Who has done or is doing childbirth classes?

Hi there!

As per my topic, 'How many of you have done or are doing prepared childbirth classes'? Did you find it beneficial?

I had a couple of problems as the hospital in which I am going to give birth at only has childbirth classes for singletons & when I called a couple of months ago the only time they could fit me in was the middle of April. Unfortunately I am way to big now to do the classes & sitting for more than an 1hr with my legs down is a killer! :huh:
The classes were over a 3 week period & for 2 and half hours each!
Dh husband pointed the above out to me, as he knows how little I can do these days. He mentioned maybe trying going another route, such as buying the teaching materials on DVD...

Now, if I go for vaginal childbirth how will I know what to do? The breathing etc..?
And if I decide to do an c-section I suppose childbirth classes won't benefit much?

Also these classes were going for $75! Is this a normal rate?

I'm from South Africa & have only been in the states now for a little over 7 mths..so really don't know the setup.
In south africa they offer childbirth classes mostly for free.

In your experience would you say that these classes were essential for you?

Thank you for any thoughts or advice you could give me..

 

I took one with my first dd... I remember that there was a twin mom there.. and honestly I don' t think I would bother with the classes as a twin mom. There are so many things that are different for twins that a lot of the things they say just don't apply. And really the information that I got out of mine I could have read out of a book. It was nice for meeting people, but not very helpful.. within a few weeks of the classes ending I totally forgot the breathing techniques etc... My advice... if you really want to do natural labor...put the money you would have spent on the class towards hiring a doula to help you get through labor... The immediate help of someone like that during labor would be worth her weight in gold...especially for the mom who really wants natural labor. Otherwise, by the time you get to the point where the breathing techniques would really help you'll be asking for an epidural anyway! Plus the nurses can also help you with your breathing... if you ask... just my 2 cents...

 

My husband and I did take a class. It was 2 hours over 4 weeks I think (and I think it was $75 too). I was the only twin mom and not willingly the "special" one in the class who the instructor always had to point out because I was having twins.

For me it helped in that when finally I did give birth I was comfortable with the hospital, the instructor was a nurse on the maternity floor so that was nice as well as she was fabulous and on shift when the girls were born.

When we were at the classes we thought we were having a c-section because I had placenta previa. As it turns out the previa resolved itself and I was able to delivery vaginally. The breathing was great to learn as relaxation, etc. but during labor, my dr had me "breath" thru the contraction instead of pushing - the exercises I had learned in class didn't exactly make that experience any good.

But all of the instruments (the thing they use to break your water and the vacuum when they had to vacuum Brooke out) and how everything happens, made my birthing experience a little bit less stressful.

So I don't regret taking it at all. I think we took it starting at 26 weeks-30 weeks. I had the girls at 34 weeks so everything was really fresh!

Good Luck!

 

Thank you Susanna! It's what I was thinking too...

 

I took a class when I was pregnant with my daughter, but in hindsight I didn't learn a whole lot that I hadn't already read somewhere. There were a few helpful things, like we practiced some labor positions, which otherwise we just had looked at in the books, and since it was at the hospital where I delivered, we took a tour of the maternity ward, the NICU, and the instructors were able to fill us in on the hospital policies, practices, etc . That was helpful.
We have't taken any classes this time around, I think I've gotten most of my questions answered from my dr. or here on these message boards!

 

I am taking a "Marvelous Multiples" class at the hospital where I will be delivering, starting next month. It cost $85 for both me and my husband, and we will go to three 2 hour classes and one 2.5 hour class. I am really looking forwared to it, because since neither of us has any children we need all the help we can get to start off with 2!!

 

I wish the hospital I am going to had a multiples class. That would be much more beneficial in my opinion. I have signed up for infant CPR & breastfeeding, but not the labor class. These are my first and my dr. thinks I'm more likely to have a c-section, so the hospital is letting me just come in on the night that they talk about c-sections. The full class is $150! I thought that was too much to spend.

