3rd Trimester
stjohnbride2003
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Anyone NOT taking Childbirth classes?
stjohnbride2003
member
Any First time mom's not taking child birth classes?
I am expecting twins and, for now, both babies are head down so I am hoping that I can try vaginal. I have witnessed the birth of my nephew and I think I have a lot of general knowledge about child birth.
The thought of sitting through (2) 3.5 hour child birth classes makes me want to rip my hair out!! But, of course, if it's needed I will do it.
INPUT?
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Re: Anyone NOT taking Childbirth classes?
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We dropped out! I went to one class (it was a four-class series) and the instructor was telling us the proper way to do Kegels was to have our husbands insert their fingers AND THEN she said your husband should check for dilation by sticking his finger in the cervix hole.
What........???
Yeah, my puppy can give better advice than that. I feel fully confident that I know better than anything that instructor had to offer us.
I'm not taking them. My hospital has a 5 class series. Most of the description sounded like my high school anatomy class.
I already know breathing techniques (years of yoga), know that I want an epidural, and figure that I'll just listen to what the doctor and nurses tell me to do.
I've decided not to take classes.
I took a one day workshop on overcoming fear of birth and labor and tips for dealing with the psychological aspect of labor, but that's it.
I'm not. I did not take one with my DS either.
I will say this. If you are adamant about going all natural during childbirth - no drugs, ect... then I would say you chould take a class. Something that specializing in natural labor (bradly, hypnobirth - stuff like that). If you are a "see how things go" type of gal -- I say not to waste your time on a class if you don't want to.
ETA: I did watch "laugh and learn about childbirth" a week before going in. I enjoyed the video - watched it while on my only week of alone time before baby arrived.
Make a pregnancy ticker
I bought a DVD, Laugh and Learn about childbirth, by Shelly Bayes (spelling?).
I just finished watching it with DH and I feel much more knowledgable than before...
I'm sure there is so much more, but knowing myself, when the pain comes, I will deal with it my way, even if it's not the best way...
Alicorl, I think that's the DVD you were referring to, "green means go", as in your water being green go to the hospital right away, lol...
yep that was the one we watched
I went with my first child. I thought it would have been more helpful for women that were planning on going natural. I went in knowing I was going to get an epidural so a lot of the breathing techniques and birthing positions didn't really apply to me.
At one point I raised my hand and asked, "So where does the epidural play into all this?"
During labor the nurses guided me through it all so the class was sort of a waste.
I wanted to with DD, but I never did. DH thought it would be a waste of money and I was angry about that at the time, but looking back, I agree.
My sister took the classes when she had her first kid, and she gave me her notes to look over. The notes were helpful I suppose, but more than anything they made me anxious that I wouldn't be doing something "right". Honestly, the nurses are FANTASTIC. Let them help you - it is their job. They do this all day long. If you feel that classes are important to you than please take them. But I found the nursing staff to be more helpful than anything any class could have taught me.
We went to an all day class (now way I was showing up for 4 or 5 weeks!) and it was mostly a waste of time for me. I've been doing a lot of reading and watching videos online, and didn't pick up much useful information in the class that I didn't already know from other sources.
It was very helpful for my husband, though. He hasn't been as pro-active with researching and learning about all the details, so he learned a lot. He's been a lot more understanding about everything since the class, too.
The best part was that he learned proper ways to coach. It feels silly to do role play and fake coach when your wife isn't actually in labor (we had trouble taking it seriously and had a lot of laughs), but he picked up a lot of tips on how he can be a better support person to me. That part was very valuable!
the only class we took was a breastfeeding class.
If they were free I would have considered taking more, but since they cost money I figured we'd figure it out on our own, plus we have plenty of friends and family that we can turn to if need be.
I know the title is 'who is NOT' taking classes, but we are and they've been moderately useful. We're doing a med-free birth, so I want to know everything and so far it's been useful as I think about pain management, positions,etc.
The biggest value, by far, has been DH's educaton on the whole matter. He now knows what to do and I have realized is paying more attention than I am. Yesterday we were in the car and he was reminding me of how to buy more time if we need it via a breating technique. I'd completely forgotten it, but he was able to demo it (and crack me up in the process). I feel like the classes were really empowering for him.
Thanks everyone, I have decided not to bother!