One day antenatal course

billydg

Hi, because of work we can't go to the hospital run course so we are looking at one day sessions.
They seem to be from 170-200 euro and vary in size from 10 couples to 25

I find it hard to believe that 25 couples forking out 200 quid is anything more than a racket.

Also from reading other people's comments they don't seem to be great courses, but as this is the first time round we will probably do one.

Any recommendations?
Thanks

beachbabe

Hi,
We did one in clontarf castle, run by a midwife. www.2as1.ie
It was about €180, from what I can remember, but you can claim this back on your health insurance. She limits the number of couples attending. it was a very good day, long and intensive as a lot is covered, but certainly well worth it. I did find some classes online, which have life coaches etc. speaking at them. Not really my kind of thing, but there seem to be plenty of classes out there to facilitate everyones needs.
One reason we did a one day class is that the coombe cannot accomadate partners in classes due to space restrictions. Surely the idea of these classes is to bring your husband/partner/whoever is going to be with you for the birth?

billydg

thanks beachbabe

DublinWriter

billydg wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that 25 couples forking out 200 quid is anything more than a racket.

Huh?!?

We're going to one in Drogheda this month run by Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, it's free and doesn't require pre-registration.

Who's running the course that you're looking at attending?

beachbabe

No problem

billydg

the antenatal class I was signed up for at 200 quid ended up having 88 people in it so I pulled out as I didn't think it was somewhere I could ask stupid questions freely :-)
I know 2 couples who went to the same woman previously and said she was very good and one of them called her privately afterwards and said she gave her time and advice on a problem she was having

So we ended up getting a woman called Louisa to come to our house for a one-to-one session (or one-to-twoandahalf session if I am accurate).
She came at the weekend at a time that suited us, we asked about everything that we wanted to know and she answered lots of my silly questions!

It was around 60 quid and I can't recommend it highly enough. If you stick Louisa & antenatal into google you will find her or PM me and I will get her number for you.

dory

DublinWriter wrote: »

We're going to one in Drogheda this month run by Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, it's free and doesn't require pre-registration.

Just for future reference, we also went to this one and found it brilliant.
Very small, maybe 10 couples, and could ask lots of questions.

d4v1d

my wife is having our first soon. i didn't realise that these classes existed until she mentioned possibly going to one. i could see that some guys went to smaller classes so they could ask 'stupid questions' with more ease.

my stupid question is, why are these classes needed? if my wife needs information can't she get it online or surely someone she knows that would have had a baby been to one before and be able to tell her what's involved.

i don't want to knock anyone that's been i just would like to know what's the point?

LegacyUser

i was wondering about this too, do we have to do these antenatal classes? are they mandatory? i had my first hospital app last week but one of the many questions i was asked was id i intend doing the antenatal classes in the hospital, i siad no so she said oh do they do them in "my area" i dint know they did them back there. So i didn't say anything but i thought it was a personal choice wheather i wanted to do them or not.

implausible

you sound just like my OH. He's adamant that he's not going to any classes, he doesn't see the point (mind you, he said the same about the pre-marriage course....:D).

What about supporting her and making her feel like it's not just her doing all the work? I thought the idea of the man not being involved had gone out with the flood. You might learn something!

d4v1d

deemark wrote: »

you sound just like my OH. He's adamant that he's not going to any classes, he doesn't see the point (mind you, he said the same about the pre-marriage course....:D).

What about supporting her and making her feel like it's not just her doing all the work? I thought the idea of the man not being involved had gone out with the flood. You might learn something!

that was my point i guess, what is there for a guy to learn at this stage? i'm not against doing a course that will teach me something, it's just that i don't understand why i need to go to some course when i have an internet connection at home. and there are other women/men i know that have had children previously. surely if there was something important to know like 'make sure she's wearing green socks or there'll be trouble' then someone would have already told us.

have any guys learned anything useful that you can't find out from google/friends?

billydg

Just after the last post I made we went in and had the baby 6 weeks early.
It really was a rollercoaster for the 1st 2 weeks with baby coming in and out of incubators, IV, feeding tubes etc
All is well now and I'm really glad I did the course.
I work it IT and have access to the internet all day. My wife was given loads of baby books which are allways around the house etc.
The reason I found the course great was that I (we) have really busy lives and this course forced us to stop and stare at the train that was hurtling toward us.
I admit that I was kind of ignoring the situation and always thought of it as something that was going to happen in the future. Luckily we did it the weekend before the birth and the breathing & massage techniques really helped.
Goodluck!

