Our Classes

We are proud to offer

Pre Natal Classes

In-person classes are on weekends in Ottawa, Ontario. Virtual classes will continue as evening sessions for anyone across Canada.
We ask that participants keep their videos on during class for our online group classes.  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 recommend taking your prenatal classes between 20 weeks and 36 weeks. Be sure to register early in your pregnancy to secure a place 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 discussions, and relaxation exercises. Topics are presented in a lecture-like style to allow for the content to be covered in a shorter amount of time.

Our one-day condensed classes are excellent for those who may not otherwise have time to take a prenatal class, or for expectant parents 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 $230 (CAD) (per couple) for the two-day class and $175 (CAD per couple) for the one-day class.

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: Classes cancelled from the time of booking until 14 days before the class start incur a $25 administration fee. Classes cancelled between 7-14 days; 50% cancellation fee. Classes cancelled with less than 7 days’ notice; no refund

People who took our class had this to say:


We dearly want to support the health of expectant families.

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.

Bringing Baby Home – with Brandie Lekovic

Due to covid was online. Was actually more comfortable being home and not having to commute

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

The information taught in the "Bringing Baby Home" workshop exceeded my expectations and I would recommend it to all first-time parents. The education really helped ease some of my unnecessary anxieties.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Julia was awesome! Would have loved to do it face to face, but completely understood due to the current climate. It worked well online and was very information.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

Very informative, encouraging, and well worth the time and money. The educator was wonderful and I trusted her experience and knowledge. My partner and I feel much more confident going into our own upcoming birth and I would recommend this course to all expecting parents.

Pre Natal – with Brandie Lekovic

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

Erin was absolutely PHENOMENAL. Her immense knowledge, calm demeanor, and insight was so helpful. So so so glad we had Erin as our teacher!!!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Great course! Erin is so knowledgeable. We feel like this course will save us a lot of money and angst once the baby is born. I really appreciated how current the information was and the information about local options we can use to get help and support. I wish every new family could take part in this course!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Our prenatal class was an amazing experience! Brandie made us feel comfortable and created a safe, engaging learning environment. Her great energy and use of visuals made everything easy to understand. Thanks to this class, we are leaving feeling reassured, confident, and ready for our baby’s arrival. We truly appreciate the thoughtful approach and highly recommend this class to any expecting parents!

Pre Natal – with Brandie Lekovic

She was fantastic. I really appreciated her non judgmental approach. She provided information in a scientific manner, without inserting a personal bias.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

This class strikes a great balance between super practical guidance and insights on day-to-day life with a new baby, and also up to date, thoroughly referenced, scientifically backed health information and parenting discourse.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

The OCEA pre-natal classes are extremely valuable for first-time expecting parents. The information is shared in a very open, practical and fact-based manner without any judgement attached. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the advice and research that is out there, but the OCEA classes really manage to distill this information and present it in a clear and structured way. The instructors are very experienced and knowledgeable and are great inter-personally. We were particularly impressed by how they handled giving online classes during the pandemic. They also provide a lot of Ottawa-specific information on the amazing resources that are available here. This was particularly useful to us as newcomers. We have many friends who have given birth in other countries, and when telling them about our experience with OCEA they have all said that nothing like this was available to them and it would have been so useful. Overall, we would highly recommend taking these classes.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes


 
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