Childbirth Education Course : Lesson 1

Winnie as our first bb, we decide to sign up for this Childbirth Education Course organised by TMC (Thomson Medical Centre). It's somewhat a crash course to prepare both the mummy and daddy for the experience and challenges coming up. :)

I've personally looked after my brothers when they were still babies but I wasn't really trained (Honestly what does a 7-9years old kid know anyway?) and I don't think what I knew then is good enough for our precious little one.

Both hubby and I really want to have the correct knowledge and not just believe everything we read on the Internet or hearsay by friends and relatives. Before you read on, I would like to mention that whatever I write here is according to what I've remembered about the classes and should only be used as reference. If you would like to know more the course is about 300+ and comes with some freebies here and there. :)

 
We got these 3 books for free when we signed up for the First Born Incentive (FBI) Card.

If you don't want to go for classes or just cannot find the time at all (They have weekdays and weekends classes), these 3 books would be good as an introduction. The course is more detailed with demo, videos, life examples.

My course instructor / teacher is Mrs Wong Boh Boi
(Yes, she's also the author of the 3 books you see above. And yes if you do a search online you'll see her name appearing very often.)

Our class is very huge, something I didn't expect but after the first lesson I knew why the class is so packed! Our instructor is that good! :p

Lesson 1 : Physical & Mental Preparation
• Antenatal Exercise
• Nutrition Before & After Delivery
• Myths & Traditions
• Coping with Pregnancy Discomfort
• Back Care & Postures
• Instructional Video
• Q & A

What I can remember (which is like 10% of what's in the class I think)

- Video on Breastfeeding (Twins)

- Simple Exercise (Which I can only remember the dancing with partner one, the rest I need to refer to the book to remember. :P)
Holding your partner's hand, put body weight to left, shift body weight to right.
Twirl and do a little upper torso stretch?


- Coping with Pregnancy Discomfort
Exercise to promote blood circulation which will lead to less leg cramps.
How husband should massage wife. This is good! :D
How to cope with discomfort after a meal (it's not the Laksa she ate so stop blaming her, husband to assist in pulling her torso from behind to help relieve the pain.

- A few things will lead to premature and should be avoided, examples:
Touching/Rubbing the tummy in a circular motion
Walking for more than 30mins.
Massaging the portion between ankle and heel

- Communication with your baby.
Light tapping on the sides on tummy, butterfly strokes up the center to create ripples inside.
Talking to baby like an adult and not googoo gaagaa.. Example:
How are you today? Daddy is going to work, be good to mummy.

- Find out if your baby is in good mood or in bad mood.
By touching the top of your tummy.
*If it's hard = irritated uterus = baby not in good mood.
*If it's soft = not so sensitive uterus = okay to play with baby.
Baby and mummy are the same they will have times that they are in bad mood and doesn't like to be touched!

- In Womb Education:
Introduce her to light by shining a torchlight through the tummy.
Tell her that is light and ask if she can see it.
Okay to play music but not okay to place earphone/headphones on the tummy. She gave an example of putting a person in a box, close it up and blasting music from outside the box. If you're the person how will you feel??

- Back Care & Postures
We might hurt our back unknowingly and the consequences may only be seen very much later.
Waddling is bad.
If can't sleep on sides, put 2 pillows to make your head higher so it's leveled.
How to get off the bed. ( I never knew I was doing it all wrong previously!)
How our partner should assist us to get off the bed/floor and how they should not be doing it.
How to stand up when sitting on the floor/swatting. (This is very good!)

- Nutrition Before & After Delivery
This part was kinda rush through cause we're running out of time and there's another class after us.
Though what was went through is in the book though, so it's not that bad.


Overall a really good experience. I felt like I have learned so much and it's really worth it because we actually spend quality time as a family. The father gets to understand the wife, what's she's going through a lot better and also how to interact with her and baby. :)

Yeah, that's about all for lesson 1 I guess. :D