Are these the same as Antinatal classes?

yeah i think so, i think they are the nhs version, well that is what ours were called anyway. we had 3 and they were about normal birth, complications and pain relief, and then postnatal care. and they were run by the midwifes. they were ok but i was a bit dissapointed they didn't teach anything about breathing techniques for labour or staying active during birth.

Yeah it's an NHS thing so it sounds the same.

I only have 2 booked in. I'm going to book the Active Birth session in as well i think. I've been trying to ignore everything to do with labour but i think its about time i faced up to it.

Think there are one and the same - we had 5 sessions - each 2 hours long, they were run by a local midwife, and I found them really useful

We covered: Signs of labour, stages of labour, assisted deliveries, post natal care (for both mum and baby) and then the last session, a couple with their 9 day baby came in, and we had the chance to ask any questions we wanted direct to them.

In our 'class' there were 5 couples, 2 of which had already given birth! - the reason they were attending was that their first births went by in a bit of a haze, and they both wanted to be more educated, for the next time.

Both me and my partner were apprehensive, neither of us are really 'group participation' people, but it gave us the opportunity to ask questions, and really understand things. For instance, the assisted delivery session, we were shown all the different things ( like forceps, vontuse, etc) and the midwife went through in detail, why, when and how these would be used. For me, (who likes to know details of everything!) this was great, as now, I hope I will feel a little more at ease when I see these instruments, knowing that I have asked about them already


Anyway - i know you didn't really ask for the above - but it is just that I was so surprised that I found them so useful!

Yeah it's the NHS magic word, lol. We've got a full day one this Saturday as we didn't fancy taking 3 afternoons off work.

Yes same thing for me!

we have 5 sessions monday 7-9pm

I find them really good and informative. I don't like the group things but the info is worth while. we see delievry suite got through everything about labour and active birth, skin to skin contact pain reflief and care of the baby for the first few weeks. they tell you how to prepare hospital bag etc

I have been told that the ones we attend are the best and people come from miles away to attend these as the ones in their area are bad

But well worth it, i have been scared a few times though !!lol

ive just had mine it was a full day.
really informative and good fun, the oh had to wear a fake pregnancy belly!!!!!!
had a look round the delivery suite and then the post natal ward.
we discussed labour, pain relief and feeding
so glad i went

Yeah they are the same thing, we had 3 classes but were a bit disappointed with them, I hope you get more out of them, take care XX