Antenatal Classes in Cork

all_smilz

Hi
can anyone recommend me good antenatal/childbirth classes in the City? I was too late booking due to moving house and now the CUMH ones are fully booked.
Ideally not too expensive ( some that I see online are 150 quid!).

would love a personal recommendation as I really hope to go naturally as poss but everyone (and their mums) are telling me that doesn't always happen... I haven't a clue wat to expect.
PS Please don't take this opportunity to post your horror stories!
Thanks in advance!
All_smilz and babba smilz

pampootie

Only one I know of is Life's Little Joys on Patrick St. They tend to book up quickly, AFAIK it's free so very popular! I've no personal experience of them though just know of them through work. And congratulations!

pwurple

Cuidiu run them in cork.

http://www.cuidiucork.net/index.php/support-and-education/antenatal-classes

Cuidiu are a nice bunch of people, handy to have the support network.

No horror stories from me, I had a lovely birth in CUMH.

Trend Setter in Training

+1 on Life's Little Joys

They run a monday night class over six weeks or a full day class on Saturday.

We went for a Sat class which was €40 as far as I can remember and thought it was v good.

hoodwinked

i did them in the Cumh about 5 years ago now (jeez feels like yesterday) and honestly, they were more like an informative brochure than teaching us things (maybe because our class was over subscribed they couldn't do more 1 on 1 things), in fact the one thing i remember saying afterwards was "i wish i didn't know that, i wasn't scared beforehand" (they showed a movie of a live birth! :eek: )

maybe they have changed now, but we still learned most of the practical things we needed on our feet after the baby came along rather than before,

we did use one of those free nappies you get in those packs they give pregnant women to practice putting one on a teddy,

as for the birth itself, feel free to ask questions when you are on appointments there and they are lovely and will answer them.

for what it is worth i decided against an epidural as i did not want a big needle going anywhere near my spine, so did it all on gas and air only, and it was fine.

every experience is different, but if you do your research and try and use official resources as opposed to what you find first on the internet, you will be fine.

Mrs. Draper

I know of two midwives from CUMH who have teamed up to give private classes in the ambassador hotel - i think once a month. afaik they are exceptionally good classes, I recommended them to a friend some time ago and she really enjoyed it. Apparently one of the midwives teaches pregnancy yoga too so in the class they were taught relaxation techniques for labour and natural birth etc. They have a facebook page called 'Labour of Love'

https://www.facebook.com/labouroflovechildbirthpreparation

ncmc

I am booked in for ante natal classes in CUMH in April (or May, can’t remember!) Are they really as bad as hoodwinked says? I was hoping to learn breathing and relaxing techniques, do they cover anything like that? I think I would prefer to pay and do a private one if the CUMH ones are that bad.

pwurple

They are not bad at all. I did mine in 2011 and they were good. No scary birth video. Plenty of practical information.

I can't remember if there were relaxation techniques... but it's pretty hard to relax when you are in pain I found :0. They go through exactly what is available in the hospital for pain relief, the heated pool, gas and air, pethidine, epidural, what happens if there is a c-section.

I found them fine anyway.

ncmc

Thanks pwurple, LOL, yes I suppose relaxation techniques go out the window when the contractions start! I had heard there was breathing techniques you were supposed to use, but maybe they don’t teach those in the hospital classes. Maybe I’d have to go down the hypnobirthing route to learn more about that, but can’t really justify the cost of that at the moment.

all_smilz

Hey I actually decided to go for the Labour of Love classes I called Bindu Begley who does the classes and she was lovely and they are only 95 euro. She does yoga too NCMC so they talk about breathing techniques in the class and she said its all very straightforward and
practical stuff for mums and their partners. Im not sure will my fella be much good to me but I'll drag him along anyway. check them out on facebook for yourself cos the deal is great value to be fair.

ncmc

Thanks All smilz, I was actually interested in doing pregnancy yoga anyway, so might look into that and just stick with the CUMH ante natal class.

Can anyone recommend a yoga class in the city? I was looking at the Yoga Loft on Monaghan Road, or Leisure World in Bishopstown.

Sorry All smilz, I see you recommended Bindu Begley, I will look her up.