Antenatal classes in Cambridge - NHS or NCT?

[VegemiteSandwich]

Hi!

Does anyone know what the NHS antenatal classes are like in Cambridge at the moment? We were planning to sign up to the NCT ones but if the NHS ones were particularly good perhaps the money could be better spent elsewhere.

We're not flush with funds but could find the money for the NCT ones. What I particularly like is that they are in the evenings (so no time off work), presumably small groups and have a "friend-finding" aspect to them.

Even though I'm not due until December I'm looking into this v early as have heard (on mumsnet!) that they can get booked up quickly.

Birthlight, birthlight, birthlight!!!!!!!! find Sally Lomas, she is an angel!

here

Thank you for the link. I think I'll look into them for some of the mother and baby things like swimming and yoga and massage.

What I don't like about their classes is that they are for mothers only - I really want the husband to go so that he can learn about how to help me/different positions/relaxation techniques etc.

ooh didn't realise that, DH and I did a 6 week course together on Monday nights, it was a couples birth preparation course. (was 8 years ago though )

Oh actually I'm wrong (wonder which bit I was looking at before!). The price is better than the NCT so I might look into it.

did you see this??

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Not a bang up-to-date report, but we did the NHS classes last May. There were only three of them; I think you end up having more classes with NCT. They were OK from the point of view of communicating the essential stuff we needed to know about recognising labour and what to do when and what would happen and what might happen, and they provided ample chance to ask questions of the midwives running them, all of whom were familiar with the Rosie. I don't think anything was included about how to cope with labour itself (I have a vague memory that they said we could find other sources for breathing exercises and that sort of thing), and they were hopeless from the point of view of getting to know people! At the last class the midwives asked those who would be interested in keeping in touch to write their email addresses on a sheet of paper, promising that they'd email the list to everyone who put their addresses down; then they never did so. And of course because everyone was expecting that they'd get this list, people didn't worry about exchanging contact details amongst themselves. It was understandable hardly the midwives' priority, and very easy to mislay a bit of paper but a bit frustrating nonetheless.

Ah - if you want birth positions and relaxation techniques and that kind of thing, you definitely don't want the NHS classes unless they have changed a lot over the last 11 months.

Helenlynn, how did you find your overall experience at Rosie?
don't know anyone who has given birth there recently, it had a very variable reputation when I had the boys (5 & 8 years ago) but there was no birthing center available when DS1 was born!

Thanks helenlynn. I cannot imagine that things in the NHS have become BETTER over the last 11 months so I guess that means we'll be doing some private ones as well. I just need to tell the husband :o I'm surprised that the NHS ones didn't do anything on how to cope with labour etc. Coz in the movies breathing and stuff is what ante-natal classes are all about!

A shame that you didn't manage to keep in touch with anyone. While I imagine that there are lots of mother-baby groups, it would be nice to find some friends before the big event.

neverknowinglyunderstood I think actually that the mothers-only classes I was thinking of was lazy daisy (or something like that). Birthlight sounds like a good option ... but... they refer to pregnancy as "the magical journey" which I find a bit cringe-y. Or have I got the wrong idea! Also, I don't live terribly near Girton whereas there are a few NCT ones close by here. Not that getting to Girton is that hard, just thinking of where my "new friends" will be living! I guess I just figured that NCT was the only non-NHS option but will look into it further.

NKU - I had DD2 at the Rosie a year ago. The care during labour was absolutely wonderful, but before and after not so. She came a month early, so we were taken up to the delivery unit - otherwise I would have hoped to go to the MLU - and we had a midwife and trainee midwife with us throughout. In the end she was a decent size and absolutely fine so we got sent down to the Lady Mary ward and that's where the care was much less good sadly, I think just because it's so busy. We were given incorrect advice about visitors that meant I was on my own for hours on end - we were told that DH could only come with DD1 during the official visiting hours, when in fact he would have been allowed to come at any time with her to see me and DD2.

I guess as with any hospital, the key is communication! Anyway on the main question, we did NCT refresher classes rather than NHS ones.

The fabulous Anna Youngs runs a brilliant antenatal yoga class and a birth preparation class in Ross St community centre, off Mill Road. A friend also had a one-to-one yoga session with her and said how amazing and supportive it was.

She is on maternity leave at the moment but is starting up again in September. I'm hoping to get a couple of classes in with her before DC3 appears in September!

www.yogaincambridge.co.uk

I did NCT too and highly recommend it.

I had DS at the Rosie in 2009, and can't fault most of the care (a couple of nippy-sweety midwives, and a consultant who took a while to come round to the idea of pain relief for me, but otherwise ok) - the post natal was pretty good, despite it being September, which is the busiest time of year there!!

re: NCT classes, friends of ours did NCT classes in Cambridge and had an atrocious experience with a loon teacher who was very firmly against pain relief of any kind, and said anything other than natural birth was a failure - friends complained loudly... However, I know someone who is training as an NCT teacher just now who is very sensible, open to all ideas, and I suspect will be a bloody good teacher once fully trained. Feel free to message me for her name so you can see if she's near you :)

ohmygosh - I did Anna's antenatal yoga back in 2008 and at that time in one of the "how we're feeling this week" bits she said she was sad because she had just had an implant put in and wouldn't be having any more kids - good to hear she decided to have another!

