Childbirth 101

This past Monday night, Josh and I went to our first (and only) childbirth class. For some reason, the hospitals around here do a one night three hour cram session as their class. I guess if you don't get it that night, you get to do your learning during labor and delivery. I wanted to be as informed as possible, so Josh and I made sure to attend this meeting. Overall, it went really well. I think Josh learned more than I did. I was very thankful for the nurse leading the class. She did an EXCELLENT job! She showed lots of diagrams and pictures of how a woman's body changes during pregnancy. Josh got to see exactly why I breathe so heavily now and why heartburn is now a daily occurrence in my life. Thank goodness for Tums is all I can say! My favorite part of the class was when we practiced our breathing techniques. I hope how we did in class is no indication of how we'll do when I really go into labor. Every time I would look at Josh and try to breathe I would get a case of the giggles and that would mess up my breathing. I tried to stare at things above his head or right between his eyes, but he kept redirecting my attention. He's already said that when I go into labor, he's going to write the word "RELAX" on a piece of tape and tape it to his forehead. We had fun, but on a serious note, I was very glad to have Josh there with me. I could not imagine having to go through labor on my own. I'm so thankful that he's going to be by my side cheering me on and encouraging me. He's going to be a great coach! We also got to tour the hospital facilities. I was very impressed with the hospital. All the nurses were extremely nice and the rooms were beyond clean. I hope I luck out and get the big labor and delivery room; it was really nice! They also said that the night after a woman has a baby, they give the mom and the dad a nice steak dinner. How's that for service? Impressive! One of the last things we did in class was watch three live births on tape-yes, I said tape...that should indicate how old this video was! The video was a total flashback to the 80's--big hair, ugly clothes, goofy glasses, and the doctor's didn't even wear gloves! Our nurse pointed out that everyone would be wearing gloves when we delivered...thank goodness! Can you even imagine? Gross! Anyway, we got to watch a natural childbirth with no meds, one with meds, and then a c-section. I'm all about the epidural now as were the rest of the women in the class with me. Josh was slightly grossed out and maybe a little horrified, but he'll be okay once the real thing happens! We go back next Monday for our infant CPR class and breastfeeding class and then we're on our own! We'll have a little less than 6 weeks before we're tested to see how well we paid attention in class :)