So, our birth class at Roosevelt Hospital started today. I didn't know what class to take or where to take it, but the Birthing Center has strict guidelines of what has to be covered in your class for it to count as fulfilling their educational prerequisite, so it was just much simpler to go with the one they recommended at their own hospital. It's called Enriched Lamaze and includes 5 3-hour classes, a film night (with movies about vaginal and c-section births), and reunion (where the group comes back with their babies). Today was our first class, but unfortunately Ryoji was away in Chicago on a business trip, so I was like a sad single mom!
It started out good, there were 5 other couples, 3 were due on 12/10, one on 12/1 and one on 12/12 so I was the latest one with our 12/23 due date. Everyone but me was using an OBGYN (not midwives) and no one else mentioned wanting to use the birth center. The teacher is 80 years old and very frank with naughty jokes, haha, but she seems very supportive of natural birth and the only book she recommended for us to read was "Guide to Childbirth" by Ina May Gaskin which is the only one I've actually read - Ina May is like the world's most famous and respected midwife who ran "the Farm" for natural childbirth and living for years and years. So, while I know we'll learn every possibility of birthing and preparation in this class, it's nice to know our teacher is quite on the natural side, helping us to avoid unnecessary interventions and overbearing insensitive care providers.
The class started out terribly, however, when the teacher announced "I have good news and bad news. The good news is you can all have your Saturdays back. The bad news is our class has to switch to Tuesday evenings 6:30-9:30pm". Um WHAT!?!?!! When was this decided and why wasn't I told? That will NOT work for Ryoji, and I will miss at least 1 of the classes and probably be late to several. And now it's likely too late to get into any other good weekend classes at another facility. I sat there fuming for the next few minutes and when she came by me to pass out some papers I told her I think I have to quit and find a different class on the weekend. Well, that was all the resistance she needed to hear I suppose cuz her next announcement was that "Someone can't make Tuesdays, so I guess we'll just stick with Saturdays". I felt really guilty for causing trouble, but later 2 other couples came up to me and said "Thank you - Tuesdays were gonna be tough for us too!". Like, HELLO, of course we're all in a Saturday class because we specifically wanted a Saturday class!! Anyway, problem solved!
The rest of the class was good, not all that informative for me cuz I feel I'm a bit more informed than most first time moms. I've been listening to this podcast for over a year, called "Pregtastic" which is a forum of pregnant women who meet to discuss their weekly "ups and downs" and have special guests to discuss big issues such as epidurals, hypnobirthing, breastfeeding, etc etc etc. It's really fun to listen to, like hanging out with a group of girlfriends, but sooooooo informative and helpful!! I also read Ina May's book, and have done random research. But in today's class we went over the basics of what happens during labor with effacement and dilation and breaking of the water and posterior position etc etc etc. It became quite apparent that many couples were not quite as educated as me. One of the couples had never heard of "mucus plug". REALLY!??! Wow, I was surprised.
We practiced 1 type of breathing she said is good for stage one phase 1 and 2 of labor. Basically deep breath in and breathing out slowly through pursed lips, all the while picturing your "focal point" in your head and messaging your belly. She suggested picturing your baby. I hadn't thought about what I would picture, but when I closed my eyes Ryoji's smiling face & dimple popped into my head, so that was what I went with for today! I felt very very silly practicing this with the group, cuz you can hear everyone breathing, so strange.
We also talked about foods and drinks to avoid during early labor (most kinds of meat, dairy, acidic stuff) and what is good to prepare and have on hand (home made chicken & vegetable broth) and juices. Apparently it's hospital policy that you can't eat during labor (cuz the chance of aspirating if you have to go under general anesthesia), but she said no one goes under general anymore and it's a stupid rule and you should bring your chicken broth and drink it secretly cuz you need your energy! haha!
All in all, it was a good class. I don't think I'll become best friends with anyone in there, which is disappointing, but hopefully we'll learn some helpful techniques and so far she's really bashed anyone who's mentioned birthing being "painful" and saying that all these fears are coming from what we see on TV and they are ridiculous and that birthing can be nice and a good experience. So I'm hoping her class won't be so detrimental to my hypnobabies course, which says that taking a regular birthing course will take away from its ability to re-program your mind to perceive the pressure waves (contractions) of birthing time (labor) as mere pressure or tingling rather than extreme discomfort (pain). Yes... hypnobabies makes up different words for all these things, so funny!
