Congrats! You\u2019re pregnant and excited to learn all the things about labor and delivery. You\u2019ve done some preliminary research and you\u2019ve decided that natural childbirth is your goal. Everything you\u2019ve skimmed over and those birth stories you\u2019ve read online have given you confidence. You are certain this is something you can and will do, at least in theory. However, you\u2019re curious about how it will pan out at \u201cgo-time.\u201d You need more information and more knowledge, but where will you go to get it? It\u2019s likely that the hospital at which you\u2019re planning your delivery offers its own childbirth class and that seems awfully convenient, but before you sign-up, know what you\u2019re getting and what you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
Not Enough Detail<\/strong> Class Size<\/strong> Class Duration<\/strong> Instructors Lack Training in Natural Childbirth<\/strong> Strong Focus on Hospital Procedures<\/strong> Social Considerations<\/strong>
\nHospital childbirth classes approach childbirth education in a broad-stroke. Many different approaches to childbirth are discussed with no one method or option being given the necessary attention to truly convey the philosophies of each. The focus of a hospital childbirth class is not natural childbirth. It may be touched on, but there won\u2019t be nearly enough information to make you feel prepared.<\/p>\n
\nClasses are usually fairly large which prohibits both individualized attention and ample time for student questions. With the majority of childbirth-class-attendees being first-timers, these two things are vital. Without the opportunity for the instructor to build rapport and for the students to ask pressing questions, the learning experience is severely lacking.<\/p>\n
\nNot only does the class-size pose an issue, the amount of class-time is generally abbreviated and usually falls too close to your estimated-due-date. A class that meets once a week for four-weeks, beginning at the end of your third trimester, is not going to provide the amount of time necessary to get comfortable with and practice relaxation techniques and positioning recommendations.<\/p>\n
\nThe instructors usually aren\u2019t certified childbirth educators. Rather, they are labor and delivery nurses. Not to discount their extensive time assisting in childbirth, but having a role in hundreds of hospital-childbirths does not provide one with expertise in natural methods and techniques that a certified childbirth educator possesses.<\/p>\n
\nBeing that the class takes place in-hospital and that the instructors are employees of said hospital, these classes tend to do a good bit of training students on how to be \u201cgood patients.\u201d There will be talk of protocols and procedures and an underlying or even outright discouragement of the patient\u2019s autonomous decision-making. It\u2019s much easier for the medical staff to have a compliant patient, one who doesn\u2019t stray from the birth interventions that are all-too-common in our maternity wards.<\/p>\n
\nWhile it\u2019s not your main goal to make other soon-to-be-parent-friends, private childbirth classes<\/a> really lend themselves to this possibility due to their small class-size, longer duration of class, and like-minded classmates. With hospital classes missing these key aspects, making friends with others is harder to come by, and that\u2019s a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n