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Childbirth and parenting preparation classes are provided by Great Starts, a program of Parent Trust for Washington Children. Classes are held at Group Health facilities and elsewhere in King and Snohomish counties.
Birth and Parenting Preparation Series
This comprehensive series covers all the information you need, whether you're planning birth at a hospital, birth center, or home. We cover labor and birth: signs that labor is starting, stages of labor, tools for coping with labor pain, medications, and hospital procedures. We also address healthy pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, and newborn care. The class is 14 hours long, held either on seven weeknights or four Saturdays, and includes a reunion after all the babies are born.
Labor and Birth Only
This class covers information about labor and birth only and is appropriate for first-time parents who are taking newborn care and breastfeeding classes elsewhere, or for experienced parents who did not take childbirth classes with their first birth. The class includes two four-hour sessions on Saturday mornings.
Better Birth Refresher
This interactive class is customized to the needs of the participants: experienced parents who have taken birth preparation classes in the past and are in need of a refresher. We review issues most pertinent to class members, including how labor may be different this time around, techniques for coping with labor pain, including pain medication, birth and VBAC, and postpartum life with two or more children. This class is three hours long.
Sibling Preparation
Teaches big brother or sister about how babies grow and behave, and how your family will change with the birth of a new sibling.
Infant Safety and CPR
Great Starts also offers classes in infant safety, CPR, vaccinations, and more.
We recommend that you sign up for birth classes during your second trimester.
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