Pre-natal classes

[wondering23]

I'm 36 weeks pregnant with my 1st baby and my midwife has only just mentioned pre-natal classes. I know I should have been more pro-active and should have asked her but I completely forgot.

How important would you say they are?

Personally I found most of what we discussed I'd read elsewhere. Was still nice to go over it but it wasn't vital.
Was great for meeting people.
Best thing I did was a tour of the maternity unit, made things (even my emergency section) less stressful

DH and I found the antental classes run by our NHS trust quite useful- helped him be a bit more aware of his role, some elements of pregnancy/ birth he didn't know about and rules on safe sleeping etc

I also went to an infant feeding workshop and some bits of that helped me feel more confident to try to breastfeed (I was going to anyway but feel a bit more aware HOW)

Check with your hospital what they run- maternity services bit of our trust website lists the parent education classes available

We never considered NCT as it seemed so expensive, we're not naturally social in the way it encourages and getting it all over in one day, at the unit where we're going, where they tailor it to that and tell you what is likely to happen was better for us. However, our maternity services seem to be better than a lot of other areas

But, if you are going to go, you need to get a shift on!