Birthing Class

Two weekends, 13 hours, all you need to know about giving birth. I think we are as ready as we are going to be for the big event. Sure there is still time for review and to say some extra prayers, but the basics have been covered. We went to a class that was instructed by a nurse/former doula and soon to be midwife. Our friends had gone to the same class and really enjoyed it and our midwife highly recommended her as well. Rachel said she would guess around 90% of her patients who took Melanie's class were successful in giving birth naturally. Pretty stellar stats so we decided to check it out.

Our class was two 6.5 hr sessions in back to back weekends. We had 3 other couples in class with us, one planning a home birth, one birthing at OPR and the other at St. Lukes like us. All of them hired doulas to help with their births and I was nervous about Matt feeling pressured to have extra help like that but he didn't. I think he payed the most attention out of all the husbands in the room and did really well recalling information from week 1 when asked in week 2. I was pretty proud of him. He also made it through all the birth videos without getting uncomfortable or queasy, another high five :)

We started the sessions talking about our reasons for choosing this type of birthing experience and our fears we had surrounding it. We then talked about the pain and ways to cope with it. We practiced different positions to labor in and tools that would help in certain stages of labor. We did an exercise where we squeezed ice cubes for a minute and tried different things to cope with the pain that we felt. Some suggestions she had, I will admit, were pretty cheesy or just not me at all. I am def. more logical than artsy (right vs left brained) so some of the imagery or birth art exercises didn't do much and I felt like my hand was about ready to fall off after the 60 sec "contraction." I found other suggestions that had to do with breathing, counting and rhythms very helpful though to keep focused and work through the pain. Overall that was the point of the exercise, to find what worked for you because everyone responds differently. Massage and pressure points were pretty great too. Matt has always been awesome at giving me back rubs and is a pro and knowing what I like and don't like. Other husbands looked like they had two left hands trying to massage their wives or treated them like they were another guy and about broke their backs in half. I felt sorry for them. I just hope when I am in labor I like being touched and massaged as much as I do now. I have heard for some people, they didn't want to be touched at all during certain parts of labor. Guess we won't know until we get there.

We also talked about breastfeeding, PPD, general newborn info and taking care of yourself postpartum. Some of it, I will admit, I tuned out because I felt like I knew most of what she was saying, but it was good for Matt to hear and I tried to stay present. She also talked some about Dunstan baby language, which I had never heard of before. Basically it is a theory that babies communicated basic needs through their different types of cries. A cry starting with a "n" or "neh" sound means they are hungry where as a cry starting with a "owh" or "o" sound means they are sleepy. You can learn what your baby needs based off her cries and then respond appropriately. It was interesting and I am curious to try it out on some babies at work to see what I think about it.

Overall the classes were great. I learned a lot about the stages of labor and overall changes my body and her body go through to get her out. The biggest thing I took from the class, besides a lot of knowledge, was the idea that we have options in this whole process. I knew this but it was good to have that repeated to me. We can ask for what we need and have support but we can also choose to not have intervention or to decline suggestions from the medical staff. I really trust Rachel and I feel like we won't do anything that will endanger our daughter, even if at times it goes against what the hospital and their staff may think. Like knowing the nurses will want to hook us up to a monitor to check baby's HR  for 20 min every hour and knowing we can say how about for just 10 min or for a couple contractions, or declining vaginal checks if they are wanting to do them too frequently, or refusing IV fluids if I can drink enough on my own to stay hydrated. I know there is a time and place for intervention but I also know God made my body fully equipped to grow and birth this child. I think her labor and birth is a chance for God to reveal his glory and power and I almost welcome the opportunity to take part in it and have my faith grow. Sure I have a lot of doubts and fears, but I am acknowledging them up front and dealing with them. I know he is bigger than any worry of mine and he will watch over us during this time. If it comes to the point where Matt and I feel like intervention is necessary, I feel like I can embrace that because I know we would have tried our best and used all the resources available to us. I think this could a time of bonding for us as a couple too. Trials and pain have always brought us closer. Knowing we are heading into this as a team brings me a lot of comfort and I have faith that he will be a wonderful coach and support through the whole thing.