Trinity and I signed up for the Prepared Childbirth class at Baylor Grapevine, where we will deliver, and our first class was this past Sunday. Being the overachievers that we are, we were the first couple to arrive (approximately 25 minutes early). Trinity was hopeful for front row seats, until we arrived at the conference room to see that we sit in a circle.
Before class began we were given a plethora of brochures on all kinds of things...cord blood banking, breastfeeding, the importance of folic acid, healthy eating, etc. You get the point. We also received a quite extensive prepared childbirth informational book and class outline. I was excited to see that we would get to see the "stages of labor" video at our first class.
Class began once all 10 couples arrived in their seats, and we went around the room introducing ourselves and giving a little info, including:
-our due date
-if we were having a boy or girl
-if we had a name picked out
-our favorite thing about pregnancy
-one thing we could live without during pregnancy
Not surprisingly, the room was overwhelmed by expecting girls (I think it there were at least 6 couples), and we were the only couple who had chosen not to find out the sex of our baby. We were also the couple with the latest due date. Some couples are due as early as July. Our doctor had recommended that we sign up between 20-25 weeks, so I assumed that is what most people did, but apparenlty not!
I won't bore you with all the information that was given to us in the 3.5 hour class, but I do feel like we've already learned a lot! One of the most interesting topics to me was the discussion of the different hormones that take part in labor and how each one has its own special job to help me get through the experience.
It was also interesting to watch the "stages of labor" video; although, one of the mothers in the video had a quite atrocious haircut that made me giggle, followed by more giggles due to Trinity's exclamations under his breath in several parts. I swear we must be the most immature parents-to-be in the class. I honestly thought the video would make me nervous about labor, but it actually did just the opposite. I know it's going to be painful and a long process, but after watching it I thought, "I can do this!"
The last 30 minutes of the class was dedicated to breathing and relaxation techniques. I thought this would be a silly section with lots of puffing and counting, but it really was a very relaxing half hour. Our instructor dimmed the lights, put on soft music, and had all of us mothers-to-be lie on our blankets and pillows. We then tried to consciously relax all our muscles in preparation for our "contractions." Our instructor had us each clench one fist but keep the rest of our body relaxed and take deep breaths in and out while she counted out 60 seconds. This exercise is supposed to help us focus on relaxing our body while our stomach contracts during real labor. Once we'd done that, she had us all relax our fist and try to visually imagine our baby inside our womb. It probably sounds really strange and silly, but somehow it made me really relaxed! So relaxed that Trinity thought I'd fallen asleep!
I really like our instructor, and she has not at all tried to persuade anyone of her personal views. Although it was clear that she thought labor without pain medication was best, she never said or implied that we shouldn't get one if that's what we want. Call me crazy, but I have not made up my mind on whether or not I want one. Thankfully I have some time to consider the decision!
