Childbirth Education Class - Part 2

We've completed the class and I have about 5 weeks to review the excellent handouts and my notes in order to digest the info and practice relaxation techniques and breathing patterns before it's show time.

During the 3rd class, the teacher talked about the 2nd and 3rd stages of labor. The 2nd stage is pushing, so she showed us many good pushing positions and explained how it all works and how you are supposed to breathe then. She informed us that the groaning/grunting sounds a woman may make during the pushing actually helps by relaxing her bottom area, which makes it easier for the baby to move down and then out. I found that very interesting. The 3rd stage is delivery of the placenta. We watched a birth on video and it actually showed the 3rd stage too and I was shocked at how large the placenta was. I recently learned that the doctor puts it in a bucket thing and examines it to make sure it's all there...oh my, what a job!

During the 4th class, we went on a tour of the Women's Pavilion. It's a facility separate from--but attached to--the hospital where all the labor/delivery/recovery takes place (even with c-sections). It is a fairly new place so everything is so nice there. My teacher's boss is in the class with his wife and she wanted to get him back for all the teasing he dishes out to her at work. She brought her digital camera and had one of the guys secretly take pictures of her boss throughout the tour. She wanted to get him in as many different positions as possible (standing alone, standing close to his wife, his profile, him picking his nose or yawning, etc). Only the few of us that made it to class a few minutes early were in on the joke so it added a great element to the tour. When she was showing us a labor/delivery room she called him forward to help her demonstrate the good birthing positions. She even had him put a hospital gown on. Now this guy is a big and tall guy and watching him lie in the birthing bed or squat while leaning against the bed was hilarious (especially because we knew she was doing all that to get back at him).

I was pleased to hear and see that there is a jacuzzi tub in each labor/delivery room so I can labor in the water. I hear that it helps a lot. I was also pleased to hear that they encourage rooming in of the baby after she's born so they don't have a baby nursery. The security there is really good and the baby never has to leave our sight once she's born if that's what we want. If they need to check on her at the nurse's station or somewhere other than our room, Craig can go with her. Each room has a mirror that can be set up so the women can see their baby being born if they'd like. Sometimes it helps for a woman to see her baby's head via the mirror move closer to the exit when she's pushing (like if she's had an epidural and can't feel what's going on and has trouble knowing how to push). The rooms have wireless internet and a TV with DVD player--sweet!

During the 5th and final class, the teacher talked about unexpected outcomes, postpartum care, and feeding the baby, etc. After class started, the couple with the earliest due date arrived with their newborn. She was induced the day after the hospital tour (a week after her due date) and after much laboring ended up having a c-section. We were shocked to see her out and about running errands 5 days after having a c-section...she was doing so well. Seeing her newborn and hearing that 2 other couples had their babies that week (both 3 weeks early!) was a reality check for the rest of us. Craig really felt scared upon seeing such a tiny baby and knowing that soon we will have one.

A class reunion will be planned for this summer so we can all reconnect and see each other's babies.

It was nice taking a class that was offered through the doctors' office because the teacher has worked with and knows the doctors well. She answered many questions I had for my doctor so I didn't have to wait until my next appointment to ask him. The class met in the lobby of the doctors' office--which is attached to the other side of the hospital that the Women's Pavilion is on--so it's handy having everything right there.