Our Antenatal Course

The Antenatal Academy course is unique

Our comprehensive, modern and unique group antenatal course comprises 6 x 2-hour sessions, taught over 3 or 6 sessions (for dates of the next course see How to Book) face-to-face in Bury St Edmunds:

SESSION ONE - Your Positive Birth:

• Introductions - to each other and the course
• Why we fear birth and why it is so important
• The impact of anxiety on your birth and how you can reduce it
• How the hormones of labour work
• How you can help yourself have a straight-forward positive birth

SESSION TWO – Your Birth Environment and Your Birth Partner

• How to create the perfect birth environment
• How your birth partner can support you, giving them an important role
• Why it’s important that baby decides when to arrive
• Induction of Labour, how it works, how to have a positive induction

SESSION THREE – Using Your Body and Your Mind:

• Preparing your mind and body for birth
• The physiology of birth and putting trust in your body
• Using comfort measures, movement and active birth positions
• Why we feel pain in labour, how to reduce it, how to change our response to it
• How to use your mind to help you to trust your body and flow through labour

SESSION FOUR – Your Decision and Birth Planning:

• Making informed decisions using evidence
• The pros and cons of medical pain relief
• Decision making tools  
• How to cope when your birth journey changes
• Writing a thorough birth plan 
• Cesareans and what to expect if it happens

SESSION FIVE – Post Birth and Meeting Your Baby:

• Meeting your baby and what happens after the birth
• Postnatal recovery and what to expect, making healing a priority, including recovery from a cesarean.
• Feeding your baby – making an informed decision and getting the right support
• Life as a new family and the changes that come with it
• What support you may need and how to find it
  

SESSION SIX – Caring for Your Baby:

• How to understand your baby and what it needs
• Nappy changes and what to expect
• How to bathe your baby
• Understanding safe sleeping, baby sleep patterns and growth spurts
• Intro to baby-wearing

THE ADDED EXTRAS - They're all FREE!

• We will also include a reunion with your antenatal class after your baby is born.
• You will be included in an optional WhatsApp support group with your antenatal group
• You will have access to the members only area of our website with more birth and baby advice, guidance and signposting info, and any follow up info from the classes, links to local baby support groups.

HYPNOBIRTHING WORKSHOP:

During our 6-week Antenatal Academy course you will get an introduction to mindfulness and deep relaxation, but you will also get the opportunity to book onto Debbie's popular Hypnobirthing Workshop which is an exclusive class for Antenatal Academy members and all about learning techniques to help you change your conscious and sub-conscious mind, to help you manage or cope with whatever birth entails, especially if your birth journey takes on a different route to what you expected.

This session is a 4-hour class for you and your birth partner with experienced Hypnobirthing Practitioner and Birth Coach Debbie Willis from Better Birth & Baby.

During this workshop you will learn how to:

✔ change your sub-conscious to create transformation in your thinking and beliefs, and change your actions;

✔ change your conscious mind to a positive mindset;

✔ place yourself into deep relaxation and self-hypnosis;

✔ reduce or eliminate your worries around the birth;

✔ get rid of any unwanted thoughts and emotions;

✔ manage pain and reprogramme your mind;

✔ maximise the likelihood of a having the birth you want.

+  5 x Hypnobirthing Audio Downloads

BIRTH AND POSTNATAL DOULA SUPPORT:

You can also add on bespoke packages for Birth and Postnatal Doula support from Helen Fortes at Natal Nurturing.  Helen can support you through personalised 1-to-1 antenatal sessions, attendance at the birth of your baby supporting both you and your birth partner, and postnatally, supporting you through the change and new reality as your baby is welcomed into your family.

Our antenatal classes are for parents in Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Sudby, Newmarket, Thetford, Needham Market, Diss, Eye, Ipswich, Haverhill, or Cambridge and anywhere in between!

You may be planning on birthing at home or at a hospital labour suite or midwifery led birthing unit at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, or The Rosie Hospital in Cambridge or Ipswich Hospital (or any of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS locations).