DaddyNatal

So, that's it... All training sessions completed. I am now ready to face the expectant dads of the world (well, Bromley) and tell them how they can go about helping support their partners during labour and birth.

FEDANT accrediation will follow once my portfolio is complete and I have taken a final exam, but for now, I'm able to "teach" as a student! Scary!

Poor V and LC have now got to sit through me running through the whole presentation over and over again while I practice getting my delivery style sorted. I think, by the time I'm finished, they'll both know how to give the class too! :)

I am excited about getting going now, I want to strike while the iron's hot and start making a difference to the dads in my local area. I live within the area of the UK's largest maternity services provider so if I could even reach 1% of the dads in their area I would easily have a full class every time I ran it.

If I'm totally honest, I am nervous about my first session. What if I forget everything I've learned or give the dads the wrong information..? I guess it comes from knowing that I have the potential to massively change their, and their partners' birth experience.

When I think of it that way is when I get nervous so I'm trying to think of it just as me imparting information and advice to expectant fathers with a view to helping them better support their new families. That sounds much less intense and that's how I'd like to think my classes wil run: relaxed and informative.

So, wish me luck in this new venture as I try to help dads become the birth partners that mums want and need. 

Thanks for reading

A New Venture!

As many of my Twitter followers will know already, I have enrolled in the DaddyNatal training programme to become an Antenatal Educator.

Dean over at DaddyNatal helped me through LC's birth and was always there when I needed advice and information. His passion for fathers being more involved is contagious and something I truly believe in.

I'll be covering London and Kent for DaddyNatal once trained and I hope that I can be at least half as helpful to other fathers to be as Dean was for me.

A Quick Recommendation Amidst the Madness

Any parents on Twitter who don’t follow @DaddyNatal  – go and do it now. If you're not one of the Twitterati, take a look at his website: http://www.daddynatal.co.uk/

Dean is currently the UK’s only qualified MALE antenatal teacher. More so than that, Dean is a top man, one of the nicest you could hope to meet.

I was fortunate enough to attend one of his sessions in London – well, I made it to the first session, LC happened to appear on the day the second of the two was due to run!

V and I had left things to the last minute when it came to antenatal classes. We kept meaning to book ourselves on a local group but never got round to it. So, me attending Dean’s meet was invaluable to both myself and V as it had given me the basics of what to expect when V went in to labour, how to deal with any issues that might arise and generally what went on in labour.

If you can get yourselves (or partners if any ladies are reading) then I would recommend it without hesitation. Who knows, if V and I are lucky enough to have a second, I may see if Dean will let me come along to the second session this time :)