri has annoying mannerisms and really wants you to think she's a comedienne. If you can overcome this, you will learn a LOT from her.

--The set is really far from being aesthetically pleasing.

--Most of the moms don't look like they're REALLY participating; not great models for you. They also look like they stepped out of the 1980s, even though this was filmed in the 21st century.

The cons are small, though. This is very informative, if you can get past the annoying mannerisms and overall lack of prettiness to this video.

I liked having the classes laid out as a "real" class would have been. Sheri does a good job of making one class relevant to the next. I also enjoyed the convenience of this DVD; my husband and I were able to take this to work and play it on our computers, then watch it at home together, then review one final time, something you don't get to do if you take a live class.

So...I give it 5 stars for information, organization, and memorable delivery. I only gave it 4 stars overall because of the ugly-to-look-at-ness and the sometimes annoying qualities of the teacher. The information that lies therein is very, very high-quality. I'd buy this DVD again despite its minor shortcomings.

76 of 81 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST July 4, 2007

By Alexander Gitin

Format:DVD

Very Informative and Helpful. My wife and I could not make it to the Lamaze classes and we still glad we didn't. This video is great. My wife and I enjoy watching it, and learned a lot. The baby came out like a piece of cake (my wife doesn't agree on that one completely) but we both knew what we where doing)
We read the reviews that mostly criticized Sheri's sense of humor but we took a chance. Her humor is not that bad actually. She gets funny and sometimes goes a bit over the edge, however she is very knowledgeable and definitely has a talent of teaching. When she is describing important stuff she is serious and right on the point.
Some reviews criticized the quality of film making. I am professional photographer and my wife is an art teacher and we both studied film in college. In our opinion the cinematography part of the video is quite appropriate, informative video doesn't have to be a master piece.
Highly recommend it.

126 of 139 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars helpful facts but biased presentation - think twice if you know you'll need/want intervention in your birthplan July 5, 2008

By Mama to Be

Format:DVD

This is a DVD set that's full of good factual information that's then clouded by the instructor's biases and obvious corporate sponsorships.

The facts: she does a very nice job of presenting critical information that I'm glad I now know - such as the 3 phases of labor and the stages within each, simple breathing techniques that I won't be likely to forget in the moment, etc. Yes, she's a little to full of her own sense of humor but in my opinion that's easily overlooked when you consider that you're getting tons of good information in roughly 4 hours of material. And at least she tried to make the subject matter interesting rather than just dry facts.

Biases: she's obviously a very strong advocate for natural birth - no pain meds, no interventions. While she acknowledges that there are sometimes medical reasons that make interventions necessary and describes the interventions well, she does nothing to alleviate the viewers concerns about these procedures and in fact makes you feel pretty bad about "putting your baby through it" (not her exact words but definitely her attitude). The pattern for describing an epidural, and inducement, or another intervention goes something like: (a) here is how the procedure works (facts), (b) here's why it's bad for you, (c) here's why it's bad for your baby, (d) oh, and sometimes it's medically necessary, oh well. As someone who knows that she fits into the "medically necessary" category I didn't appreciate the judgment and lack of support. I went to my OB with a list of questions a mile long after watching the section on being induced and he countered quite a few of her "why it's bad for you and your baby" arguments as extreme cases based on his professional experience and knowledge - I think she's presenting worst case scenarios for these interventions as if they're the most likely outcome. I bought the dvds to increase my knowledge and decrease my anxiety about labor -- I know more than when I started but she definitely did not decrease my anxiety.

The corporate sponsorship: she's very obviously a shill for Viacord (a cord blood banking company). I briefly worked for one of the companies (not Viacord but a major competitor of theirs) and I can tell you she presents a very, very one sided argument for cord blood banking. She's not presenting facts, she's using the marketing techniques that all these firms use to convince you to buy this "insurance". For some people it may be a wise choice - especially those with a strong family history of diseases that cord stem cells have been proven to treat - but I did not expect to nor appreciate being marketed to in the guise of education, especially since I PAID for this dvd set.

All in all, if you can ignore the rest, there's a lot of good factual information here that's pretty well presented. But, if I had known how biased the instructor would be, I would have looked for a different dvd.