Birthing Class

Yesterday, Jonathan and I took an all day birthing class at the hospital where I will be delivering Little Man.  It was a wonderful experience!!! We got really lucky and the head of the parent education department happened to be our instructor.  She apparently only has the time to teach about one class a month, so we were pretty happy that she got to teach ours!!

We spent most of the morning going over natural techniques to cope with labor and contractions.  One of my fears about this class is that I would go into it and basically be told to expect to use the epidural and would not really be taught any natural techniques, but this was not the case!  Now, I am not necessarily opposed to the epidural, and I am leaving it open as an option in my birthing plan, but if I am able to get through labor and delivery without an intervention like that, I will be more than happy to.  Our instructor has had two natural deliveries of her own, so she was definitely supportive and encouraging of natural childbirth.

After lunch, we got to tour the hospital and see the Labor-Delivery-Recovery suites, which helped me to visualize what things will be like when I go into labor.  We also got to see the postpartum rooms where we'll spent the first few days of Little Man's life. We learned more about the hospital's policies and procedures.  I now know what to expect as far as the timeline of how everything happens before, during, and after delivery.  That eased a lot of my anxiety and turned it into excitement!

After the tour, we watched some birthing videos, then did some relaxation and breathing exercises, which were pretty helpful.  Then, we went over different types of pain medications available to us, which even though I hope to skip that, I feel much better now that I am educated about it.  I know what types of pain medication I am and am NOT okay with.  The day concluded with some info about cesarean sections, should we need to have one, as well as some other random odds and ends.

All in all, it was a great class and I'm really glad that we took the time to take it.  Best of all, we tried out a new crock pot recipe today and came home to a delicious (and healthy!) dinner!  So great!!!

31 weeks, 3 days along!!! Little Man's arrival is getting closer and closer!!!