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I haven't taken ours yet, but I am signed up for it. For me, it's a comfort thing-- I probably could learn almost as much from books or videos, but I feel better if someone at my hospital tells me about it. Plus, I know DH wouldn't really prepare unless he has to sit in on the class. While I know things may not go according to plan, I like knowing what to expect. It's just my personality, I need someone to tell me things!

I am also hoping to go without pain meds if I can so that's also a factor for me. But if you are comfortable with not doing it and it won't cause you more anxiety then go for it. So much is going to be dependent on your labor nurses, from what I hear.

I don't think we'll be taking a class either. My husband has 2 kids already and has done the newborn/hospital thing before. I have a lot of experience with children and infants and have read online about all my concerns to death.

I have heard from a few friends that the only thing they got out of the classes were new friends.

@Chillybear: we took a childbirthing class and in the end (after baby arrived), we agreed the class wasn't practical.

just like you, we didn't really have a plan other than that we wanted a healthy and safe (vaginal) delivery and i was completely open to an epidural. we took the class because we thought it would be helpful but once i started going into labor and the pain started to get unbearable, i asked for the epidural and everything we had learned in our childbirthing class went out the door because when i got the epidural, i was pretty much glued to my bed

if i could go back in time, i wouldn't have taken the class

babycenter had some good videos/articles...hope this helps!

@JerricaBenton: I agree on that last bit! We went to a class and left after an the first HOUR AND A HALF was spent talking about what to pack in your hospital bag.

I think I don't realize sometimes the leg up being addicted HB has given me!

We didn't take one, and we don't regret it. We hired a doula and planned on winging it from there. I didn't take any breast feeding classes either. We did do a hospital tour. I liked it, but the other parents on the tour were SO serious. DH and I couldn't stop laughing and making ridiculous jokes, so they were all shooting daggers with their eyes at us.

@Chillybear: I wasn't interested in doing childbirth classes. I just don't see the point. No one I know said they learnt anything they didn't already know from books/internet.

I don't think that anything in our L&D class helped during labor. I am also glad we didn't do a hospital tour, totally not needed.

I kinda hated ours. I was sitting in an uncomfortable chair after a long days work. We had to rush to get there, and we didn't learn much.

The only take away that really worked was when they taught you how to bathe a baby, and that you need to use the scrubby brush on their scalp to avoid cradle cap. We did that and she never got cradle cap.

We skipped our hospital class. I looked over the agenda and it was all very generic stuff that we already knew or could learn easily on our own.

I didn't take one, and I don't regret it. I did see my sister give birth though, so I felt like that gave me a good grasp on how awful it can be, and to not have a pretty image in my head of how it would turn out, haha

I took a class and I thought it was helpful for mostly pain management. I think it was due to this class that I was able to labor at home for almost 24hrs (I arrived at triage at 7cm). But I knew all along that I was going to have an epidural and wasn't going to do a birth plan.

I debated about this for awhile, but we're not going to do any classes. I'm over informed anyway - through info on the internet and books... I feel like I'd go to a class and would have heard/read a lot of the information before. I am also planning on getting an epidural, so I'm not as concerned about pain management.

I'd be more interested in a breastfeeding class (because I'm clueless), but I'm not sure if we will have the time.

We took a class and honestly, I wanted to take it for DH's sake. I already did a ton of reading online and watched plenty of videos. I felt I was pretty prepared but I wanted to be sure DH was too. Of course, he said he'll just read up on it online but I didn't trust that he would spend enough time on it. So I signed us up for the class and I'm so glad we did. Yes, most of the stuff you learn in class you will probably already know, but it gave me a peace of mind knowing that DH is just as prepared as me. He learned massage techniques in class and he actually used them on me when I was in labor and it really helped! And if anything, I thought it was a nice bonding experience for us to share as soon to be parents. We both thought the class was worth it.