Yesterday was our first birthing class at the hospital. I am glad we signed up for them because we are learning a lot of helpful information over the course of the four sessions, but there were definitely some points at yesterday's session that were giggle worthy. I will share.
First of all, she did a pretty good job of making us all comfortable with each other right off the bat by having each of us introduce ourselves, talk about what we do for a living and what-not and she asked each person a few questions about their job or something else. So, it was kind of nice to get to know everyone. But then the real fun began.
She's really big on hugging and claims she tries to give 11 hugs a day. That's a lot of hugs. We hugged each other 5 times in the span of 2 1/2 hours. Thankfully she only asked us to hug each other and not the stranger sitting next to us.
Knowing she had an affinity for hugging, I shouldn't have been surprised when she described Braxton-Hicks contractions as "little hugs for your baby" when she was going through all the reasons why you should celebrate them if you get them. Then she gave is some useful and helpful information about what is happening internally when you go into labor, which was nice.
Then it was time for the video. It began with a nice voice over talking about the mixed bag of emotions you feel on delivery day. I lost it the first time when he (that's right, the voice over was a male voice. Typical.) explained that it would be a joyous and wonderful day while the video rolling could only be described as pure torturous looks on 3 women's faces. Then as they followed these women through their contractions and delivery, it kept giving us more reasons to laugh. One woman decided to take a walk outside when her contractions started. Reasonable enough until you see that she chose to walk around the neighborhood in hot pink silk pajamas at high noon. Another woman was in perhaps the shortest dress I have ever seen on a pregnant woman, and she chose to lay awkwardly on the couch to wait out her contractions at home. When we followed the women to the hospital, more adventures followed.The scenes describing the second stage of labor could very easily be placed in a low budget, um, very specific film genre, as they showed each of these women on all fours in their underwear moaning and their coaches massaging their backs and whispering things in their ears. Not something I want to watch with people I just met a half hour ago. Lastly, we saw the birth of just one of these babies, and let's just say she did not deliver said baby in a traditional birthing position. I could tell by the whispers and throat clearings around us that we were not the only ones disturbed by it. I'd like to state for the record that I realize my labor experience might be very similar to these women's experiences. I may, in fact, find myself delivering my baby in the exact same awkward position. But there was something about watching complete strangers do it with their bare breasts hanging out that really made me furrow my eyebrows.
Anyway, next week we learn more specific things about getting through contractions. We are supposed to bring with us pillows, blankets, relaxing music, and some sort of focal point that will help me get through the pain (we still haven't quite decided on this yet, but Travis might be charge of finding a series of ridiculous things that will make me smile. He might enlist in the aid of Tom to get it done.) The third class is about different things that might come up unexpectantly, information about C-sections, and information about the different pain medication options. Finally the fourth class is a tour through the labor and delivery wing and a few other things.
Because we paid for this class, we have the option of taking any of the other baby classes the hospital offers for free. They have a breastfeeding class and an infant care class that we are thinking about taking, though the infant care class seems like it covers some pretty basic things. We will see :)
After we got home, we put together the corner shelf we ordered for the baby's room. Okay, Travis put the shelf together while I sat on a stool and watched him. But we are really happy with how it looks! The room is really starting to come together! As soon as we get those bolts in the mail for the crib, the furniture will be totally ready!
First of all, she did a pretty good job of making us all comfortable with each other right off the bat by having each of us introduce ourselves, talk about what we do for a living and what-not and she asked each person a few questions about their job or something else. So, it was kind of nice to get to know everyone. But then the real fun began.
She's really big on hugging and claims she tries to give 11 hugs a day. That's a lot of hugs. We hugged each other 5 times in the span of 2 1/2 hours. Thankfully she only asked us to hug each other and not the stranger sitting next to us.
Knowing she had an affinity for hugging, I shouldn't have been surprised when she described Braxton-Hicks contractions as "little hugs for your baby" when she was going through all the reasons why you should celebrate them if you get them. Then she gave is some useful and helpful information about what is happening internally when you go into labor, which was nice.
Then it was time for the video. It began with a nice voice over talking about the mixed bag of emotions you feel on delivery day. I lost it the first time when he (that's right, the voice over was a male voice. Typical.) explained that it would be a joyous and wonderful day while the video rolling could only be described as pure torturous looks on 3 women's faces. Then as they followed these women through their contractions and delivery, it kept giving us more reasons to laugh. One woman decided to take a walk outside when her contractions started. Reasonable enough until you see that she chose to walk around the neighborhood in hot pink silk pajamas at high noon. Another woman was in perhaps the shortest dress I have ever seen on a pregnant woman, and she chose to lay awkwardly on the couch to wait out her contractions at home. When we followed the women to the hospital, more adventures followed.The scenes describing the second stage of labor could very easily be placed in a low budget, um, very specific film genre, as they showed each of these women on all fours in their underwear moaning and their coaches massaging their backs and whispering things in their ears. Not something I want to watch with people I just met a half hour ago. Lastly, we saw the birth of just one of these babies, and let's just say she did not deliver said baby in a traditional birthing position. I could tell by the whispers and throat clearings around us that we were not the only ones disturbed by it. I'd like to state for the record that I realize my labor experience might be very similar to these women's experiences. I may, in fact, find myself delivering my baby in the exact same awkward position. But there was something about watching complete strangers do it with their bare breasts hanging out that really made me furrow my eyebrows.
Anyway, next week we learn more specific things about getting through contractions. We are supposed to bring with us pillows, blankets, relaxing music, and some sort of focal point that will help me get through the pain (we still haven't quite decided on this yet, but Travis might be charge of finding a series of ridiculous things that will make me smile. He might enlist in the aid of Tom to get it done.) The third class is about different things that might come up unexpectantly, information about C-sections, and information about the different pain medication options. Finally the fourth class is a tour through the labor and delivery wing and a few other things.
Because we paid for this class, we have the option of taking any of the other baby classes the hospital offers for free. They have a breastfeeding class and an infant care class that we are thinking about taking, though the infant care class seems like it covers some pretty basic things. We will see :)
After we got home, we put together the corner shelf we ordered for the baby's room. Okay, Travis put the shelf together while I sat on a stool and watched him. But we are really happy with how it looks! The room is really starting to come together! As soon as we get those bolts in the mail for the crib, the furniture will be totally ready!
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