Nct?

[bumphope]

Hi ladies,

I've decided I want to do a hypnobirthing class and have found one to join at 16 weeks (that's what the lady suggested, although it sounds a little early to me!)

My question is, is it a good idea to do the NCT course too? I'm thinking about the social side as much as the information side really.

I've had a look at their site and they seem to do two courses, one over two full days and a couple of evenings and another weekly over 6 evenings. Have any of you done either of these?

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated!

Thank you.

X

 

[Mrs W 11]

Hi bump!

I did nct classes with my first pregnancy and I can't recommend it highly enough. We did 2 days and a few evenings. I had read so much that I knew a lot of what we learnt but I still learnt some new things, thought about things I wouldn't have otherwise and it got my dh clued up as well since he didn't read or anything like I did. But like you my main reason for doing it was the support network. There were 7 couples on my course and I still see the mums every week on Friday afternoons (our little ones are 17 months). We get together as families as well as mums nights out and dads nights out. They are amongst my get friends now and during maternity leave the support was amazing, we did classes together like dimming, baby sensory, toddler groups, we met a few times a week. Plus time goes so fast and you do forget so if you asked me now about early breast feeding or weaning or sterilising I've forgotten some of it whereas you'll have friends going through it now. It's honestly amazing!! Book early as they get booked up.

Also where did you look for hypnobirthing classes? I'm thinking of doing that this time. I really panicked last time at the pain and it didn't help. I want to try and relax with breathing through the contractions so it sounds like hypno might help me.

 

[Mrs W 11]

* best friends not get! Swimming not dimming!! Sorry.

 

[Celesse]

I didn't learn anything from my NCT classes, other than if your the only unmarried couple there who turn up on a bus and have to bring a packed lunch as you can't afford to eat out because your partner is unemployed and your only on a secretaries wages...oh and your the only ones planning a home birth, that people will judge you, look down on you and generally act like a pack of bitches.

Great if your a middle class married 30 something home owner where both of you work, drive and don't plan do anything too extreme with your parenting style and want to meet like minded people.

 

[bumphope]

Hi bump!

I did nct classes with my first pregnancy and I can't recommend it highly enough. We did 2 days and a few evenings. I had read so much that I knew a lot of what we learnt but I still learnt some new things, thought about things I wouldn't have otherwise and it got my dh clued up as well since he didn't read or anything like I did. But like you my main reason for doing it was the support network. There were 7 couples on my course and I still see the mums every week on Friday afternoons (our little ones are 17 months). We get together as families as well as mums nights out and dads nights out. They are amongst my get friends now and during maternity leave the support was amazing, we did classes together like dimming, baby sensory, toddler groups, we met a few times a week. Plus time goes so fast and you do forget so if you asked me now about early breast feeding or weaning or sterilising I've forgotten some of it whereas you'll have friends going through it now. It's honestly amazing!! Book early as they get booked up.

Also where did you look for hypnobirthing classes? I'm thinking of doing that this time. I really panicked last time at the pain and it didn't help. I want to try and relax with breathing through the contractions so it sounds like hypno might help me.

Thank you! I will definitely give it a try then. I'll get it booked up too!

I just googled hypnobirthing in my town and it came straight up. It sounds fantastic, it's right up my street really so I hope I'll get on well with it.

X

 

[squirrel.]

I did the NCT class and it was really enjoyable. I had read every scrap of information I could find as my pregnancy coincided with us taking a sabatical from work for a year to go and travel and live in New Zealand. So I had a lot of time on my hands after we settled in Wellington with no job. I knew everything the instructor taught us, but it was great for my husband to learn it all and it was just fun. We did two full days and two evenings. I loved the birthing techniques one, because we got lots of massages from our partners in the process

I also did it for the social side, but for us it was less successful for friendships. What probably didn't help was that all the other couples were ten years older than us. I was 27 at the time (I didn't think that was too young to have a baby, but clearly, around here it is!) and the next youngest was 37. It meant that we seemed quite different as the only ones who were ten years younger. We obviously found lots to talk about and they were very nice people, but the foundation for firm friendships just didn't seem to be there, we were quite different (probably not just the age, we seemed like quite different people too). Nevertheless, after our babies were born, we did meet up every Wednesday and it was lovely to talk to people who had babies as none of our friends had had any yet. Sadly when my son was 5 months I had to go back to work full time (my sabatical had ended and we couldn't afford for me to go part time or take any longer off). All of these women were off for a full year, so they continued meeting. I think they still meet, but I never got the chance to meet up many more times after that because I wasn't free in the week. I tried during school holidyays at first, but often the meetings fell through. It was a shame, but not something I feel too sad about.

