Last night was the first meeting of our childbirth education class, but don't worry there weren't any birth videos yet. I guess that we start watching the videos next week and every week after that until we are completely desensitized to the whole thing. Sounds like lots of fun.
Anyway, there are about 5-6 couples in the class. We began by going around the room and talking about our ideal births and our fears. The first few people talked about being afraid of the pain and worrying that their baby would be healthy. I have all of those fears too, but I didn't want to just repeat what everyone else was saying so I said that I was afraid that I was going to get hungry during labor and the nurses wouldn't let me eat. Everyone thought that was soooo funny, but I wasn't trying to be funny. This is a real concern!!!! If I'm in labor for 18 hours, I'm going to want a granola bar or something!!!! At least several of the other women in the class said that they completely agreed, after they stopped laughing.
After introductions, we learned about the history of giving birth in an upright posture versus the medical model of lying down. I'm no doctor, but I don't think that it takes an advanced degree to realize that you might as well use gravity to your advantage on this one. I'm sure that we'll be learning all of the fun ways to give birth upright in future classes. We spent the rest of the time this week just learning a breathing technique to help with relaxation during contractions. I'm really interested to see how well I can relax during a contraction. Seems like that will be really really difficult. Oh, well. I just keep telling myself that women have been doing this with midwives and no drugs for thousands and thousands of years. It's the one reassuring thought that I have!
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3 comments:
The food thing is actually a huge concern. I didn't realize that they didn't let you eat until the whole thing was over until we got there to deliver Alex. After we got all settled, they asked if I needed anything else, so I asked for a snack. "Oh, no, honey, not until after you've delivered." Well, that was all I needed to hear. No anesthesia needed once I had that goal. To this day, Rod is convinced that's why Alex's birth was only 5 hours from the time we left the house until I was eating the best tasting peanut butter and graham crackers I've ever had.
Megan
Your Dad's comment is right on. I eould hide lots of little treats in your goody bag. Who knows what time you'll be able to eat. You don't want to take any chances that all the restaurants are closed and you have to wait until morning. Be prepared thats our motto. Remember to keep walking as long as possible once they get you in bed it tough to walk the halls and run up and down the stairs.
Keep up the good work. I keep dreaming about what our little Hailey will look like. Maybe that red hair will come through again.
Love Mom
You know, that was one thing I never thought about -- the food thing. I was induced, so I had to fast after lunch on the preceeding day. I had Emmaline at 1:20pm on Monday, and after that I wasn't even hungry. I didn't get hungry until Tuesday morning around 5AM. And, honey, when it set in I was STARVED. S-P had to run out and find something, anything for me to eat. I think I would have eaten almost anything at that point.
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