Public or private ante-natal classes?

Hi guys I have booked into the free ante-natal classes at my local hospital, as i wanted to make sure i didnt have to pay and i thought they'd be much teh same as the irish childbirth trust ones for which you have to pay. Then a friend of mine told me she had deliberately chosen to go on the irish childbirth trust ones as she thought they'd be better, but she didnt say how.... Does anyone have any idea if there are differences between them??? Thanks! S

I done both public and private and have to say the private one was way better. I done it over 4 evenings and it gave me a great insight into what the hospital wants you to do rather than what you want to do. I got a lot more out of it about pain relief etc. The public one was in a big room with loads of couples and only touched on issues that were important to me and it was all about hospital policy. I only went to one of the public ones so that I could have a look around the labour ward

I only did the hospital ones, so can't comment on the private ones.... The biggest advantage I found was being shown the labour ward, the rooms where you will deliver, where you would go if you needed a section, where you go (post-natal ward) after your baby is born, you are shown the different things that are available to you for labour - birthing ball, mats, showers, etc, etc. I remember the night my waters broke and we headed to hospital, all I could think was "thank God DH knows exactly where to go". I was in so much pain I couldn't talk, so because we had been shown everything, DH knew exactly who we were supposed to go to, etc. I would think that if you do the public hospital ones, that you're going to be told specifics about that particular hospital - example, if you go overdue, how long does the hospital wait before inducing? If the baby is breech, will they let you try a vaginal delivery or do a section? These are all things that can be specific to a hospital so it's nice to get all that info too. Other than that, I found the classes weren't [i:1fvlo1km]very[/i:1fvlo1km] helpful to me, as I had done a LOT of reading up on everything beforehand so none of it was news to me! No harm in doing the hospital ones anyway, as they're free, and then if you still want to do the private ones, you could. HTH

I am really interested in the one where they show you around the labour ward too. Does any one remember which one of the six classes that is for the rotunda public class. I've been to the 1st one but my next one isn't til march.

We did the Cuidiu ones and found that they were brilliant. It was only a small group and the men were there for all the sessions- that was the main draw for me. They were very informative and i really felt prepared for the labour. The facilitator kept in touch with us after the birth and there was a group meetup. Am thinking of doing their refresher classes this time

Jelly baby i'm in waterford too so it's great to get that info. I am doing my classes in Dungarvan though so i hope they still show us around the labour ward!!! I think DH needs a dose of reality!! I think he's still in flat denial that a baby's actually going to come out of there!!!