For all you second time moms....

drbethc

Did you take a birthing (prenatal) class, bradley or lamaze? If so, did you find it helpful during labor?  I am contemplating taking a class. I have no expectations about the delivery. I just want a safe delivery, however, I would like to do it with the least medical interventions necessary. I'm just wondering if you thought taking these classes were helpful? If so, how was it helpful or not.

 

TIA! 

diana.filipi

We did for our DD.  We took the 6 week class offered by our hospital.  I didn't really learn a whole lot but it was very cool to do the class WITH DH and he did learn a bunch :-)

We aren't taking a class with this baby but we have hired a doula again.

aurora1974

Yea, we did.  I am planning on an epidural, but they covered so much more than pain tolerance techniques.  It was really helpful for DH to understand what would be happening.

YaraC

I didn't because I knew I would get stressed about whether I was breathing just right or whatever. I felt like if I listened to my body it would know what to do. Didn't matter in the end since I had a c-section, but I'm hoping to go natural this time and am standing by the same theory.

 

ETA: I did take a BFing class but I don't think it was that valuable. It is hard to learn to BF unless you have an infant to practice with. It wasn't a total waste in that it taught what BFing resources were available through the hospital but it didn't help with BFing. We still struggled in the beginning (but we got it together and nursed for 17 months).

Aug Bride

I did not take any classes the second time around. 

jessandandy09

I took them the first time and really liked them.  I did not take them the 2nd time and wished I had.  I couldn't remember my breathing techniques etc... (lamaze)  I am hoping to find classes this time around as it has been sooooo long and I have a new husband that I think could use the experience.  The best part of my first classes were that they made the husbands or partners rub our backs and our feet!!! It was wonderful

J'snewwife

I took a class last time, and I liked it because it was not one particular technique.  Instead, they covered all the possible ways to have a baby - natural, epidural, c-section (emergency or scheduled) - and all the possible tools you could see in the delivery room as well as the rooms themselves.  The demystification process of seeing everything in advance helped me, and the videos they showed really helped my husband, who was otherwise unprepared to see what he saw.  I think the knowledge of what to expect relaxed me, and helped me to make good choices.  When I went into early labor first thing in the AM on what turned out to be the day before I delivered, I knew what was happening, and I also knew it was likely to be 12 hours before I needed to go to the hospital.  So, I went to the mall and shopped for my final supplies, and when I went into full labor at 11PM, I knew it was time to go to the hospital.  I started out saying I wanted to see how natural went, but I also had them run a bag of saline just in case I wanted an epidural later, which I wouldn't have known to ask for without the class.  The end result is that I really had a wonderful delivery.  It was painful, sure, but I felt like I had it under control.

leffe1

I did not and am not sure if it would have helped me in any way. My labor was pretty quick (6 hours). I do wish I would have taken a breast feeding class. That was totally foreign to me and I really didn't know what to expect.

yale

Bradley takes some time, so if you're committed to the idea I'd look into it asap. I considered hypnobirthing with my first, but never got serious about it and time just got away from me. I ended up getting an epidural with my first and plan to do the same this time if circumstances are similar. We took a basic birthing class which I found to be useless when actually in labor... the nurses guided us through everything.

jazzcrawford

The second time around I took a breast feeding class. I was so unprepared the first time around, you think because it's the most natural thing to do it would be easy....................NOT!!!

The breast feeding class helped us to face challenges head on I was so prepared and super confident and so was my DH.  

I was able to nurse this munchkin for 14 months!! 

 

 

emberlee3

I wanted a med-free delivery.  I was still in my residency, so scheduling was a problem.  I ordered a DVD from Amazon that had 5 or 6 birthing classes, not a specific technique, but more to give DH an idea of what would happen during labor (he is non-medical).  It was pretty helpful for him.  I practiced a few breathing and relaxation techniques, but fortunately, my labor was fast and not terribly painful until I was in transition.

ETA: I did not take a BFing class, but I so wished I had because I had NO CLUE what I was doing.  Thanks to the internet, I learned to BF and nursed DS for almost a year, but my whole maternity leave was consumed with stress because neither DS nor I were "naturals" at BFing.

ebb7

I took a birthing class with my first DD and it was a total waste of time...I definitely did not learn anything. I do NOT plan on taking a class this time around.

Adi

When I was pregnant with DS, the hospital offered a class specifically for those who were adding the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th child to the family. I'm with a different medical group now, but I'm hoping to find something similar at my new hospital because it covers so much more than the birth (it also covered getting the older kids involved so they aren't jealous of the new baby)

drbethc

Thanks for all of your responses! This is really helpful!!!

stever

I took a Lamaze class - it's what was offered by the hospital - and found it kind of helpful with DS's delivery, but I don't think I'll take a class this time.

theboki

I'm really glad to read all these responses.  I was going to take a class, but wow, they're really expensive and I'm hiring a doula anyway.  So I think I might just skip it.  I am going to take a breastfeeding class, though, and the hospital offers a really inexpensive "how to care for a newborn" class that we want to take.

LMark

For DD I took a newborn care and breastfeeding class, but did not take any birthing classes.  It would've been nice to have learned breathing techniques so that DH could try to calm me down better-lol!  Newborn care and breastfeeding classes were very helpful and we had helpful information given to us.

I will not take any classes this time around.

Keri Marie

We did for the first one. It helped me understand the basics and helped me decide on my parenting plan. 

shannm

Mine was helpful.  We did a long Saturday class at my hospital and I think it was worth it because it kind of helped me know what to expect.