Well antenatal classes for me were a bit of a do I or don't I kind of situation.
I really didn't feel that I wanted to go, the times were inconvenient with work and I didn't think it was something my husband would like to go to either (we aren't the most sociable people!). Also living in this new area we have moved to, didn't really know what to expect and who we would meet.
However, one day I decided although we both work in the medical profession we both know nothing about labour, birth, babies in general! So I did some proper research about classes. Then I was disheartened. I found ones in our local area on a Thursday at 4pm, the rest were in the day time. There was no way we could make it in time & the courses were 2 hours long for 5 weeks in a row! No way could get time off work for that. So I began looking into NCT classes. After finding our local one, seeing the price and how many sessions it was I was again not keen to go. But then I stumbled upon Saturday sessions! They were 3 hours per session, free & for only 3 weeks in a row. Score. So I registered myself on that and waited.
We got confirmation and classes started yesterday.We were informed that they are changing the course structure and now it is only 2 sessions of 3 hours. Fabulous!
When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised by the building, a very nice children's centre. It was very nicely decorated and comfortable to be in. I was also pleasantly surprised by the people in the waiting room. Everyone was older, looked sensible and typically my kind of person... which I was really not expecting at all!!!
The midwife the came along and she was super nice! All in all a success. She asked us to fill in a few forms, with basic personal details, details of our due dates and what we wanted from the course.
Once that was done she took us to a room and we all sat in a circle. I suddenly panicked as I was first on her left an was worried I was going to get asked to start off the introductions. I need not have worried, she asked us to get into groups of six and have a little chat between us. I was so glad we had managed to sit with the people I'd clocked as my type of people as we managed to get talking to them. Though I am very bad as I can' remember their names! All I remember is she was having a baby boy and was 35 weeks. (Also I was very shocked that some of the ladies there were so far along! One was 38 weeks!)
We then regrouped and she got down to the nitty gritty.
We learned about the beginning stages of labour, signs to look out for, things to worry/not worry about and discussed what you should do in early labour.
We then discussed proper labour, when to call the midwife and what to expect during this stage.
She then told us about the birth stage, showed us how it all works and gave us plenty of opportunity to ask questions.
There was plenty of banter flying around the room from the boys, it was really quite a nice atmosphere.
Then she moved on and discussed birth options... talked about home birth and hospital birth. Discussed why complications my occur and how to avoid them etc... This got me thinking a lot about what I want from my birth and how I want to try and experience this "magical" event. (we shall save that for another blog!!!!)
She then told us about how we can help ourselves by helping baby get in a good position for birthing.
It was all in all a very positive experience and well worth getting up early on a Saturday morning for. I am so glad that I did make the choice to go and get educated as I do feel I learnt a lot and although some of the things I did know were mentioned, there was more of a rationale explained to know the reasons behind things. It almost made the impending experience less scary and I am now not dreading next week!
I think the next session is more about feeding choices, how to care for baby and nappy changing etc...
Will report back to you on that one then!
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