Our Classes

We are proud to offer

It Takes a Village: A class for Grandparents and other Supporters

The last 30 years have offered families more information on Infant Mental Health, Skin to Skin and strategies to support attachment,  which has resulted in changes in our day-to-day parenting techniques.  And of course, Covid-19 has impacted our support systems immensely.  Our parenting values of unconditional love,  understanding, and parenting with intention have all remained. Still, the tools available to us have changed, and the work-life balance for 2024 families is different.  Leave with practical strategies to support your adult children and grandchildren, your extended family member, or your very best friend through the following topics and more!   

We will cover newborn sleep recommendations
Car seat information
Babywearing
Infant feeding recommendations
Supporting a new family during peak virus season 
How you can use technology to stay connected to your grandchild 

Registration is per couple OR for one participant and their Plus-One (ie: Grandma-to-be and an Auntie ). Leave feeling excited to be able to offer support for your family that reflects all of your family’s values.

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 class had this to say:


We dearly want to support the health of expectant families.

The virtual class provided by OCEA was very informative and a great way to prepare for labour as well as childbirth. Especially during a global pandemic/lockdown/stay-at-home order this was more than beneficial for mommy and daddy-to-be! We are extremely grateful for this opportunity and feel much more confident bringing our little bundle of joy into this world!

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

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

Erin was absolutely fantastic! She was engaging, explained topics enthusiastically, answered all questions and overall was an excellent instructor. My husband and I are very grateful for all info we learned throughout this 2 day course.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Since taking the course with Lilly, I have told all of my pregnant friends about it. She made me and my partner feel very comfortable and at ease about the whole childbirth experience. She was calm, and knowledgeable making me feel much more confident and less anxious about labour and childbirth.

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

If you are in the fence about taking this class just do it! You will not regret your decision. Highly informative class that is great for both mother and partner. We are definitely more confident as first time parents! Thank you:)

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

Erin was really good! We were both impressed by how easy she made it look even through these challenging times! Made us feel comfortable to ask anything.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

I enjoyed the fact that we were at home, it made my wife more comfortable to be able to use our own bathroom and have snacks on hand etc. It also allowed us to must ourselves during the discussion and make comments to each other privately when an issues or decision that we wanted to discuss came up.

Pre Natal – with Misty Pratt

Absolutely ! As first time parents the Prenatal course helped us feel informed about the labour, birth and post-partum stages. My husband and I both feel we're better prepared to know what to expect, what is normal, what isn't and it prompted questions and discussions we wouldn't have otherwise thought to have ahead of labour. We both feel more empowered coming out of this course. As a soon-to-be first time mom I now feel like birth isn't something that has to happen to me but rather something I can take more ownership over. I can't recommend our facilitator, Brandie, enough as well. She is absolutely phenomenal!

Pre Natal – with Brandie Lekovic

We took the Bringing Baby Home course. The course went over so many hands on and practical tips to help prepare us for daily life with a newborn and beyond. In addition, there were a lot of resources shared (including Ottawa based resources for new parents). We’re so glad we took the course. Highly recommend for any first time parents!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Julia was funny, witty and had good energy throughout the class. She delivered the ingormation calmly and simply. We absolutely adored her as our educator!

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

The Prenatal full weekend session was very valuable to us both. We went in a little concerned about labour and birthing, but came out with some many amazing advices and tips, and also full of knowledge that it helped us be more relax about it all. Highly recommend!!

Pre Natal – with Lilly Bianchi

Julia's manner and the information she provided was so reassuring. We feel prepared for the birth and so excited to meet our baby girl. It was a delight to be enrolled in her class.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes


 
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  • Online

    It Takes a Village
    3 weekdays
    Tue, May 13 · May 20 & May 27, 2025
    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now