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MississippiCatfish
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Prenatal/Birthing Classes?
MississippiCatfish
member
Does anyone have recommendations for where to take prenatal classes?
Thanks! 
*E 10/2012, H 7/2014, F 2/2016*
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Re: Prenatal/Birthing Classes?
This. It was helpful because they told us how they handle different situations and they also showed us around the maternity ward.
I'm going to deliver at St. John's (HealthEast) who doesn't offer classes but recommends Amma. They are quite pricy, and I haven't heard spectacular feedback, so I'm interested in hearing specific places that other people have gone through.
I saw classes with similar content for $190 at Amma and $30 at Fairview, but I don't know anyone who's gone through FV. I know that most hospitals will allow any mom to take their classes, regardless of where they will deliver, and that the content is usually pretty consistent (I am an RN, but not working in OB), so I'm just hoping for some specific recommendations! Thanks in advance!
I also just took the weekend childbirth class. I'm delivering at Fairview. It was helpful to have the class at the hospital where you'll be delivering because they went over procedures that were specific to that hospital: where to go when you think you're in labor - some places make you go through the ER others direct you straight to L&D. Where to park. They showed us the L&D floor as well as where you'll be after you deliver. I would check the hospital where you are delivering.
Also, you could check the childbirth collective as they offer some classes for free https://childbirthcollective.org/index.php
With our first, we took the class offered through Regions, hindsight 20/20 it was a COMPLETE waste of time!!! If anything, I'd recommend going on the hospital tour and reading up along with watching some episodes of baby shows on TLC with the knowledge that the c/s rate in the rest of the world isn't nearly as high.
With our second, I just went on a little L&D tour when I was there for a complication and asked the L&D nurses for recommendations (mainly - go in there with an open mind and no expectations of what L&D will be... Do a birth plan, but stick to the absolute MUST things and Keep it simple! - the simpler the birth plan the more likely it is to be followed...).. My second went quicker and I needed a lot less meds for pain control than I did with my first which I wanted the rigid natural L&D...
DH and I just signed up for ours last weekend. We'll be taking the childbirth class at the Abbott where we'll be delivering. It is $140. We'll be taking the breastfeeding and childcare class at Amma for $60.
We took our class at Amma and just did a hospital tour at North Memorial where I was supposed to deliver. I honestly thought the hospital tour sucked and the volunteer leading us wasn't able to answer many questions.
As far as Amma goes, we took the preparing for childbirth class and most of the information they talked about I already knew from all of my own research and asking my midwives. I found it to be most beneficial for DH, but I still enjoyed the class and it was nice to hear the questions/concerns from other parents. Amma was also recommended by my midwives and it 'fit' with the birth plan I had in mind, which is why I chose to not take classes at a hospital. I don't necessarily think I 'needed' to take the class, but it was worth it to me just to have DH learn some things. I enjoyed the experience and wish I was able to attend more things there, but most of them are during the day:/
This exactly. I learned way more reading books and websites like the bump, babycenter etc. The classes were more for my husband.