I am curious what everyone's opinions are on childbirth education classes and pain medications during labor.
I am wanting to take a childbirth class so that we're better prepared for the process and know our options once we go into labor. Has anyone else taken one and either recommend it or advise against it? I've had people say its useless, but this is our first and I have NO CLUE what is going to happen when the time comes. Also, is 4-5 weeks too close to take one? The hospital we go to only schedules them once a month.
It's part of the reason I want to do the childbirth class, but I am also very curious to know our options for pain if I choose to use them. My friend at work went natural and keeps telling me all these horror stories about epidurals, but on the other hand my sister had one with hers and she loved it. Any opinions/experiences with pain medications? IV meds, epidurals, etc.?
@llhfreedom I personally haven't heard any horror stories about epidurals. I had one after having painful contractions for 24 hours and it was the greatest thing in world at that moment. I'm definitely planning to get one with this LO too.
I think it depends on where you go but I've heard classes are hit or miss. I didn't take one for my first. I also didn't know what we were doing or what was going to happen when I went to the hospital to give birth. Every woman has a different childbirth story and there's no way a class can tell you exactly what's going to happen. I totally understand wanting to go to get an idea of certain hospital language and who will be in the room with you, stuff like that. I do recommend taking a breastfeeding or pumping class if you intend to do either.
Me: 33 DH: 34 Married: Oct 2015 TTC #1: Sept 2016 BFP: 10/19/16 ~ blighted ovum ~ D&C 11/23/16 BFP: 3/24/17 DD1 born 12/2/17 TTC #2: July 2018 BFP: 8/26/18 DD2 born 5/16/19
@llhfreedom I took a birthing class around 30 weeks, and it was great. It was a two day course, and I learned a lot. A lot of people say they are useless, but it was worth it for us. I was definitely planning on using an epidural, and it really helped me relax during a very long labor. No bad side effect. Other people in the class were not planning on medication, and that was fine too.
The class can can help you decide what path you want to take as well. There are some classes that are very “natural birth” and others that are for everyone. But I recommend a birth class, infant cpr, and breastfeeding class if you plan on breastfeeding.
@llhfreedom I used hypnobabies for DD1 and loved it. All natural birth and I felt great afterwards. I think we talked about it somewhere on the board, maybe a month ago? Maybe in the ask a stm thread? (@eatinwatermelonseeds do you remember, I feel like you were part of the convo.) Regardless, I am happy answer questions. I felt a lot more empowered having taken such a comprehensive class, compared to friends who did like a 2hr thing thru the hospital. Hypnobabies recommendeds that you start near the start of 3rd tri, so no experience on waiting until later. I would say that if you are planning on a one-and-done info session and you are not high risk, then waiting until 4-6 wks before should be fine, though.
@llhfreedom I took a class before I had my first, and I found it helpful to know what to expect. DH learned a lot too. I don’t think the techniques we learned were that particularly helpful, but I think my DH was much more supportive and understanding having learned so much about the process at class. I had read books, so it wasn’t all new to me. It was fun to meet some other parents due the same time we were in our area too. They did give us a hospital tour and went over pain management options. I only did it before my 1st baby, but I would recommend a class to first time moms.
I have had 3 induced labors: one with an ITN, one pain med free, and one with an epidural. My labor was definitely easier with the epidural (but in my case longer), but my recovery was much much easier after my unmedicated birth. But even still, every labor is a different experience. My personal plan is to hopefully go pain med free again because the recovery was so much easier, but I know full well in the moment I may change my mind and there is nothing wrong with that.
