Childbirth Class #3: Birth Center

The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behavior.

Tony Robbins, American self-help author and motivational speaker

Last night we had the third childbirth class. It was not in our regular classroom but we met on the mom and baby floor of the hospital - where we will go after labor and delivery. The labor and delivery unit was very busy last night so we were not able to go through that floor. I was sort of bummed about that, but understand why.

The class went through pain medications and we had this pain scale that we had to go through with our partner based on what we think we want. I thought it was a really good tool - it featured statements about what degree of pain relief you would want and then what that realistically means for both you and the support person. The support person's role becomes more and more active, the less pain medication you receive. I felt good that the hubs and I have had a few conversations about the whole epidural thing so he guessed where I was on the scale right away.

Then the instructor went through narcotics options, epidural options and the pros and cons of each. She also had one of the anesthesiologists come in for any questions we had. We watched a video as well. I thought the whole pain managament topic was very well done. She remained very neutral on the topic and didn't seem to favor one way or the other and REPEATEDLY said that the best thing is to keep an open mind because no one knows how labor is going to go. I also felt good about the fact that the nurses really are trained to be very active support people.

After that whole discussion, we went to the level 2 nursery to peek in on some babies. AWWW! I kept it together but got really excited. Our hospital practices rooming in - so the babies stay with the mom the whole time. The level 2 nursery is for babies that might need a little extra help, but not as much help as a NICU. We also went in to one of the mom/baby rooms to check out where we would be staying for 2 days for a vaginal birth and 4 days for a c-section. After that, we went through the c-section discussion. I thought it was helpful to walk through that whole process, particularly for the support person (aka husbands) because the instrutor did a good job going through what they would be doing.

It was a good class. My husband commented that he is really glad we took the classes because with each one he feels less nervous about the whole process. We also are glad we went with the 4 week class rather than one whole day. After a while, the chairs get pretty uncomfortable. I also think the information is easier to absorb in smaller bits.

Next week is our last class and will focus mainly on infant care and tips and tricks!