Childbirth Class

Childbirth class! March 10, from 9am-5pm.

It may or may not have been the longest weekend EVER.

But at least it was fun, right??

We chose to take this natural childbirth class here at our school for two reasons.
1. It's much, much more affordable
2. We are entirely too busy to commit to several weeks of classes that meet for 1-2 hours at a time

Once again, K and I headed to Mrs. E's class for lots of good baby info. There were two other couples and one sweet lady whose husband couldn't make it. Mrs. E is such an awesome teacher because she not only delivered her two children naturally (in Africa!) but she was a Labor and Delivery RN at a very large University hospital for a good bit of her career before coming here to Cowtown. Having experienced the process of natural childbirth herself and also leading so many other women through it for so many years she's seen just about everything.

We spent the morning working through lots of great information. She had a slideshow going with topics and gave us lots of great handouts for later reference. We learned about the stages of labor, the stages within those stages, stations, dilation and effacement, how our bodies and the babies bodies are equipped for birth, and the biology behind it ALL (Plus a ton of other information). We covered everything technical and then some....it was great! I really felt much more at ease about birth just by being more informed.

The afternoon was spent on the hands-on practical things. Relaxation, coping with the pain, focus, breathing techniques, preparing the dads for coaching, what to expect emotionally, etc. I loved practicing the breathing! As a singer, this is something that I felt so at home with. I also frequently do breathing exercises in bed at the end of the day because I've always struggled with falling asleep quickly. It was very helpful for me to feel like there's at least one thing about all this that I'm good at and that will help me immensely during labor. We learned about all the methods of medicinal pain relievers, C-sections, and the reasons that each of those are sometimes necessary, too. I appreciated that she covered this information as well because (like I mentioned in my lactation class post) I really believe in being as informed as possible about every side of the situation. Obviously, I still hope to not be using any of those options but I know I need to be informed just in case.

We did have breaks for snacks, lunch, and trips to the restroom but those totaled about an hour of our overall time. It was a LONG day but entirely worth it. We both learned a ton and were grateful to have it over with. Ideally, these classes happen a little farther along in pregnancy but Mrs. E is only able to do one a semester so we went with her schedule. Now if LDB comes a bit early (praying that doesn't happen, but still!) we know we'll be prepared!