Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is excited to introduce our revamped, revised, and recharged prenatal program! This is our most recent labour of love and we are pushing to get the message out … and make no mistake, the puns were definitely intended!
We started with an evaluation of the prenatal program to see how we could make it better. Overwhelmingly, participants in our program were happy with it (a whopping 97% said they would recommend it to others.) We also got some great suggestions to make it even better which included:
- removing the early pregnancy information (e.g. healthy eating, what to expect at prenatal appointments.)
- making the sessions more interactive with less sitting and more talking with others.
- providing more notes and takeaway resources.
We also looked at the reasons people chose not to sign up for a prenatal program. The top reasons were:
- they felt they got enough information from other people and places.
- the hustle and bustle of life made it difficult for them to get to a program.
Ok, so what did we actually do with all of this feedback? We made changes - lots and lots of changes!
- When you sign up for the in-person program, you also get access to our complete online prenatal program. We want you to come to the in-person sessions around 28-32 weeks pregnant but we also want you to sign up as early as possible in pregnancy. That way you have access to the early pregnancy information in the online program when it feels relevant to you.
- A series is now made up of 3 evening sessions instead of 6, which will make it easier to fit into your busy life. That’s a commitment of only 6 hours.
- Each session includes activities, activities, and more activities! We know you can get all kinds of pregnancy information at your fingertips, so instead, we focused on activities that are designed to make learning more meaningful … and more fun!
- We now give you books and handouts full of information to take away - saving your hand from a ton of writing.
And that is how our 2018 prenatal program was born! We hope this new program excites, inspires, and prepares you and your family for birth, breastfeeding, and caring for your own baby.
Visit the Pregnancy section of our website for more information or go directly to the list of prenatal series dates and sign up.