I have too much month left and not enough money...I have opted to do the NCT Antenatal Classes, but in order to get a place on my chosen course I need to pay for and complete the booking by Monday...I need to pay £144 and I havent got it. Grrrrr xx

Bgger me thats expensive dont your hospital offer free ones?

whats nct antenatal classes ?
do our local hospital ot provide ?

Thats very expensive hun.. surely your local hosp provide them for free

I was about to post the same question! I went to 3 at the hospital and they were free. Whats different about NCT ones? x

They do, but there in very very short supply round here and also apparently very rubbish too...plus they are only 2 1 hour sessions, whereas NCT ones are 2 full days plus a breastfeeding session. xx

If you are in to it go for it. I personally wouldnt spend my money on it. Maybe its because mine werent that great so I dont know what im missing.
I had 3 2hr sessions that covered getting comfortable at end of pg, an OT was there to give a talk, signs of labour/stages, pain relief, hospital tour, after labour.. bleeding etc not sure what else.

Id be interested to here how much use the NCT ones were. Let us know how they go x

OMG thats loads!

I never even went to the free ones! Personally I do not need/want an organisations specific views (swayed even more so by that particular HV?MW whatever)....I'd rather read loads of books and stuff online and make up my own mind!

Is your OH going with you btw? I struggled to get Stuart awake looking and engaged at the 3 2hr ones that were each a week apart. He would have freaked at the idea of spending 2 or 3 full days doing it!

A friend of mine who is a 3rd Year Midwifery student highly recommended them and she did them herself when she had her little girl last year...she said they are very informative for husbands/partners who haven't got a clue (Matt summed up to a T)....

This is a course run down....

Pregnancy and birth choices

Choosing where to have your baby

Body awareness, relaxation, breathing and massage

Home births and water births

What happens in labour and how the baby is born

Pain relief - natural and medical methods

Your labour and the role of the partner in labour

What complications might arise - e.g. caesarean birth

Looking after a newborn and feeding your baby

Early parenting, lifestyle changes.

Minus where to have your baby (As mine where at the hospital you were booked in to give birth this was a given) and early parenting/lifestyle changes they sound similar to the hospital ones.

I suppose they prob have more time to answer questions. There were about 30cpls at mine all crammed in... pretty much whoever was due in 2mths time so no number limits.

They prob are good but when I was in labour I dont think I thought once about my parenting classes. Early parenting & lifestyle changes may have been an eye opener to me but. I dont think I appreciated how hard work a newborn is!

Can you go to the hospital to get a tour aswell? I found that the best part of my classes, made it more real seeing where all the action was going to happen x

The NCT ones there are a maximum of 12 couples and they also arrange a post birth get together like coffee morning thing for you all to meet up after the bubbas are born, its all first time mums only too!

I will be having my baby in the Midwifery Led Unit on the Top Level of the Hospital, which means that I can have a tour and my 36 week MW check there. xx

i dont mean this to sound harsh at all but personally i think you would be wasting your money !

when i had my first things were scarcely ( sp ) available ,,,, nowadays there is loads more options inc us here at BANDA
i survived ,,, i totally appreciate that she is your first and long awaited pregnancy hun but ( and im sure there are a few that will agree with me on this ) ,,,, throw out the manuals hun ( figure of speech ) many things tend to come naturally and as much as google can be an enemy it can also be a friend ,,,, a much cheaper option ! x x

Siobhan can I add you on FB? I think you're one of the few regulars I dont have. You got me thinking I want to have a nosey at newborn pics and get all broody in a few mths

Im nicki kelly btw, dont think you can search for me but im on most on here's FB. x

Yeah course you can lol! xx

siobhan please dont take my comment to heart ,,,, i think there is to much rules and regulations thrown upon first time mums and they spend half their time worrying about certain when there is no need to x x

eek! i'd rather spend that money on something for baby!!
though the ones through my local NHS were pretty good, but all i really learned about that i didn't get from my book was about different pain relief.

No dont be daft hun, it is something that I have put alot of thought into and I definately want to do, just didn't think I would only have 7 days to confirm my booking lol! xx

I have to say even with C's preg i got pretty bored at my hospital classes and ended up not going to them all-actually gave up after 1st one i think and went to one mw session in community, as it covered anything i had read in a book asi did a fair bit of reading. Then when c was a couple months old i got fed up of books and guidelines and decided i was going on instinct and wanged the lot in temper one day. This time round im not doing classes, ive not read owt, if i have a qu i post it on here but id def say the chilled out route is way preferred for me.

If you can spare it hon then go ahead but if its gonnaleave you short id say 150 quid would get you way more for you and bubba for after the birth xxx

While I agree they prob not worth the money, I can understand wanting to do them. I was excited about my hospital ran ones. Was nice seeing other mums due the same time, though as class was so big no one really chatted with eachother, everyone stuck with their partner. I just gawked at other peoples bumps or got jealous of skinnies

Would be nice to do the coffee morning thing, though the BF support group the midwife refered me was great for this. I suppose its nice sharing the end of your pg and early weeks with people at similar stage

I agree though with regards information its prob not worth the money. For support/friendship it may be a good thing in the long run x

Hey hun what's due to be covered was covered in my free ones. There were only 7 couples in my classes and all 1st time mum's too. I have to say it would be lovely to have had the more social aspect to them but there's nothing to stop you making friends and inviting them to a coffee morning yourself 3 weeks after the last is due to pop.

TBH the amount I read and all the posts on AB meant that I learnt precisely nothing I didn't already know. It was good for Dave though but like has been mentioned trying to keep him focused for the 2 sessions was hard work let alone the longer ones.

I really wanted to do the NCT ones but they clashed with other plans so we had to have the free ones. I'm really glad we took the free ones now. x

It's not worth your money. I did the nct and the free hospital ones. Both exactly the same covered the same and was max 8 couples per class. Everything that was mentioned and bought upland asked was the same and intell
You oh was not impressed we spent that money (£137 for us) when the hospital provided the same thing.'I actually preferred the hospital one tue nct was boring!!!! Lol hospital keep you awake

woah i cant believe its that much money.
x

it is very expensive hun I would see if you can get in to the free hospital ones if you really want to do it... I didn't go to any classes and tbh I doubt that if I had I would have remembered or thought about any of it when I was in labour, the after stuff MAY be worth while but if you haven't heard it from any of the BANDA ladies already then it aint worth knowing

That's expensive. I went to the free ones including look round hospital and meets after baby's born etc etc. Mine were really good and not a big class either. But all the planning I did for my birth went out the window lol x