I would advise doing the course, but maybe don't get your hopes up that you will meet life-long friends, as I had that hope and it didn't happen for us unfortunately.

x

 

[Mrs W 11]

I didn't learn anything from my NCT classes, other than if your the only unmarried couple there who turn up on a bus and have to bring a packed lunch as you can't afford to eat out because your partner is unemployed and your only on a secretaries wages...oh and your the only ones planning a home birth, that people will judge you, look down on you and generally act like a pack of bitches.

Great if your a middle class married 30 something home owner where both of you work, drive and don't plan do anything too extreme with your parenting style and want to meet like minded people.

Definitely not true! If your class was like this it might have been a one off.

In my class of 7 couples, 4 were married, 3 were not. The eldest mum was 39 and eldest dad was late 40s. The youngest couples were mid 20s. A big age range spanning 15-20 years!! One of our group had a home birth which was open encouraged and discussed. We had 2 unemployed people in our group, people with their own businesses, all sorts. One dad could not drive and 2 of the couples share a car.

I have heard of people having not so positive experiences but that's life, not every group will be as great as mine. Most people I know have had a very positive group with a great mixture of people though. Even if you are unlucky, you've got nothing much to loose so go for it. X

 

[Mummafrog]

I have booked onto the course that runs over 6 nights or so, with my partner and I'm really excited this is our first baby but I am a student midwife so I know they might not have loads of new information for me but I'm really looking forward to meeting other new families and learning with them. Also my partner will learn a lot I think and he's really looking forward to it too! We are young to have chosen to start our family so only one of my friends has a baby and she doesn't live in the area, so can't wait to meet people.

One thing to mention about NCT that I have learnt from speaking to midwives who run my course etc is that the people who run the courses do not necessarily currently work as midwives and even if they do, they probably don't work in the hospital you will deliver in (if you go to hospital) so it might also be worth doing a one or two day weekend course offered by your specific hospital/trust so you can have a tour of the unit and learn about their specific pain relief options because they do vary from hospital to hospital, and so on.

This is not much of an issue for me as I'm hoping for a home birth and if I do get transferred then I work in the hospitals I may deliver in

 

[squirrel.]

Mummafrog - That's a wise word of warning about the NCT instructors not necessarily having midwife training and expertise. Our NCT instructor told us some confliciting information about drinking and breastfeeding. And friends of ours were told by their instructor if you're exclusively using breastmilk you don't need to sterilise bottles and pumps

x

 

[Mummafrog]

Ahh dear.. yes well working with midwives you get told some useful tips. For me the NCT classes are all about meeting people and being in that shared space.
I am sure the people who run the courses have great expertise in supporting couples, but they may have a lack of clinical knowledge as you say, so if people can get to a class run by midwives from their hospital as well, they will be getting everything.

If something sounds not quite right, just research it yourself or ask your midwife about it to be sure

 

[Buttercup84]

I didn't do NCT classes mostly because I feared a similar experience to Celesse (especially as the classes round here are based in quite a well off area of the city) but after my horrendous labour with DD i'm reconsidering things this time as I feel i'd like to learn some better coping strategies especially if i'm unable to be mobile again. Just depends if we can afford the fees really!

 

[bumphope]

Gosh thank you all for so many great replies! Ive enquiried about it and hope to hear soon. I didn't think the price was bad actually, £110 / £160 depending on which course you do.

