A good prenatal class will lessen fears about birth, prepare you and your partner for labour, and strengthen your confidence in your self and your body. If you are spending your time in a class, it has to be effective in improving your health awareness, expand your personal view of birth, and build on what you already know.
1. Who is teaching the class: Read their bio, maybe talk to them on the phone – does their philosophy inspire you?
2. Curriculum: It’s helpful to be introduced to the signs of and stages of labour, along with a wide array of coping strategies and comfort measures.
3. Duration: Some classes are brisk at 4 hours long. Others span a weekend, or meet weekly for up to six or seven weeks. Longer classes allow for reflection, questions and meeting others approaching parenthood.
• Douglas College Prenatal Series. Weekly and one-day classes at John Braithwaite Community Centre or the West Community Health Centre.
• Childbearing Society. A wide variety of classes from prenatal to breastfeeding to postpartum. Weekend workshops, seven week evening courses, four hour refresher workshops and more. Focus is on knowledge, relaxation, comfort measures and decision-making.
• Dancing Star Birth. Birthing From Within prenatal classes.
•Belly to Baby. Weekend group courses and private prenatal education sessions.
• Hypnomamas. Hypnosis for pregnancy and birth
• Prenatal In A Nutshell. A half-day workshop taught by a Lion’s Gate hospital labour and delivery nurse.
Taken any of these classes? Or other ones you’d recommend? Leave a reply below!
