Antenatal Classes

[lisaandshaun]

Hi,

I am wondering when everyone else had their classes? we are booked in for a full day class on the 24th Oct, but i am due on the 2nd Nov.

Is this a little too close, should i try to get into another class sooner?

Thanks
Lisa

PS I live in Ballarat so advice from people around the same area would be great, but of course all others are much appreciated

[Liviam]

I am an antenatal educator and I find that women who are that far gone are usually extremely uncomfortable and not able to sit all day at that gestation. I would try to move it a bit earlier for a few reasons apart from the one I've mentioned already. What if you go early and miss it all together? Your class may bring up some things that you and your partner haven't thought about or discussed and need some time to do some research/talk about your options.
Do you have the option to do the classes over a few weeks one day/night a week? The full day class is really full on and jam packed with a heap of information and can be hard to take everything in. Plus the educator doesn't have the same amount of time to dedicate to each topic. In the 5 week series I do I have 2 1/2 hours to dedicate to the topic of the week (such as natural labour) but in the one day class I have only 1 hour to give the same information. Does that make sense??
Best of luck and I hope you get a heap from your class.

[Taurean]

We did 4 weeks of classes and each were 2-2.5 hours with a break for supper. They were brilliant so I would try getting in a little earlier if you can to avoid missing them altogether.

We started our classes when I was 32 weeks.

[lisaandshaun]

Hi, thanks for your replies. I have an appointment at the antenatal clinic in the morning so i will see if it is possible to get into an earlier class. Maybe see if i can get a class which is spread out over a few days or weeks.
Just another questions:
Did your partners benefit from these classes?

thanks
Lisa

[Taurean]

Did your partners benefit from these classes?

Definitely! I have done a lot of research so there were no real surprises for me, although I still found them to be very informative, but DH learned so much. The best bit was he really understands now why I want to try for a natural, drug and intervention free labour. He's also got a much better understanding about breastfeeding which I believe is so important.