X

 

[bumphope]

I did the NCT class and it was really enjoyable. I had read every scrap of information I could find as my pregnancy coincided with us taking a sabatical from work for a year to go and travel and live in New Zealand. So I had a lot of time on my hands after we settled in Wellington with no job. I knew everything the instructor taught us, but it was great for my husband to learn it all and it was just fun. We did two full days and two evenings. I loved the birthing techniques one, because we got lots of massages from our partners in the process

I also did it for the social side, but for us it was less successful for friendships. What probably didn't help was that all the other couples were ten years older than us. I was 27 at the time (I didn't think that was too young to have a baby, but clearly, around here it is!) and the next youngest was 37. It meant that we seemed quite different as the only ones who were ten years younger. We obviously found lots to talk about and they were very nice people, but the foundation for firm friendships just didn't seem to be there, we were quite different (probably not just the age, we seemed like quite different people too). Nevertheless, after our babies were born, we did meet up every Wednesday and it was lovely to talk to people who had babies as none of our friends had had any yet. Sadly when my son was 5 months I had to go back to work full time (my sabatical had ended and we couldn't afford for me to go part time or take any longer off). All of these women were off for a full year, so they continued meeting. I think they still meet, but I never got the chance to meet up many more times after that because I wasn't free in the week. I tried during school holidyays at first, but often the meetings fell through. It was a shame, but not something I feel too sad about.

I would advise doing the course, but maybe don't get your hopes up that you will meet life-long friends, as I had that hope and it didn't happen for us unfortunately.

x

Wow! I'd have thought 27 was about normal, that's my age anyway! X

 

[Celesse]

Youngest in my group was OH at 28, followed by me at 29. There was another girl who was 29/30 also but everyone else including her DH was 35-45.

I do think its the norm for NCT classes. When I was volunteering as a Breastfeeding Peer Support worker women often came in together with other women they had met at their NCT group. The vast majority of these were over 35.

 

[squirrel.]

Perhaps it's because it's quite expensive. It was hugely so for us - £280. At the time I justified the cost because we didn't know anyone with babies and my husband knew nothing about babies or labour/birth. In retrospect, I'm not sure it was worth the money. Oh well. You live and learn. I am a bit bummed out this time not to have a group of fellow pregnant ladies who are due the same time as me to meet up with, but having said that, many of our friends have had babies recently or are pregnant, so there's more company to be had.

x

 

[Celesse]

Re cost..... check if you can get a discount if your on benefits. Ours cost us about £12 as we were on WTC at the time. ....hmm..... maybe that was something I shouldn't have mentioned to my group!!

 

[eris]

Ehh, what are NCT classes?!

 

[Mrs W 11]

I'm my group of 7 girls the ages were: 2 girls of 25, 1 of 28, 1 of 32 (me!), 1 of 34 and 2 of 39. None of their ages matter to me at all though, I think of them all as the same age as me because we get on so well.

Buttercup..... We learnt some massage techniques and some breathing stuff but I also didn't cope very well in labour. I'm thinking of doing a specialist breathing, or hypno type birthing course this time so that might be worth a look for you if you aren't interested in the other stuff nct has to offer as the coping techniques are a pretty small part of the course xx

 

[squirrel.]

Mrs W 11 - It's so nice that you found people you have stayed close friends to several years later. That's what I was hoping for, but with me being over ten years younger than all the others who were all close in age, I couldn't help but think about it. It was quite an obvious point that we were a decade apart from the others. Perhaps if we'd had more of a spread it would have been less obvious.

x

 

[SillyMoo1983]

I enjoyed our NCT classes. Mainly the friendships though. There were only 5 couples including me and OH. Age ranges from 28-40. The information was useful although very focussed on doing things naturally obviously and making me believe that breastfeeding was straightforward and we'd all be able to do it. Everything went out the window once in labour though! 12 hours in, contractions one on top of the other, baby found to be breech, rushed off for an EMCS, breastfeeding didn't work for us. NCT classes don't prepare you for that. They don't tell you how to safely prepare a bottle should you need to.

To sum up, I'm very glad we did the course but would go in with an open mind and not expect everytning to be as fluffy and perfect as they make out! 2 years on we're all still really good friends.