Childbirth classes

[JCSingapore]

Hello, expecting in May and would like to find childbirth classes for my husband and I. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[rodandhelen]

try contacting birth and beyond, they are in Tanglin shopping centre i think, but if you google you will get their web address.

Hope this helps

[cbavasi]

also check out the mother & child clinic on the 3rd floor of tanglin mall (different than tanglin shopping mall which houses birth & beyond).

[JCSingapore]

Thanks very much for the info!

[shura]

Hi JC Singapore,

I m expecting my first child in april:) for Childbirth classes i registered to Mother&child (in tanglin mall) which is recommended by my doctor. it is going to start on 23rd of february. but now i m thinking of cancelling:( sometimes i think that kind of classes are not helpful:( and they are gonna show some birth videos which i m not sure if i can take it...donno:(

[Grateful]

What type of birth you are looking for? There are many options in Singapore and knowing what type of birth you want should help you decide where you will take your class and where you give birth and who your care providers will be.

[JCSingapore]

I a planning to have an epidural, but want to feel calm and comfortable with the process and what's going to happen. I've heard that the doctors here can be somewhat interventionist (automatic episiotomy, common c-sections, etc), and I want to be prepared to prevent that. My dr delivers at Glen Eagles. Any thoughts/ideas are welcome - would love to hear about your experience.

[Grateful]

Having an epidural will increase your risks of having a cesarean. It is one of the risks of having one. Have you given birth before and felt extreme pain or just concerned due to what you have seen and heard about childbirth? Taking an antenatal class outside of the hospital will allow you to learn all your options for giving birth and perhaps teach you that your body can give birth without medical intervention.

Try asking your doctor open ended questions on their management style to enable you to find out if they are active management or expectant management. Also ask what their C section rate is. The WHO recommends between 12 - 15% are medically necessary anything above that is not.

Active management believe that a woman's body is flawed and cannot give birth without medical intervention

Expectant management believe birth is a normal physiological event and will only intervene if medically necessary.

How do you feel about your body's natural ability to give birth?

[in8mom]

I highly advise a Bradley Method class. Not sure if there is one offered here but it really helped me. I ended up with a home birth and had a great experience that I'd like to try and do the same here.

Here are two sites worth looking into:
http://www.fourtrimesters.com/
http://www.parentlink.org/

I've heard that Mt. Elizabeth is more lenient on allowing you to control your birthing process.

Good luck!

[Grateful]

Care providers are key to obtaining the birth you want. Thomson Medical Centre and Mt. Alvernia are the best in allowing you to labour and birth in the position of your choice . Mt A and National University Hospital allow water births and Thomson has a tub to labour in. Mt E. has no access to water for labouring or birth and push for medicalized pain relief the minute you walk in the door; they want you up on the bed to give birth, limiting a labouring mothers choices for comfort.

[cbavasi]

I think you are misinformed that having an epidural will increase your chances for a c-section - there have been several studies done that have disproved this (example: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/epidural.cfm)

Also, how you choose to birth is up to you. Here in Singapore I was given the choice to have any sort of birth I wanted. The previous posts sound so typical of what I experienced in London - must have natural birth, must have water birth...etc. The beauty of giving birth is the choice is UP TO YOU - going to the classes will help you stay more informed about the choices out there.

Don't let anyone tell you that having pain relief will prolong your labour, increase your chances of a c-section, slow down the baby's breathing... unless you hear that directly from your doctor.

*Also - I had a water birth with no pain relief for my first and an epidural for my second that was turned off for the actual birth since I couldn't stand the feeling of numbness in my legs. Both births were under 4 hours and both resulted with healthy babies.

[Grateful]

Thanks for the article - a summary of the study. A quote from the summary:

“The need for use of forceps or vacuum extraction to assist the baby through the birth canal appeared later in the after group than in the before group. Dr. Zhang explained that, in the before group, these extraction procedures were more often used when the baby was higher up in the birth canal. For the after group, the procedures were used when the baby was much farther along in the birth canal.”

[cbavasi]

BTW most first time moms labour for 12 hours. Most moms using HypnoBirthing labour for 4 1/2 hours.

I think there 'most mom' statements for every stage of birth - but births are like snowflakes - every one is different. My son was born in 2 hours 35mins and everyone told me my second would be faster - well, she wasn't - she was 4 hours 15 mins. Everyone told me my first baby would be past the due date - guess what - he was born 3 weeks early. People told me to expect the same with my second, and they were wrong. So for all those big generalizations it is better to be well informed of ALL choices - not to be scared into thinking you can't have pain relief, you shouldn't have a c-section...etc.

How about women who struggle through very long labors and then the baby's heartrate elevates so much they are forced to have an emergency c-section. Do you think they just want them out of the delivery room?

I don't argue that hospitals here perform a lot of c-sections - but I don't think it is forced on you while pregnant. The whole idea is to get informed of ALL the options and not to feel badly if you choose to have c-section.

[Grateful]

I am not anti intervention - only when it is used as a standard of care. Women always have choices, they just don't know they have any.

I met one women who told me that at 3 months she was told she would have a cesarean as she was 'too small' to have a natural birth. Women are not told they have options and hesitate to seek a second opinion. If baby is breech do you think a doctor uncomfortable with vaginal breech births is going to offer to the mum that there are doctors who will? Or that they can try hypnosis, reflexology or the webster technique with a qualified chiropractor? Most likely not, only that they must have a cesarean.

Women have been denied that their bodies are designed to give birth, they read stories everywhere that are fraught with drama and fear, see it on TV and hear it from their friends, mothers - everywhere they turn. If you look at the history of birth, it was not always so fearful, painful and full of medical interventions. Historians note that Hippocrates and Aristotle wrote not of pain in birth, but of women labouring. It was only when women were denied medical care and the knowledge that surrounded natural birth was taken away that fear was instilled and birth became painful. With this fear and pain came the need for pain relief and the drugs used were dangerous to use at home, so birth was moved into hosptials. Once moved into hospitals, birth became a medicalised event - and tadah! Here we are today - with unneccessary interventions. Don't get me wrong, there are times when medical intervention is necessary and thank God we have it then. But moms, please, ask what your doctors cesarean rate is. If you are not looking for a cesarean, change if the % is higher than 12- 15%.

And no one seems to consider what type of birth their baby might want? Take a look at www.whatbabieswant.com for an understanding of the consciousness of infants - right from the start.

[lilisingapore]

Hi,
I'm also expecting a baby for May. It would be very helpful for me if you have any advice about hospital (private ? public?), what I've to do before leaving london, and what i've to do once I will be in singapore (we will be in singapore around the 15th of march).

Thanks very much for your help !