Do I really need to take a childbirthing class?

[kermit]

I don't want to. I talked to my doctor last time about it and she said she really doesn't care, but she did recommend that I take a breastfeeding class. I'm fine with that, but I just have no interest in taking a childbirth class, I don't know why. Is it really necessary?

[demelza]

I thought it was really helpful, but if you have good nurses around you should be fine without the class.

[aqualuv]

I don't know if it's necessary. But I feel like I get a lot of education from my prenatal yoga class. My instructor is also a doula. I've learned a lot and a few moms have said they went to the child birthing class and learned just about everything we talk about in class.

I did sign up for a breast feeding and newborn basics class.

[scribellesam]

I found it helpful in learning about the labor process but not life changing or anything.

[FastHands]

I want like a DVD so I can wear my terrified face without shame in the privacy of my own home.

[daisycat]

I don't know that it's necessary, but it thought it was helpful as to different scenarios, what to expect sort of things. I think it was probably more eye opening for my husband who had never really given the childbirth process much thought.

[IndiaInk]

I don't know if it is necessary or not. I really liked mine though. We took one from a homebirth midwife, even though we're not having a homebirth. She taught us so much about the physical process of childbirth and postpartum care for mom and newborn. I think it was really nice for DH to have that information and for us to learn it together, because I immerse myself in this baby talk on a daily basis but he doesn't. We definitely didn't sit around learning breathing techniques, which was just fine by me.

[hokiegirl82]

I took a childbirth class with my H this past weekend, and I'm really glad we did. It was recommended by my ob, and it was 4 hours Saturday and Sunday at the hospital where I will deliver. Even though I didn't enjoy getting up early both days on the weekend, I am very glad we took the class because I feel way more prepared now for the birthing process and what could possibly happen than I was before (I was pretty clueless before). If you don't feel anxious about birth and have any experience with babies the class probably isn't worth it, but it was great for us since we have no experience with babies whatsoever, and we even learned how to put a diaper on which was great for us.

[kermit]

Mar 25, 2014 10:33:19 GMT -5 FastHands said:

I want like a DVD so I can wear my terrified face without shame in the privacy of my own home.

That sounds like a great idea. It's not that I don't want the info, I guess I really just want to do it on my own time and not have to sign up/find parking/find the room/sit through class etc. when there are other things I'd rather be doing. Plus at this point it seems like just ONE MORE THING that has to be done.

[bowies]

I signed up because they roll a few things into the 6 weeks - L&D, breastfeeding basics, newborn care, CPR. If it was just L&D, I'm not sure I would have bothered.

[SJ]

I have heard tons of moms say that they never took a class and were just fine. If you really don't want to take one, I'm sure you can skip it!

It's important to me, mostly so that my husband can hear all of the information from a third party. I read and research a lot more than he does, and the class is one way we can prepare together. I also prefer more information to less, and see no reason not to take the class.

[VillainV]

I'm glad we took a class. It was free, and took maybe 6 hours on a Saturday. It gave us a lot of good information -- enough to realize that we had NO IDEA what was going to happen, and we now feel a lot better about the whole process. Personally, I feel like I have a lot more "control" of the situation because I know more about what is going to happen. Having said that, if it had been several days, or had cost money, or had been out of our way or inconvenient at all, we probably wouldn't have done it and would have been just fine.

[changedname]

Mar 25, 2014 10:30:11 GMT -5 aqualuv said:

I don't know if it's necessary. But I feel like I get a lot of education from my prenatal yoga class. My instructor is also a doula. I've learned a lot and a few moms have said they went to the child birthing class and learned just about everything we talk about in class.

I did sign up for a breast feeding and newborn basics class.

I was going to say this. I used more things that I had learned in my prenatal yoga (breathing, relaxation) than in the childbirth class. Also, my labour was super quick (4 hours) so most of what I learned didn't apply (no time for massages, different positions etc).

I completely ignored the BF class because I thought I wouldn't bf but I am so have been going to the clinic at the hopsital.

[soozy87]

My H and I were glad that we took ours. We had a surprise induction and because we took the class we knew what to expect and what the terms the doctors were using meant and that we had options when it came to certain things. We recommend it to people we know that are having babies.

