Twenty-one year old Erica Sewell said she knew nothing about childbirth when she got pregnant. For her, the course offered at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH), was not only insightful but also comforting.“I asked my doctor too many questions because I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “I was nervous. I didn’t know anything about having a baby.”

Ms Sewell’s doctor, gynaecologist Terrylynne Emery, advised her to take the four-week childbirth course at KEMH.

“It was a very good experience,”she said. “It was my first child and I didn’t know what I was doing.”Ms Sewell, who went to high school at Berkley Institute said: “I didn’t even know what labour was until I went to that class. In high school they taught me safe sex but nothing about children.”

During her pregnancy, Ms Sewell suffered cramping, breast sensitivity and bloating but did not know if these were normal symptoms. In her fifth month she began having Braxton Hicks contractions (false labour). “I was a bit scared,” she said.

She started the course when she was six months pregnant and learned her experiences, including the false labour, were all very normal. Her mother Patrice Smith attended classes with her acting as her coach. “I felt safe having my mother there with me,” she said.

Ms Sewell said the knowledge she received in the course, helped calm her allowing the birth process, for her and baby Nyineae Smith on January 4, to be beautiful.