NCT vs Active Birth Centre

[annaspans]

I'm 26 weeks pregnant and have recently moved house so wasn't able to apply for an NCT antenatal course until about four weeks ago. They've just got back to me offering me an intensive two day course, which is fine - I think I prefer that to the 8 weeks of shorter classes - but the two days it's scheduled for are when I'll be 36 and 37 weeks pregnant.

Does this seem crazily late to be leaving things? This is my first baby.

As an alternative, I'm considering doing an active birth weekend at the Active Birth Centre which happens to be close to where I live and which would happen a lot sooner. I'm really keen on having an active birth but I'm also realistic about birth plans changing and think it would be useful to get the full spectrum of antenatal preparation, which the NCT course would presumably provide.

What do people think is the better option? Going with the much later NCT course or doing a narrower (though I'm sure in some ways deeper) Active Birth Centre workshop? I don't think I can really afford to do both! I was a little taken aback to find out that my local NCT costs £279, which is the most expensive bracket they have.

One final consideration is that I have a final scan at 34 weeks to check the position of the placenta which was a tiny bit low-lying at 20 weeks, so if I do choose that late NCT course then at least I'll know the results of that (99% chance that it will have moved so I won't need a c-section but you never know...)

Any advice very much appreciated! I need to confirm my NCT place by the middle of next week.

[littlefrog]

We live in this area too, I did the long NCT course. TBH v few friendships from it - we're quite scattered, with about 6 weeks between babies, and I felt a bit of a fish out of water with lots of the others (v nice though!). 36/7 weeks is ok, I'd say.
I'd strongly recommend seeing what the NHS will offer you - the mums I know best now all met each other through an NHS class at the local health centre. Much more local. Also see if you can find out about post-natal groups/classes run at children's centres etc. Active Birth also runs something called 'Mothers Talking' on Fri lunchtimes, run by Naomi Stadlen (wrote a book about realities of motherhood, I can't remember what it's called) - extremely supportive if you're of a hippy-ish persuasion!

[lizzytee]

littlefrog - "What Mothers Do- especially when it looks like nothing" is the book. Well worth a read.

[littlefrog]

that's it! I liked it, just couldn't remember the name...

[AmySilverston]

Anyone in the vicinity looking for ways to meet other new mothers can join the Tufnell Park Parents Support Group.

The TPPSG holds twice-weekly tea mornings, hosted at members houses. These are sanity-savers for those deprived of adult company conversation during the day. More to the point, there is nothing to organise - just turn up on a stranger's doorstep and be invited in and offered a cup of something with a biscuit.

A relatively small number of people go to teas - usually there will be from a couple to half a dozen others from perhaps a couple of dozen regular tea-goers - so after a few weeks you meet people whom you have come across before. Therefore, unlike drop-in groups, you don't end up having the same first conversation each time with different people. As the months/years go by, the regular toddler tea-goers make friendships that last for years, later finding themselves comparing GCSE traumas and applications for A-Level colleges.

With a thousand members from a defined catchment area, the TPPSG is part of the reason the local NCT postnatal groups can falter after a while, as it has enough members to keep up the momentum.

See tppsg.org, where there is a map showing the area covered. Membership is £10 for one year, £20 for three years. New members have to live within the catchment area.

A quarterly newsletter has interesting articles, lists of recommended tradespeople, babysitters etc; a fortnightly email has notices and items of baby kit to sell, give away or wanted.