Birth Prep and Education

dragonfly87-2

Ok ladies, what have you done or are you planning to do to prepare for labor?

--Birth education classes?
--Specific techniques/programs? (i.e., hypnobirthing, etc)
--Working with a doula/mid-wife?
--Winging it?

I am finding myself in a tough spot. I was going to hire a doula (previous co-worker) and go through her agency that also offers classes. Well, she decided to go back to school for nursing and is no longer a doula. So I am hesitant to find another since I don't like the idea of having a complete stranger. So I am trying to figure out the best approach to birth education/prep.

The hospital we will deliver at offers a 2 day, 10 hour birth class for $70 that seems standard/straightforward. It would work well for our schedules, since it is on the weekend and consolidated. But I have heard they are pretty anti-natural birth focused. I am not staunchly in one camp or the other, but want to know about both natural and medicated birth. Then there are the options through doula groups that range from 5-8 weeks and cost about $200-$300. I just cannot seem to decide what option is best. Is 18 hours better than 10 hours? How much is really needed? Ugh....

dragonfly87-2

FWIW, if I went the doula group route still, it would include the following, plus the Doula for $750...

• 2 Private Prenatal visits to help plan and practice for labor
• Full Labor Support*
• 1 Postpartum visit to ensure your family is settling in well
• Free in-home visit from a Lactation Counselor ($60 value)
• Discount on Unlimted Yoga Package at Enso
• Free TENS Unit Rental ($50 value)
• Free Natural Labor Coping Class ($50 value)
• Free Breastfeeding Basics ($35 value)
• Free Postpartum Prep ($25 value)
• Unlimited texting & calls during business hours

kaitlinliz

I am taking classes through our hospital. I don't have the money for a doula so that just never occurred to me to look into. We would like the birth photographed so my money will be going to that lol! But I am taking a labor/delivery class - 8 hours on a Sat, a breastfeeding class (2.5 hours) and doing the hospital tour which is like an hour. Unfortunately DH can only make it to the tour since he works ALL THE TIME. But as long as he listens to me when I recap then we should be good. There were other classes but these seemed the most important. Luckily my hospital does them for free for their patients - if you're not a patient you pay for them, but I doubt people go there if they're not. 

Airynn Chica

I winged it with my first (ended in cs no regrets). This is #3 and a  Rcs. I'm a laid back flexible person in general so i enjoyed this approach. We will tour the hospital though as this will be the first one born in the USA and I've never been there. 

Jsmith8484

From New Zealand so I think things are different but I'll chime in anyway! For my first I paid for antenatal classes through our local parents centre. I didn't actually learn a whole lot because I'd done a lot of reading and my midwife had also gone overy the same stuff but my partner learnt heaps. I'm really glad I did it though as I made awesome friends, most of whom I'm still in contact with today. In fact we just had a party the other weekend for all the babies turning 2. Was well worth the $ just for that.
 

Abby7

We are doing the hospital tour but that's it. I'd like to do a doula so I can have a better chance of a vaginal birth, but with our poor doula experience last time I doubt we will spring for it. The hospital birth classes are good in that they introduce you to the equipment and procedures that you could potentially be exposed to, so even if you're all for a drug-free natural birth, it prepares you to know either what you're up against or what your fallback will be. (We are not doing the class this time since we did it the first time, even though it's a different hospital).

DungeonTrollMel

My hospital does an 8 hour class on a Saturday for child birth prep we are taking, as well as a 3 hour newborn care basics class. I haven't decided about going to the breastfeeding class yet since i plan on EP and don't know how much I would get from that. 

FWIW i delivered lots of babies while I was in school, so I know what goes on medically, but more for H to get a better understanding than just "lots of pushing and swearing". I am pretty much laid back about it since I have seen what happens to the best laid birth plans. I am going in with a "let see how I feel and I will adjust and be open minded" attitude. 

