Our classes are designed to help expectant parents understand pregnancy, prepare for the childbirth experience and care for their newborn. You'll find the program enlightening and entertaining, as well as beneficial.

Total cost of classes:
$30 (only available for those who deliver at FSSMC)

Classes are offered as part of a 3 class series on Tuesday nights. Beginning the first Tuesday of the month, running through the third Tuesday, class will be held from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. The program is recommended for mothers in their eighth month of pregnancy. Class size is unlimited.

Those wishing to participate should call the Women's Center at 429-6564 to register. Pre-registration is required in person at the Women’s Center on the 3rd floor at the hospital. You must come by the department, fill out papers and pay for the class. All couples should register before the class and will be contacted with a reminder the week before the class starts.

The class includes:

• Third trimester discomforts, cause, and treatments.
• True vs. false labor, and pre-term labor.
• Equipment used on unit during labor and delivery.
• Stages of labor and delivery.
• Exercises, Cesarean section, postpartum care, and rooming-in precautions
• Questions and answers about general baby care such as breastfeeding, circumcision, feeding, crying, sleeping, and bathing.
• Tour of the Dolly Parton Birthing Center.

Classes available upon request:

• Sibling Class
  This class teaches new siblings how to care for and handle the new baby, as well as addresses issues such as jealousy when the new baby comes home. Siblings are instructed using a life-like baby doll, which helps to explain to them diapering, and what sorts of clothing newborns wear. Other materials, such as a film, help to educate children about what to expect when their new brother or sister becomes par of their daily routine.

  A tour of the department is provided to the sibling, and hopefully a real newborn will be available to view through a window. The cost for the class is included in the prenatal class if parents are taking that class. For children of parents not taking the prenatal class the cost will be $10.00. Sibling Class offered the 3rd Tuesday of each month

  For more information, or to register your child, call the Women's Center at 429-6564

• Grandparenting Class
  Updates grandparents about the types and stages of labor, what to expect during delivery, and how to care for a newborn. The goal of this class is to update grandparents on the process of childbirth as it is today at the Fort Sanders Sevier Women's Center, along with providing newborn care and education.

  The cost of this course is included in the prenatal class cost if parents are taking that class. For those grandparents interested in taking the class just to obtain education for themselves and Mom is not in the prenatal class, the cost is $10. Grandparenting class is offered the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

  For more information, or to register, call the Women's Center at 429-6564.

• Safe Sitter® Babysitting Class
  When a teenager accepts a babysitting job, they accept the responsibility for a child's life. Safe Sitter is a medically accurate program that teaches boys and girls ages 11 to 13 how to handle emergencies when caring for children.

  This class teaches safe and nurturing child techniques, behavior management skills, and appropriate responses to medical emergencies. Taught by members of our OB staff, this course is usually held once a quarter. The cost of the class is $20, and includes lunch. For more information about the course please call 865.429.6643, or visit www.safesitter.org.

  Upcoming Safe Sitter® classes:
  

  • Feb. 9
  • March 8
  • Aug. 23
  • Sept. 20
  
  9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
  Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center
  709 Middle Creek Road, Sevierville
  Class fee is $20
  To register call 865.429.6643.

• Freedom From Smoking
  45 million adults in the United States are smokers. According to the American Cancer Society 87% of lung cancer deaths are attributed to smoking and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.

  Make a commitment to yourself and your family to live a healthier life and quit smoking. Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center offers "Freedom From Smoking," a smoking cessation program designed by the American Lung Association. The class is 8 weeks long, and designed as a peer-support program, offering proven coping and quitting techniques.

  The class requires a $50 deposit that is 100% refunded at the completion of the class. For more information or to register for the program call 453.WELL.

  
  Coming Soon!: Early pregnancy class (24-28 wks)

To schedule classes or more information, call The Women's Center at 429-6564.