Our newest Mumbler Champion Anna is just about to pop with her second child due this month. Anna has been attending Simply Birth by Anna Antenatal Classes for the last few weeks.
Simply Birth are Midwife and Obstetric taught Antenatal Classes in Leeds and Harrogate (Crimple Hall).
Simply Birth by Anna, birth and parenting preparation classes delivered by Anna & Infant feeding expert Becky, alongside an experienced obstetrician that joins us in class one to discuss induction of labour and all things assisted birth. Becky and Anna are current practising midwives with over two decades of experience in pregnancy, birth, postnatal and early parenting care and absolutely love their careers.
The classes focus on your physical and psychological preparation for labour, birth and early parenthood. There are 4 sessions that will cover preparation for labour or cesarean section, through to your post birth recovery and cares for your newborn baby. The classes are suitable regardless of your defined risk in pregnancy or whether you have given birth before.
By the end of the course you should feel calm, well – informed, confident and excited for your journey ahead!
More details on Simply Birth Classes can be found here.
I am currently pregnant with my second baby, now you would think that the second time around you might feel a little bit more prepared for parenthood. But with a 5 year age gap I feel like I am back to square one. I have forgotten everything, and out of the bits I do remember quite a lot has changed. Who knew swaddling wasn’t a thing anymore? Not me… Throw into the mix a pretty traumatic birth the first time around I felt quite a lot of anxiety about doing the whole birth/ newborn stages again. So when I was asked if I fancied trying a new birth class in Harrogate that was midwife and obstetrician led, I said ‘YES PLEASE’. I had done NCT classes before Mabie (my first kiddo) was born, and though I really enjoyed the classes I was still quite shell shocked about the whole experience when it actually happened. I was interested to see what the difference would be to the classes as this was run by working midwives and doctors.
The classes were held at the lovely Crimple Hall in their now function room but what used to be the old restaurant before Crimple Hall was refurbished. The room is very spacious and backs on to a lovely garden that you can sit in during the breaks. Another great perk of it being held at Crimple hall was the coffee. The coffee shop is right next door to the class and all the tasty local food you can normally buy at Crimple Hall is there to snack on. Once you have found your way to the class you will be greeted by the amazingly lovely Anna. When I say she is lovely, this is an understatement. She has a really comforting presence, and her delivery of the material means you can’t help but listen intently. If only she worked in Harrogate Hospital as I would LOVE to have her as my midwife.
The course is broken up into 4 classes. Each class runs for 2 and half to three hours with a break in the middle.
The first two classes are all about the run up to birth, giving birth and the after care. The classes run through every detail from all different aspects. Anna knew that myself and one of the other mums in the class are having an elective C- Section. So though the first two classes were full of information on natural labour Anna made sure to let us know about the bits that were still relevant to us and also spent extra time making sure any questions we had were answered. The classes ran through the process of Labour from start to finish covering the equipment that can be used, diagrams, as well as a chance to get up and practise some of the positions you might find helpful. A consultant obstetrician joined one of the classes to give their perspective. We were able to quiz the obstetrician to get any answers that might have come up through the class or that we brought with us. What I really loved about these sessions is that everything was discussed from a statistical and evidenced based point of view. It covered every possible outcome and gave in depth reasons for why each course of action may take place. This was the big difference between the previous classes I had taken part in before and I found it so informative that it actually helped me understand a bit more about what happened with my first birth experience.
The third and forth classes were all based around the fourth trimester. The third class was all about babies once they are born with dolls to dress and everything you need to know about post birth recovery. Something that I really loved about this session was the concentration on the post a baby bubble. Anna gives real world advice based on her experience as a midwife but also her experience being a mother herself. The session also tackles much anticipated topics such as newborn sleep. Again Anna tackles these subjects with evidenced based information empowering parents to make the right parenting decisions for them. The final forth class is taken by another midwife called Becky, who is just as lovely as Anna, and the class wholly focuses on feeding. The great thing about this class ( as with the whole course) was there was no assumption or agenda on what way to feed ‘is best’. Becky just goes through all available options, breast feeding, to expressing, to formula feeding. She provided evidenced based information with examples of the different equipment you might need. You could tell that people in the group were really engaged by the number of questions that were being asked.
The classes have made such a difference to my confidence around becoming a mum to two and going through the birth experience again. I would even go as far as saying that it has helped heal some of the emotions around the trauma of my first birth. If you are taking birth classes as a first time parent I cannot recommend them more, you will leave the classes with so much information that will be really helpful to you. I truly believe that if I had taken this birth class before my first birth I would have had a much more positive experience and felt a lot less lost. If you are going to these classes, like me, for refresher then again the information and specifically the way it is delivered by Anna is well and truly worth it. The classes are packed with information and the cherry on top is the little box of cute treats you receive at the end including the cutest little knitted hat for baby and some really helpful planning tools.
