Childbirth Class #1

Tonight began our childbirth classes at Community North! We have four to attend each Monday in January. Luke, unfortunately, was not able to come with me tonight because he is working at the ER at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital (he is to CALL ME IMMEDIATELY if he spots #18 in person) for his pediatric ER rotation. He won't be home until 4 a.m. :-( But anyway, he couldn't come, so Elizabeth stepped up and offered to come with me.

We walked into a room full of pregnant women and their baby daddies, and I know they all thought we were lovers. We laughed through the awkwardness until we could introduce ourselves and her title of sister-in-law. The first session was extremely informative (maybe too informative, too soon). They covered everything from the parts of the body to how to tell if you're in labor and when to call the doctor to all the stages of labor. We even watched a birth video (nothing too graphic). The teacher had all the typical dolls and pelvis models to show how the heck a baby is supposed to fit through your pelvic bones. Yipes!

The next session will be about relaxation techniques during labor, and then the third session will be a trip to the maternity ward to visit the rooms, and then lastly the final session will be about recovering after the baby. The teacher was really knowledgeable and tried to lighten things up with some humor. I am really glad E went with me because otherwise I would have been the only one there without a partner.

The only downfall of the experience was sizing myself up against all the other prego ladies. It's hard to take when a woman who says she is due one day after me is literally smaller than what I was at my skinniest this summer. Her baby bump looked like one extra roll from Texas Roadhouse, and she asked really obnoxious questions that drew all kinds of attention toward her. For example, she said that she got horrible back pain, especially after she would go for a run. OK...you are almost 30 weeks pregnant, and you are still running? Show off. She also wanted to know if there was a way to decide if her pelvis was going to be big enough to give birth. Please-- give me a break!

I would say most of the women were due pretty far ahead of me and were noticeably smaller in the belly area. I am not sure why I developed this buddha belly so quickly, but I am loving it and I think the baby appreciates the extra space.

So, big thanks to E for helping me out tonight and providing a few laughs (as always). We will never look at life savors the same, will we? :-)

In other news, we are really working hard in the nursery, and it looks like a real baby's room. I will post some pictures soon!