Did you know without classes your baby won't come out?

MIL: "When do you start classes?"

Me: "We're not having classes."

MIL : "Well how are you going to have the baby?"

me kind of confused like the classes are what magically makes the baby appear.

Me: "Uh, the same way hundreds of thousands of women have had babies without classes."

MIL: "Well then whatever!" leaves in a big huff with yelling and slaming of doors.




So pretty much from the get go I decided typical hospital, funny breathing classes were not for me. They don't make any sense to my way of thinking. I'm the type of person who takes comfort is knowing what's happening, what is being talked about etc.

So I've read about 75 pregnancy & labor books. I got myself framilar with all the language, the stages of labor what may happen from a easy, typical tv show labor to a complicated rushed off to C-Section one. I also have read a lot on the Bradley method...again no funny breathing.

Well tonight my MIL wants to know why I haven't started the birthing classes at the hospital(see our latest above conversation). I went to the preview. The play by play is "you get to the hospital, you get undressed, we exam you, you lay there in pain, we give you an epi, then you feel nothing until boom it's time to push. Ta da! baby."

DH and I have read and I've talked to women and the doctor about walking, birthing ball, different positions both during labor and pushing...I seriously hope to avoid being stuck laying flat on my back.

Haha, this adds to her opinon I'm a hippy....a baby sling and now no classes! I need a tie dye tee shirt to wear the next time I see her and maybe get Ron to say "Death to the establishment!" at complete random.

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Or instead of a tie-dye, you could get this shirt from preggersnproud.com :

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I love it!

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Great shirt! I didn't have a epi with any of mine - the were all drug free and I wouldn't do it anyother way. We did do that classes and IMO they were a waste of time. I pretty much knew what was going to happen and all those breathing methods went out the window during labor. You pretty much do what feels right.

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"If you judge people, you have no time to love them"

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"

I have never taken classes, either--and somehow they have all been born

I am like you- I want tons of info. I want to know what is going on. If I need to make decsions about medication--I want to understand the decsion I am making. If I need to have a c-section-- I want to understand the reasons why, and have exhausted all other possible options. For me knowledge eradicates fear. I like knowing that when I feel kind of nauseous and my contractions are one on top of the other---that I am in transition and that there isn't much time left until pushing starts. That knowledge helps me--to work through that intesity...that within the hour I will be meeting my baby

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I'm a nurse and the father of a 2 month old... I'm not aware of any class that demands either an epidural or that the mother lays flat on her back?

I didn't take the classes, but that "funny Breathing" was the only thing that got me through my labors. It isn't the breathing itself, it is the concentration it takes to do the breathing a certain way, it takes your mind of the pain for a few minutes and directs it to something else.

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Yeah. Lemase breathing might not be for everyone... but how do you know if you don't learn about it? Isn't it better to have the greatest number of options available? And don't pre natal classes just provide MORE options?

I did classes with 1, 2 and 4.

1, I did them because it was my first.
2, I did for the afternoon off work
4, because I was evangelising about our church parenting group.

I had pretty strong views about what I wanted before doing any classes - from reading books (especially Sheila Kitzinger). I enjoyed the classes because they were given by my midwife and health visitor, so it gave me a great opportunity to get to know these people better. I also made friends with other women in my area who were having babies at the same time.

In the UK, many people in ante natal classes make life-long friendships, because not only are they having their babies at the same time, those children will also be in the same classes at school, etc. That's because we tend to stick within our local areas rather than travelling across town for the 'best' classes.

It's really common here for a class to continue meeting together on a weekly or monthly basis indefinitely - well beyond the children starting school.

Even if you think you know it all, there are lots of good things about going to classes.

Yeah. What Naomi said.