Mr KE and I signed up for NCT ante-natal classes and yesterday we went for our first session. We had to go to Brixton because our local NCT classes are only on weekdays, which kind of defeated one of the main reasons to join the NCT i.e. to meet other mothers in your local area.
Anyway, it was very useful; there were 7 couples there and one woman who was there on her own. I felt really sorry for her because everything was set up for couples eg giving massages during early labour, breathing exercises etc.
I had heard from friends that the NCT are good, but they have very strong agendas eg they are very into breast feeding, natural births and non-intervention during labour. Almost religious, I would say :) The instructor wouldn't even really talk about "formula" feeding but just pushed the "breast is best" mantra. She also said that women should have "realistic expectations" of childbirth .....uh, ok but I don't think it is necessary or noble to suffer through extreme pain in the year 2008. I guess we will go through that in more detail next week when we discuss pain relief.
There was a couple there who were interested in hypnobirthing. Eeek. Mr KE wanted to laugh, but managed to stifle it. And yes, it is very middle class - the couples were doctors and accountants...even in Brixton.
On Tuesday evening, we will have our "NHS " ie free ante-natal class. It will be interesting to see the difference.
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3 comments:
I'm all for pain relief. I take my hat off to women who do it au natural but I decided not to be a hero and begged for a jab or 10 of something.
Best advice anyone ever gave me about labour and childbirth - don't think about it too much or you'll scare yourself silly.
I'm feeling optimistic about childbirth really. OK, I'm trying not to think about it too much, but all mothers go through it. So, it can't be THAT bad....Maybe I'm in denial ;)
Katie, I have to tell you that I did the breathing thing for my first child - just to see what is it like (crazy I know...).
But for me, it really did work, my body was relaxed (which was the idea of breathing) and perhaps because of that, I was less conscious of the pain (whatever).
BUT if you have to go through C-Section - take my advice, go for general anasthetic! You do not want to feel the "sensation" (as my gynae kept telling me) of being cut...
All the best (for both of us come January)
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