Childbirth Preparation

Last night, I checked our mailbox - having not done it in probably over a week. I had a jury summons in there. I have never had to report to jury duty before. It's in a town I've never been to and I am supposed to report on Monday. When I saw it, I thought, "I don't mind missing work but, I hope this doesn't interfere with my childbirth class on Monday evening." That's when it occurred to me that I never blogged about that.

So, here goes:

My husband and I decided to attend a 4-week session on Mondays rather than stuff it all in one weekend. My attention span will only allow for so much (not alot) concentration on a single subject. So, last Monday (June 27) was our first one. We decided to meet there directly after work. Of course, I got there first and walked in to realize that I was the only person there without a mate. I felt like people were staring at the one single chick. The instructor asked me to sign in. Luckily, my husband walked in while I was doing that so then my pregnancy felt validated again. There were probably 30 couples in the class and most people are due in the August 20-something to September 20-something time frame. We started by introducing ourselves, telling due dates, boy/girl, and our biggest fears about childbirth. Then the instructor addressed the biggest fears that were named.

To everyone's delight, we then got to watch a video on pre-term labor. It was one of those awful educational films where all the actors/actresses apparently don't do that for a living and should absolutely never get paid for it! Yes, my husband and I silently made fun of it together but, I think we got the gist of the information that it was trying to convey.

After that, we practiced our relaxation techniques. Our husbands massaged us and we were asked to find a focal point while we learned to breathe through 30-second contractions. Again, a focal point doesn't work for a person with the attention span of a gnat! Focusing on anything doesn't really come natural to me. The one time that I did manage to focus for an entire 30 seconds, my contacts dried out which told me that I can't blink and focus at the same time! So, I'm not sure how this whole thing will work for me. I'm sure many women have had babies without a focal point...but, it probably helps...

Then we went on the hospital tour, which was really neat. We got to see the L&D rooms, transition nursery, and recovery rooms. The instructor explained the procedures for when we arrive at the hospital. Don't think I'll remember that in two months so hopefully my husband was paying attention. The hospital tour must be added to my ever growing list of "things that make the reality of having a baby seem more real".

So, I'm actually looking forward to this next one (there was no class this past Monday because of the 4th of July holiday)...after I report to jury duty that is!