People who took our online class had this to say:
Given the continued need to physically distance, the size of our room rentals and the evolving state of our global pandemic, OCEA will continue to offer all classes online throughout 2022.
We dearly want to support the health of expectant families.
It was nice to be at home and be able to adjust our computer, seating, etc. at our leisure.
She was very engaging and passionate about the information she was sharing. I enjoyed her teaching style.
Julia was great! She kept things light, down-to-earth, and didn't sugar coat things. We all tend to have ideas about what childbirth is like based on tv, movies and old-wives tales, but she was great at dispelling anything that may have mislead us in the past. Her knowledge and experience in the area of childbirth was incredibly helpful.
Julia was wonderful! She did a great job of making the information engaging and easily accessible for first time parents. She was really encouraging and inspiring!
We liked when studies, research, etc. were referenced when presenting information. There is so much information out there that it's nice to know when information has been validated by research.
My partner and I took the Pre Natal Class with OCEA. The class was hosted on Zoom, since the COVID-19 pandemic meant we had to have a virtual class. Our teacher, Julia, really made this class top-notch. We learned about all our different birthing options in Ottawa and what to expect from each, including any adjustments resulting from the pandemic. It was comforting to learn the current standard of care we can expect in Ottawa, and how this matches the most recent scientific information about birthing. The local information is really what makes this class worthwhile compared to reading a general pre-natal book. We left the class feeling informed and empowered in our choice of care and our choice of birthing place.
Brandie sent us SO many links and provided us with a lot of different reading materials... a dream for someone like me who loves information
Julia was wonderful. Her voice is both lively and soothing to listen to. She’s also really hilarious. I loved the added bits of humour. She gave many opportunities to ask questions throughout the course. If she isn’t sure about something, she accesses her own resources/network and gets back to you with an answer. As COVID protocols are constantly changing within the healthcare domain (hospitals, birth centres, home births), I thought she was very knowledgeable about the current situation within each place. She was very knowledgeable about the birth process and the postpartum period for the family unit. There were many resources that we could access to facilitate some of the topics within the class that could need more attention either in the prenatal period or postpartum period (I.e infant feeding) which was great!
The Bringing Home Baby course offered by OCEA was worth every penny. My husband and I were thoroughly impressed with the educator’s level of knowledge and experience. The class covers a lot of material but somehow flies by! 10/10 would recommend!
Fantastic - very engaging Clearly loves what she is doing and made the class fly by (even in a virtual setting). Felt comfortable asking questions & that we were getting very informed up to date information.
This course was a great introduction in all things labour. Things are a bit different in Covid-19 times and our instructor made a point of keeping us up to date with what to expect while being very empathetic with the challenges this situation brings to labour and tricks to get through it positively.
Lilly was an exceptional instructor and this course was truly an incredibly empowering experience for us (which we didn't fully expect). As scientists, we went into the course just hoping to get the information. But, with that information came a shared sense of connection and support that has been so challenging to develop during COVID because we are far from our family and because we can't both attend all of the prenatal appointments. Not only do I, the birthing partner, now know what support I may need and how to ask for it, but also my spouse, the non-birthing partner, feels equipped to offer and provide support when times get challenging. This course made us so excited to meet our baby and Lilly made us feel ready to care for them!