Childbirth 101

[simage=1072,160,n,right] On Saturday, Natalie and I spent the day with 40 other expectant parents at “Prepared Childbirth”, an education class for first time parents to introduce the clinical aspects of childbirth (labor, stages of labor, how the birth actually happens, and yes, we watched all of the videos…).  Our instructor Faye did an excellent job of introducing the concepts in a way that could be well absorbed by everyone in the room.  As each of the expecting parents introduced themselves, we realized two important things…

1)  90% of the people in the room knew what they were having. (Only the couple sitting next to us was also entering the birthing suite in the dark) and 2)  Many in the room were delivering in the next 2-4 weeks and almost everyone else was delivering within 6 weeks.  We were the latest delivery in the room by far.  Nothing to worry about.  We wouldn’t have been able to make the next 2 classes (Sept/Oct) and November’s was cutting things just a little too close.

As we progressed through the day, we were walked through the different stages of labor, introduced to the medical advances and tools that the hospital staff would utilize during the process, compared natural childbirth to Epidural usage in delivery (90%+ want to use epidurals, and a surprising number wanted to be hooked up to the drugs in the parking lot! — Instructor’s term, not mine…)  We evaluated our own circumstances and will incorporate our wishes into our birthing plan.  We also got to try out a number of good relaxation and focusing techniques that will be hugely beneficial when the big day arrives.  All in all, it was a nice day — we learned a lot, met a bunch of folks in the same boat and realized that we all had the same questions, fears, and got the answers to make the remainder of the pregnancy a little easier to handle.