It started out good, there were 5 other couples, 3 were due on 12/10, one on 12/1 and one on 12/12 so I was the latest one with our 12/23 due date. Everyone but me was using an OBGYN (not midwives) and no one else mentioned wanting to use the birth center. The teacher is 80 years old and very frank with naughty jokes, haha, but she seems very supportive of natural birth and the only book she recommended for us to read was "Guide to Childbirth" by Ina May Gaskin which is the only one I've actually read - Ina May is like the world's most famous and respected midwife who ran "the Farm" for natural childbirth and living for years and years. So, while I know we'll learn every possibility of birthing and preparation in this class, it's nice to know our teacher is quite on the natural side, helping us to avoid unnecessary interventions and overbearing insensitive care providers.
The class started out terribly, however, when the teacher announced "I have good news and bad news. The good news is you can all have your Saturdays back. The bad news is our class has to switch to Tuesday evenings 6:30-9:30pm". Um WHAT!?!?!! When was this decided and why wasn't I told? That will NOT work for Ryoji, and I will miss at least 1 of the classes and probably be late to several. And now it's likely too late to get into any other good weekend classes at another facility. I sat there fuming for the next few minutes and when she came by me to pass out some papers I told her I think I have to quit and find a different class on the weekend. Well, that was all the resistance she needed to hear I suppose cuz her next announcement was that "Someone can't make Tuesdays, so I guess we'll just stick with Saturdays". I felt really guilty for causing trouble, but later 2 other couples came up to me and said "Thank you - Tuesdays were gonna be tough for us too!". Like, HELLO, of course we're all in a Saturday class because we specifically wanted a Saturday class!! Anyway, problem solved!
The rest of the class was good, not all that informative for me cuz I feel I'm a bit more informed than most first time moms. I've been listening to this podcast for over a year, called "Pregtastic" which is a forum of pregnant women who meet to discuss their weekly "ups and downs" and have special guests to discuss big issues such as epidurals, hypnobirthing, breastfeeding, etc etc etc. It's really fun to listen to, like hanging out with a group of girlfriends, but sooooooo informative and helpful!! I also read Ina May's book, and have done random research. But in today's class we went over the basics of what happens during labor with effacement and dilation and breaking of the water and posterior position etc etc etc. It became quite apparent that many couples were not quite as educated as me. One of the couples had never heard of "mucus plug". REALLY!??! Wow, I was surprised.
We practiced 1 type of breathing she said is good for stage one phase 1 and 2 of labor. Basically deep breath in and breathing out slowly through pursed lips, all the while picturing your "focal point" in your head and messaging your belly. She suggested picturing your baby. I hadn't thought about what I would picture, but when I closed my eyes Ryoji's smiling face & dimple popped into my head, so that was what I went with for today! I felt very very silly practicing this with the group, cuz you can hear everyone breathing, so strange.
We also talked about foods and drinks to avoid during early labor (most kinds of meat, dairy, acidic stuff) and what is good to prepare and have on hand (home made chicken & vegetable broth) and juices. Apparently it's hospital policy that you can't eat during labor (cuz the chance of aspirating if you have to go under general anesthesia), but she said no one goes under general anymore and it's a stupid rule and you should bring your chicken broth and drink it secretly cuz you need your energy! haha!
All in all, it was a good class. I don't think I'll become best friends with anyone in there, which is disappointing, but hopefully we'll learn some helpful techniques and so far she's really bashed anyone who's mentioned birthing being "painful" and saying that all these fears are coming from what we see on TV and they are ridiculous and that birthing can be nice and a good experience. So I'm hoping her class won't be so detrimental to my hypnobabies course, which says that taking a regular birthing course will take away from its ability to re-program your mind to perceive the pressure waves (contractions) of birthing time (labor) as mere pressure or tingling rather than extreme discomfort (pain). Yes... hypnobabies makes up different words for all these things, so funny!
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