What to do if your Hospital Birthing Class was Cancelled

These types of classes go by many names — Prenatal, Hospital, birth classes. The reality is that in-person classes are cancelled for a while. We aren’t sure when they will resume and couples are left without options.

Birthing classes are important. How do I know this? Hi, I’m Hilary — I’ve been an L&D nurse since 2001. A year after my first-born was born and I knew that was the switch for me (from hospice). Since then I’ve been at the bedside, and even had a stint of teaching hospital classes myself.

So, I KNOW that hospital classes are important. I’ve seen couples with so much less fear, dread or anxiety about their upcoming birth.

SO, what are couples supposed to do if their pre-planned classes are cancelled?

What to do if your prenatal class was cancelled?

You have a few options:

Consider the hospital’s online options

Some hospitals have an online course. However, I would caution you. Nurses aren’t known (myself excepted) for their online abilities. Most of these classes are just the powerpoints that they would review in the in-person class. Likely, with some videos to increase understanding.

I wouldn’t say that they are created for engagement or really, retention. I’d ask to see if you could see a sample of what it will include before you go down that road.

Take an Online Class

Yes, this is an easy option for me to recommend, as I have created the internet’s go-to brand for hospital maternity education.

My own course has been taken by thousands of women and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

Just like with the hospital class, I encourage you to try a sample to see if it’s a good fit for you.

My classes aren’t sterile lifeless beings. I like to engage you and wake up your brain every now and then. 🙂 About 99.9% of couples love that — but I understand it’s not for everyone.

My goal for the course: The Online Prenatal Class for Couples is an online course that will simplify the labor process  so you can have a more relaxed pregnancy, birth and postpartum time.

Online classes have many benefits:

• You can keep learning from them
• compared to my in-person classes where I would sometimes accidentally skip something, I can make sure that doesn’t happen in the edited version
• I have targeted many learning forms including text, key points, videos and more. It’s pretty snazzy.

Since my class has been around since 2016, I can assure you that I didn’t throw it together just for this quarantine. Plus, remember that I’ve been an RN since 1998, and in L&D since 2001, so I’ve seen a lot… and I share all that knowledge with you. 🙂

FAQ’s about Online Prenatal Classes:

Just go to your prenatal appointments

Plenty of people think that some time browsing the internet and just going to their regular appointments is enough.

And yes, I’m a huge proponent of prenatal care. And while, in a perfect world, a doctor would be able to sit with you and take the time to talk about what to expect, it just can’t happen.

And honestly, even if it did you’d have your brain spinning after the appointment and wish there was something to go to afterwards.

YES, take the time to talk with your doctor. I always recommend keeping a note on your phone of questions you want to ask on your next appointment.

That. is. important.

However, to actually learn about it, in general — there are better options.

Now, let’s talk about the internet.

It’s great — it’s how you found me. But, the more and more I look at articles during this Covid time, the more I remember how wrong a lot of the internet is.

So, yeah. You’ll get some right info, and some wrong info. There’s really no way to fact check people on the internet, so you sort of end up believing everything you read….

So, there you go. Those are your best options. Some are better than others, but hopefully you can make the best choice for you guys.

Don’t forget I have a free class you can jump into right now: