NCT Antenatal Classes

Robin and have been attending NCT Antenatal Classes for the past two weekends. It's not what we imagined it to be. For example, we didn't have to sit on the floor and practice breathing exercises (I feel cheated) and, much to Robin's delight, there were no gruesome childbirth videos to watch. Having said that, there was soooooo much to take in that I can barely remember it all.

The main points (that matter to me) are:

1. Pain relief - we have a choice of water, gas and air, pethidine and epidural.
2. Don't get in the bath at home until your contractions are lasting a minute. Any shorter than that and the warm water could slow down labour.
3. Contractions should be timed from the start of one to the start of the next one.
4. Go to the hospital only when your contractions are 2 to 3 minutes apart.
5. Breast feed exclusively for 4 weeks before introducing the bottle if you want to share feeds with your partner.
6. It's okay to have the baby in the bath with you from birth (if you're prepared to be pooped and wee'd on).
7. It's best not to use soaps, shampoos or lotions on the baby for around six weeks.
8. The optimum room temperature for a baby is 18 degrees.
9. The umbilical chord should fall off at around 10 days.
10. It's okay to take the baby out and about from birth.
11. First stage of labour is the contractions, second stage is pushing and third stage is placenta delivery.
12. It takes ages to get from 1cm to 5cm dilated, but 5cm to 8cm happens really quickly.

Another bonus of the NCT classes is that we've met some really cool people who are expecting babies around the same time as us. Happy days.