Would you start Bradley at 15 weeks??
StefandTodd
member
I contacted 5 instructors in my area recently, and the one I like the most is beginning a class with one to two other couples (so I'd be in a class with between two and three total couples) next week. It's obviously really early, but she said there are some benefits (starting to work on the exercises and start the diet asap and she said that if I want to attend her other classes after mine finishes, I could continue to do so if it fits in my schedule). I really like a lot of things about her. She was the only one that limits classes to 4 couples, and she does the full 12 weeks (a lot around here are doing 10...one even doing 6...I prefer to do all 12). She was recommended to me by a mom who gave birth in January, and by another instructor who was recommended to me but is no longer teaching. And, she's the only one that really fits our "ideal" schedule. Most are teaching Thurs nights, and I'd like to take a prenatal yoga class Tue/Thurs. This one is on Mon night. There's a chance she'll start another class in April (more in line with where I *should* start...but it could be a Thur class, it could have 4 couples, and it's only still a "maybe" so it could not happen and I'd need to go with another instructor.
So, wwyd? What do you think the negatives and positives are of starting so early? This might sound silly...but I'm barely showing, so I feel a little silly starting without much of a belly...please tell me that's a dumb reason to turn down this early start. TIA for any input!
Re: Would you start Bradley at 15 weeks??
Go with the good instructor. They can make or break the entire experience. We had a good/fun instructor that was pretty chill and a really lively class. So actually going to classes was actually a ton of fun, and we learned a lot.
Keep in mind, in addition to practicing on your own, you may very well want to crash a subsequent class as a refresher for later on (especially things like laboring positions and labor rehearsals, or classes you may have to miss, etc.). Talk to the instructor about it. Ours let any of her students take refresher courses for free. We actually took her up on that at two occasions.
This. DH and I got an instructor that we didn't really click with at all. Our class really didn't bond very well, and I felt like we could have gotten more out of a different class with a different instructor. The curriculum was great, but we were really frustrated with our experience over all, despite what we learned.
We started ours around 18 weeks and I was glad we did get into the curriculum so early. I would go with the good instructor and get a jump start on the learning! I'm glad I've had the extra time to practice and prepare for labor. It was also super helpful to DH to have advance knowledge of what challenges pregnancy and labor bring. He's been much more understanding and helpful in the last few days than I think he would have been if we hadn't started talking about those challenges early.
I'm glad you asked this because I was wondering the same thing. I have one who I called that is about $75 cheaper than a different one and doesn't start until the beginning of 3rd tri and goes the full 12 weeks but IF I have the baby early I miss out on some classes.
The one that I like is $325 but I can set up on a payment plan AND she has a breast feeding class and a massage class (!!!) in her 12 weeks.... but she wants to start in 4 weeks (i'll be 17 weeks which is early but I guess not too early). I think I'll go with this one.
I was going to write the exact same thing. We only had one option on instructors in our area, we actually had to drive almost an hour to get to our class. Go with the teacher you clicked with.