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Lexidore 
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 Topic: How necessary are antenatal classes?
Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:10pm |
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I'm looking at antenatal classes at the mo and the reason for the thread is that i'm not sure its going to work out that we can go as DP works 3 nights a week and I work 1 night a week, I don't really know that I have anyone else I could take as a support person either. So are they totally necessary? What are the major things that you learnt while at yours, could I learn these things in other ways? Any input is much appreciated.
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jaycee
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:25pm |
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I wouldn't say that it is about what you learn, but who you meet. I didn't know anyone who had kids or was pregnant when I was having Amy so my friends from my A/N group were invaluable. Most of us were in the same boat and 3 years on and 5 of us are still meeting nearly every week. We talk about ALL sorts of stuff - nothing is too personal anymore!!
We also have a girls dinner every couple of months and try and have a weekend thing for the boys to come to as well.
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Chickoin
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:33pm |
I also felt that there wasn't much to learn that you don't learn here on OB, but I really enjoyed it because it really involved DH. Personally if DH couldn't have gone with me I wouldn't have gone. Mostly because I am so shy and had no intentions of joining an AN group 
My best friend didn't go to the lessons, just told her mw she wasn't doing them so her mw just covered the basics with her about birth. breastfeeding etc.
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NovemberMum
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:34pm |
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my main reason to do them was to meet first time mums who would have babies around the same age as mine.
I cant even remember what we did in ours.
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kebakat
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:37pm |
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I went, learnt nothing new and didn't meet anyone I've stayed in touch with so really unnecessary for us anyway. We did it because we felt it was what you do first time.
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tishy
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:39pm |
 jaycee wrote:
I wouldn't say that it is about what you learn, but who you meet. |
Ditto to this, I moved to Welly when I was pregnant and didn't know anyone or have any family here.
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rachelsea
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:49pm |
We were all booked into antenatal class, but then Chelsea decided to be born early, 4 days before the first class! I was panicking that I didn't know anything about babies, but you'd be surprised how much it actually comes to you once they are here (well, apart from that first night in hospital when I kept pushing the buzzer everytime I wanted to pick her up, till someone pointed out "she's your baby, you don't have to ask permission to hold her!" hehe)
So in answer to your question, I didn't find the classes necessary. In hindsight I'm quite glad I didn't learn about certain things before going into labour 
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HoneybunsMa
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 3:49pm |
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We only learnt a little bit but we are with parents centre so getting a little bit more out of it like baby massage cpr etc. We do have a coffee group every week but atm with babies popping out its hard to get to etc.
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Sassy
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:10pm |
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I know some do intensive classes, maybe two saturdays I think, if that works better for you. I'm planning to go to some purely for meeting people I think, as none of my friends are remotely ready to have babies so it'll be a little lonely I imagine.
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kiwisj
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:30pm |
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We were booked in to do hypnobirthing classes but not regular AN classes. We went to two before Callum decided to make an early appearance. The HB classes were great but I don't think they were absolutely necessary or anything. There were 2 other couples on our course and I see one of the mums occasionally at Mums & Babes yoga now but we didn't try to keep in touch or anything.
I was lucky two of my close girlfriends were pregnant at the same time as me and I've met a couple of great groups of mums since through things like baby cafe.
One of those friends decided not to do AN classes at all, she had to have an elective caesar so didn't bother. And she did just fine! She had lots of help from her mum when she first came home with bubs and I think she just worked things out as she went along.
:)
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SJ
Callum - Dec 2008
Daniel - Oct 2010
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HuntersMama
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:31pm |
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I have also been looking into them with the same concern as DH works pretty long hours and the classes are from 6.30 - 9.30pm, which will be a really long day for him. They also do them on a weekends so we will probably go with that option.
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Lexidore
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:44pm |
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Thanks Ladies for all your responses, Although it would be nice to be able to do a coffee group afterwards I figure I still have OB meetups to look forward to.
chickoin, i also don't really want to go without DP as i think that would be the only way we would get the most out of it. There doesn't seem to be a weekend option in Lower Hutt unfortunately, the way i see it though i seem to learn a heck of a lot from OB anyways and can probably get some tips from my MW like you said Chickoin.
I think it will end up that we wont end up going, just be aware there may be a lot more threads started up by me asking more questions!!! LOL
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my4beauties
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:44pm |
I found them reasonably informative, but this is going back 6 years now, and I didn't have the internet then. These days you can research what you want to know on the net. I'm glad we went, I thought it was a great way of involving Dh, as he wouldn't read pregnancy books, or research about it on the net. Also we did have a coffee group for about a year afterwards, which fizzled out, but I still keep in touch with one of the girl's whom I clicked with.
I've heard they do weekend sessions so you don't have to go once a week for 6 weeks. Not sure if they do that in your area though.
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My babies: R (9),G (7), J (5) 
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Lexidore
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:47pm |
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Also DP has been really good so far with researching and will quite often come up to me and tell me facts about what is going to happen each week to me and baby, and always seems really interested when i tell him facts aswell. I also read him out a story about Dads jobs during labour and he said to me that that was getting him really excited, so im quite lucky in that aspect.
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my4beauties
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:54pm |
You are lucky bex!
A friend of mine, her Dh was soooo engrossed in reading up on pregnancy when she was pg it was really funny to see. The first time they went to the MW, friends Dh read all the books that were given to them. I had to laugh though, it was like he was the pg one .
Dh leaves it up to me, he helps make the baby, leaves me to be pg, and takes on his role once baby is here. Of course he helps me when I'm pg, but even after having 3 kids and pg again - I still don't think he has any idea of what I go through for 9 months.
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lisa85
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 4:58pm |
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I knew I wanted a c/section from day one so really none of it was all that relevant to us as the main part of the classes is about labor and natural birth. They barely touched on c/sections and when they did it was only in the emergency sense. It was still interesting to go. We are still in contact with a few couples from our class. They do teach you about feeding and routines which is quite relevant and something I hadn't really considered until the class. All the basic info about looking after a newborn in those first few weeks. But mostly it's about the birthing process.
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Babe
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 5:06pm |
The first one we went to the ex showed up drunk, completely shamed me out and we never went back!
I did fine I honestly think its more about having a confident approach with your baby
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minik8e
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 6:07pm |
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We are going, because I want to learn the things they teach you (I'm a data person - I like facts and figures and reading things) and also because I want to involve DH so that he can actually get a real sense of what is involved - he just doesn't want to be there for the birthing video!!! Anything I can learn is going to be hugely appreciated, because I'm freaking nervous about the girls actually arriving!!
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busyissy
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 9:14pm |
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I found that antenatal classes with my first pregnancy were really great. I didn't stay in touch with anyone or even get to finish them, as Dom came early, but I found that they were quite positive and empowering, whereas a lot of the other information out there was just scary. I would really suggest going to antenatal classes and it is great if your DH can go with you because one of the things they don't tell you before labor is that you are going to be so involved in giving birth that you might not be able to verbally express what you want. So your DH needs to know what's happening, what's going to happen and what your wishes are concerning any interference, pain relief etc. Antenatal classes can give you all the correct info for giving birth in NZ
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Lexidore
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Posted: 08 July 2009 at 9:19pm |
Thanks all I can completely understand why people are pro the classes, i'm just really not sure that we are going to be able to do them, There are not very many options in Lower Hutt and unfortunately there is nothing we can do about DP's hours. I will make some calls but unless i'm lucky enough to find that they are going to be run on Tuesday or Friday nights i'm just not sure we can do it  The other option of course is the weekend option but there doesn't seem to be anywhere in the Hutt that do this either.... GAH!
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How necessary are antenatal classes?