@llhfreedom I cannot imagine NOT taking a class, personally. I'm a "prepared" person, though. I think the people who say it was useless either didn't take a comprehensive class or didn't realize how much they would have been lost without it. I learned A TON in mine. There was a bit of talk about pain management but I went to a separate hour long session with an anesthesiologist at the hospital. I started feeling contractions at 6:30am and delivered DD 23 1/2 hours later. Without the epidural, I woudln't have been able to get any sleep. For that reason alone, I'm so glad I did it, but some people start feeling contractions later and are able to sleep the night before then go to the hospital at 4 am or 7am or 10 am, etc., so have some sleep under their belt. I was open to not having it if it really didn't feel bad but was 95-99% sure I was going to have an epidural. I'm taking the same approach. If this is faster, maybe I won't need it, but I'm not counting on not wanting it. I didn't find recovery hard (relatively - you feel like you've been hit by a truck) but can't compare to recovery if I didn't have one.
@kvh22 yes! It was the sleep! I needed it and the epidural allowed it. It was especially beneficial bc my baby didn’t sleep much at the hospital 😳😭 so neither did we.
@llhfreedom I took a birthing class through my hospital before DD1 was born. I'm not sure how useful it was ultimately, but at the time, it was really important that I take it. I needed to know what I could expect and have someone talk to me about it so I could feel prepared, even if ultimately, there was nothing that could have actually prepared me for it.
As for the epidural: I have now had two births, one with epidural, one without. I can tell you, epidural horror stories are few and far between. There is nothing wrong with choosing an epidural, even though lots of proponents of unmedicated births will tell you there is. That said, with my first, I had back labour because baby was sunnyside up and it was unbearable. I originally wanted to deliver medication free, but after being asked by the nurse if I wanted it THREE TIMES, I gave in. It slowed my progress down and required the addition of a small amount of Pitocin to keep things moving. I believe this is the most common side affect of an epidural. While it stretched my birth out (and still left me incredibly uncomfortable, though able to bear it), I was still able to push and delivery my daughter safely.
DD1: June 2014 - VBM4lyfe DD2: October 2016 DC3: coming May 2019
Its good to hear that in general it seems that the epidural horror stories are pretty rare! I think that my friend is a little biased so she is just trying to scare me out of it.
@kvh22 I am definitely a person that likes to prepare, so I think we are going to go ahead with the class. I just want to know what to expect and what options I have! I didn't think about the sleep factor though, that makes sense! I'm probably going to go into it and just see how it goes and if it gets to the point where I think I need the epidural I'm not afraid to get it.
@optbaby2017 Unfortunately we are high risk, so I think we are going to try for the March class just to be safe, because I think the April class might be right around the 4 week mark and I don't want to push it too much. Maybe I'm just being a little paranoid lol.
@llhfreedom I almost said that if you're asking the question, you probably want to take the class, but I suppose someone could be looking for others to say it was pointless if someone gave them crap for not doing it to use it as ammunition/defense. For the epidural, I think knowing your pain threshold would also help going in. I am generally reluctant to take pain meds and just "power through it" but I also did a lot of research and decided if it was painful, which I've heard it is (obviously), no one will give me a medal for going pain-free so why not? That's not everyone's opinion, but worked for me. I also had a kidney stone 3 days before delivery and took a percocet at the hopital b/c that was INSANE!!
@kvh22 Oh wow, kidney stones are no joke either! That was a rough week for you! Yea, I feel like I have a pretty good threshold for pain, but I like what you said about no one giving a medal for going pain free, so why would you make yourself suffer when you don't have to! I'll just have to see how it goes I guess. I'll probably hold off as long as I can, but if I'm in that much pain I'm not against it and will most likely take the help at that point.
@llhfreedom unfortunately, the anesthesiologists aren't always waiting in the wings. This was something I didn't realize (ETA but it was covered in my birthing class!!). If they're in a surgery, it could take them 2-3 hours to get to you. If you need an emergency-C, they'll make it happen, but they can't just come right when you say you want it. I got mine at midnight (6 hours before delivery) but was willing to go longer, planned to walk around for a bit. The anesthesiologist was going to be unavailable for 2-3 hours so I just got it without really testing myself. I figured I was going to give in and like I said above, I needed the sleep, so it worked out, but I didn't get to really see when the pain became "unbearable."
