Midwife-Led Antenatal Classes Spring/Summer 2017

[TheGroupAntenatal]

Are you interested in antenatal classes? Want to feel fully informed, confident and prepared for labour and caring for your newborn baby? Do you want to get to know a group of other parents to be who are at the exact stage of pregnancy as you in the area? Come and join The Group!

Emily and Vicky run the group for FIRST TIME PARENTS. They are experienced, practicing midwives offering antenatal classes in The Lordship pub, East Dulwich and The Signal pub, Forest Hill. Their classes cover everything you need to know about labour and life with a newborn baby. The Group think it is really important for new parents to build a local support network with other new parents so we make lots of time for the group to bond over the 6 weeks of classes and social events.

*A few spaces left in Forest Hill course starting in June if your baby is due in August-September*

Buy your ticket http://buytickets.at/thegroup/86385

Now taking booking for September Group East Dulwich if your baby is due October- November

https://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/90915/chk/c989

Rachel also runs a fantastic half day REFRESHER COURSE for second-time parents. Over brunch in The French House, (Lordship Lane, ED or Westow Hill, Crystal Palace) you can discuss plans for your next birth and how it may be different, preparing your older child and juggling life with a new baby.

*Next refresher dates East Dulwich 9am-1:30pm*:

Sunday 7th May https://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/86377/chk/da3c

Sunday 11th June https://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/90223/chk/b187

PREGNANCY WELLNESS EVENT has just 3 spaces left!

Please visit our website to see what we are up to and what we offer:

http://www.thegroupantenatal.co.uk

Check our our Facebook @thegroupantenatal, instagram @thegroupantenatal and twitter @thegroupnatal for regular updates with our Top Tips and Midwife advice on everything pregnancy and baby related.

[Boddle]

My husband and I have just finished the 6 weeks with Vicky and Emily and are so so pleased we decided to do this course. Vicky and Emily are experts and go into real depth while keeping the sessions active and fun. They created a relaxed atmosphere and supported the group to bond through dinners and making sure we organised meet ups.

I'm expecting twins and have felt various people involved in my care have had strong, often conflicting, opinions on my birth options, so it was such a relief to find a space where I could ask anything and feel like I was getting a balanced, evidence-driven response. Vicky and Emily are great listeners and have been happy to help answer anything, before, during or after the sessions. I felt like they genuinely cared about each of us and our babies and will miss the classes!

Thank you both for such a great 6 weeks-

Danielle & Andy

[KristyC]

As first time parents, we were looking for an antenatal course without the rigidity or formality of NCT and came across The Group, which provided exactly that. We were particularly interested that Vicky and Emily are also midwives with hands-on experience and also provided a hypnobirthing course.

We really don?t know what we would have done without the course as we were both feeling overwhelmed with all the information out there but now we feel we have learnt enough to give us the confidence to deal with labour and life with a baby. Vicky and Emily are absolutely lovely and really reassured us about the whole process. The course provided a really dynamic, interactive and enjoyable environment in which we have learnt so much and met some lovely parents to be living locally. Each session was a great mix of informative material, a chance to interact with the other parents-to-be and always plenty of time for us to ask many questions! The content itself provided us with a great deal of information to help with understanding the process of labour and life with a baby, including practical things (that we hadn?t thought about) like feeding, swaddling and changing. Helpfully, we were emailed each week with a recap of each session, making it more manageable to take in all the great content Vicky and Emily shared with us.

Kristy and Matt

[TheGroupAntenatal]

?Great bunch of people & Social side. Very honest & open forum - felt like no question was a stupid one. Unbiased views were very appreciated - great that all options were presented. The baby stories was our favourite session. Loved hearing about other peoples experiences. The session on when things don?t go to plan was most useful.? Katy and Orr

?The course has been transformational in terms of our readiness for birth and the immediate aftermath! Vicky and Emily are a fountain of knowledge... Joining the class has been the best thing we?ve done to prepare for our baby?s arrival.? September Group 2016

?The little tips from a ?Mum that knows? (Rachel) and who is also going through it is invaluable - it makes it ?real? and to share your experiences is really reassuring and kind. The role of the birth partner was great recap for us and gave us time to talk together about making our plans. Overall, I think the course is realistic, non judgemental and honest - given from midwife experience, but also as a parent too. ? Refresher Mum December 2016

[TheGroupAntenatal]

Some reviews from the Feb refresher group.

