I had taken some classes to help with the childbirth called the Lamaze classes in Hyde Park before we moved.  It was recommended by Margaret’s doctor.  This was a childbirth technique, also known as the psychoprophylactic method or simply the Lamaze method, a preparation for childbirth.  As an alternative to medical intervention during childbirth, it was popularized in the 1950s by French obstetrician Fernand Lamaze (1891-1957) and based on his observations in the Soviet Union.  The goal of Lamaze was to build a mother’s confidence in her ability to give birth, through classes that helped pregnant women understand how to cope with pain in ways that both facilitate labor and promote comfort, including relaxation techniques, movement, and massage.  Lamaze had visited the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and was influenced by birthing techniques which involved breathing and relaxation methods.  Based on Ivan Pavlov’s (1849-1936) theory of conditioned response, psychoprophylaxis strove to eliminate the pain of childbirth through education about the physiological process of labor and delivery, through the trained relaxation response to uterine contractions, and through patterned breathing intended to both increase oxygenation and interfere with the transmission of pain signals from the uterus to the cerebral cortex.  Lamaze was so impressed by what he witnessed that after he returned to France, he devoted the rest of his life to promoting psychoprophylaxis.  The Lamaze method gained popularity in the US after Marjorie Karmel wrote about her experiences in her 1959 book, Thank You, Dr. Lamaze, as well as Elisabeth Bing’s book, Six Practical Lessons for an Easier Childbirth (1960).  Both Karmel and Bing co-founded the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics in 1960, later renamed the Lamaze International.  Lamaze himself has been criticized for being over-disciplinary and anti-feminist.  Natural childbirth activist Sheila Kitzinger’s (1929-2015) description of the methods he deployed while working in a Paris clinic during the 1950s expressed concern regarding the disciplinary nature of Lamaze’s approach to childbirth.  According to Kitzinger, Lamaze consistently ranked the women’s performance in childbirth from excellent to complete failure based on their restlessness and screams.  The Lamaze technique has also been criticized for being ineffective.  I took some of the classes, but I thought it was more about breathing technique.  I would help Margaret when she was having contractions to breath better. Have you ever been to child-bearing classes?