Hawaii Babies
childbirth classes?
Yay or nay?
I've heard and read mixed reviews. We're planning on doing the infant CPR class for sure, but on the fence about the childbirth class. Where we are, it costs about $275 for the childbirth classes plus another $175 for infant CPR. Ouch.
So... worth the money? If nay, where did you get your information from instead? Internet? Books? Do you have recommended reading for us?
Thanks!
cai(o)&cullen+ahk
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Re: childbirth classes?
ouch is right!! That seems like a lot of $$ for the classes. Other than CPR, our classes were all free so we did them all at the hospital I delivered at. It definitely made me feel more prepared, but honestly & IMO, if you are planning on having an epidural you don't need to learn about all of the breathing techniques that you do for a labor with lamaze or bradley methods so if you have to pay, you wouldn't have to go to all of the classes if they didn't apply to you.
Did you call around to other hospitals in your area? All of the hospitals in my area offered prenatal classes for free to anyone (not just patients). I actually still go to another hospital for their "safety" class just to get them to double check my carseat is still in safely.
I also think the Destination Maternity in our area offered some free classes too.
I didn't look into it, but does the Red Cross offer free CPR classes?
We signed up for a 4 week class and ended up going to 2 of them. I personally hated sitting there in an uncomfortable chair for 3 hours after sitting at work all day and being there until 9 at night,
IMO it was a waste for me as the videos shown and things discussed I either already read about in the baby books or you can find online somewhere. We missed the class that went over the breathing exercises and maybe that would have been the most beneficial information out of the whole course, but I personally didn't want to finish the course
Maybe you will have better luck than I did, but $275 seems pretty steep to me so I can understand your reservations about it. Luckily, ours was only $80 which is still a chunk of change but I was willing to let that go, but if I paid $275 pretty sure I would have sucked it up big time!
After reading this, I realized I have been no help to you
Hopefully other ladies will chime in and give you better advice. Good luck! 
| Olowalu, Maui ~ August 6, 2008 |
| Family of 4 ~ April 2, 2011 |
| Family of 5 - October 24, 2012 |
That price does seem pretty steep
IIRC we paid $125.00 and that included a couple of books as well.
We did a full day (9-4?) of child birth classes as MH did not want to do the several week evening course after working all day. It was a long day but informative and worth it. We were taught some good techniques and definitely learned several things... food for thought for sure! Another big plus was the people we met and interacted with (fun!), hospital tour (didn't mind it at all, our ward was recently renovated so it was cool to see the updates) and our instructor was super sweet and a nurse on the ward as well. It wasn't just the ooooold video that they seem to show everyone, it was so much more than that IMO.
I love Hawaii!
Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married
this is why I would take it too. I could have (and did) read up on anything and everything online and ultimately borrowed from many different techniques in order to get myself through birth med free. Our class was maybe $180? There were cheaper options but the one I selected was well reviewed by local parents and my MWs. It was worth it to me in order to have an outlet where my husband HAD to focus on childbirth. Even though he was supportive and open minded and listen and read what I wanted him to the class helped a lot. We didn't connect with any other couples in our class and had to do a tour of the hospital on our own (free, offered a few set Sundays per month maybe call to see if you can do that independently? lots of people in our tour group asked tons of questions which actually made the whole thing pretty helpful and informative) since the class wasn't affiliated with the hospital. But having DH sit with other couples and learn that childbirth isn't always scary (as he had been told his entire life) was priceless to me. We spent lots of time on the various interventions and why they may or may not be necessary. This was important b/c DH advocated for me after the birth when I needed the support most.
That said, I would not pay that much for the lame hospital courses (not saying all hosp. courses are bad - the ones in my area just get bad reviews - i.e. long, boring, tired material, disrespectful "teachers").
That does seem really expensive! Our was $120. I agree that it was worth it on one hand so that MH and I could set aside a time each week leading up to the birth to discuss things together and ask questions. And the tour was wonderful, although you could have done that without taking the class. It gave me a good sense of what it would be like, since I had never stayed overnight in a hospital before. It was also good to meet other couples in the area who were at the same stage of life we were, one of whom we've become good friends with.
However.....on the other hand, it was not worth it for the information taught. Everything she told us I had already read. Though I may not be a good judge, since I never used any of the breathing techniques seeing as I didn't even go into labor and had to have a c-section due to frank breech presentation.
Thanks for all the input, ladies! I've looked around at different hospitals, independent places and private classes, etc. They're all about the same price, if not more (upwards of $315!). Blech. I asked my OB as well, and she said that's a standard price for where we live.
I've joined the NYPL (thanks, Inamra!) and placed the DVD on hold. I've also bookmarked a bunch of webpages on childbirth, labor, etc and now have plans to take some of my mommy-friends out to lunch to pick their brain. A few months ago, one of my best friends gave birth (at the same hospital I'm going to give birth at) and took the classes. She was on the fence about me taking them -- like some of you, she felt the price wasn't worth the information she got. She also said a lot of it didn't pertain to her since everyone's experience is different.
Sooooo... I think I'm going to check out the DVD and read up a little more and decide in a month or so if we want to take them. A part of me feel likes I'm being a "bad parent" (a bit dramatic, I know) if I don't take them, but $450 vs. $175 is a much bigger bullet to bite... If it were cheaper, we'd probably just take them. Le sigh.
this for me, exactly.
but it sounds like that's not really an option for you. in your shoes, I probably wouldn't take it either, and would look for other ways to involve MH and get him prepared for it.
I think it depends on the what you are wanting.... for me, I knew ahead of time that I wanted a medicated birth so I felt like a lot of the info did not apply to me. I think it is amazing that women out there can glean info from these classes, books, DVDs, friends, etc. and end up being able to focus enough to where they can handle everything med free! (of course my water broke so they gave me pitocin so I suppose my contractions were much stronger/more painful than it would have been otherwise but that's beside the point....)
what I would have loved to have done beforehand was take a BFing class, which I did not do either. I think that would have helped me a lot.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I second a BF class if you plan to BF... and take your husband! Mine was not excited about attending at all. But it helped him understand that it's not easy!!
re: birth class: beyond "pain management" my class focused on interventions and why you may or may not need them - and was undoubtedly pro med free but realistic in presenting pros and cons. much more helpful IMO. but it all goes hand in hand...
I agree. Plus, even if you plan to get the epi, I still think it can be helpful to learn and practice various pain management techniques. I know that I used a lot of them even before going to the hospital. But, of course, you can review these from other sources as well.
Class or no class, you're not being a "bad parent" either way!
ditto this. I wish I would have done that - it might have helped me/us b/c he never latched on, so I pumped for about a week, then gave up.
+1 to it depending somewhat on what kind of birth you want. I was going for med-free, and the pain management techniques we learned about really helped. I felt so much more prepared to give myself the best shot possible in having the birth experience I was looking for.
and +1 to a BF'ing class. our series covered BFing, and while it wasn't super in depth, it gave me enough knowledge to get started. before that, i had NO IDEA what to do, how to position LO's mouth, what a good latch looked like, etc. BFing is not some instinctive thing women just know how to do! after LO was born, i worked with lactation consultants at the hospital, which was helpful too.
eta: stanford has some good videos on BFing. our hospital also gave us a big spiral-bound booklet about postpartum and newborn care, which included info on BFing - so you could ask what resources your hospital provides? I also liked this book
eta: more recommended reading - to prepare for labor: this book (my favorite!) and this book (if you're looking to go med free)