To the newly expecting parent (congrats!) the plethora of online articles, blogs, Q & A’s and parenting forums can be slightly intimidating and like, whoa, overwhelming. A simple online search about “strollers” can leave you confused for weeks… no, wait, make that months!
FACT: it took my husband and I five months to decide on our stroller. It took us three days to buy our first home!
Finding a clear, non-confuted explanation about what you could expect in your upcoming labour experience (and the multiple years of parenting!) can be, excuse my parlez français, fucking impossible.
So here are 3 damn good reasons to take a prenatal course in your community:
Reason #1: Down to the Nitty-Gritty
At the end of the day there are two things most expecting women want answered:
(A) How will I know when I’m in labour?
AND
(B) How the hell am I going to get through it?
Prenatal instructors answer this. Easily. Without agenda or obtusity.
Imagine a prenatal world where you get an answer like this: “Here is a cervix. This is how it works. This is what you and your baby need to get this shit done. Congratulations and best wishes!”
Prenatal courses and strong instructors cut through the crap and give you facts. Evidence. Amazing!
Reason #2: The Good Stuff
People who teach private prenatal courses tend to attack their profession with an amorous rage! We are birth junkies. Labour geeks. And as a result, research addicts.
When we teach a course to the newly expecting we want to make sure that our programs are solid and that our students are…. oh man…imagine this… HAPPY!
By researching and sharing THE BEST information available, online and otherwise, your prenatal instructor hopes that the small time they have spent with you has a positive affect on your labour and parenting experience. Say what?!
Of course there are no guarantees, but our intentions are altruistic. Pinky swear!
Reason #3: Wait for it…. You’re not the Only One
Expecting a baby can feel isolating. Online resources write of the amazing journey and beauty one should feel towards growing a baby. Um, duh.
Yet the simultaneous images of something the size of an avocado (wait for the pumpkin!) growing inside of you can sometimes be enough to open the Hoover Dam of hormonal tears. “It has to come out somehow!” Pass the Kleenex. And damn you sappy Canadian Tire commercials!
Attending a prenatal class and sitting with others who are also feeling the highs and lows of becoming parents can be incredibly therapeutic and wonderfully relieving.
If you want to do yourself a HUGE favour for your upcoming labour and parenting experience then research prenatal course options available in your community. Find one that fits your schedule, birth philosophy, and personality. Then SIGN UP!
Let the birth junkies remove information overload and create colloquial clarity for your experiences ahead!
For more information about becoming a Labour Doula or Childbirth Education… click HERE.
About the author:
Shaunacy is a full-time Labour Doula in the Peterborough, ON, Canada.
She strongly feels that through evidenced based approaches to learning all families can benefit from prenatal education courses – and have fun doing it too!
Now as an instructor for Doula Training Canada she travels across Canada teaching others to become Labour Doulas and Childbirth Educators.
Are you ready to Doula and CBE Canada? Join her!
Copyrigtht – Shaunacy King (Glow Maternity), 2016. Please do not print or copy without permission from author.