H also wants to take the new dad boot camp class at our hospital as well

MaximumEffort

I asked DH and he doesn't want to do a class, our does more of a what to expect with birthing and some after care. He says "I know it all.  Help mom, do what she says and get what she asks for. Change some diapers.  Take baby so mom can sleep..." 

curiousfool1

We're registered for our hospital birth classes (5 weeks on weekday evenings), breastfeeding class, and infant CPR.  No doula for us, mostly for financial reasons.  

There is a parental support group about a half our away that offers other classes I've started looking into, but have not committed to anything yet.

dragonfly87-2

@MaximumEffort  Is this your first child or has your DH been through a birth before?

I was honestly expecting my DH to be the same way...surprisingly, while he is defaulting to what I prefer to do...he is pretty interested in the classes. His main request is to take a "caring for baby" or "newborn care" class because we will both be very new to the actual care of a young child.

MaximumEffort

This is my 3rd pregnancy, 2nd child and DH's first of everything. 

kdl89

I am on a list for a free prenatal class through our community it has 4 sessions they include birth, feeding, and few other things but i currently cant remember. However they only run one when they get enough people. We also got a DVD that talked about how the hospital works during the brith process and what supports they have for new parents. It was very informative. 

cwalker042

I did classes for my first 13 yrs ago. I did not find them helpful with labor but they were informative. I also feel classes are good for the whole pregnancy experience. I didn't do any with my second and I do not plan to take any classes for this one. I am a "deal with it when it happens" kind of person. I feel the classes are the best case scenario and doesn't apply to all labor and births. The only prep we will do is get a tour of the hospital since we just moved here and have never been to the hospital before. 

ariasbabyblog

With our first we took a general labor, birth, and babies class offered at the hospital where we delivered. They offer a longer weekly class or a condensed weekend class (which we went with). DH went because I wanted him too and he learned a few new things and how to help me better. We also went on a hospital tour that came with the class and that was nice just for a "comfort of place" sort of reason. I think it was worth it. You do have to keep in mind that they are a hospital, so they are naturally going to go over the medical side of things a little more in depth than the unmedicated births, but as that is the more complicated version of birth, I don't consider that to be a bad thing. One bit that did irritate me was when they has a local Le Leche League representative come by and talk about breastfeeding. The completely and utter lack of perspective from that woman also put me off trying to nurse at all. The class leader did what she could to counter the League's bias, but it was still rather overwhelming. 

rachelb51212

I would definitely recommend for any first-time parents to take an infant CPR class. I have a friend who took it, and she saved her son's life when his heart stopped. It's one of those things that you hope you never have to do, but it's so important to know about just in case. 

With our first, we took a breastfeeding class, a new parent class, and a L&D class. All were extremely helpful, and we even got to tour the hospital during one of the classes. It's especially helpful to take these classes through your hospital because they will have info specific to that location for you. Plus all the free stuff you get in the goody bags  

littlemissc17

This is going to sound weird and I definitely don't recommend it for everyone, but one of the things that helped me the most was watching birthing shows on tv. I started off with A Baby Story and graduated to these shows called Birth Day and Maternity Ward. You get to see all of these different scenarios (e.g. breech babies, premature, preeclampsia, emergency c-sections, etc.) that can happen during a delivery. I learn best through experience and this was the next best thing for me. Like I said, I don't recommend it for everyone because it can freak you out even more, but for me, it gave me a good idea of what can happen so I felt more informed about the birthing process. 

NYTino24

Right now, we are signed up for an 8 hour childbirth Saturday class, but DH paid for a tournament that day. I'm annoyed, but also know 8 hours is going to be rough!! We can take classes another day during the week that are split into two 2 1/2 hours instead and that might fit us better. Then we have a BF class, which I know I'll need.

mymulligan

Has anyone done a a big sibling class for their LO? A couple of hospitals offer one (usually a 60 or 90 minute class). Wondering if it's worthwhile.

hillaryo14

I was just curious, how long before your due date are you planning on taking the birth classes? I figure it doesn't matter when we take the hospital tour, but should I wait until closer to the due date to do the birth class?

