Classes, Doula... So Many Options to Choose From!

If you are at a Midwife clinic - take as many as you can!!! If they are at a hospital - don't bother. You'd do better reading the book "Ina May's Guide to Child Birth" and watching "Business of Being Born"

If you want a natural birth (natural meaning no drugs) and you are going to the hospital you need a doula. A doula will fight for what you desire and your rights.

The classes offered at our hospital were a complete waste of time. We went once and never returned. I read a few books and immediately tossed out any book that said not to exercise while pregnant, or encouraged drug use. The best thing for me was talking with a doula. She answered my questions, gave me useful tips, and was able to tell me what to expect in a way that truly helped.

I saw only midwives during my pregnancy, and the birth was attended by a midwife, no doctor.

Classes are good if this is your first time. They offer information about all your different birthing options, and it will give you a good idea of the philosophy of the hospital you plan on delivering in. You can ask questions and get answers. I recommend taking at least one class. As for a doula, if you know that you want to have your baby totally natural (no drugs or intervention unless absolutly necessary) than a doula is great to have. She will help you find techniques and positions to help reduce your pain and she will help your partner help you. But if you know that you are going to get hooked up to an epideral the minute you walk through the door, don't waste your money on a doula. You just have to really think about what you want your birthing experience to be like. Here, books can come in handy. You can read about several different methods and decide for yourself what you want out of this experience. Good luck to you!

if you have a good doula you don't really need classes, except maybe to connect with other moms-to-be. doulas are there for your labor and birth, too. not at all comparable to a book or class.

and if you happen to be planning a home birth with a midwife, you don't really need a doula. it's redundant. the midwife would provide the support and education as well as deliver your baby.

good luck with your decisions!

I agree w/ Momof3girls.
If you want to have a natural childbirth you need to educate, educate, educate.
I took Bradley classes. I found them helpful.
I found the Bradley book to be even more helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Childbirth-Bradley-Way-Revi...
If I had not read this book-I might have had a toilet baby...as my DH so lovingly refers to our first birth. ;)

I had a doula w/ my 2nd which was a waterbirth. I should have re-studied my book. Lol. I allowed the fear to take control. But ultimately got the birth I wanted.

I would encourage you to take the classes if this is your first.

As far as breastfeeding is concerned, I went to Le Leche League meetings before my babe arrived and read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Thats-What-Theyre-Definitive-Breast...
Hilarious and super informative.
Though I had some minor problems I was prepared to handle them and was successful.

GL! Congrats!

When I had my son, I will admit I was not nearly as informed as I now am, 5 years later, about so many things. I mean, I was informed, but nothing like I am now. But my feeling then was that women from the beginning of time had babies, and for most of time, they didn't need a class to do it. So I skipped them.

More recently, having learned a little more about doulas and midwives, I am kind of interested/intrigued by those things, and may look more into them if I have another baby, but I really looooove my ob, so I'm not even sure I'd need one... but I am interested...

As for classes, just never saw the use for them personally.

The Bradley Method class was the best we took. Hiring a doula was a complete waste of money.

I am expecting in October and felt kind of the same way. After taking some time to think about what kind of birth I want to have, I decided to take the prenatal/ baby class at my hospital. It is a Saturday all day class that discuss labor, delivery, breastfeeding, newborn care and has the tour. The hospital where I will deliver has an excellent lactation department, so I am not terribly concerned about that aspect of it. I have a very dear friend and both she and her mother are doulas and she has been through natural childbirth and one with an epidural, so am I asking her for lots of coping techniques, so I can go as long as possible without the epidural because I would like to skip any pitocin. As far as needing a doula, I think it depends on the hospital and your doctor. Do they listen to you? Are you assertive enough to piss them off in order to get what you want out of your birth experience? If not, I would recommend a doula.

I took a prep class at my local hospital and loved it....it was a great time for my husband and I to learn the natural methods for pain relief and time to relax. My first deliverery, I was induced but still managed to get through without any pain meds. My second, no pain meds. I loved the class I took and still talk to the instructor 5 years later.
Praying you find the right option for you!

I thought the lamaze class was a waste of my time. It was 8 weeks long and it could have been done in 5 hours seriously it was so aggravating and the teacher didn't help. Every woman's body is different and so is their labor. You have to decide what is right for you, if we hadn't paid for the class I wouldn't have returned. I think if you have a great support team in there you are pretty set. Good Luck.

We found generic birth classes a waste of time; we took "surviving the first weeks" class and that was REALLY useful. As for the doula- my friend trained as one and lives in B'game, and from her stories the people that chose yo hire her benefit, but I am biased as a friend :) I personally was lucky to give birth both times with Mommy, who had some medical training and 3 kids of her own :)
Good luck!

I took both the birthing/breastfeeding classes that were offered at the hospital, both were free. I did find that they were both helpful and I did have a better sense of being prepared. I had a natural childbirth and did not have a doula, I found that both my doctor and the nurses were incredibly helpful/supportive of my choice. I've had many friends who've chosen natural childbirth and not used a doula/midwife. I'm sure that they are very helpful however in offering extra support.

I'm not sure what classes to take... I never did take any and I really wish I had. My labor lasted for 20 hours, most of it on a pic. drip because I developed preeclamsia (the pic. was supposed to speed up the labor, so that my baby wouldn't become stressed. They were about to do an emergency c-section when I finally dilated the rest of the way and was able to have her.)

The biggest thing I wish was that I had known how to manage the labor pains. My first few hours were manageable, but when my blood pressure messed up and they put me on pic. they became INTENSE! (I have a VERY high threshold for pain... when I was younger my doctors though I had a nerve disorder or something, but after a few tests they decided I just handle pain well.) I wanted to try to go it without an epidural, but finally when I was about 14 hours in I broke down and got one. That helped a LOT, but the whole time I went without it I was barely hanging on. I feel like if I had taken some kind of class, I might have had some technique to fall back on...

My pregnancy was completely normal too, btw. There were absolutely no complications up until the point my blood pressure went wacko.

Congratulations! Classes are beneficial for many reasons even if you have a doula or midwife. Nursing Mothers Counsel offers FREE breastfeeding classes the first Saturday of each month at the Redwood Shores Library from 10:30-12:30 (tomorrow is our next class), as well as June 18 at Sweet Connections in San Bruno. http://www.nursingmothers.org We're a great breastfeeding resource, and you can get more info at our website. All of our services are completely free :)

Personally, I had 2 home births with a team of 3 midwives each time (one in DE, one here in CA), so I didn't feel that I needed a doula. I took childbirth classes both times, and the refresher course I chose had a sibling preparation class included, which was AWESOME! I really wish I would've taken a breastfeeding class the first time because you can only learn so much from a book.