Annoying but informative
I bought these tapes for my first pregnancy and now I'm watching them again for my second. There is some good information but the instructor is so annoying and condescending. Apparently all pregnant women are giggling idiots who don't know anything. She also uses absolutes when she shouldn't. She insist that there is no way you won't get to the hospital in time and while it's a rarity, it does happen. It has happened to many women so watching her sit there and insist it isn't possible at all is very annoying and discredits her. Not every labor is textbook but she doesn't acknowledge that. My first birth was nothing like she described which makes watching these tapes a second time even more tiresome but between her mockery of pregnant women and their husbands and her other flat attempts at humor, there is some basic info that I wanted to review.
I did enjoy watching the tapes instead of sitting in a class (OMG - I could never put up with that woman live!) but I would suggest looking for another version of a childbirth class on tape.
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A MUST for anyone who cannot actually attend live classes!
With my husband's work schedule (nights and weekends), our only option for childbirth classes was to find something on a Monday night - one of two of his nights off. Of course our baby was (and is!) VERY important to us, but since he has a medical condition that demands he get adequate rest, I didn't want to do that to him if I didn't absolutely have to. So when my sister-in-law gave me these tapes very early in my pregnancy, I watched them and knew we had no reason to actually take the class. I watched them again later in my pregnancy with my husband, and they were a big help.Also, I was convinced I would have a C-section and therefore wouldn't have to "do" much, but in the end, my water broke four days before I was scheduled to go into the hospital, and I had a vaginal birth in less than 24 hours (with help from some Pitocin), so thank goodness I watched these tapes! At the very least, when my water broke, I knew precisely what to do and what to expect, as well as any odd things I should be on the lookout for. Also, thanks to this video, I knew to expect my contractions to be stronger with the Pitocin - and that it makes no difference when you get your epidural if you've had Pitocin, as opposed to having to wait until being dilated 4-5 cm if my labor had progressed on its own. (Epidurals can slow labor if they give it to you too early.) Without seeing this class on video, who knows... the doctor and nurses could have missed that window to give me the pain meds (yikes - sorry, I am NOT brave enough to go through that without medication!) if I didn't know that little factoid about Pitocin. BUY IT. Much easier to retain the info when you can rewind and replay the "class".
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