Antenatal classes and that terrible 80s video....

[nattyfred]

Erm..not to be alarmist or risk sounding naive...

We had our first antenatal class today complete with birth video and cannot get rid of the imagery, both from the terrible 80s style jumpsuits and facial hair and the full on super close ups...

Im really freaking out now...this is actually going to happen and while Im ok with that I cant help but think I shouldnt have watched it but just went with my body and how it feels at the time...(usually not a fan of the gory bits on NCIS lol)..but I understand being informed is important too..How can I visualise "the zone" or meeting my baby etc when all I think Im gonna see are those images...

Encouragingly all 3 women on the video were pretty chatty straight after the fact so I see the pain kind of disappears in the aftermath

Can anyone please let me know if they felt like this but were able to find a happy place in their mind in the end?

Thanks, Natty

[Laranna]

Oh those antenatal videos are AWFUL aren't they? You should You Tube birthing videos...they are much more realistic and up to date! Alot of them are tear jerkers though.
But yes, afterwards, there is so much adrenalin from birth and meeting your baby, the "pain" is quickly put to the back of your mind.

But with visualising, try some hypnobirthing or calmbirthing books to get some ideas in your head.

[CinderToriella]

Im no where near far along to go to the classes yet but i booked mine the other day and was thinking if i really want to go or not

and i dont want to see the video, i watched a few births ages ago on utube and some of them made me feel quite scared and freaked out .. i dont think for ME it would be a good idea to watch any more births as i feel it would make me scared which could make my labour harder make me not comfortable and relaxed

[Winter]

Sign yourselves up for an empowering Birth Skills class rather than the hossy run ones. They teach you about how your body works and how to work with it and not fight it.

[Lulu]

Yeah, don't be stuck with what the hospital offers you.

Does anyone have any links to a good birthing U tube?

[soulful]

I too found the hospital classes preety useless, mind you DP and I were quite educated leading up to it.

[Lolli]

Those videos are seriously awful. Pay no attention to them Even the bfing ones they showed at my an class was way out of date and nearly turned me off the whole thing.

FWIW, I find I just can't watch videos of women in labour, even after having a really good birth the second timje round. They just make me uncomfortable and scared. Actually doing it yourself, it feels completly different to what you think it would, after watching those clips, iykwim?

And seconds after having the baby, the pain is almost forgetten. It's replaced with an immense satisfaction and relief. The hormobes your body produces are amazing things

[first_time_mummy]

I never got booked into any antenatal classes. I was worried at first, but have been reading a lot of books, and watched a lot of birthing videos on youtube, to prepare myself.
Im just hoping thatll be enough to get me through lol

[nattyfred]

Thanks for your replies

Eluned, I think Ill have a look at some of those you suggested, I know there must be better Imagery out there for me lol..Thanks I hope to not even think about those other ones at all at crunch time...lol

Shell1, thats how I feel, like I maybe should have looked at something more modern not outdated, scary footage. Even the medical equipment looked dodgy....As for not knowing if you want to go, I felt the same as I have read a lot but DH really benefited and now I think he is realising he needs to know stuff...

Winter that sounds good, Id like to just go with it iykwim, not fight those images and scenarios I have seen.

Lulu Ill let you know if I get brave or more lol...

Soulful, same here but as I said, DH found it useful. I was bored.

LoriRae, Thats what I thought that there is no way watching it can reflect the actual situation also for the fact that unless you use a mirror, most women even though they may have given birth may not have even seen a head crown etc so I dont think its necessary for me to have actually seen it..Thats me though and maybe some would find it useful...All the women in the class were shocked for various reasons lol...

first_time_mummy our midwife who s running the class is retired and looooves to tell a story so gets sidetracked and doesnt really explain anything fully. Thank god I read alot so I think you will be ok. In some instances I couldnt believe she didnt know some stuff,,,wtf?

Thanks everyone, I just think they should update the educational materials and actually reflect the modern age at least in their videos..By the way I am soooo glad we are not wearing what we were in the 90s

[butterfly_warrior]

Nattyfred, I just noticed your location... Nepean Private, right? At first I was just thinking that it sounds like you saw the same birth videos as me, but you're probably using the same hospital. I remember those videos... I remember laughing at "gas lady" and the hair and the clothes... And then the actual birth experience was nothing like it at all. You'd have seen the delivery suites and know they look nothing like the videos. You'll find that once you're actually in labour, it's a LOT easier to ignore that imagery and just go with what your body does. At least that's what I found, and I hadn't done any reading at all at that stage. I'd been planning it for the day I went into labour, in between washing baby clothes, but Sam arrived early and threw all the plans into disarray.

