Postnatal classes - Surestart centre

I started a 4 week course (2 hours once a week for 4 weeks) today. 3 of my NCT friends were there too which was nice.

It was kind of what I thought in that we will cover things like weaning, teeth etc.We might cover first aid too which would be handy. There were about 12 of us in the room, all with babies ranging from 8 weeks to about 4 months old so with lots in common!

The thing that did take me by surprise was we had to split into small groups and talk about our experiences in labour. I was the last to speak in my group and when I started talking about it I got really emotional and started crying. I thought I had come to terms with my induction and general horridness of the experience but it all came flooding back. It's strange because I have recovered in the sense that I definitely want another baby in the not too distant future, but I think I have a sense of loss that my labour was so far removed from how I wanted it to be. I was encouraged at NCT classes to make a definite birth plan and I think following that it was hard for me to come to terms with it being anything other than a birthing pool with limited intervention.

Anyway, I digress! One thing that was cute was they talked about a thing called BookStart which is all about encouraging babies to communicate at the earliest possible stage by reading to them from now onwards. We have been doing this a bit anyway, and they say talking to them a lot and singing is good too. So they gave us all a cotton fair trade shopping type bag and it had 2 free books in it which made it worthwhile going! One called Lullaby Lion and one called Noisy Day. I will be reading Lullaby Lion to Harry tonight.

I am looking forward to the remaining 3 sessions, always good to meet more mums in the area. I have got more genuine friends now than I think I have ever had before :)