Virtua Maternity Classes

KsMi7 · June 2012

Just wondering if any one has taken any maternity classes at Virtua. They have baby basics class, breastfeeding class, CPR for infants, breathe/relax class, labor basics, and a class that includes the breathe/relax and labor basics. I am not sure which classes are most beneficial and taking all of them is not really an option (plus my husband would think I was crazy).

M&M227 · June 2012

We did the labor basics and I found it helpful. Basically it was what to expect from your visit - when to call your dr., go to the hospital, etc. A nurse ran ours so she explained some tips (don't brink all you things into L&D) because you won't be there the whole time. They explained all the policies and what would happen if you needed a c-section (which I ended up having after an insanely long labor). Really it made the whole experience a little less scary because I had an idea what was going to happen. We planned on the epi. the whole time so I only did the labor basics class. I wish I would have taken the breastfeeding class.

Kristin83 · July 2012

We took:

Breastfeeding - huge waste of time for me personally. I quit breastfeeding after one week for personal reasons, but you may find it helpful if you are planning on breastfeeding a lot longer than that. I didn't like how the teacher acted like formula was from Satan.

Hospital tour - very informative and was glad to get to see things

Baby Basics - good, but we could have done without it......most of the things were really common sense.

Labor Basics - I really enjoyed it and it was very informative, but for me personally, my labor/birth experience went nothing like the class told me, so in the end it didn't help me.

CPR - this is a must. Teacher was a jerk and kept criticizing me in front of the class because my 9 months pregnant body couldn't press down hard enough on the dummy. Other than that, I am so glad we took it.

MrsFobeyFobes · July 2012

I registered for Breathing/Relaxation but I haven't gone yet. I want to also do the CPR class.

simplaw215 · July 2012

We did the breathing and relaxation class and it was a total waste. I didn't think the class did enough on its own to prepare DH for labor and the "techniques" they taught went right out the door the second contractions kicked in. If you're at all interested in NB, I'd recommend a different class.

nicbrick · July 2012

We took Labor Basics, Baby Basics and Breastfeeding class. I got at least a little something out of each one and got some questions answered so I thought they were worth it. I agree that Labor Basics helps you in knowing what might come (no one could ever tell you exactly how it's going to go!) and the hospital tour was invaluable. Both of you should go to all of these as you never know what different information you each might retain and remember when the time comes.