Antenatal classes

[SteakChips]

I’m a first time mother and I’m due in 6 weeks, I’ve only met my midwife 3 times. Am I meant to arrange my own antenatal class or are the midwifes meant to set this up? Also due to COVID I’m assuming this will take place over zoom?

Could someone please advise?

Thank you.

Hi, yeah you are meant to arrange your own. My midwife asked me if I am doing some and said it's not a thing you HAVE to do but it's useful.

So far I've not arranged anything 30+5 today, and I don't think I will as they are all online via zoom/teams etc. For me the call for them was more to meet local mums but I think it's a bit pointless online in my opinion, especially for the price of some of them 😯

Hello RustyCat,

Thank you for getting back to me. Oh I see thought they arranged it. I looked into the NCT and I was shocked to see the pricing. That my next question did it help people in labour? Or did it all go to pot and used what ever drugs was available and listen to the midwifes when to push etc? I think I’ll just YouTube on how to breath my way through it before I get to hospital lol.

Ours have referred me to a local children's centre who are doing some. There are also tonnes of free ones at the moment online - blossom antenatal, let's talk birth and baby, the baby academy, there's also one through Bounty which is videos and info that you do at your own speed. I'm on leave and bored so have been doing loads just to fill my time haha

You have to arrange it yourself.

We did a free one through the hospital and the NCT. Worth checking whether your hospital offers any free ones.

Thank you @Edelweiss2020 & @MsHedgehog I’m hoping to see my midwife Monday. I’ll definitely do some research.

You arrange your own, they're definitely useful. Helped us both understand stages of labour, different types of pain relief, feeding etc

What are you looking for from an antenatal class @SteakChips? I am signed up to NCT but a friend recommended the Bump to Baby Chapter, it’s all online you just watch a series of videos. It’s got information about the different stages of labour and lots of how to think positively and some hypnobirthing (but without pushing it down your throat, in case you’re like me at not sure about it). I’ve only watched first 25% but I feel 100% more confident about the birth already.
But it doesn’t cover breastfeeding or looking after a newborn or anything. It’s only for the labour itself.

Also, using that name on a pregnancy thread is so cruel. All I’m going to be thinking about for the rest of the afternoon is how desperately I want a big juicy rare steak - how will I get any work done!

NCT was useful but very geared towards natural birth, breastfeeding and baby wearing where I think the NHS course is more factual.

What I found particularly useful is that it set the dads expectations about how exhausted we would be with a new baby. Basically, you will be dealing with everything house and food related while mum recovers and holds/feeds the baby.

It's also a great place to meet friends. I never managed to make any really good ones through groups so it was very useful.

@Penny2020 good question - I’m not sure I feel I should be doing them and feeling less scared about birth. I’m still going to be scared but I want to know what to expect and I can breath my way through before I go into hospital.

I’m sorry about my user name, I had no clue what to call myself until I looked on my meal plan and saw what I was having for dinner.

@SteakChips very welcome 😊 I am still fairly undecided I've looked into a few and to be honest hypnobirthing and NCT really aren't for me, I don't like the whole 'you HAVE to do it this way or your a failure' type of gist I am getting from them.

My sister did NCT when she had my nephew and some of the things she was doing were super extreme to the point she never put him down, like ever she went to the toilet holding him, made a cup of tea etc.

I think it's worth having a read up and seeing what suits you though 100%!

I agree with @RustyCat, think about what you want to get out of them and then do your research to see what’s going to suit you.

I’d really recommend looking at some of the reviews of the Baby to Bump Chapter to see if it would be for you, I think it would help with the fear and the breathing. The Positive Birth Company (think that’s the name) was also recommended to me, for me that felt a bit too ‘no drugs or you’re a failure’ kind of thing, which isn’t me (I’m a give me ALLLLLL the drugs kinda gal) but that’s just me being judgey, I haven’t done the course.

There are loads of online courses out there, research and see what feels right for you.

Arrange it yourself. I did NCT, albeit on zoom, and it was invaluable to make friends, not the information particularly.

I did hypnobirthing also and it didn't work for me, whatsoever. DH put my tracks on and I promptly told him to, "turn this shit off". 33 hour labour, transverse baby, pushed for two hours, baby stuck, emergency c-section, haemorrhage and blood transfusion. I do have friends, however, that it worked for who didn't have traumatic births.

I reccomend The Maternity Collective, it’s run by an NHS Obstetrician and Midwife. They are a series of prerecorded videos rather than the live NCT classes but I found them incredibly informative (my friend was amazed at what I’d learned compared to her NCT classes) and despite my labour turning into an emergency situation I didn’t feel out of control because of what I’d learned. I had a question and messaged them on Instagram and they got back within an hour. There is a fee (£90) if I remember correctly. I didn’t see the point of paying £200 for NCT classes to “meet” people over zoom.

@RustyCat I did NCT and so did just about everyone I know and that wasn't my experience of it at all. Others in my group were booked in for elective c-sections, planning to bottle feed etc and that was absolutely fine. I imagine it differs depending on who is facilitating but it really was in no way extreme or earth mothery. Having said that if OP is due in 6 weeks I'd imagine it's far too late for NCT anyway and quite possibly some of the NHS classes - I would be looking OP at what is actually available and take what you can get, bearing in mind many pregnancies, even first ones, don't run to 40 weeks.

My sister did NCT when she had my nephew and some of the things she was doing were super extreme to the point she never put him down, like ever she went to the toilet holding him, made a cup of tea etc.

I think it depends who you get but literally this is what we were expected to do. Our instructor had loads of kids so she would get one of them to sit near the baby when she went to the loo or cooked so he could hear breathing. According to her, if they dont hear breathing they might forget to do it themselves.

I used to cook with a recording of breathing next to DS even though I was in the same room and otherwise would carry him everywhere. I honestly feel like an idiot for putting myself through it.