Childbirth Class - 1 down, 3 to go

32 weeks down, 8 to go!

Last night we started childbirth classes. We are taking the class associated with our hospital so it's not really any specific "type" (e.g. Bradley Method) of class. Every Monday night for 2 hours, we are at the hospital community classroom with a labor and delivery nurse, Jennifer, for the entire month of July. We were both excited about it, and I was a little nervous. The first night shows the birth video. Previous birth videos that I have seen have always made me a little squeamish, and have caused me to involuntarily squeeze my vagina shut. I was also nervous that my husband would not be able to watch the birth video either, mostly because my MIL kept telling me during the weekend that she thought he would pass out during my labor. I kept asking him (and probably driving him crazy), "are you nervous" and he replied No.

So we both reviewed our "textbook" given to us 24 weeks ago at our first nurse appointment. I may have mentioned it on here - my husband forbid me to read it after I told him I was getting anxious just looking at page 1 - the cervical dilation chart. I wasn't nearly as nervous reading it this time.

We got to class and were surprisingly one of the last couples to arrive - and there were no longer two chairs together, so we had to make people move so that we could sit together. The first half hour was dedicated to introductions. The usual questions (Name, Due Date, Boy/Girl?) followed by what the most surprisingly things about pregnancy have been and some other questions along those lines. I think there were about 12 couples in the class, all heterosexual, all married. There was one single woman there with no partner. I felt bad for her UNTIL she introduced herself and in response to the most surprising things about pregnancy said, "I'm just so surprised because everyone here is so big and I've only gained 12 lbs". Now, I realize what she meant - but perhaps she could have been a bit more delicate about it and said, "I was surprised that I haven't gained a lot of weight" or "I was surprised that I haven't shown as much" or something like that that did not include calling every other woman in the room a cow. Ah well.

I was surprised that there were quite a few couples in the room that did not find out the gender and that no one had the same due date. I felt connected to one woman, who was also athletic, who mentioned that she was surprised at how soon her body changed. BINGO! Man, I still feel like I'm coming to terms with all the changes my body has gone through!

After introductions, we watched a video about signs of labor and then talked about 3 examples that the instructor gave. With each example, we learned what 'dilation', 'effacement' and those position numbers meant. We also learned all the different positions the baby could be in, about the mucus plug, water breaking, how to time contractions, etc. I don't know about my husband, but none of this information was new to me, given that I have read most of this stuff in the stack of pregnancy books that is on my nightstand. However, I did feel better about it all having it explained to me. Our instructor did a good job of saying, "this might happen, it might not" and reinforcing the fact that every woman's labor will start a different way. While a tour of the birth center occurs during Week 3, she also talked a bit about what was available in the rooms and how we should not be afraid to ask for what we want - whether it be what kind of music we want to listen to during the whole process or how dim the lights should be.

The next portion was dedicated to the "labor tools" - like relaxation breathing, massage, visualization, etc. She just introduced these topics and next week we will be practicing them. The class concluded with the birth video. (cue scary music). Except it wasn't that scary! I watched the whole thing, no vagina clenching. I think I might have teared up when the baby was finally out and they put it on her stomach. My husband also watched the whole thing and thought it "wasn't that bad". "He thinks he can do it". Phew! No passing out during the class ;). I think he took the support thing a bit to heart because he was waiting on me hand and foot (and belly) for the rest of the night!

All in all, we both felt really good coming off of class one. I can't say that we learned anything new from it, but it did make me feel more relaxed about the labor process and I think it did a great job of preparing the support person. My husband said that he even felt really good about everything so far and that he felt better about it too, particularly that there is more time than he thought for the whole process to evolve and it's not like in the movies or on tv when you have to speed to the hospital.

I also liked the fact that the woman on the birth video went through labor au natural. Given that it was the hospital class, I was sort of expecting them to push the drugs a bit more. I don't know why I thought this, I just did. But seeing that this post is already a long one, I'll save the au natural post for another day.

32 weeks. Crazy.