DungeonTrollMel

Our hospital offers them once a month and you have to be in your third trimester. We are taking our child birth prep next weekend at 29.5 since we are out of town in October and then it's pushing it. We are not doing our new born prep and breastfeeding classes until later in October 

NYTino24

@hillaryo14  my hospital has this wait till 28 weeks. I was supposed to go yesterday, but need to reschedule for the 16th because my husband had a softball tournament. I will be 31 weeks and we will get our tour at the end. I've already  been in labor and delivery three times now between my MC and two emergency visits, so it's more for my husband.

rachelb51212

With our first, we did classes at the start of the third trimester. You don't want to wait too long in case baby decides to come early!

kaitlinliz

I did my labor class yesterday at 29.5 weeks. My BF class will be in Oct. DH had to work so we did the tour together last weekend just so he could be semi prepared. I brought home handouts about what we learned in class for him and as a reminder to myself. 

Furmommy

We are doing classes through our hospital... 4 weeks on Thursday nights, it's like 1-2 hours long.  I was happy to see they didn't talk a ton about getting an epidural and focused more on how to get through pain (the nurse said that no matter what you'll have to go through some pain because 1. the epidural takes a while to get to you and then 2. it takes a while to get into your system).  DH was able to make it and it was good because he got to learn how he can help me through the pain! 

We had our first class last week (I was 31 weeks) I think it was a good time and wouldn't do it before then.  My dr is talking this week about things that can go wrong during a delivery so that will be interesting too.

curiousfool1

We started the birth class at our hospital last week (I was 31 weeks).  5 weeks, every Tuesday evening.  I was glad to see so many couples not just moms there.  Either this week or next week they are incorporating a tour of the birth center itself with the class.

I also started watching the Birth Class videos offered by Motherly.com.  Somewhat redundant, but it is good to hear both general birth information through those videos and to learn of my hospital's specific policies at the class.  Motherly is offering them free during September (usually $80) if anyone else is interested.

dragonfly87-2

@curiousfool1 Thanks for sharing the Motherly info!

YesOuiCan

I started my 6-session weekly class last week at 28.5 weeks, so I'll be finishing at 33.5 weeks. If I recall correctly, the others in my class ranged from 27 or 28 weeks to 31 weeks. If you're doing a multi-session class, I'd say the sooner the better once you're in the third trimester, especially if you want to practice the relaxation techniques. (At least for me there are lots of opportunities to practice with pelvic pain!) Otherwise maybe just aim for before 36 weeks since 37 weeks is considered full term.

@curiousfool1 Thank you for the Motherly tip! I hadn't even seen that website before; it looks great!

kaitlinliz

@curiousfool1 our class was full and I was the only single there. Everyone else had their husband or partner. Luckily the teacher/nurse used me as an example so we did everything together and explained what to tell DH. Everyone was so supportive that I didn't feel left out but definitely wished he was there with me 

DungeonTrollMel

Our class today was not as great as I would have hoped. The first 90 minutes was all about body changes in the third trimester......as everyone there was within a month of their due date but us, hope they are all aware of those already. 

They told us to bring pillows and a blanket like we would actually practice some relaxation techniques, and then didn't do any or use them at all. It was all lecture and videos. That's it. 

i did learn some informative things about my hospitals specific protocols which was nice and that it's better to labor at home as long as you can so we won't be worried about rushing in as soon as we think labor starts. Other than that it was just a long day 

NYTino24

@DungeonTrollMel I feel the same. I knew all of it, but we did do the breathing and I know counting it out and forcing it will just make me anxious. DH worked a 48 and then kept falling asleep during the videos. I only went for him!!

Rhaco

I took a birthing class last weekend at the hospital I'm giving birth in and it was really helpful to just see where exactly things are going to be taking place instead of just thinking about the unknown. Theybalso showed us what they are giving us so we know what to pack and what not to pack. The class was taught by a few nurses who have been working on the floor for 20 years. A few people who had attended the class just went as a refresher... Also helped that the class was free. We played a few games and practiced some techniques. this class wasn't as boring as I would have thought, my husband enjoyed it as well.