Childbirth Ed Classes
Although there are lots of different types of childbirth ed classes you can choose from, there are essentially two different camps of classes: classes offered by the hospital and classes offered outside of the hospital. One is not inherently better than the other, but they do provide different information and the intention is also different.
Childbirth ed classes at the hospital are often taught by public health nurses, who sometimes are also lactation consultants or worked in healthcare previously within a different domain, whereas childbirth ed classes outside of the hospital are taught by childbirth educators who might also be lactation consultants, prenatal yoga teachers or doulas.
The childbirth ed classes through the hospital really have one main goal: to help you understand what is going to happen during labour. They clearly outline the stages of labour, show a video about labour and go over the logistics of the big day. Childbirth ed classes outside of the hospital, however, have a different agenda. They absolutely will go over the same stages of labour, will show a video, but a lot of their focus is educating on a variety of interventions to really be clear about their pros and cons, how to cope during labour, and how to advocate for yourself. They go over a lot of information that the hospital doesn’t. They will give lots of techniques to the partner how about to help the birther cope, things they can do or say, and also normalizes a lot of things that might have been scary had they not been prepped beforehand (like transition, for example). These classes arm students with a plethora of knowledge so they can also really good questions to their care provider, be clear about what they want and don’t want (and why that is) and be better medical consumers.
The reason why I don’t think that one is better than the other is because some families don’t want more.
Private childbirth ed classes covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and some families don’t really feel the need to know it all. Some families have hired a doula and feel like that’s enough information for them and they’d rather do the hospital class because they really want to see triage, labour and delivery and the postpartum unit before they give birth.
Before signing up for a childbirth ed class, before even reading the descriptions and looking at prices, take a moment and download the funsheet below.
There are lots of different reasons for taking a childbirth ed class, and I want you to be really clear on what you’re looking to learn or gain from taking a class. So once you download the funsheet, go ahead and circle the top three reasons that YOU want to take a class and have your partner do the same. Then you can compare it with the “answer” sheet where I sort all of the answers into a Venn diagram and see which, if either, class is best suited to your needs.
And of course, message me and let me know you’ve done the activity!
Although there are lots of different types of childbirth ed classes you can choose from, there are essentially two different camps of classes: classes offered by the hospital and classes offered outside of the hospital. One is not inherently better than the other, but they do provide different information and the intention is also different.
Childbirth ed classes at the hospital are often taught by public health nurses, who sometimes are also lactation consultants or worked in healthcare previously within a different domain, whereas childbirth ed classes outside of the hospital are taught by childbirth educators who might also be lactation consultants, prenatal yoga teachers or doulas.
The childbirth ed classes through the hospital really have one main goal: to help you understand what is going to happen during labour. They clearly outline the stages of labour, show a video about labour and go over the logistics of the big day. Childbirth ed classes outside of the hospital, however, have a different agenda. They absolutely will go over the same stages of labour, will show a video, but a lot of their focus is educating on a variety of interventions to really be clear about their pros and cons, how to cope during labour, and how to advocate for yourself. They go over a lot of information that the hospital doesn’t. They will give lots of techniques to the partner how about to help the birther cope, things they can do or say, and also normalizes a lot of things that might have been scary had they not been prepped beforehand (like transition, for example). These classes arm students with a plethora of knowledge so they can also really good questions to their care provider, be clear about what they want and don’t want (and why that is) and be better medical consumers.
The reason why I don’t think that one is better than the other is because some families don’t want more.
Private childbirth ed classes covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and some families don’t really feel the need to know it all. Some families have hired a doula and feel like that’s enough information for them and they’d rather do the hospital class because they really want to see triage, labour and delivery and the postpartum unit before they give birth.
Before signing up for a childbirth ed class, before even reading the descriptions and looking at prices, take a moment and download the funsheet below.
There are lots of different reasons for taking a childbirth ed class, and I want you to be really clear on what you’re looking to learn or gain from taking a class. So once you download the funsheet, go ahead and circle the top three reasons that YOU want to take a class and have your partner do the same. Then you can compare it with the “answer” sheet where I sort all of the answers into a Venn diagram and see which, if either, class is best suited to your needs.
And of course, message me and let me know you’ve done the activity!