[Deleted]

We took all the classes we could and the childbirth and prepared labor class was the most helpful. My h didn't have time to do a lot of research/reading so he found it really helpful. The most important thing is that they really emphasized how he could support me during the process. Breast feeding was least helpful. I read all of the things they went over. It is really something that you need to practice.

[gretchenindisguise]

i really liked it and thought it was helpful. It was also good for H because he hadn't done nearly the reading I had.

[chicago]

Ours was a huge waste of time. When the time came and I was actually in labor, I naturally breathed through the early contractions and because I had an epi I never felt the super intense contractions. Had I been planning to go med-free, maybe it would have been more beneficial, but I wish I had that weekend back!

[speyedr]

I actually skipped the hospital childbirth class and took a labor skills workshop given through my local cloth diaper supplier. I am a nurse and did a specialty rotation on L&D in the fall during my last semester of school so for me, learning the birthing process was not something I was going to pay for, however the class we did take was awesome! It provided a lot of good pain relief techniques and alternatives to pain meds/epidural.

I think you should figure out what you want out of your L&D experience and find a class that is suited to that plan. There are Lamaze, Bradley, Hypnobabies, hospital led classes out there that all cater to different experiences and can all be beneficial if they are what geared towards what you want your experience to be.

[ringstrue]

Ours was really not a big deal. I think it's important to learn about the stages of labor and what different things you can do during which. We didn't watch any gross videos.

They also took us on the tour of the hospital rooms and nursery area which I appreciated.

[shekels1222]

I didn't take one during my first pregnancy. It's really not necessary. Even if you have a birth plan it's likely to change due to circumstances you can't foresee or just because you've never actually given birth before so you have no idea what to expect.

I didn't take a breastfeeding class either and successfully breastfed for 16 mo. It's really up to you. If it makes you more comfortable and less anxious if say go for it. I got certified in infant CPR before DS arrived and read up on breastfeeding and the labor and delivery process

[papie]

You don't have to. But honestly, labour and delivery is such an overwhelming process, that it really helps to be a bit more prepared. I actually took one with my second pregnancy too, lol, becaue I felt I was too overwhelmed the first time and hated my epidural and wanted to be ready to do it med free.

[pinotgrig]

We're taking all the classes we can - childbirth, bf'ing, infant safety, and CPR. I tend to go overboard on learning about things though. With something as major as labor, learning all I can about makes me feel more in control and prepared.

[jr009j]

The only thing I really got from our childbirth class last time around was what amenities the hospital had. So I would recommend the hospital tour, but not necessarily the class.

[smock]

We did a class through our hospital, and it was really helpful, particularly for learning about hospital procedures and things we might not otherwise know about the process (like requesting the pediatrician to visit the baby in your room rather than down the hall in the nursery area). Plus the tour of L&D was nice (though we could have done that without the class). Some of the sessions were not super helpful, but it was free and also we got cake at the end.

[laurack]

We took a natural birthing class last time and I really enjoyed it. It was fun to have something to do "baby related" together, it was four evenings over four weeks and we met some nice couples there. One of the couples we are close friends with now.

It was eye opening for my H who didn't know anything about birth.

Not sure how much it helped me to get through contractions, I felt that once things got really painful I had a hard time concentrating on the breathing and remembering basically anything I was supposed to do lol. That's probably my issue though.

[flgirl]

Have never taken one. I read a few books on the Bradley Method but didn't feel it would help me. I had wonderful nurses so that helped. I think most of the information you will need you can find without going to a class.

[teeah22]

I took one last time I was pregnant and it was really a waste of time. We also did a newborn care class which was ok. The only class I didn't take was breast feeding but I managed to do that without much instruction (thankfully DS somehow knew what to do).

[robinsbff]

i think it depends on your learning style. i'm a "more info is better" kind of girl, so we're going to everything that is recommended by my practice/hospital -- childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care. i also want DH to hear everything too since he's got a better memory than me and it will be helpful during the stressful times to have two brains to rely on to recall information.