Birth Class

Sam and I attended Birth Class at the hospital last weekend. Rather than taking a class a week for 7 or 8 weeks, we decided to take the accelerated class offered on Saturdays from 8 to 4:30. What a day! I was the least pregnant student in the class but greatly appreciated the suggestions by friends to take the class as early as possible. I can’t imagine sitting that long during the last couple of months of pregnancy. I would definitely recommend others to do the same.

The instructor was a very good teacher. She was realistic and never seemed too preachy or too optimistic. The class covered the basics: how to tell when you are really going into labor, what will happen when you get to the hospital, pain management (medication!), relaxation techniques (“hee hee hee woo”), hospital tours (the facilities are really nice), recovery time after baby, infant care and breastfeeding. I had hoped we would make it through the class without any videos – WRONG. I think there were four in total. Only one was bad – most were computer generated images (thank heavens for technology!).

The funniest part of the day occurred at the beginning of class. After introducing ourselves and telling the class our favorite part of pregnancy (I think there were a couple of girls who really struggled with this one), the instructor separated the men and women into different rooms. We were instructed to go around the room and share our least favorite thing about pregnancy. The girls were pretty predictable: morning sickness, back pains, heartburn, bed rest, etc. According to Sam, the men had quite a lot to get off their chest and the session quickly turned into a “list everything we hate about our wives” session. Sam said he and another father tried to be a little more positive by saying that they were just worried about having a healthy baby and momma (I am sure they got some nasty stares). I know I am not as far along as some of these women and I am willing to admit that Sam and I aren’t always perfect BUT I can’t imagine feeling the way these men felt about pregnancy. There wives must not be a cool as I am J Seriously, I guess it just showed us how lucky we are to have each other. Sam has been wonderful and I am thankful for him everyday. I could post pages about all the helpful things he does on a regular basis (and maybe one day I will). I can’t imagine sharing this experience with anyone else!