Our Classes

We are proud to offer

Pre Natal Classes

In - Person classes will resume in September 2023 for weekend sessions. Virtual classes will continue for evening sessions and weekend morning classes.
For our online group classes, we ask that participants keep their videos on during class.  Like an in-person class, this creates a sense of community and safety.   If you prefer not to be seen, we recommend a private session with one of our instructors

We suggest you take your prenatal classes between 20 weeks and 36 weeks. Be sure to register early in your pregnancy in order to ensure a place is reserved for you. Classes are offered in the following formats:
6 Weekday Evenings OR Full Weekend One Day Condensed
  • Your birth support team – The role of the Midwife, family Doctor, OB, Registered Nurse and Doula
  • Stages and Phases of labour
  • Comfort measures including relaxation and massage techniques
  • Breath awareness
  • All options for pain management
  • Making decisions and giving consent
  • Methods of induction
  • Interventions including IV’s, fetal heart monitors, instrumental deliveries, inductions, and cesarean sections
  • Post-birth procedures for babies
  • Post-birth recovery for women
  • Resources in Ottawa
  • Infant feeding
  • Your birth support team – The role of the Midwife, family Doctor, OB, Registered Nurse and Doula
  • Physiology of birth
  • Stages and Phases of labour
  • Comfort measures
  • All options for pain management
  • Interventions including inductions and cesarean sections
  • Infant feeding resources
Topics are presented in a variety of methods including videos, hands-on practice, small group discussion and relaxation exercises. Topics are presented in a lecture-like style to allow for the time required to cover the content in a shorter space of time.

Our one-day condensed classes are excellent for those who may not otherwise have time to take a prenatal class at all, or for those who work shift work. We cover the topics shown in the above table, which offers a comparison to our 6-week series and two-day weekend classes.  We focus on labour and birth, leaving you with reading resources for post-birth.

Cost of classes is $200 (CAD) (per couple) for the two-day class and $175 (CAD per couple) for the one-day class and includes telephone and email contact with your instructor free parking and air-conditioned rooms. 
*a couple is defined as a pregnant person and one support person (which can be a spouse, partner, friend or family member)

What materials are provided for class?  To make the class as interactive and hands-on as possible, we will share a series of links and information sheets five days before your class with your reminder email.  The internet has a wonderful amount of resources and we will link you to up-to-date resources on the net.  You do not need to print them off in advance.   We also strive to reduce environmental impacts by offering all resources in e-formats.

Refund Policy: When cancelling a prenatal class after it has been booked there is a $25 (CAD) administration fee. If the cancellation occurs less than 14 days before the class there is a 50% cancellation fee. If it is less than 7 days there is no refund.  Requests for date changes within 7 days of class will reflect a $75 fee.  Please remember this when booking classes and plan to finish your session by 35 weeks.

People who took our online class during COVID-19 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.

Lilly was amazing, she has so much experience to share and tips to give. She makes the entire session super lively and interesting. Barely using any notes makes the whole thing more interactive. We both highly appreciated her and would definitely recommend.

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

Bringing Baby Home was a great class! Brandie's informative, non-judgemental teaching was perfect and set a great tone for us as first-time parents. She did a great job of creating a sense of community in the online class. Thank you!

Bringing Baby Home – with Brandie Lekovic

My coworkers highly recommended I take a course with Ottawa CEA. I’m so happy that I did. Ottawa CEA offers amazing options and resources for new parents and speakers to both the birthing parent as well as the birth partner. The language used is also very inclusive. The instructors are knowledgeable and they answer every question you have. I feel more ready leaving the course to have my first child.

Pre Natal – with Michelle Morra

This class was so useful and well thought out! As first time parents, we feel so much more confident now about the practical side of things. Highly recommend taking this class before creating a registry to feel less overwhelmed!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Lilly is a wonderful educator. She has vast knowledge of the subject along with calm and reassuring demeanor, patience and excellent communication skills. We enjoyed listening and learning from her.

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

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.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

Julia is an excellent educator. Doing online classes on this topic must be challenging but we found it to be a very engaging, interesting and practical class. Julia's experience and vast knowledge is very clear. We really enjoyed Julia's personality and sense of humour which made the class fun to attend. She is also very good at providing a lot of information in a clear and structured manner and at ensuring that the key points are highlighted and memorable.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

We liked being able to following the course from our home. We also appreciated how flexible and understanding Erin was throughout.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Erin was absolutely amazing, very knowledgeable and kept the class interactive even in the online platform. Very helpful at answering questions and gave a lot of great tips.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

OCEA classes, like the Bringing Baby Home course, were our best investment pre-baby! We feel more confident, prepared, and better equipped to deal with the normal challenges facing every new parents. We cannot recomment OCEA classes enough - the instructors are truly amazing, endless source of knowledge and compassion. OCEA classes are huge confidence boosters, and they are also...fun (even virtually). We loved everything about the Bringing Baby Home, and our ongoing pre-natal class.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Lilly is a very skilled educator. She lays out the course material in a way that is very approachable and spends an appropriate amount of time on each subject. More importantly, Lilly created a safe environment in the class where no one ever felt intimidated by asking a question, and used inclusive terms like "partner" instead of "dad" or "husband" and "chestfeeding" instead of "breastfeeding". I would recommend Lilly's class to everyone I know!

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

As first time parents, we are wracked with questions and apprehensions to be the best parents we can be. Without courses like this, we would need to navigate a lot of disinformation and marketing on social media and be reliant on anecdotes from friends/family to assuage our concerns. Erin presented evidence-based current best practices in a calm, compassionate, and personalized way for the course attendees and empowered us in our parenting education. We are so grateful!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen


 
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