If you want birth positions and relaxation techniques and that kind of thing then you won't go wrong with the Lazy Daisy birthing classes, my friend did them in Newmarket (they are in most towns) and she learnt positive yoga style moves, breathing, relaxation, and al kinds of movements that she said helped her birth (which was an induction and quite long) They didn't cost too much

NKU, overall the Rosie was very good. For the actual labour, which after all is the bit that really matters, it was great; the before and after bits were OK but less good.

I had a bit of a bleak day on an antenatal ward waiting for an induction; it turns out that they let atrociously chirpy women, who are volubly in no pain, watch loud crappy soap operas on telly beside women who are in considerable pain, which was difficult and horribly trying.

On the delivery unit everyone was very friendly, faultless in explaining what they proposed to do and asking for consent, and competent. It was lovely and quiet. The baby was presenting awkwardly and becoming a bit bradycardic, so I went to theatre in case they needed to proceed to a C-section, but that proved not to be necessary. Everyone was fantastic and I wasn't at all worried at any point that there was any susbtantial risk to me or the baby; I'd happily sign up for the same experience again! It was, necessarily, a very medicalised birth, but extremely well managed and not remotely alarming.

The postnatal ward was OK, but they were very busy and while you can have visitors at any time during the day and until late evening, the night time without any help was hard. I managed only a few brief catnaps between changing or comforting my son, and that was exhausting after labour and birth (of course if you have had a C-section or are otherwise prevented from actually getting out of bed, they come and do things for you). The thing that really astonished me was that they have no changing facilities. Given that every other pub and cafe within a two-mile radius of my house does, I found this a curious failing in a maternity hospital. Next time around, if the baby and I are well, I will start hassling them to discharge us as soon as I can waddle; it is not a place where it is easy to rest.

It's good to hear reasonable views on the Rosie - at the moment I imagine that no maternity service is first class, but it seems that the Rosie is as good as any. That said, I'm wanting to consider a home birth (I'll be more relaxed at home,and I think that this will improve my pain tolerance).

Thank you for the idea of Anna's yoga/pregnancy class. Ross street is just around the corner, so that would be perfect! Hopefully she'll be back some time in the next few months and then ohmygoshandgolly I might see you there!

Kveta is it possible to find out who is going to be the instructor before you do the course? I'd imagine that she's gone if everyone has complained about her! I have heard, though, that the NCT is a bit anti-drugs/intervention/etc and I'm happy enough to take that aspect with a pinch of salt. It's to learn how to TRY and make the best of managing without drugs/intervention/etc that I'm really keen to learn.

Another vote for Anna Youngs!

1. I did the NHS classes in 2010 and they were excellent - there were four plus an addition breastfeeding class. Didn't miss the NCT "making mummy friends" classes and kept my £230. Have to say the NHS breastfeeding clinic after DS was born was absolutely excellent as well - saved by boobs!

2. I had an absolutely excellent experience at the Rosie once I was actually in the delivery unit. I had wanted to go to the midwife-led unit, but they wouldn't let me come in until my contractions were under three minutes. After 3 days of contractions 5 minutes apart, I was fed up and went into the delivery unit. From that point on the care was excellent - dedicated midwife throughout AND the wonderful birthing pool on the delivery unit, which is better than the one on the birthing unit. I ended up having to have a CS, because DS had his foot stuck under my ribs, but the aftercare was excellent too.

Thumbs up to the NHS and to the Rosie.

Vegemite you're near us then! I think this bit of town is a really nice place to live with a baby. We moved (from another part of Cambridge) when I was three months pregant and I was particularly impressed to find that Limoncello had a list on their cheese counter of which ones I could and couldn't have No wonder the primary schools are oversubscribed though.

I went to one of Anna Youngs' pregnancy yoga classes and liked it too, but it was just too hard to make it there on time after work so I didn't manage more than one. But she is lovely.

That's lovely to hear you say that helenlynn. Although I've lived in Cambridge for most of the last 8 years, we've only lived in Romsey these last few months. I suspect that it's going to be baby central! Bits like Limoncello and the Black Cat Cafe are great, but bits like the drunks outside the coop are not so good at the moment.

Vegemite it's worth checking out Balzano's cafe/deli on Cherry Hinton Road if you haven't already - similar range to Limoncello but buggy space the like of which Mill Road has never seen. And there's a Boots there as well, only a little one but a useful back-up sometimes if the Co-op chemist hasn't got the thing you need. I got to know a few street drinkers a little bit when we lived on a narrowboat on Midsummer Common/Jesus Green and then opposite the hostel on Willow Walk - mostly they are pleasant, unhappy, unlucky people. I don't mean that in a preachy way, I still find shouty drunk people a bit intimidating (I remember feeling more rattled by it when I was expecting as well), but now I have a factual basis for telling myself that I needn't get freaked out, if you know what I mean.

helenlynn I've never heard of Balzano's but will check it out some time! Buggy space in Cambridge is awful - we went for coffee on Gwdir street with friends plus their child and buggy and while the staff were VERY nice about having a toddler running about it was uber crowded.

How lucky are you to have lived on a narrowboat! Very jealous. I do know what you mean about the homeless people. The thing is my husband was very recently intimidated/upset by a drunk man harrassing him when he was going for a sunday stroll. I think though that generally they are likely to leave women alone, though.

Botanic Gardens great place for kids (and cafe good too). Also recommend Michaelhouse if you're in town - it's officially breast-feeding friendly. Used to live in Romsey - used a sling a lot! Also check out Romsey Mill.

I made more Mum friends through Anna's yoga class than through NCT classes. However, Alison Marcus, who ran the NCT class, was excellent.