First Midwife led Parentcraft class tonight

[Tillypup]

Can anyone tell me what I should expect from these classes?

I'm hoping that they don't just harp on about the pain of childbirth for 2 hours every Tuesday for a month, am I being naive?!

The classes are to tell and show you what will happen to you/your body/your baby in the next few months and hopefully arm you with info so you are not left bewildered or 'in the dark'. It's all very friendly and calm. Maybe not tonight but you will see a birth video and maybe a trip around your local maternity unit. If you have any questions or queries they too can be discussed and answered.

You will also meet other parents to be which is great - I keep in contact with mine 5 years on!

You may or may not learn anything or indeed remember it at a useful time. However as Furball says you will meet other parents and I meet weekly with the mums from our classes which is a lifeline in the first few months.

Our hospital midwife-led classes ran through

• the setup at the hospital maternity unit: when to come in, what to do when you do come in, the different types of rooms, what happens when you're admitted (we got a tour too as it was a quiet night)

• the stages of labour and things that may or may not happen at each stage

• the importance of a supportive birth partner and what they can do (cue everyone looking at me sympathetically as DH was working away from home at the time and couldn't make the classes)

• options for pain relief, with pros and cons of each

• advice on breathing and positions for labour

• watching a birth video

• breastfeeding

• how to change a nappy

• information on induction, c-section, ventouse and forceps (when they may happen, what the procedure is, what the effects are, etc.)

• what happens after you've had the baby (how long you're likely to stay in, how the community midwife and health visitor support works, etc.)

Also made a couple of friends there which was a big plus in the months after DS's birth.

Found mine mostly harped on about labour for two hours a week... From a strictly factual perspective, it was pointless. But "network" aggressively at tea break, and get those numbers into your mobile- it's priceless for that! Made some lovely friends, none having learned anything at the classes either.

My hospital ran another workshop on breastfeeding, and that WAS brilliant.

Would repeat Cocobear's comments. 5 of the 6 classes focused on pain and pain relief and the 6th on labour (including a video) which I (and others!) left the room for.
Thought they were awful (all felt quite negative rather than "empowering") and would have walked out during the tea break of the first class but for the other couples there. I was lucky in that our group were all quite similar and consequently gelled quite well. We all actually started meeting up before our dbs were born once maternity leaves kicked in for most people. In fact our dc's 3rd birthdays have all just happened and we did all again get together for a joint birthday party and we do still keep in touch with each other - though less so than we did for the first 18 months (then we'd all meet up every week), now there are several sub-groups IYKWIM (though practically everyone has nr 2 as well now so it can still get a bit hectic). It's great to see their peers growing up too. (None of our friends have gone down the children route yet.)

Thanks for the info. I'm somewhat dreading tonight (and the following Tuesday evenings!)

I've been reading the Hypnobirthing book which seems very good and not at all like I imagined it would be. I'm trying to think positively about everything but it just worries me a bit that there will be so much focus on the pain relief and the whole "medical" side of everything rather than treating it as a natural process.

However all the midwives I've met so far have been great so hopefully it will pass on tonight!

I've already decided that i'm not watching a birth video!

They do run a separate breastfeeding workshop.

If you want to do full-on hypnobirthing then you really need to practice the scripts and get your DH/DP/birth partner involved in regular practice too (speak from experience as the aforementioned "DH working away from home" really didn't help in that regard ... still it was helpful until the hospital turfed him out overnight because I wasn't technically in established labour (I had to stay because I was high risk by that point) and then I couldn't keep it up on my own). I would really recommend it, though -- although it didn't "work" for me in the sense of having a comfortable and non-interventionist birth I did feel that it really helped me to feel calmer, more focused, in control, and in touch with things. I'll give it another go next time, once I have put DH under house arrest for the last couple of months of pregnancy

Our courses were cut short because of xmas so only had 3 sessions.
We were told things about pain relief, newborn behaviour - ie what to look out for, birth marks, what not to worry about, belly buttons etc!, watching a breastfeeding video, watching a birth video, and I think that was about it.
Nothing to worry about at all infact I found it quite informative even though it did feel 'rushed'!