Have you taken any other classes than the hypnobabies @optbaby2017? I'm enrolling in both the hypnobirthing and a "master birthing class" which includes "Parenting 101" as a lesson. It's run by a midwife and I've heard good things about both.
Has anybody been in the situation that their partner wasn't able to attend birthing classes? If so, who did you take? I was going to take my mum but she's told me she doesn't want to be in the room with me when I give birth so I think that kind of defeats the purpose? I have a student midwife (Australian midwifery students have to go to a certain number of pre and post natal appointments, ultrasounds and births so there is a program called "mothers adopting midwifery students" where you're paired up with on for the duration of your pregnancy) so I was thinking maybe I should ask her if she could come to my classes?
@wiseh I had borrowed books for Bradley and Hypnobirthing and read thru them before I chose Hypnobabies. So didn't take those classes, but learned tidbits from them. Hypnobabies includes some curriculum that is beyond actually giving birth, like general prenatal wellness, care/recovery in the immediate postpartum, and a bit about baby care in general. It also gives optional homework/resources to read about your options related to a million birthing and early-parenting decisions.
We did a separate combo breastfeeding and baby 101 class that was run by a pair of nurse/lactation specialists. It was a few hours, one time. The baby care stuff was a little simple for me, but helpful for DH. The breastfeeding part was educational for both of us. It very much helped DH to understand all that would be involved in breastfeeding and helped facilitate conversations about ways that he could support.
And we did a hospital tour that was for people who had done birth ed elsewhere. So we were able to see where to go and get a brief overview of what happens in each space (triage, birth room, OR, recovery room, NICU, nursery, etc). They talked a little about the different, for lack of a better word, "services" like anesthesiology, food, lactation... and what you would need to do to request them. Also some of their policies around things like visitors and needing a proper carseat to discharge. And you took care of your pre-registration paperwork. So it was helpful, but in a different way.
Oh, and I guess we had a thing with a carseat tech, where they installed the seat and talked about various safety things. I had had to do a pretty comprehensive and longer training for work, but it was helpful to have the refresher on infant things. DH went into this one like "car seats are easy" and came out fascinated by the things. I think this was also when it hit him 100% that there was going to be an actual tiny human in our lives soon, because all of the sudden he had a carseat in his back seat just waiting for the baby to come.
On the topic of child birth classes, How did you ladies find classes in your area? Did your doctor refer you? Did you just call the hospital and ask if they offered anything? I tried google but I’m not coming up with much info...
@beccaneu My doc had brochures for one of the more popular places in the packet of prenatal stuff that they gave at the first appointment. It's the same place that our hospital contracts with. I researched and found my Hypnobabies class on my own, through their website. And then that instructor referred me to the breastfeeding class that we took (I had also searched my local La Leche League group for recommendations before we talked to her). The car seat thing was through my health insurance, and they had sent an advertisement in the mail.
@beccaneu All the hospitals in my area do child birth and related classes. You could probably check out their websites; I'm pretty sure when I was pregnant with DS1 I just registered online.
@kaitcrystalline I got "short", "euphoria", and "painful" and if that's what's in store for me I'm feeling good about it! Painful seems pretty unavoidable, so all in all I'll take it.
Ah I didn’t realise they were two different things @optbaby2017. This one has been recommended to me by several midwife friends and a few others I know that have taken the course. I’m doing both the hypno birthing as well as the normal birthing class – this lady runs them simultaneously. Hypno birthing has 4 modules for 6hrs on 2 days and the normal birthing class goes for 8hrs on one day. It’s going to be pretty full on but I have absolutely no idea what to expect so I’m looking forward to it. Everyone saying how much their partner’s got out of the courses is making me really sad that mine can only come to 1 of the 3 days
Once I’m settled after the move I’ll look to see if they have a breastfeeding course or any support groups for that and definitely a car seat one! Though I think where we’re buying the car seat from do a little 101 session for you when you purchase the seat. Ahhh there’s so much to learn in such a short amount of time!
