Classes at Duke for Parents-to-Be

Aviva Emmons and her husband, Laney, stared at a blank white page on the Duke Regional Hospital classroom wall. With a cotton-candy-pink marker, Aviva began to draw a diapered baby with squiggly hair.That recent Monday night, in the “Preparing for Baby” class organized by Duke Hospital and Duke Regional Hospital staff, the Emmonses, along with 12 other couples, put a perfect birth experience on paper. Around the room, “No pain” was written by multiple couples on their paper, along with “a husband that doesn’t panic” and “no complications.”

Aviva and Laney Emmons with their newborn daughter, Reina

“We wanted to do something that wasn’t just for moms,” said Aviva, a registered nurse in Duke Hospital’s post-anesthesia care unit who was 32 weeks pregnant with their first child, a girl. (Aviva welcomed Reina Jewel Emmons on July 24 at 8:50 a.m. by cesarean section. Reina was 6 pounds, 7 ounces at birth.) “We wanted something where we could get information applicable for the both of us and meet other parents that are at the same stage of the game that we were.”Duke Medicine provides seven “Preparing for Baby” classes, covering labor, breastfeeding, cesarean sections, post-partum and newborn care, and more. Most classes cost $20 each; Duke Hospital Birthing Center and Duke Regional Hospital tours and sibling classes are free. In the “Preparing for Baby” class that Monday in June, Duke Hospital Birthing Center clinical nurse Jennifer Justice and Duke Regional Hospital labor and delivery nurse Traci McLaughlin sat in front of the circle of couples and discussed how the cervix acts during labor, types of pain medications, and the right time to visit the hospital when experiencing contractions. “Our goal is to help moms feel prepared, decrease their anxiety and help them know what to expect,” Justice said. “It starts their experience in a positive way because we’ve gone through the experience with them.”

Lexie Riofrio and Matt McDaniel with their newborn son, Maddox

Lexie Riofrio, a Duke Hospital radiology resident, took the class with her husband, Matt McDaniel. They met as undergraduates at Duke. During the class, Riofrio was 35 weeks pregnant with the couple’s first baby. She gave birth to Maddox Bryce McDaniel on June 27 at 1:47 p.m. He weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces when he was born.

As a doctor, Riofrio’s used to working in a medical environment and seeing other mothers’ ultrasounds, but the class gave her a chance to ask questions about what to expect during her own labor.“You can’t prepare for the total amazement you feel when you’re looking at your own baby,” she said.

Find upcoming classes and register on the Duke Medicine events calendar. 

In 2014, did you know?

909Babies born to Duke employees 2.58Average length of hospital stay (days)32Percent of C-section births32.1Average age of mother19 Lactation rooms for faculty/staff to express breast milk during work 3Consecutive weeks that Duke provides 100-percent paid parental leave to the eligible parent serving as primary caregiver These statistics cover 2014 and comprise Duke University and Health System employees who used their Duke health plan to have a baby at Duke Hospital or other locations. Source: Duke Human Resources