Adventures in Childbirth Class

This weekend DH and I had 10 hours of childbirth class. We had the option of 2 hours per night over a 5 week period or this intensive weekend class. I'm glad we chose this one because we "got it over with" in one shot. The class was offered at the hospital where I will be giving birth so we got a chance to see a bit of that as well. Our maternity tour is next week so I'll have a better sense of the facility after that.

Our teacher, Ann, was a very nice woman with 3 grown children of her own. I never got the feeling that she was pushing a particular agenda (natural childbirth only, breastfeeding only, etc.) which was nice and made me trust her a lot more. On Friday night we were joined by 8 other couples but one couple elected not to attend Saturday's session. It was a pretty homogeneous group. One half Taiwanese mother and one Indian father. All married couples and all within the 25-40 age range. It was pretty cool for me because there are no other pregnant women on my floor at work so it was nice to be surrounded by 7 other women who were going through the very same things I was. Unfortunately there was not a lot of time for socializing. Most couples were due in the mid to late March time frame with a couple being induced on 2/14 (she was on best rest and had a lot of blood clots in her legs) and one other due the first week of April (ironically on my birthday, April 6!).

Most of the class was focused on "classroom" style learning with slides and videos. The rest emphasized hands on practice of breathing and massage techniques.

The best part of the class for me was that it made childbirth seem much more real and less of an imagined activity. I have an overactive imagination so watching the videos really helped me to realistically visualize myself in that situation. It actually made me fear childbirth a lot less which I had not anticipated! However, I think it freaked out DH more, but I'll get into that in a minute.

Interestingly I responded best to the women who used a lot of movement in their labor. Of the three videos we saw, one woman went completely natural, one had Pitocin and some narcotics and the last had Pitocin and a full epidural. The woman who had the epidural was restrained in her movement which seemed to make labor longer (mentally). I had always anticipated having an epidural but now I am considering seeing how long I can go without one. When DH and I practiced the different positions for managing contractions I kept thinking to myself, "Sure, I am not actually having a contraction right now but I think I can do this!" We'll see how that stands up once they really start...

Every time the video showed the actual birth of the baby, DH had to look away. I was immensely interested and actually got a little teary eyed (in a good way) with the first one. After the first woman gave birth DH turned to me and said, "Are you sure they won't let you schedule a C section?" He got a little woozy at the first video and I had to tell him to turn away with the subsequent ones. I kept joking that he is going to pass out at some point during my labor. It could really happen folks! Now, in DH's defense, there was quite a bit of blood in each of the births related to the episiotemies that the women had to get. That shit definitely creeps me out too.

Ann told us that our hospital has a 90% epidural rate (!) which is extremely high but it is the main hospital and gets all the high risk pregnancies. The suburb facility has only a 50% rate which is much more in line with my expectations. Jeesh, from all the boards I read it should be more like 10%. People are extremely evangelistic about natural childbirth. I am much more of the mindset of whatever makes it work. My worst fear is that I labor for hours and hours only to be told that I have to have a C-section. All that work for nothing!

DH was pretty impressed that I already knew a lot about what to expect in labor and delivery. Um, since I'm the one that has to suffer through it I had to know as much as possible. But book reading (or Internet reading) is not the same as seeing an actual birth. I may be taping "A Baby Story" on TLC now to get even more educated.

DH and I are attending the maternity tour next week and a breastfeeding class the first week of March. He is also now interested in infant CPR so we'll try to fit that in too.

In other news, I am now 32 weeks and one day pregnant! The little one is 3.75 pounds (apparently the size of a jicama) and 16.7 inches long. Considering I feel her at the same time poking up very high on my ribs and the opposite side way down in my pelvis, I think our daughter is a bit longer. Or a gymnast. I have entered the "fattening up" period for the baby. I just hope that I don't gain too much on my end! I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so we'll see. In other fun symptoms I am back up to multiple trips to the bathroom at night. Aside from that, I really can't complain.