@beccaneu I have friends that were midwives and they referred me to my course. Our hospital also advertises birthing classes and I asked a few people I knew that had recently had babies which classes they recommended as well. If your hospital doesn’t have information on their website I’d give them a call. If you’re on facebook see if your town has a “ask it, answer it” or “thumbs up/thumbs down” kind of page that you could post the question. If you know anyone that’s had a baby recently I’d ask them too.
@kaitcrystalline I got strong, thrilling and painful as well. The 4th word was joyous so I can only hope that’s going to be up there!
My hospital had a 2-day course for childbirth and some infant care (swaddling practice with dolls etc), and it was fantastic. They gave the rundown on the different pain management options you could choose from and didn't try to push one method over another.
Then we did a separate couple-hr breastfeeding class, which as another poster mentioned, was awesome and esp helpful for my husband to get a sense of what we we're in for and how to support me while nursing. (Water all the time! Snacks when I was stuck on the couch for an hr!)
For pain management during my labor, I had gone into the hospital thinking I'd see how it goes and would get an epidural if I didn't want to handle the pain anymore. So I went as long as I could so that labor would advance more quickly (things tend to slow down once you get an epidural), but there was a 15 minute lag between requesting the epidural and the anesthesiologist actually being ready to administer it. Right when they were about to run the needle into my back, my water broke, I had to push, and I could no longer sit still for long enough to put in the epidural. Sooo, med free birth, not by choice! It was really hard, really, really painful bc there was basically no break between my contractions. (My poor hubs and others in the ward....I was screaming so much I'm pretty sure it sounded to everyone on that floor like I was being slowly murdered.) Recovery was relatively quick, however!
So this time, definitely asking for an epidural earlier! Not interested in a second med-free labor thankyouverymuch. (Now, would it have been easier if I'd done hypnobirthing training before, for example? Totally!! But I didn't, and def don't have time for that this time around with a toddler and full time job.)
Hopefully this doesn't scare anyone, but just know that whatever your birth plan is, realize it might change to something you hadn't even thought of.
@beccaneu my insurance company and hospital are all one health system so they offer everything at the hospital and it is included as part of our insurance plan. We also have a birthing center in town for women who don’t want a hospital birth and they offer classes as well.
@beccaneu The classes are typically offered through the hospital. It was actually included in the registration packet. If your hospital doesn't offer something specific like hypnobirthing or bradley and you want to do that elsewhere you can search on the individual websites.
My SIL did not do any classes and she regretted it. They are phDs and thought they would know better. I figure if you have the time and ability to take the classes, it is won't hurt to take them.
I am a planner and need to be prepared. I am not the birth plan type, but more the type of person that needs to be aware of all possible outcomes and solutions. I mentioned this before I signed up for hypnobirthing, breastfeeding, and a baby 101 class. Both my husband and I have been around babies most of our lives so we are not complete idiots, but we have never had to care for one of our own and I have never been pregnant so I want all of the information I can get!
I took a breastfeeding course with DH, but no child birth classes. No ragrets. Although I did spend a bit of time googling "how to deal with contractions" because I had them pretty regularly (about 10 minutes apart) for two days at home before they were close enough to go to the hospital.
I saw that the hospital we are delivering at offered a childbirth education class, which I really want to go to, but I noticed that its one of the only hospitals that charge for the class. Its only $75, but it just sucks because the other hospitals offer classes for free! Fee or no fee, do you think its better to have the class at the hospital we will be delivering at?
