Lamaze/Childbirth Classes? Necessary?

[luv_babies]

In my experience, I didn't use any of the breathing techniques we learned in birthing class. BUT everyone is different and other people I know used them and were very happy they took the class. In my opinion, I would skip it for $500/day!! Good luck!

hey ladies.  I'm scheduled for a marathon lamaze class this weekend.  It cost $60 and dh and I will be there from 9-5 on saturday and 12-5 on sunday.  I knew this would happen but dh got offered some overtime tomorrow ... when he gets overtime on a saturday its a $500 day.  He had to turn it down for lamaze?  I dont think it sounds like a good trade lol.

So do I really need this class?  I'm having an epidural and my mom will be there and... I've been to the maternity ward already ... What do you think?

[nikkicole827]

thanks.  I also have been wondering with how awful I've been feeling (see posts "Hormones or what? and ruby's 36 weeks whats wrong with me) if I could really sit through 8 hours of a class at this point anyway.  My mother seems to feel as if she will be able to help me through it and that I will be fine with out lamaze.  She just wants to be sure my husband will be ok... he was the main concern.  I dont think he'll freak out. Maybe I should rent some birth videos and make him watch at home with me lol.  

[jifnif]

well, i was gonna say it really benefits dh.  if he cant make it....meh, i would say skip it or have your mom go w/.  if it was me i would probably go out shopping or get a massage instead!! :)

[ang79]

I just read Jenny McCarthy's book, "Belly Laughs" and she has a very funny chapter about lamaze class. I have never given birth, but I can tell you already I am not going to waste my time or money on learning how to breathe. I can see the importance of beathing though. During my miscarriage I had contractions and waves of serious pain that I had to breath through, but I didn't need someone to teach me how. At that point, anything you may or may not know was right out the window. I was just on survival instinct. I took a lamaze class with my sister when she was pregnant, but once birth was actually in process I don't remember us ever doing any of it. I just did whatever she wanted me to do to make her feel comfortable. Any time I would try to count and make her breathe, she would just yell at me. I say, take the $500 job instead!

[luv_babies]

Holy Poop! 13 hrs of breathing!

[luv_babies]

I say forget it! The nurses will also be helping you if you want. If you have been feeling crappy anyway, being in a class all weekend isn't going to make you feel any better.
Did you take a chilbirth class or was that included in the Marathon? I have to say that I took the ones offered through my hospital and I'm glad I took those. But the breathing was a joke I thought.

[nikkicole827]

no this was supposed ot be the childbirth class as well.  if it werent such an inconveinience ... 8 hours on a saturday and 5 on a sunday... it would have been much easier.  They were overbooked when I tried to get into the evening classes and couldnt work around my college schedule and i worked all day as well as DH.  so this was the last option.  

[Me2mommy2b]

My sister took a birthing class and thought it was a total waste of $$.  I opted not to and I was very happy I didn't.  They told me what to do right then and there and I got an epidural so we did just fine without the class.  Plus, how much of what you've learned do you think you'll remember when the moment comes? ;-)

[luv_babies]

I think the childbirth class really helped my hubby. Go to your library and see if they have childbirth videos to rent.  

[nikkicole827]

no i just looked and all this class is for 60  bucks is lamaze breathing, a tour of the OB ward, and a video of a C section... 13 hours worth?

[tiredbuthappy]

fyi- my lamaze/child birth class spent a total of 2 minutes on breathing. it did give lots of helpful info about pain management options (i wasn't aware there were many options other than epidural), interventions that may happen (episiotomy, vaccum, etc...), the entire process of labor (the stages, what happens, when to go to hospital, etc...) what happens as soon as the baby is born, what the baby will look like and why, etc... they also cover different relaxation techniques, things your partner can do to help you feel more comfortable in the early stages, and so on.

that being said, i found it to be informative and glad i took it, even though i ended up having a c-section. i had 3 3-hr classes when i was 30-33 weeks. i was miserable sitting in a folding chair for 3 hrs, despite the breaks they gave us and moving around. mine cost $150, so yours is a bargain!! i can't imagine being able to handle an all-day thing in your current state. if yours really is just breathing and not child birth, i'd skip it.

[sallystar]

I went last week to lamaze and the lady was a total wack...and it was hospital sponsored!  She was cleared offended that I even mentioned the word epidural and went on to tell me all the reasons why I shouldn't get one.  There was about 20 min worth of good info (2 hour class) like how far your contractions should be before going to the hospital, explainaition of dilation & effacement...the class seemed to calm down some of dh's concerns though...so we are going to go to one more and see if the wack-o instructor gets any more open-minded and offers any other information about pain management...if not - we'll probably become lamaze class dropouts LOL...and we paid about $150 for ours - so that is definitely a waste of money!!!  

P.S. > If i were offered $500 to skip lamaze I'd take it in a heartbeat!!!

[tomel]

Oh yay I also took the Lamaze with my first and ended up with a c-section. Not that you couldnt end up with a csection with a doula or midwife, but they make more of a valiant effort to help you with all that and try and prevent that as well as they are a good support at the hospital.

[tomel]

There are lots of good videos and books at the library and their free. My DH got some for himself.
I say the lamaze classes that are offered are to expensive for what you get. In my book a waste of time.
My suggestion if you want to waste your $ on anything get a doula or midwife, they will show you things that none of the lamaze classes do. I wish I would have done that with my first.

[nikkicole827]

thanks for all of your advice.  I've found that I can even get my 60 bucks refunded and with dh making overtime (the 500) we def. need that so i told him to tell them he will work.  He wondered if I was sure but I told him that I havent even been able to move off of the couch today excpet to get a bowl of cereal.  I called to schedule around 23 weeks i wonder why they made me wait till I was 36 weeks to even take a class?  I am in so much pain in my back and I feel so exhausted... It literally took a lot for me to just get this laptop off of the ground and pull it up her ewith me.  I think I'll just remain on this couch for now.  I think I would have been miserable on a floor mat doing breathing all day saturday and sunday with only lunches and breaks and a tour of the OB unit... which I went to already when I fell at 26 weeks.  

[nikkicole827]

but while I have you all here, I can't hear it enough, it is normal for me to be this tired at 36.5 weeks right?  I go to the doc on Tuesday and will have him check it all out but I wnated to make sure.  And I'm feeling my baby move in there... she doesnt seem as tired as I am lol

[1nana]

If you take the class, you'll be disappointed that you didn't take the money and run!

[rubyolivia]

I wouldn't take the class. Mine was horrible! I think I'll breathe when I feel like it...not when THEY tell me to! 13 hours of breathing on command is just asking to hyperventilate! lol And my video wasn't anything more than what I've caught on the Discovery Channel!

I think it's ok to be so tired....I'm the same way. And Max is like Leah...moving nonstop!

[Jenny100]

Yeah--I HATED the Lamaze method. It makes you hyperventilate because it is NOT an even exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide when you are doing all this weird panting---"Hee Hee Hoo Hoo". And who wants to have to remember all those different patterns of breathing?
The best way to breathe is slow and deep abdominal breaths---even, steady amounts of both oxygen and carbon dioxide being exchanged. Breathing deeply and calmly helps you not to lose control and freak out---like have you ever watched an animal give birth? They breathe calmly.

I wouldn't bother----I too would take the $500!!!! :)