Nevyn

Congratulations on the birth of you little one may they not need to be in hospital again.

eviltwin

Its just my own personal experience but I did the hospital classes with my first and found them a total waste of time.

Midwives are just people at the end of the day and will teach what they think is the "right way" to do things..the woman taking our baby care class was very rigid in her thinking and I knew I was wasting my time as everything she said I was just going to do the opposite.

I think in the end we didnt bother going to all the classes for that reason

This time around with number 2 I was offered classes again..there's a 12 year gap between my two so I guess they thought we needed them but I said no.

I don't think there is anything they could have said that I hadnt gotten out of a book, the internet or a family member.

crazy cat lady

eviltwin wrote: »

Its just my own personal experience but I did the hospital classes with my first and found them a total waste of time.

Midwives are just people at the end of the day and will teach what they think is the "right way" to do things..the woman taking our baby care class was very rigid in her thinking and I knew I was wasting my time as everything she said I was just going to do the opposite.

Usually when being taught the 'right way' of doing things, there is a great deal of research to back up that the 'right way' is probably the safest way of caring for your baby. For example, I'm sure that 12 years ago you were told to put your baby to sleep on its tummy??

Alot has changed in 12 years, you might be surprised by what you could learn. I'm sure midwives are quite different to 12 years ago too.

The internet and family members can scare you with horror stories of childbirth. Its a shame that you have written off antenatal classes as you found them a waste of time the first time around, but for many expectant mothers they are very useful and rewarding, and I would be encouraging people to go to them. A little bit of professional knowledge can go a long way to easing anxieties about childbirth. A tour of the delivery suite (if offered) will also make the environment less alien and scary when it comes to giving birth.

Yes midwives are 'just people', but they are just people with your best interests and the interests of your baby at heart.

jmbkay

Ante-natal classes are not mandatory or always necessary. If you are level-headed and talk to many people about childbirth, you will get the picture. Yes, everyones experience is different, but no amount of books, films, or expensive classes will tell you how its going to be for you. Yes, there are scary stories out there and there are also scarily priced courses with large crowds attending. When I attended Holles Street as a public patient, they would show people around the delivery area if they asked, admittedly this was a good while ago, but why not ask? On the other hand, it can make some people more nervous and scared. I have seen this. Just because you are paying doesnt make the classes any better or the pain lesser. Its up to you.

SanFran07

crazy cat lady wrote: »

Usually when being taught the 'right way' of doing things, there is a great deal of research to back up that the 'right way' is probably the safest way of caring for your baby

It really depends on the midwife teaching the class and the philosophy around birth in the hospital. There is very little research that supports H.Street's active management of labour - the information provided about routine intervention is expected to be taken at face value and not questioned (particularly for first time mums and dads). Cuidiu run fantastic antenatal classes around the country that are quite affordable - (their early pregnancy class is free) and they really get you thinking about what your options are and how to make informed decisions about your baby's birth.

Tracy

crazy cat lady

SanFran07 wrote: »

It really depends on the midwife teaching the class and the philosophy around birth in the hospital. There is very little research that supports H.Street's active management of labour - the information provided about routine intervention is expected to be taken at face value and not questioned (particularly for first time mums and dads). Cuidiu run fantastic antenatal classes around the country that are quite affordable - (their early pregnancy class is free) and they really get you thinking about what your options are and how to make informed decisions about your baby's birth.

Tracy

You're right about the active management of labour, but unfortunately you'll see it being used in all of the Dublin maternity hospitals.

Women are more vulnerable once labour begins and this is definately not the time to be questioning what interventions are going to happen/not happen. This is the beauty with antenatal classes. Fore-armed is fore-warned. You are more likely to make informed decisions about your care if you have the information to make those decisions. Antenatal education doesn't stop at antenatal classes. Books, the internet, life stories... they all will help you to make the decisions about your care that are right for you.

Do I agree with midwives charging the earth for one day courses? I don't know. If someone is willing to pay then why shouldn't a midwife exploit her knowledge to make a few extra quid. The pay is bad enough as it is, and it will only get worse once the public sector cuts come in.

I do believe that there are plenty of courses being run free of charge, and that they should be taken advantage of. You've nothing to lose by attending them, even the Holles St ones!

SanFran07

crazy cat lady wrote: »

You're right about the active management of labour, but unfortunately you'll see it being used in all of the Dublin maternity hospitals.

