The one offered by my hospital is either a one day 9 hour class, two-days of 6 hour classes, or four days of 3 hour classes. These all seem so excessive to me and more time than I really want to spend. How much could there possibly be to cover? Lol. Will I regret skipping it?
We are taking one. But my doctor was really laid back about classes. When I asked her about when we should take a class her answer was "take one if you are interested. But even though this is new for you, it's not for me. I promise we will get this baby out of you, and I will help you make that happen, regardless of whether you take the class."
H and I both feel pretty unprepared for what childbirth will be like, so we still want to take a class. We are doing a 1-day, all day class, rather than break it up into multiple days or evenings.
Post by Raggedeannie on May 9, 2016 18:43:39 GMT -5
H and I did a "childbirth express" class last week - 2 3-hour sessions. A lot of it was stuff I already knew, but I'm glad we did it for two reasons:
1) We took it at our delivery hospital and they spent some time talking about the logistics of the delivery. Like, baby comes out, goes straight to mom's chest where she stays for at least the first hour if not longer, all of the post-delivery care is done while on mom's chest. They don't weigh the baby until well after this initial skin to skin time and first breastfeeding session, baby isn't even washed until many hours later. That sort of thing I found really useful to become more comfortable with what the heck is going to happen the day-of, assuming a normal birth.
2) H hasn't read shit about childbirth, and his idea of what goes on is based on a) movies and b) what he thinks he remembers from when his sister was born over 30 years ago in Brazil. So just to have someone else reinforce things that I have said I thought was helpful.
Plus I think insurance reimburses the cost, so nothing lost except for our 6 hours of time.
But I also want to take breastfeeding and newborn care classes and still think I would rather prioritize those over childbirth.
This.
I feel like I'm pretty well prepared for labor, but I'm really nervous about getting breasfeeding going and and caring for a newborn. So that is the type of classes I'm looking for.
We are also taking breastfeeding and newborn care classes. I really want to learn more about the breastfeeding support and resources at our hospital, and H is feeling really unprepared to care for a baby. I'm definitely looking forward to those more than the childbirth class.
I was gonna..then I got busy and never signed up. I figure, the Internet can tell me, lol
This is me! I have lots of articles and tips pinned on Pinterest and honestly I think they are more informative than the class we took with our DD 7 years ago.
I took it and it was meh. Not worth the $160, imo and I learned the same online. It was painful sitting for that long of a day, trying to keep my eyes open.
Also, they showed a non-medicated birth from beginning to end including the crowning and I'm still traumatized over seeing her in so much pain. And, I cried like a freaking baby when baby was born, lol. I would have been better going into this (tomorrow!) without having seen and heard her screaming so much! I'm not naive, I know I'm in for it but didn't need to see another woman suffer.
Our class was originally canceled so I had to scramble to find another one. I am planning to give birth at a hospital based birth center and they practically won't let you give birth there with out it. I really am skeptical of the breast feeding porting, I'd rather just get help afterwards, cause it seems like it is everywhere and I think I will do better with a real baby to practice with. There are free lactation consultants at the birth center, midwives, hospital, and physicians office.
We took one. I was glad because some unexpected things happened and I was glad to know what questions to ask and had some idea of what was happening and what my options were.
Post by HoneySpider on May 10, 2016 8:21:54 GMT -5
I asked my doctor which of the classes we *really* needed if we were going to pick and choose and she said childbirth and infant CPR. I'm planning to do anything breastfeeding related once the kid is here and I'm actually doing it/know what my questions and issues are (this was my original thought but doctor said this as well)
I took the one day childbirth class, although it wasn't all day since they let us out a couple of hours early. I thought it was worthwhile, because I did learn a few things and I think DH had a better appreciation for what I was about to go through...that alone was worth the class!
My favorite class was breastfeeding, and I think it was why I went on to nurse DS successfully after a very rough start. I had a lot of 'advice' about supplementing with formula, adding cereal, etc. from our moms and other family members, and I felt confident enough to ignore it and stick with what we learned in class.
Oh, I'm also taking a breast feeding class in July. I'm more interested in that than the childbirth class just because I'm hoping to learn what services the hospital has as far as lactation consultants, etc.
