to write this letter about a truly awful antenatal class?

[AKMD]

I am writing with some comments about the antenatal class that I attended yesterday at the . I am expecting a baby in March and, as first-time parents, my husband and I were looking forward to the class as a source of information about preparing for labour and delivery, pain management techniques and what we could expect to happen at the local hospital. We came away severely disappointed and feeling that the research we had done on our own had been a better use of time. Our reasons for this are as follows:

1. The facilities were inadequate for the number of people attending the class. The room did not have enough chairs for everyone to sit down, even though a number of women came on their own. The television was so small that it was hard to see the screen and impossible to read the writing on the second of the videos shown.

1. The videos that we were shown were out of date. The midwife leading the class constantly talked over the video to explain that the techniques being shown were no longer used and considered bad practice. When asked by another member of the class why up-to-date videos were not available, the reason given was that they cost £70 each.

1. No advice was given on pain management, other than to avoid pethidine and to have an epidural, with a brief description of a TENS machine. There was no information on how to use gas and air or breathing and relaxation techniques.

1. The midwife?s knowledge about the facilities available at the ** hospital was not up to date. Another member of the class had to point out that birthing pools are now available. Information on other facilities and equipment, such as birthing balls and birthing stalls, was not given.

1. A list of items to take to the hospital was not available as the midwife had forgotten to print out copies and no arrangements were made to send out copies later.

Given that we had to sign up for this class several months in advance, it seems incredible that even simple arrangements like providing enough chairs were not in place. I would also strongly question the value of showing out-of-date videos, which were confusing and misrepresentative, especially for the women in the class with a limited grasp of English. Although £70 is a lot of money for a video, the ones shown were so dated that they were obviously originally made before some of the members of the class were even born ? plenty of time to save up for new ones!

In all, the limited time of the class made it impossible for the midwife to cover every subject that needed addressing. I realise that there are limited resources to provide classes for as many women as possible, but it is already pretty disgraceful that only 2 hours? worth of classes are provided and to not have adequate facilities and up-to-date information to make the most of this time is unforgiveable. Had I not already done some thorough research myself, I would have come away from the class frightened, confused and completely unprepared for giving birth.

I hope that these comments will help to improve this service so that women in future classes have a better experience.

YANBU. How very unhelpful. I hope they do something in response to your letter.

Good letter. What a shambles!

YANU at all, what a horrible class it sounds. TOtal waste of time.

I rememeber going to NHS classes before having DC1, part of the reason why I was so woefully unprepared for her birth. I told the MW there that I didn't want invasive pain relief; she laughed at me and said wait until you feel the pain! Nice.

Can you get to the NCT ones?

Sounds like the NHS! The funding is so woefully inadequate, I would be wary of sending a letter like that to anyone who has no power to increase it.
I guess what matters is how many mothers and babies they bring through tricky life/death situations. I can't fault the NHS in the way they did that for me and my son, and countless others that week alone. If you are concerned about your hospital being able to do that, I'd consider switching.
You could always ask for a further private chat with one of the midwives to talk about specific concerns too, and you could bring up then how crap the class was.

That sounds really appalling. Why show the videos at all if they are so out of date.

Send the letter.

I checked with the local NCT group leader but the ones for my due date have already started and are full. TBH I wasn't very enthusiastic about going to them as other people had reported that they were very pushy about having a 'natural' labour whatever the costs, but now I am really regretting now booking myself in.

Sounds like the classes I took. Me and DH sneaked away half way through the second one as it was an EXACT repeat of the first and never went back.

Sounds pretty appalling.

I think to be fair, on the 'breathing and relaxation' - I went to some fairly good NHS classes before DD1 and they explained that they didn't really go into breathing techniques as women would start when in labour then 'fail' (by their own perceptions) to breathe/control as they felt they should from the class and then panic etc. But we were definitely told about gas and air in my classes here (and shown how to use at the hospital visit which was part of the classes - they did say some loved it and some said it made them feel sick - in fact the whole tone of the classes was quite informative and helpful, which I appreciated, rather than 'preachy' in any particular direction - a shame you didn't have the same kind of classes and yes i would write.

You can write to PALS and there should also be a Materntity Services Liaison Committee (MSLC) that sits at your hosptial every 6 weeks or so who are interested in exactly the senario you have described.

In your letter be very specific about what was wrong and what was right and what you feel would be constructive solutions (ie buying the new video, smaller classes etc).

I did the NCT classes and I have to say they were excellent and yes there is a focus on natural pain relief... but that's because you have to do/manage that yourself. Epidurals and c-sections are covered but you don't need to know the technique for putting the needle in - just what will happen so that does take less time.

Do you have an NCT support group you could join instead of formal antenatal courses? Your local branch should have a Parent Support Coordinator (PSC) who you can ask about what support is available. Try the NCT website for more info.