natural childbirth classes helpful?

Question

If you gave birth naturally (completely unmedicated), did you take childbirth classes - Bradley or Lamaze? If yes, do you think they helped? If no, did everything go smoothly anyway?

Answer 1

My wife and I took Lamaze, and she gave birth to my son completely unmedicated (her decision, I told her that I was fine with what ever she wanted to do). She had such a wonderful labor and birth experience. Everything went smoothely, and she swears it's becuase of the Lamaze. She knew exactly what to expect, she knew what was happening when it was happening, and we knew ways of getting through it the best way we could. My wife said, after having the baby, that if she didn't take the Lamaze class, she knows she would not have had a good labor at all....

On the other side of things, my sister and sister in-law each had babies recently, and they did not take any classes. They both had horrible experiences with hours and hours of terrible labor--and both of them had to finally get emergency c-sections. They swear that the experience has left them to never want another kid...but, in time, when they do have another, they will definately take the Lamaze class. My wife and I are planning on taking it again when we have our second child next year.

I've known other women that have done ok without a class, and some that took a class and still had bad experiences...the only thing I can say is that if you do decide to take a class, go with the intent to really try to do it 100%. Listen to what is taught, and practice at home with your partner. Statistically speaking, most women that do a class are glad that they did.

Congratulations! and Good luck!

Answer 2

I took a Lamaze class, and yes it did help, but nothing can possibly prepare you for what you'll experience giving birth naturally. Relax, take regular breaths, and push when you have a contraction is the best advice I can give you. Your mouth gets dry, you feel like you can't do it anymore, you get completely exhausted, and you just want to scream!!! It's the most beautiful thing in the world when that baby comes out. Nothing compares to all natural child birth.

Answer 3

Yes, my first birth was a hospital birth. With my second birth I decided to homebirth (because the local hospital was so 1950s!) I took Bradley childbirth classes. Even though I had given birth before, Bradley classes taught me a lot and really prepared me to have a great homebirth experience. Over the many weeks you do Bradley classes, one of the key things you practice are relaxation techniques. Bradley is head and shoulders above Lamaze when it comes to helping you learn techniques to cope with labor pain! (None of my friends who did Lamaze classes ended up having completely nonmedicated birth experiences. Their Lamaze techniques didn't really help much with their labor pain.) For me the Bradley techniques worked so well that I didn't even need to use the watertub we had until a few minutes before the birth. In fact with my third birth I didn't bother to rent a watertub because I knew that I could handle the labor pain with the Bradley techniques. I also appreciated Bradley's emphasis on nutrition, I had problem-free pregnancies and very, very healthy babies because of the way they helped me look closely at my eating choices.

Answer 4

No, not really helpful. I did have an epidural, but gave it to me too late so it did not work. Everything will go smoothly without watching those ridiculous movies they show you in the Lamaze classes which seemed very unrealistic to me. You can get plenty of info from books and there are several interesting shows on the discovery channel.

Answer 5

Every woman and every birth is different. The classes will give you a general idea of the "average birth," but your experience may be completely different. For example, I never had early or transition labor, my water broke and I was immediately thrown into hard labor with contractions 3 minutes apart. So the classes give you a general sense of what might happen, but you can't count on that being what does happen.

I had a midwife and a duella and gave birth completely naturally (no drugs, no nothing). My body did what it needed to do and I did a lot of screaming. I'd taken classes earlier and I didn't find them particularly helpful (or relevant) for me, but I think they were helpful for my husband. Just in that he had a better sense of what was going on, since I wasn't really able to answer any questions.

Answer 6

Nothing can COMPLETELY prepare you for the reality of childbirth; but taking a class can at the very least help to put your mind at ease and make you feel like you know a LITTLE bit of what's going on, so you understand that what you're going through is natural and that you're not alone. I'd certainly recommend taking one. I might also recommend using a midwife or nurse practitioner as your primary healthcare provider during the pregnancy, to have a bit more personal rapport with the person who's going to be delivering your baby.

Answer 7

i had my first child completely natural & unmedicated - i took lamaze. childbirth classes do prepare you in respect to knowing what to expect thru out the whole process, so it is helpful. i did ask for something when the pain became intense, but my doctor got me back on track - he said it was too late to take anything at that point, but helped me get my focus back. it really is more of a mental prep - i went into childbirth telling myself not to fight it - just go with it. i ended up delivering by vacuum extraction - all without meds. that was a little painful!

p.s. my second one i requested pain killer - but it was just a little something in my IV to take the edge off. it was fantastic.

Answer 8

I'm a oldster, with my first 2 kids ( 1969 & 1971 ) they has no such thing. I went through labor (horrible) and just when the baby was to be born was put out with anesthesia. Thats what they did in those days. My 3rd child ( 1980 ) I went to natural childbirth classes. I would do it again even at my age. I did the breathing like they said and hardly had no pain. I was not giving anything at all. The nurses and doctor called me miracle mom. Take them the difference is unbelievable.

Answer 9

I didn't take those. My first child, I had a normal childbirth class and I had an epidural. I was so scared it might have messed up my back that I decided to never do it again. I felt the needle go in, I felt a burning cold as the meds would go in. It was worse than childbirth to me (I hate needles). My next 2 I had natural. The biggest thing was to have my husband beside me, holding my hand and telling me I could do it. Focusing on one thing and breathing helped. But the biggest help was making sure that needle never ever got anywhere near my spine again!

Answer 10

I did Lamaze, I liked being able to focus on the breathing. It gave me something else to think about and take the edge off of the pain. I did not go natural though. I had a wonderful shot of pain meds. (missed my chance for epidural) but got through most of the pain with breathing.