@llhfreedom -- IMO, everyones pregnancy and birth is SO DIFFERENT (I know everyone says that, but it is true) that you can listen to all the stories you want....in the end do what YOU want to do and feel is right. Now...onto my epidural story
I had two failed epidurals, a third epidural with my own blood, and a failed induction that led to an emergency c section. I was in pitocin labor for more than 24 hours. I felt every second of every minute. I had no relief until an angel of a nurse anesthesiologist appeared while I was being wheeled back to the OR for the section. I remember his exact words "....uhhh guys she is in a lot of pain and can't even talk. I'm going to hook her up." And he did. So much so that I had to be on oxygen for 24 hours afterwards. The morning after the c section I had the most wicked headache ever that went away when I laid down....yup, they punctured my spinal fluid column and it was leaking causing the headache. I got another epidural with my own blood, a "blood patch." If I wasn't having a RCS I would still try an epidural. To each their own.
@kaitcrystalline I got short, exciting, and perfect - I'll take it for sure!
@beccaneu ask your OB, my hospital have a printout and pamphlets of the classes offered. I also did Bradley but took it with a grain of salt - I'm not really the Earth mama crunchy type so I had to take what I wanted from it and ignore the rest so I didn't get annoyed but I actually learned a ton and it was nice to have dedicated time to set aside with H and just focus on the baby.
@llhfreedom I took ALL the classes and thought they were great. I'm not taking any this time but H went with me to ask of them first go round and it really helped us both.
@optbaby2017 what kind of time commitment was hypnobabies?
@DuchessOfCambridge Not gonna lie, Hypnobabies is a big time commitment. Classes were a few hours each for six weeks. And then you have daily homework. There's a bit of reading for each week of class, and then you alternate days with either your partner reading you a practice script or listening to a recorded mp3 practice script. The mp3's are 30-45min each, I think the partner reading ones went faster (side note - you can get recordings of the partner scripts if you need, but it's better for your partner to help with prep so that they can cue you appropriately when you are giving birth). For that part, you have to do it without distractions, lying or sitting still (ie, no multi-tasking), because you are practicing the hypnosis. There's also a birthing affirmations track that they recommend you listen to at least a few times per week, but you can multi-task during that -- I usually did it during my commute. They recommend you start the prep around the start of 3rd tri, and continue right up to birth. Obviously you don't have to be a perfect student, but the more you practice the better it will work.
@optbaby2017 I remember! I'm still looking into taking a class, or doing self study. I think self study may be my only option. (PS have you checked your inbox?) I haven't gotten to read through everything yet, but @llhfreedom I didn't take any natural birth classes, and I really felt so unprepared for how to handle the pain. For some it comes on progressively but mine was very fast and became unmanageable very quickly. I felt like I knew nothing and I wished I'd done something to prepare. I had an epidural though, no bad experiences here. There are downsides, or so they say, but I was very comfortable. Birthed a baby without feeling a thing.
Re: Randoms W/o 1/14 - 1/19
I am wanting to take a childbirth class so that we're better prepared for the process and know our options once we go into labor. Has anyone else taken one and either recommend it or advise against it? I've had people say its useless, but this is our first and I have NO CLUE what is going to happen when the time comes. Also, is 4-5 weeks too close to take one? The hospital we go to only schedules them once a month.
It's part of the reason I want to do the childbirth class, but I am also very curious to know our options for pain if I choose to use them. My friend at work went natural and keeps telling me all these horror stories about epidurals, but on the other hand my sister had one with hers and she loved it. Any opinions/experiences with pain medications? IV meds, epidurals, etc.?
I think it depends on where you go but I've heard classes are hit or miss. I didn't take one for my first. I also didn't know what we were doing or what was going to happen when I went to the hospital to give birth. Every woman has a different childbirth story and there's no way a class can tell you exactly what's going to happen. I totally understand wanting to go to get an idea of certain hospital language and who will be in the room with you, stuff like that. I do recommend taking a breastfeeding or pumping class if you intend to do either.
Married: Oct 2015
TTC #1: Sept 2016
BFP: 10/19/16 ~ blighted ovum ~ D&C 11/23/16
BFP: 3/24/17
TTC #2: July 2018
BFP: 8/26/18
The class can can help you decide what path you want to take as well. There are some classes that are very “natural birth” and others that are for everyone. But I recommend a birth class, infant cpr, and breastfeeding class if you plan on breastfeeding.
