Childbirth Prep Class

Monday 9/28 was the first night of our childbirth prep class. It's a 4 week class, and I've been pretty excited about it. I've read plenty of books, heard lots of stories, and watched enough Baby Story on TLC to have a good idea of what to expect during labor & delivery. I always keep other people's stories in the back of my mind but know full well that my experience will be totally different. Last week in class, we began learning about the first stage of labor and the anatomy & physiology of it all which I really appreciated. Seeing animations of exactly what is happening inside was so great and way more helpful than I thought! This past Monday we talked about the second stage which is the pushing stage. We saw some videos of actual births that were pretty neat, although intense and kinda... well, gross. Some of the other women (excuse me, GIRLS) in my class giggled and the boys moaned and groaned, but it didn't really bother me like I thought it would (and of course didn't bother John). After that, we got to practice a variety of pain coping mechanisms for the intense parts of labor. The instructor had stations set up so we could practice the technique during a fake minute-long contraction. It was awesome to actually practice rocking, squatting, sitting and breathing along with John. A lot of the positions had us hugging or swaying back and forth like we were slow dancing, just like the old days at All Saints dances :) It was really comforting and I felt extremely close to John afterward and it's actually got me excited about our baby's birth! Sure I'm still a little anxious and kinda scared since I don't really know how it will go, but I do know that have gained even more confidence in John as my birth partner and I'm stoked about this. Next week we have our third childbirth class, as well as a breastfeeding prep and newborn care class so I'll report back how those go!