 

My hospital offers a hypnobirthing class which is $250 - a friend fo mine took it and said it probably wasn't worth it so I did not sign up. I took the basic class - it was a one-time, all day Saturday affair directed mostly at singletons. Luckily there was another couple in my class expecting twins so the isntructor threw us a nugget every now and then. The cost was ~$55 and they gave us a book at the end. Was it worth it? Well for me it was b/c even though I got very little out of it, I got SOMETHING out of it. And having never done this before, something is better than nothing. I wouldn't say the class is essential but I could see easily spending quite a lot of money on books and dvds to get the same info.

 

DH and I took one with our singleton and it was a waste of time. Everyone I know that took one said the same thing. I guess I had read enough on-line that it seemed all common sense to me. We had this scary couple that obviously had NO common sense and spent the whole time asking dumb questions (real dumb questions). We neded up needing a c-section.

Cari

 

Our hospital just announced a new multiples class series, so I have signed us up for that. It starts in July, I will about 26 weeks when it starts. The class is 5 sessions, and is supposed to cover birthing, breastfeeding, etc. - all specific to multiples. And includes a tour of the NICU. I paid a $195 fee for their 'baby club' which is good for a year and also includes additional classes like infant CPR, carseat installation, infant care, pre-natal exercise classes, etc. - even classes for grandparents if we wanted to take advantage of that.

I assume that it will be a lot of info I already know, or that I could read in books - but figure it will be a good refresher and good to hear the stuff in person and be able to ask questions. I really didn't want to be the only twin mom in a class full of singleton pregnancy - didn't want to be the object of wierd attention and questions - so I was soooo glad that they just announced this multiples class.

 

My husband and I took the "Marvelous Multiples" class at the hospital where I'll be delivering. I was 30 weeks for the first class and 31 weeks for the second (2 night classes - 4 hours each). I must admit, it was pretty painful. The chairs were uncomfortable and to be honest, I didn't learn anything. Most of everything that was covered were topics I've read on these boards or in books. The video that they showed was the same twin video you can find on babycenter.com. I'm still registered for a "Breastfeeding Multiples" class at 33 weeks so I'm hoping that I'll get more out of that.

Oh, and it was $180 to take the class at my hospital. I think it depends on where you live though.

 

I looked into classes but went on bedrest before making any decisions. I delivered Baby A vaginally and Baby B via c-section. I was perfectly comfortable with my delivery and was never concerned about not knowing anything that was important. I am honestly glad I didn't spend the money and the time at a class (although I am sure it would have been informative).

 

I went to one class before I was placed on bedrest, and my husband couldn't come to that one due to his work schedule. I talked with the nurse on the phone later and she got most of her videos and such off of babycenter.com. I took a look at the site, they have TONS of birth videos - even a vaginal birth of twins. So, if you and your hubby want to watch some (my husband doesn't want to watch - he says, I'm not going anywhere near that end!), it may at least give you some idea what you are in for. There are also some videos for the coaches and what to do, etc, etc.

Good luck.

Erica.

 

My husband and I just had our last class last week Thursday. We paid $60 for 3 nights, 3 hours each. Turns out our insurance will be rembursing us for the class, but we ended up finding it useful, especially my Dh. He wrote down a million notes and HE really feels confident in his abilities now.

Ours was not specialty to multiples, but we scored because the teacher has twin girls herself, so she was able to interject her knowledge/experience and we've learnt about a moms of multiples club thru her as well.

 

Our hospital also offers the Marvelous Multiples series, but I only took the Breastfeeding portion of it -- and I'm glad I did.

DH and I did take a childbirth class with my first pregnancy, and while it was informative, honestly everything flew out of my head the minute hard contractions hit, LOL. I don't think it was very useful at all (and I did have a vaginal birth), though I did enjoy it. You might consider it, simply because it's part of the fun of a first pregnancy!

Twin deliveries are so unpredictable, though, that I didn't think it would be worth it for us this time around.....

 

My waters broke in class and I delivered a few hours later. It was the last class and the last ten minutes so it was like "and now for the live demonstration".

Did I find the class benefical? No, but dh did, he was clueless.