NCT Class

Well, we had our first NCT class on childbirth and labour yesterday. It ran from 11am until 5.30pm so was a long day!

I must say I thought it was absolutely fantastic. We were one of seven couples, four of the girls are due just before me and two of them not until the end of August, everyone had their husbands/ partners with them which worked really well.

We covered a huge amount of information but Rachel (who runs the sessions) made it very enjoyable and fun!

Main things we covered were: What your body does during labour/ childbirth, stages of labour. Contractions and knowing when to go to Hospital, call midwives etc. Coping with early stages of labour, relaxation techniques, positions, breathing, massage etc etc. We then went through pain relief methods including everything from Hypnotherapy to water labour/ births, Gas and Air, Pethidine and Epidurals. We discussed Home Births, Midwifery led units, Consultant led units etc and the difference and advantages/ disadvantages.

The men were also given a bag in which they had to add items to the weight of what Mum is carrying around, including the baby, placenta, waters etc I think every single guy there was amazed at the sheer weight of it all!

One of the items we used a lot during the session was birthing balls/ gym balls. They are fantastic during pregnancy just to sit and relax on, just watching TV even! This also helps to get baby into the correct position for birth! Then once labour starts are perfect for helping you in different positions etc. They really seem invaluable so we brought one on the way home :)

There is a good mix in our group of different planned births. From Home water birth to epidural births. I think we all agree that we will just take it as it comes.

For me I went in being fairly sure I would have an epidural to being less set on this. An epidural will extend your labour time significantly and I really want to be quite fast if possible!!! Also the baby is much more likely to have an assisted delivery (ventouse or forceps) which shouldnt give any long term issues but must be painful and more stressful for the little one. Also you are likely to have to stay longer in hospital afterwards to recover. There is also a fair percentage of Epidurals that just DONT WORK! At least one in every eight simply doesnt work- Just hope at that time that you have practised your other birthing techniques- although they can resite the epidural if needed. The other issue is the headaches. Sometimes (in fact about 1 in 30 epidurals) will cause some cerebo spinal leakage! This causes the Mother of all headaches, think of a terrible migraine and treble it! There is also nothing they can do if this happens you just have to sit it out and the next day or so they can inject blood to seal it, this should then help! Oh also you are more likely to need a cut or stitched with epidurals! Finally as you have to be totally still to have an epidural, a lot of women by this point in labour just cant stay still therefore cant get one!

For me I am going to try to go into this open minded. I think I will start with baths at home then onto Gas and Air at Hospital, If I find that I am really not coping I have no problem with an Epidural but would like to try without- we will see how it goes! The only thing I am not keen on is Pethidine as this is the one thing that can affect baby and for the benefits it gives me I don't feel it would be worthwhile.

This is quite a good site for reading about pain relief in labour http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/labourandbirth/painrelief/

I must say that I feel much more prepared and excited after attending the class- reality is setting in!!!

Sunday we have our next NCT class. This time we will concentrate on caring for ourselves and baby after birth! Nic is looking forward to that more than this one :)