We went to our first birthing class tonight. It's part of a 4 part series through the hospital. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was fun to be amongst my kind--a room full of little round women with their feet propped up. :)
We started out with introductions, which took quite awhile because there were about 15 couples and the teacher wanted us to talk about our pregnancy so far and any concerns we had. Our due date is the earliest by a long shot. Everyone else is due in late November, December and a few in early January. Everyone claimed to have perfect pregnancies so I was the only one with a woeful tale of gestational diabetes, bladder infections and hospitalization. The teacher seemed to think that a talk with Dr. Hank was in order regarding my commute and number of hours at work. She thinks I'm pushing it.
After the introductions we had a lecture on the anatomy of birth with some very graphic illustrations. It was absolutely, completely amazing and terrifying all at once.
Then she showed us some breathing techniques and positions for dealing with contractions. The positions were really cool because they all required assistance from your partner.
We ended the night by watching a birthing video. Each class they'll show us a different style birth (natural, with medication, with epidural and finally cesarean). This one was the natural--although the poor woman in the video had every intention of getting an epidural, but ran out of time. It was pretty intense. I was crying by the end. When the lights came on I realized I was the only preggo crying!! What's up with that?!
We don't have a class next Monday, so we've got to wait 2 more weeks. As we were walking out the door, the teacher yelled after me, "Keep your legs crossed!". Jeremy yelled back, "We'll be reading ahead!".
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