BW

[nattyfred]

OMG!!! Butterfly Warrior you have it in one lol......I am still laughing as I type Im soooo glad you know what I mean. How bad were they!? How bad was that first guy, blowing on his wifes face and rubbing her legs like he was getting a bit fresh!

Then the vid on birthing positions!!!! The simulated rocking....DH and I had to leave the room..I had tears running down my face...

Did you find the midwife really um...happy to digress? The worst part was how she took us to the birthing suite, told us the lady who was in there that morning had screamed so much she had scared another lady so much that she just asked for an epidulal...Then proceeded to say that we shouldnt worry how much noise we make and that no one would tell tales on us...erm....cough...everyone just stared at her.

Im glad to hear you had a positive experience after all that, I did start a thread about DR Lovell and Nepean Private in the recommendations section but no one answered it. How did you find the hosp and staff there? Was it a positive experience or is there anything I should look out for? Any details would be awesome..

Oh and congratulations on your early bundle

Natty

[butterfly_warrior]

I did the two Saturday sessions, and from memory most of the videos were shown in the first week and we didn't have the usual lady that week. Her fill-in was laughing at them just as much as us so the whole group was kind of having a go at the bad 80s fashions and laughing at the things that went on - the rocking had us in stitches, too! I recall finding the first week much more fun than the second week, but overall it was ok.

I think I had a slightly different Nepean Private experience to most. Sam was born just before Christmas and in special care for 10 days. I refused to leave for Christmas day without my baby so I stayed in there the whole time with him. With SCN being so close to delivery suite, I remember many times sitting in there, hearing women yelling the same sorts of things I did... I also remember being told that when I was pushing, they had two other women pushing at the same time and I didn't hear a damn thing when I was in delivery - just in SCN. I'd suspect she was telling tales, to be completely honest.

On my side of things, they were VERY baby focussed and I felt a little left out, but that came down to having a premie bub with sucking/feeding issues. I got the impression that it would be very different with a normal, full-term birth. The nurses are very pro-breastfeeding, so you should get a lot of support there. Just watch that each of them will probably end up telling you something different - take it on board, try it, but feel free to ditch it and try something else if it doesn't suit. I found the nurses absolutely lovely and can rattle off a few names that really, really struck me as being wonderful. I was in there for such a long time, though (and had been in for a week the year before at a similar time of year due to complications with IVF) so they got to know me pretty well.

Overall, it's a FANTASTIC hospital. But, breakfast comes around 8am and dinner is served at something ridiculous like 5:30pm. It's a loooong time to go between meals, especially if you're up in the night to feed bubs. Don't be afraid to snaffle your dessert and plonk it in the fridge for later, and ALWAYS order the plate of sandwiches with dinner to put in the fridge for midnight snacks. I wish I'd thought to do it earlier in my stay... and having a total of 17 days in that hospital behind me - the only thing on the menu to watch out for is the beef and bean hotpot if it comes up again. Way too spicy and virtually inedible, but everything else was great.

I went with Dr Parry, so can't comment on Dr Lovell at all, but someone from my antenatal class went with her and spoke highly of her.

BW

[GoingtobebiginAsia]

Nattyfred, I was getting freaked out by the videos in my class. I was the only one there alone because DP only arrived in Australia last week. The clothes, the beards, the rocking and the bovine looks on the women's faces were seriously making me think "I don't want to do this anymore" and I was starting to think I didn't want DP to see me like that.
Then one more ridiculous thing happened and one couple got the giggles. They left the room and came back a few times but everyone was infected, even the middie. So by the end of the video I didn't feel so bad. The middie said EVERYONE complains about the videos. The actual baby-coming-out part wasn't so bad, it was the rest of it.
But I talked to DP about what I saw in the video and how I felt, so it was beneficial. Now I just want to get it over and done with.
(Your video sounds different to the one I saw but from the same era)

[BellyBelly]

I am so pro independent birth classes/education. Most birth classes leave alot to be desired. Do you know one video is circulating where the mother is screaming out, get me a gun so I can shoot myself? Heard this being played in a hospital in VIC & SA.

9 Reasons Why You Should Choose Independent Birth Education

Its not too late to find some great education that will empower you and give you confidence. Contact NACE for an independent, qualified educator in your area and get onto some great books, the bellybelly online store will have plenty to make you feel positive and encouraged about your body's natural ability to birth.