Post by sparkythelawyer on May 10, 2016 11:39:48 GMT -5
We did the newborn class and the hospital tour. We did not bother with the childbirth class because I sort of figured that no matter what the baby was going to be born whether I took a class or not. I didn't do the breastfeeding class either because honestly, the day I was signed up to take it I was too damn tired. I did find the newborn class super helpful as well as the hospital tour. Both went over a lot about the hospital procedures for right after birth, their lactation support, etc. I would say you don't need a childbirth class unless you are really pushing hard to go med-free.
I'm taking one, but it's only 2 classes which are about 2 hours. So not too excessive. We're also taking a newborn care class which includes things like CPR and breastfeeding, besides the basics. Those classes are 3 times, 2 hours each. I'm more excited for the newborn classes, but I got a discount if I signed up for both. Unfortunately, the classes are not covered by our insurance, but it wasn't too much out of pocket.
I did, but more for DH's benefit than my own. He had some really weird ideas about childbirth and breastfeeding and I just wanted to make sure we ended up on the same page. I don't think I learned anything new. Ours were totally free.
Post by polarbearfans on May 10, 2016 19:11:04 GMT -5
Nope. All were filled up. Every class at every hospital. When I was in labor the nurse kept telling me to do my breathing when I had a contraction... Eventually I yelled at her that I didn't know how to breathe because I couldnt find a class. At that point she helped me.
Post by HoneySpider on May 11, 2016 7:20:35 GMT -5
I was looking at the class schedule yesterday and surprised at how expensive they are - $180 for childbirth and $130 for infant CPR. I know I live in a city but I still wasn't expecting it to be that much! And then I see here that some people's are free or covered by insurance. I'm going to shop around for sure.
We took one last pregnancy and not going to this time (I am still undecided whether I will attempt a VBAC or schedule a RCS). The class was long but really informative IMO. And it really helped DH and I get to an understanding of what my wishes were for childbirth and why they were so important. It was more for DH and I am glad we did it.
I took a lamaze class that was 2 hours on a weeknight, for maybe 3-4 weeks. It was through the hospital, and we did a tour of L&D and postpartum during one of the classes. A lot of what we did was pain management strategies, which was useful for me because I wanted to go med-free. It might be excessive or unnecessary for anyone planning for an epidural/induction/CS. Our instructor was great, and I considered it totally worth it. It was really helpful hearing what to expect from each stage of labor, with strategies for pain in each.
Probably more important, it helped Calvin prepare because he wasn't on GP and MMM all the time like I was, so he was really pretty clueless until the class. I had a spontaneous labor and precipitous delivery, and if he hadn't been in the class to know when to call the doctor for me, etc., I might have had an unplanned home (or car) birth.
We also took infant care, but passed on BFing because people told me it wouldn't make a ton of sense until you're holding a baby anyway. No regrets there; I picked up BFing from LCs after I had her.
I was able to use FSA funds to pay for the lamaze class, but not for the infant care class.
I was looking at the class schedule yesterday and surprised at how expensive they are - $180 for childbirth and $130 for infant CPR. I know I live in a city but I still wasn't expecting it to be that much! And then I see here that some people's are free or covered by insurance. I'm going to shop around for sure.
I would shop around for sure! The classes I'm taking are offered through my hospital for free.
I looked at 3 different hospitals near me, two of them ranged from $175-200, and one of them had all free classes!
I was looking at the class schedule yesterday and surprised at how expensive they are - $180 for childbirth and $130 for infant CPR. I know I live in a city but I still wasn't expecting it to be that much! And then I see here that some people's are free or covered by insurance. I'm going to shop around for sure.
I would shop around for sure! The classes I'm taking are offered through my hospital for free.
Jealous! I definitely am not seeing anything for free (or even close) but I have at least found a few better options.
I would recommend infant CPR for both of you. I feel like BF is worthless until you know how it will be with your baby. The nurse in the hospital will cover most of the newborn care stuff. Childbirth if planning a non-medicated childbirth. I did hypnobabies but had a scheduled c section.