Pre- and Postnatal Education Programs

This is a very special time for you and your family – a time filled with excitement and curiosity about the months ahead. You are bound to have many questions during your pregnancy, even if this is not your first baby.

Few experiences are as richly rewarding as bringing an eagerly awaited new life into the world, and Great River Medical Center is delighted to share this time with you. The following educational opportunities and other services are available to help you better understand this special time.

Prenatal Classes

Family Footprints

Family Footprints is a free series of prenatal education classes designed to help take the mystery out of the birth process, to alleviate fear and to help expectant parents prepare for this memorable event. The classes are for women in their sixth or seventh months of pregnancy and their husbands or birth coaches. Mothers-to-be should come dressed in comfortable slacks and bring two pillows and a blanket.

The classes include lectures and demonstrations on the following subjects:

An extensive tour of the Obstetrics Unit, including nurseries, also is provided. The Family Footprint classes meet from 7 to 9:30 p.m., beginning the first Thursday of every other month and continuing for six weeks.

Prenatal Breast-feeding Class

This class is for women who are planning to breast-feed and want to learn more about it before the birth of their babies, and for mothers who are not sure if they want to breast-feed and would like more information. Fathers-to-be or a support person is encouraged to attend. The class will answer common questions such as:

The class also dispels any myths and misconceptions about breast-feeding by focusing on the realities of nursing a baby. Class attendance is recommended before delivery.

Prenatal Refresher Class

A free Prenatal Refresher Class for couples with previous birth experience who have completed the prenatal class is offered from 1:30 to 5 p.m. on a designated Saturday each month. Please call for dates.

Sibling Preparation Class

Great River Medical Center’s Sibling Preparation Class helps children develop realistic expectations about their new baby brother or baby sister and helps reduce the anxiety about being separated from their mothers. Children ages 2 through 10 will learn how an additional child will change their families and how they can help with this adjustment. The free class includes:

The Sibling Preparation class is offered from 9:30 to 11 a.m., on a designated Saturday each month. Please call for dates.

CPR for Infants and Children

Learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and other lifesaving techniques is one of the best gifts you can give your child. The goal of this class is to insure adequate instruction and practice so class members can calmly and effectively react when a baby or young child requires emergency care for breathing or choking problems. This free class is open to parents, grandparents, older siblings and baby-sitters.

The class includes a video, instruction, discussion and practice on the following subjects:

CPR for Infants and Children is offered from 6:30 to 9 p.m. every other month.

Class Registration

Preregistration is required for all classes. For more information or to register for any of the classes, please call Great River Medical Center’s Education Department at (319) 768-4000 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Class Location

All classes are held at Great River Medical Center’s Conference Center, 1221 S. Gear Ave., West Burlington, Iowa.

Other Programs and Services

Babies, Moms & Co. booklets

Great River Medical Center’s obstetrical staff has developed three free booklets to help answer your questions and provide useful information about pregnancy, childbirth and the care of your newborn. The three booklets answer questions and tell you what you can expect during each of the three trimesters of pregnancy. The booklets are not intended to serve as a substitute for your physician’s advice. They are designed to supplement and reinforce the information provided by your physician. Some of the topics you will read about include:

You can sign up to receive these booklets during any month of your pregnancy. If you sign up after your first trimester, we will immediately send to you booklets for the first, second and, if appropriate, third trimesters. Just fill out and return the attached reply card.

Breast-feeding Clinic

Following the birth of your child, you may choose to breast feed your infant. If so, Great River Medical Center offers a free Breast-feeding Clinic to help new and experienced mothers who have questions regarding breast-feeding, who plan to return to work or who wish to wean their babies. Each baby is weighed at the clinic to check for appropriate weight gain. The clinic’s services are not intended to replace routine pediatric health-care visits; the clinic is intended to help mothers and infants in the special area of human lactation.

The clinic is located in Obstetrics Unit on the second floor of Great River Medical Center. The Breast-feeding Clinic is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays. If you have any questions about breast-feeding or would like more information about the Breast-feeding Clinic or need additional one-on-one help with breast-feeding, feel free to drop by the clinic or call the Obstetrics Unit at (319) 768-2700, to make an appointment.

Infant Massage

Massage is a tactile translation of love, security and physical comfort that can help create a stronger relationship between you and your baby. Benefits of infant massage include:

For more information, please call the hospital’s Center for Rehabilitation at (319) 768-4100.

Moms in Motion

Research has found that women who exercise throughout their pregnancies have a 25 percent lower chance of undergoing a Cesarean section or requiring the use of forceps during their delivery. In addition, their labors are an average of two hours less than women who do not exercise. With these benefits in mind, Great River Medical Center offers the Moms in Motion aquatics exercise class at the Center for Rehabilitation. The class is intended for women who are pregnant, thinking about beginning a family or delivered a child within four months to four years of the start of this class. For more information or to register for the class, please call the Center for Rehabilitation at (319) 768-4100.