Absolutely agree - AML is the standard of care in Irish maternity units unless you're going to one of the MLUs or are with the Community Midwives. One of the problems with hospital antenatal classes is that they are more about socialising you to a particular way of doing things rather than giving mums their options. AML is almost a religion at H.Street and presented in a way that is not exactly balanced i.e - you should be delighted to be attending H.Street as we have the 'magic' drip so you'll be holiding your baby in 12 hours.... If you're a first timer it sounds brilliant....they just forget the minor details of the concept of 'informed consent'..... no mention of the risks of routine ARM, routine acceleration of labour etc.....

I was at the handover of this report to the HSE on Friday.....good things ahead for Irish women if the HSE decides to roll out more MLUs.

http://hse.ie/eng/services/news/MidUstudy.html

Tracy

Das Kitty

I feel quite lucky with the UCHG policies and classes. I'm fairly well up in the various options and have decided on a lot of the more "natural" options (no pain relief, different birthing positions etc.) Was delighted that the hospital was actually encouraging this stuff after hearing of some people's experiences of having to fight to be allowed to give birth how they want. Found the midwife giving the class to be well informed on every question she was asked. Even though I'd consider myself well up on the topics I still learned a lot.

houseman

bumping this thread up as I've a few questions im hoping you guys can help me with.
due the start of june and only now getting sorted for ante natal classses.
Am registered semi-p with holles st. While i was there, they gave me business card for antenatal classes near me- didnt tell me there was any at the hospital! Anyway, my questions are:

- are the holles st classes one-day? And are they midweek or weekend? are they free of charge? I would really like to do the hosp tour so i will know where everything is & what to expect etc when i get there, but if the classes are midweek then it would mean me and my partner taking time off work :-/

- Apart from below, any recommendations & approx cost on private classes? we're based in palmerstown dublin but dont mind travelling. ( i have contacted all those referred in this thread so thank you to everyone for posting)

- lastly, the ciudu classes, do they push breast feeding? Its something i dont intend to do, so dont want to sign up for a class where they actively push it ( i know they have to tell the options but my mind is made up so id like an ante natal class that respects that)

thanks in advance

SanFran07

Here's the link to NMH's class schedule and information.

http://www.nmh.ie/iopen24/defaultarticle.php?cArticlePath=2_7_48

The Cuidiu classes would generally include a breastfeeding class so if it's something you're not interested in you just wouldn't attend that class. You'll find that all of the hospital classes will include breastfeeding information.

Tracy

Freddio

Hi

These people do classes for all in the Beacon Clinic

http://www.parentprep.ie

Regards

fi

mausie

Hi Fi

I had an antenatal class in the Beacon Hospital. The midwife giving it was really informative and didn't go into too much dramatics. I also loved the fact that no birth video was shown and my other half was relived!!
The doctor who came in at the end of the day was also very reassuring and gave great tips, stuff that you just dont think about.
Anyway for anyone who wants to know more about labour ParentPrep.ie was great day.
Mausie

positivenote

hi all,
just wondering if there are any recomendations for private classes? im due in 9 1/2 weeks , have i left it to late?

thanks

tweety76

positivenote wrote: »

hi all,
just wondering if there are any recomendations for private classes? im due in 9 1/2 weeks , have i left it to late?

thanks

Hi Positive note,
I am due in 11 weeks. I am signed up to do one in June it's a 1 day private( VHI give back 50% so its only costing us 75 in total) delighted with this as the only other option was a 6 week night course!!
Where are you based? The course I am going to is in a Drogheda hotel.If you are interested I can PM you the details.

mausie

Hi positivenote,
I dont think you have left it too late to do antenatal class.There are lots of them out there. One of my friends had attended the class with midwife and liked her.
Got a receipt so can reclaim from Quinn Insurance.
Are you in Dublin?

positivenote

yeah, in blanch area.... any recommendations?

Nevyn

Are you booked with the Rotunda?
They used to do satilite classes in the hospital out in Blanchardstown.

positivenote

nah, we're going to Hollier St.

fleur111

Definitely the best antenatal classes are with Cuidiu. The teachers are all trained by the NCT - national childbirth trust in the UK. They're not tied into giving just hospital information but they know all the policies in all the hospitals. One of the best things is that after the baby is born, cuidiu has loads of things on to get you out of the house and if you've done an antenatal course with them, you'll have gotten to know people. I think the membership of cuidiu is free for a year with the classes. They're doing a free early pregnancy classes now in Dublin too.