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swissair81
12-22-2010, 09:00 PM
I'm finally becoming certified, after years of informal counseling.

I really want to know- did you take childbirth education? If so, was there information you wish you had been given, that you feel you were lacking? What did you you want to know most? OR alternately, what information were you given that you found the most useful?

TIA for the help!

larig
12-22-2010, 10:24 PM
DH and I took an 8 hour class. I enjoyed 80% of it, but felt that there was a bias against medicated births. Because of that I didn't feel like I had a good pro/con view of things. Seemed more like "if you have meds you'll not be able to move, so you'll tear." I was induced and the pain was too much to manage they way that I was taught in my class--that I felt very unprepared to deal with.

american_mama
12-23-2010, 03:25 AM
I took a 6 week hospital-based childbirth class the first time that I really liked and remember well. Things I liked:

1. Instructors wrote a short agenda on the board, so you knew what was going to be covered that night and helped the class move along.
2. We took a break halfway through each class, which was good for socializing with other soon-to-be firsttime parents. Even better would have been if the instructors had suggested we start up a snack schedule.
3. instructors were very good about giving a pro and con to most things they discussed. I specifically remember them fairly outlining the pro and cons of episiotomies, of epidurals, of Nubain/Stadol.
4. We didn't watch videos of birth until a bit futher into the class. I think a lot of dads (and some moms) aren't comfortable with the sounds, images and discomfort of birth, and it's a lot to deal with right away. Plus, that's a lot of private anatomy to be watching in a group of strangers. Dh and I switched hospitals and therefore attended one session of a childbirth class at the other hospital, which showed a birth video on the first night. It didn't go over well, and the overall weakness of that childbirth class is in fact why we returned to our good class at the wrong hospital.
5. Our instructor passed out actual items used in the delivery room. I specifically remember passing around the screw/monitor using in internal monitoring and they may have passed around the tubing that is taped to your back for an epidural. We also had birthing balls in class on at least one day, to practice comfort measures with . If possible, I think it might also have been nice to have seen/felt the external monitor belt, forceps, vaccuum.... not sure what else.
6. The last class consisted of a pediatrician talking to us about newborn care and showing photos of typical newborn conditions (baby acne, baby dandruff, soft spot, etc.) I knew a lot of it, but was definitely not used to what it all looked like.
7. Our instructors did not do anything to try and facilitate a reunion for us, but that would have been nice, even just passing out an address list and suggesting the idea of a 3month reunion and a possible locale for it.

I have a friend who is a chidlbirth instructor at a large medical center and she does an exercise about "paper tigers." It's from Birthing from Within and she says it is popular in her classes, even though neither her class nor students come from any particular birth philosophy. I don't remember exactly what it is, but somethign about what worries you, what you can do to address it, how likely it is. Some way of addressing some fears. It is a paper exercise; you don't have to share what you write with anyone.

Lastly, I took a childbirth refresher class when expecting DD2. One very helpful thing was one or two exercises focussed on things to do to make it easier caring for a baby with an older child around. We talked about what to stock in a bag for feeding times, things we could do in advance to make things easier, etc.

MamaSnoo
12-23-2010, 10:13 AM
This is JMHO, but forcep deliveries are relatively uncommon and forceps are potentially pretty scary looking to a first time mom or dad. I do not think I would show them in a childbirth class. Vacuum deliveries are more common and I think that the vacuum looks less scary that what ppl might imagine left to their own devices. So, may show one of those.

I went to a class with my DH. I had a c-section due to breech presentation (I did not want to attempt a vaginal breech delivery for my first pregnancy). The class we went to was very focused on vaginal deliveries, which is appropriate, as it is more common. They very briefly discussed c-sections.

I do not think that they needed to change the focus of that class, but I do think it would be nice if programs offered a class for moms having a planned c-section. It would not need to be long, but maybe one session to talk about the epidural, how long it stays in post-op, when you can and should expect to be eating, walking, bathing, etc. Options for pain relief post-op. Things like that. I do not think it would have to be part of the general curriculum, and I am not suggesting this to promote c-sections, but I think that offering an optional class for moms who know they will have a section would be nice.

tmahanes
12-23-2010, 10:33 AM
This is JMHO, but forcep deliveries are relatively uncommon and forceps are potentially pretty scary looking to a first time mom or dad. I do not think I would show them in a childbirth class. Vacuum deliveries are more common and I think that the vacuum looks less scary that what ppl might imagine left to their own devices. So, may show one of those.

I don't agree with this.... My OB used forceps on B and I was glad that I had seen them before hand. DH was especially glad to have seen them before hand and would have freaked out if the OB pulling B out was the first time he had seen the "salad tongs" :)

My class was a one day class and she was great about discussing things from both sides. The class I took was more about what was going to happen not so much a pain control class. We got to touch pretty much all of the equipment that might be used, she had weighted dolls, and the belly that all the dads had to wear!

What I really really liked was how she stressed that there is no "right" way to have the baby. She said "you do what works for your family and gets the baby out safely." Whether that is non-medicated, medicated, forceps, c-section. Main goal is healthy mama and healthy baby.

She went over birth plans and how you should have a few things that are extremely important to you, not a 5 page minute by minute itemization because you are setting yourself up to feel bad if you do that and things have to be changed. She said to pick the points that were in our minds vital things we wanted to have happen and write those down. She also said to make extra copies so you could give it to the people working with you.

The other point that I thought was important was that if you and a nurse were not "clicking" it was okay to ask for someone different.

AnnieW625
12-27-2010, 03:20 AM
DH and I took an 8 hour class. I enjoyed 80% of it, but felt that there was a bias against medicated births. Because of that I didn't feel like I had a good pro/con view of things. Seemed more like "if you have meds you'll not be able to move, so you'll tear." I was induced and the pain was too much to manage they way that I was taught in my class--that I felt very unprepared to deal with.

I agree with this. I didn't want a medicated birth only because I am already scared of needles, but I didn't think that the class (which was taught by a doula) did a good job of providing a balanced pros and cons for each. I went into DD1's birth still feeling scared because of the photo of the needle they showed, and the huge laundry list of risks involved. I ended up needing pitocin and because the pain from the pitocin, and the penecilin (I had strep B) was crazy I ended up choosing an epidural and was able to push fine for just about an hour (before DD1 was delivered), and while I did tear a little it was no worse than when I tore with my non epidural delivery with DD2 (I did have an IV of nubane while I was in non hard labor, but I never got the epidural because DD2 was ready to be born about 7 hrs. after my water broke, and was born an hour later after some hard contractions, and twenty minutes of pushing).

DH and I took the Saturday all day Lamaze class at the hospital where I delivered DD1 at. A lot of what I learned went out the window because of the pain from the pitocin and the penecilin, but it was a good experience and am glad we went. For DD2 had I had another teacher option for the Bradley Method in my area I most likely would've liked to have taken a Bradley class (the current teacher is rather confrontational about pretty much everything she posts on a local mommy group site; she even told off one mom who recommended another Bradley teacher who used to be in our area). We didn't take any classes with DD2 and I did fine, but I did forget to bring my own pillow from home to the hospital, which I know for sure I did bring with us when I delivered DD1 because we had just been to our Lamaze class days before I delivered DD1, and it was one of the suggestions from the doula.