I have had 3 induced labors: one with an ITN, one pain med free, and one with an epidural. My labor was definitely easier with the epidural (but in my case longer), but my recovery was much much easier after my unmedicated birth. But even still, every labor is a different experience. My personal plan is to hopefully go pain med free again because the recovery was so much easier, but I know full well in the moment I may change my mind and there is nothing wrong with that.
@llhfreedom I took a birthing class through my hospital before DD1 was born. I'm not sure how useful it was ultimately, but at the time, it was really important that I take it. I needed to know what I could expect and have someone talk to me about it so I could feel prepared, even if ultimately, there was nothing that could have actually prepared me for it.
As for the epidural: I have now had two births, one with epidural, one without. I can tell you, epidural horror stories are few and far between. There is nothing wrong with choosing an epidural, even though lots of proponents of unmedicated births will tell you there is. That said, with my first, I had back labour because baby was sunnyside up and it was unbearable. I originally wanted to deliver medication free, but after being asked by the nurse if I wanted it THREE TIMES, I gave in. It slowed my progress down and required the addition of a small amount of Pitocin to keep things moving. I believe this is the most common side affect of an epidural. While it stretched my birth out (and still left me incredibly uncomfortable, though able to bear it), I was still able to push and delivery my daughter safely.
DD1: June 2014 - VBM4lyfe
DD2: October 2016
DC3: coming May 2019
@kvh22 I am definitely a person that likes to prepare, so I think we are going to go ahead with the class. I just want to know what to expect and what options I have! I didn't think about the sleep factor though, that makes sense! I'm probably going to go into it and just see how it goes and if it gets to the point where I think I need the epidural I'm not afraid to get it.
@optbaby2017 Unfortunately we are high risk, so I think we are going to try for the March class just to be safe, because I think the April class might be right around the 4 week mark and I don't want to push it too much. Maybe I'm just being a little paranoid lol.
Has anybody been in the situation that their partner wasn't able to attend birthing classes? If so, who did you take? I was going to take my mum but she's told me she doesn't want to be in the room with me when I give birth so I think that kind of defeats the purpose? I have a student midwife (Australian midwifery students have to go to a certain number of pre and post natal appointments, ultrasounds and births so there is a program called "mothers adopting midwifery students" where you're paired up with on for the duration of your pregnancy) so I was thinking maybe I should ask her if she could come to my classes?
We did a separate combo breastfeeding and baby 101 class that was run by a pair of nurse/lactation specialists. It was a few hours, one time. The baby care stuff was a little simple for me, but helpful for DH. The breastfeeding part was educational for both of us. It very much helped DH to understand all that would be involved in breastfeeding and helped facilitate conversations about ways that he could support.
And we did a hospital tour that was for people who had done birth ed elsewhere. So we were able to see where to go and get a brief overview of what happens in each space (triage, birth room, OR, recovery room, NICU, nursery, etc). They talked a little about the different, for lack of a better word, "services" like anesthesiology, food, lactation... and what you would need to do to request them. Also some of their policies around things like visitors and needing a proper carseat to discharge. And you took care of your pre-registration paperwork. So it was helpful, but in a different way.
Oh, and I guess we had a thing with a carseat tech, where they installed the seat and talked about various safety things. I had had to do a pretty comprehensive and longer training for work, but it was helpful to have the refresher on infant things. DH went into this one like "car seats are easy" and came out fascinated by the things. I think this was also when it hit him 100% that there was going to be an actual tiny human in our lives soon, because all of the sudden he had a carseat in his back seat just waiting for the baby to come.
Also ladies saw this on Instagram and thought it was kind of fun. My words were "painful" (lol) "strong" and "thrill".
@kaitcrystalline I got "short", "euphoria", and "painful" and if that's what's in store for me I'm feeling good about it! Painful seems pretty unavoidable, so all in all I'll take it.
