Marvelous Multiples Class

[desertrose27]

I'm over here from The Bump.

I asked a question after all the craziness went down, so I will try to make this more brief. I have signed up for classes at my hospital. They offer a "Marvelous Multiples" class. Has anyone attended one of these (they are offered at multiple locations nationwide)? If so, do they cover childbirth and breastfeeding? Is there a lot of overlap between it and a regular childbirth/breastfeeding class? I signed up for all three, because I think the multiple class would be valuable, but the woman seemed to insinuate that it would get canceled (they cancel is less than three people sign up). I haven't paid yet and there is still time for me to cancel. Thanks for your help!

[lupineaura]

No advice, but I signed up for one that was supposed to happen several weeks ago and it was cancelled due to lack of enrollment

I'm going to try again- one of the main reasons I want to go is to meet other moms in my area who are expecting multiples. Plus it will be covered by our FSA.

[SassyPants150]

I haven't seen one offered here. How unfortunate to have to cancel due to low numbers. My bet is that there isn't a lot of overlap though. We did a class on labor/delivery when I was pregnant with DD and it just highlighted the breast feeding recommendations and mentioned that you would be assigned a LC if you requested one. I would imagine a BF class to be much more in depth.

[kimstargazer1986]

I attended one. We mostly watched videos of families that had multiples. It did go over the possibility of early delivery and NICU stays. They also talked about various situations you might experience in and out of the hospital. They were able to get us a tour of the NICU. Plus all the general pregnancy information.

[sv917]

My husband and I took the class. It was taught by a L & D nurse who had twin girls (they were in high school or college at the time). I thought it was really good. She gave us a lot of practical tips on dealing with newborn twins- breast feeding, middle of the night feeding, holding two babies. There was a little bit of overlap with the general class we took from the hospital I delivered at but not much overlap with the breastfeeding class we took. It was well worth it in my opinion, but I don't know how much of that is the course material and how much was our awesome instructor.

[harti09]

I have no experience with the class mentioned, but thought I'd chime in since you seem concerned about BFing.

Mothering Multiples is a good book to check out, based on your post.

I nursed twins to 19 months and owe a lot of it to starting out with a LC soon after birth. I'd be happy to expand on the subject if you have questions.

[desertrose27]

Thanks for the advice ladies!

My main concern was that there would be overlap b/w the multiples class and the regular childbirth and/or breastfeeding class. The breastfeeding class is less of an issue because my insurance will reimburse me for the cost and the mechanics will still be the same (though I do hope for some help on the logistics of feeding two at once - thanks harti!).

The regular childbirth class and the multiples class are both pretty expensive, however, and my insurance will only cover part of the cost. So I was concerned that the regular childbirth class would not be very useful for someone having twins (or the information will be covered in both classes). The lady I spoke with to sign up wasn't very helpful in determining this and she's very hard to contact, so I'm reluctant to go back and ask her again.

I do like the idea of a multiples class and getting to know local future parents of multiples is really appealing. For that reason, I'm hoping the class isn't canceled.