antenatal class moan

[PrincessScrumpy]

I'm having ID twins with cs at 37w if they stay put that long. I did antenatal class with dd but it seems pointless this time as they're all about a natural birth and only mentioned cs briefly. Am I wrong to feel there should be classes for cs or even multiple births - not necessarily a course, but an hour maybe. Feel disappointed - thank goodness for the support and info on mumsnet.

Hi Princess, exactly the same thoughts as you - there is no twins specific info from my hospital. We have signed up to do a Tamba one day course (£109 or £190 from memory), its a one day course and not exactly local but I have no idea how to deal with one baby, let alone two! We are not going to do the NCT classes as they seem to put so much stress on natural labour / birth and like you I already know it will be a section at 34-36 weeks. They also give info on how to cope if they need to go to special care. The hospital antenatal classes are at totally impractical times for us

Have you joined Tamba - there is loads of info on their website and it is only £2.50 a month.

I wasn't pg with twins but when I was pg with dd I went along to the NHS antenatal classes (because I was told to tbh).

We were all herded into a room with not enough chairs, they cranked the heating up to hotter than hell and an 11yo midwife brought out a flipchart and chirruped "So who has heard the word contraction before?" This continued for an hour. I was paraded in front of the group as an example of what 'a woman wanting a homebirth' looks like, another midwife said that all husbands were useless during labour, no woman ever manages it drug free and then dh fell asleep and I lost the will to live.

They briefly mentioned cs and intervention but in a passing way. Thanks to MN, when I ended up with every intervention known to man and finally an emcs, I knew what was happening to me.

You might be able to find something privately. I know lots of doulas who offer private sessions and many have twins experience.

Where abouts are you - I might be able to find someone local to you who could help...

See the word Private scares me - struggling to afford a double buggy at the moment - we planned to use dd's lovely iCandy until we discovered there were two and now that means I can't afford to return to work due to childcare etc. I haven't joined Tamba as I don't even have £2.50 spare right now. I signed up for the free stuff and everything they do is in Bristol - more than an hour from here and tbh I'd rather drive in central London than Bristol.

Really it's the cs that I wanted prep for - I'd rather know the exercises before hand when I'm awake enough and can take it in etc.

I'm pg with twins and DH and I did a two day (weekend) NCT course. I told them in advance we were multiple/CS. So they had time to prepare in advance for the "neutral" attitiude! Although when it came to covering CS they only thing that really came out was the number of people in the room! About 11 if I remember rightly, then 2 more because of twins. So 13, plus you and DH!

PMSL @ showofhands 11yo MW

My NCT class covered c-section and the teacher was very supportive and helpful when one girl was trying to decide whether to attempt a vaginal birth with her breech baby or planned c-section. She had the planned c-section (as I would have done without a second thought) but also cover homebirth for me as that was what I was planning.

I am an NCT contact for support for local parents and can recommend TAMBA from several mums who have used it. I'm sure you don't have to be a member to benefit from their support. Check out their website. They also have a Twitter feed.

You can also use the helplines provided by the NCT for the cost of the call (although membership for those eligible is just £2) and they have a line for breastfeeding support (they also cover formula feeding and mixed feeding), pregnancy and birth and shared experinces.

You can also join meetups of NCT, Netmums and you don't need to be a member to go along. Give your local family information service (google them in your area) a call too. They do lots of things which are not always that well publicised.

Can you ask your hospital for a tour of the unit before you have to go in? I can also recommend watching births on youtube to give you an idea of what to expect (just make sure you're looking at UK ones for hospital births as protcols can be quite different to US for example).

To be honest having a c-section is a lot more passive than a vaginal birth where you have to do stuff so a class is not going to tell you much other than what your consultant should talk you through, but things like baby care and other support would be useful so it might be worth going to some sort of class? I think you need to use your judgement for what's right for you.

Best of luck!

Hi I just wanted to say that our NCT class covered cs in a lot of detail and our teacher was really open to them and explained why they are required in some cases etc.... Anyway they have some good information on their website about them too here also i'm not sure where you are in the country, but some of the areas seem to have twins clubs so it might be worth contacting them in your area to see if they do anything like that. Also they do offer discounts for people with financial issues paying for courses so it might be worth looking into antenatal classes with them anyway. I'm sure if you tell them when you book about your situation they will take care to put you in a relevant class/ with a teacher who will be sympathetic to your situation.