childbirth class

Monday night Brett & I attended our first childbirth class. It's five weeks in a row, two hrs. each night, conducted by the hospital. I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be very interesting. There were about 9 other couples in the class (interestingly enough, it seemed they were all middle-class white couples-- not sure if that speaks for the hospital, or the fact that the class was costly). I don't know that I learned a ton of new information, but it was nice to hear things I have been reading about from someone who has a whole lot of experience. The teacher was kind of all over the place-- even though she did cover all the topics she told us she would talk about, sometimes we weren't sure where she'd go next.

She talked about the stages of labor, the signs you are going into labor, the difference between Braxton-Hicks contractions and real contractions... She had a model of the pelvic bones and a doll, with which she showed us how the baby positions herself to go through during the birth. That was especially interesting when the spinal cord broke off on accident! Brett couldn't stop laughing when we got to the part where we got to lay on the floor and practice relaxing breathing techniques, mostly because he said he felt like we were at a giant slumber party. (FYI, the class doesn't really favor one particular method, like Lamaze or Bradley or whatever. It's more or less just "knowledge is power." And anyway, Lamaze doesn't really do the "hee hee hooo" fast breathing like you see in movies anymore. Now, deep, slow breaths are recommended.)

I was surprised that we were both able to enjoy the class and gain some valuable information in order to better prepare ourselves for this baby that is coming in 2 months or less, ready or not! We are looking forward to the next class, where we get a tour of the hospital.








30 weeks-- I can stretch further than this??!