"My husband and I just attended The Group's February refresher course and would totally recommend it. We have an almost four year old and despite leaving it very late (we had our second child 3 days later!) we both found the course incredibly useful - it strikes the right balance between refreshing on things such the birth/caring for a newborn etc and the totally new dimension of preparing your older child and family for the arrival of a sibling. Rachel and Vicky, both lovely midwives, ran the course and we really benefited from their years of experience as practitioners. As a bonus you get to meet other parents in the same boat (and eat delicious French house pastries). The post course handouts are really high quality and we came away with a wealth of information, feeling much more prepared/reassured."

"Thank you for a great session today! My husband and I really enjoyed the course for second-time parents and highly recommend it to other couples going in for round two! A really helpful refresher about the stages of labour, pain relief choices and feeding a new born. With the bonus of tips for helping you transition to a family of four (or more), preparing your first child and (most importantly) staying sane. So good to hear it all from two professional midwives with loads of experience. I loved the discussions around how to balance family life, that felt realistic and achievable, rather than too many strict rules and ideals that set you up to fail. Thank you so much Rachel and Vicky! X"

[TheGroupAntenatal]

We now have space for just one more couple to join our next refresher course on Sunday March 19th, 09:30-13:30 at The French House, on Lordship Lane. Book now to join us, at: http://www.thegroupantenatal.co.uk/second-time-parents/

Rachel

Midwife at The Group

[steele2015]

I can't recommend Rachel's refresher course enough. I have been lucky to have Rachel's involvement in the stresses and successes of having a first child, and in planning for a VBAC for my second impending birth. She is an extremely knowledgeable and experienced midwife, caring and devoted mother, and generous and kind friend. The resources and information provided in the refresher course are ideal to do exactly that - refresh those memories about what is about to happen all over again, but with some really practical and helpful advice about the sibling element. I love that the course is in the French House which is also a really maternal-friendly asset to Lordship Lane, and there is nothing better than meeting people in a relaxed atmosphere who are about to share a life experience with you. I certainly made friends for life on my antenatal course!

[TheGroupAntenatal]

Thanks so much for the lovely review Steele2015!

We have a few spaces left now for our upcoming refresher courses for second-time parents.

Sunday April 9th - 09:00-13:30 - *New* Crystal Palace venue(The French House on Westow Hill).

We're offering an intro offer of 25% off (code SE19MUM) and have space for two more couples to join us.

http://buytickets.at/thegroup/91210

Sunday 7th May - 09:00-13:30 - The French House, Lordship Lane.

Space for two more couples to join us. 15% off with code MUMMYLOVE

http://buytickets.at/thegroup/86377

We had a really lovely group in March, who really enjoyed the session and gave some wonderful feedback over on our facebook page that I will copy here for anyone interested. Really hope that anyone expecting new babies this spring/summer 2017 will consider joining us!

"Rachel and Emily were absolutely brilliant - informal, approachable, knowledgeable and reassuring.

Ahead of the class they made sure they knew precisely what everyone attending hoped to get out of the session, and they were extremely thorough, making every moment of the class count. Roughly half the session was dedicated to labour and half to newborn care and how to make sure you make your existing child feel included. Every piece of information imparted was of value, the course handouts are fabulously informative and we felt so much more prepared at the end of the session. I couldn't recommend The Group strongly enough."

[TheGroupAntenatal]

Hello all!

We have space for one more couple (or mum and friend/support person) to join our next Second Time Parents course on Sunday 11th June from 9-1.130pm. Book at: http://buytickets.at/thegroup/90223

Ideal if you are expecting your second baby in July August or September.

The morning is a chance to carve out a little tiem as parents to think about and plan for this transition in your family. It is a very relaxed forum for asking questions, as well as gaining valuable information from practicing midwives covering a whole range of info useful for second time around like:

-planning for the labour, with an existing child to take care of

-coping with two in the early days

-whats different about birth second time around

-breastfeeding a newborn (and what to do with your older child whilst doing so)

-responsive bottle feeding/mix feeding and troubleshooting common breastfeeding concerns

-facilitating a positive birth experience

-thinking ahead to life as a family of four

Any questions please do email Rachel on [email protected]