Once I’m settled after the move I’ll look to see if they have a breastfeeding course or any support groups for that and definitely a car seat one! Though I think where we’re buying the car seat from do a little 101 session for you when you purchase the seat. Ahhh there’s so much to learn in such a short amount of time!
@beccaneu I have friends that were midwives and they referred me to my course. Our hospital also advertises birthing classes and I asked a few people I knew that had recently had babies which classes they recommended as well. If your hospital doesn’t have information on their website I’d give them a call. If you’re on facebook see if your town has a “ask it, answer it” or “thumbs up/thumbs down” kind of page that you could post the question. If you know anyone that’s had a baby recently I’d ask them too.
@kaitcrystalline I got strong, thrilling and painful as well. The 4th word was joyous so I can only hope that’s going to be up there!
Then we did a separate couple-hr breastfeeding class, which as another poster mentioned, was awesome and esp helpful for my husband to get a sense of what we we're in for and how to support me while nursing. (Water all the time! Snacks when I was stuck on the couch for an hr!)
For pain management during my labor, I had gone into the hospital thinking I'd see how it goes and would get an epidural if I didn't want to handle the pain anymore. So I went as long as I could so that labor would advance more quickly (things tend to slow down once you get an epidural), but there was a 15 minute lag between requesting the epidural and the anesthesiologist actually being ready to administer it. Right when they were about to run the needle into my back, my water broke, I had to push, and I could no longer sit still for long enough to put in the epidural. Sooo, med free birth, not by choice! It was really hard, really, really painful bc there was basically no break between my contractions. (My poor hubs and others in the ward....I was screaming so much I'm pretty sure it sounded to everyone on that floor like I was being slowly murdered.) Recovery was relatively quick, however!
So this time, definitely asking for an epidural earlier! Not interested in a second med-free labor thankyouverymuch. (Now, would it have been easier if I'd done hypnobirthing training before, for example? Totally!! But I didn't, and def don't have time for that this time around with a toddler and full time job.)
Hopefully this doesn't scare anyone, but just know that whatever your birth plan is, realize it might change to something you hadn't even thought of.
My SIL did not do any classes and she regretted it. They are phDs and thought they would know better. I figure if you have the time and ability to take the classes, it is won't hurt to take them.
I am a planner and need to be prepared. I am not the birth plan type, but more the type of person that needs to be aware of all possible outcomes and solutions. I mentioned this before I signed up for hypnobirthing, breastfeeding, and a baby 101 class. Both my husband and I have been around babies most of our lives so we are not complete idiots, but we have never had to care for one of our own and I have never been pregnant so I want all of the information I can get!
BFP: 8/20/2018 - EDD 5/4/2019
@kaitcrystalline I got powerful, euphoric, and perfect
I had two failed epidurals, a third epidural with my own blood, and a failed induction that led to an emergency c section. I was in pitocin labor for more than 24 hours. I felt every second of every minute. I had no relief until an angel of a nurse anesthesiologist appeared while I was being wheeled back to the OR for the section. I remember his exact words "....uhhh guys she is in a lot of pain and can't even talk. I'm going to hook her up." And he did. So much so that I had to be on oxygen for 24 hours afterwards. The morning after the c section I had the most wicked headache ever that went away when I laid down....yup, they punctured my spinal fluid column and it was leaking causing the headache. I got another epidural with my own blood, a "blood patch." If I wasn't having a RCS I would still try an epidural. To each their own.
@beccaneu ask your OB, my hospital have a printout and pamphlets of the classes offered. I also did Bradley but took it with a grain of salt - I'm not really the Earth mama crunchy type so I had to take what I wanted from it and ignore the rest so I didn't get annoyed but I actually learned a ton and it was nice to have dedicated time to set aside with H and just focus on the baby.
@llhfreedom I took ALL the classes and thought they were great. I'm not taking any this time but H went with me to ask of them first go round and it really helped us both.
@optbaby2017 what kind of time commitment was hypnobabies?