Childbirth Class - too close to due date?

[Cin42382]

Of course I waited until the last minute to decide that I wanted to take child birth classes. My two options are this Saturday all day, or 5/16 all day. I would prefer to take the one on 5/16 because I have something to do tomorrow, but I am wondering if that is too close to my due date. I will be 37 weeks then. Any advice?

[MrsPinecone]

I never took one, and never missed it. Good thing I didn't waste the money, because I had 2 c/sections.

The L&D nurses pretty much tell you all you need to know.

[crystal12605]

I had 3 vag. births and took the class the first time. okay actually I never finished the course. we thought it was stupid and skipped out half way through. I have come to the conclusion that they WERE stupid, at least for me. I got my epidural early with my first two and my last one I went all natural (thats why shes my last) and every time some one would try to tell me to breathe I would yell "shut up!" and my husband would say "good she took a breath." The little we did take didn't help much. I say take it and do it on the 16th but don't feel bad if you miss it, your not missing much.

[bluezoo5]

I don't think it's too late for you to take it if you feel up to it at this stage. At least the information will be fresh in your mind when you go into labor.

I agree with MrsPinecone, especially if you have done a lot of preparatory reading on your own, you definitely won't miss the class (unless it's a lot better than the one I took). Of course, mine was free provided by the hospital I planned to give birth at, so I didn't waste money on anything.

[Cin42382]

Originally Posted by MrsPinecone I never took one, and never missed it. Good thing I didn't waste the money, because I had 2 c/sections. The L&D nurses pretty much tell you all you need to know.

Really?? My bf and I thought we were doing something wrong because we hadn't taken one. People talk about all these massages and techniques for this or that and I feel left out of the loop LOL.

[Cin42382]

I have to add this class is from 830 AM until 430 and is going to cost $150 lol. I may have to rethink this LOL.

[MrsPinecone]

$150?

Do NOT waste your money. That's ridiculous. You really don't need it.

As for all of those "massage techniques", when I was in the hospital on Pitocin, if DH had tried that, I would have torn his head off. I didn't want to be touched.

[Cin42382]

Originally Posted by MrsPinecone $150? Do NOT waste your money. That's ridiculous. You really don't need it. As for all of those "massage techniques", when I was in the hospital on Pitocin, if DH had tried that, I would have torn his head off. I didn't want to be touched.

That's how I am when I am in pain too lol Thanks MrsP!

[anothershopper2]

Here's what I would recommend... I took a bunch of classes and paid a lot of it - I just did this at the end of last year. If you a really really gunho about a natural birth (no meds etc) then you might want to consider taking it. I thought it was helpful for that purpose, and if you happen to super nervous, it might calming. I took mine at 30-33 weeks and since eventually the baby was SGA, I had to get an induction earlier than my due date. So really, any plans for non-med birth kinda just went out the window - I used nothing that I learned in terms of techniques. And I wasn't even really gunho about not having an epidural. For the first child, I thought it was worth it b/c I did learn a lot and had good teachers and classes and I didn't have time btw work and other things to do a lot of research on my own - just the basic books and stories from friends. So I felt like at least I was informed. But if you are already up to date on all that stuff, then it's not necessary.

[aimeemarie]

IME, if you are an educated female, the classes are not worth the time. There was nothing I learned in there that I didn't learn online, in a book or in a Parenting magazine. And the teacher had major agendas. IMO the only classes that would be worth it would be ones that are geared towards a specific birthing technique that you plan to use, such as Bradley classes or Hypnobirthing classes.

ETA: Ok definitely NOT for $150!!!!