Per usual, I have several posts missing, like the first swim of the season, Aggie baseball game, Timmy's baptism, and nursery updates (shelves especially!). Oh well. They're coming. Eventually :)
This past weekend Bryan & I were signed up for the 10hours in a weekend birthing class through our birthing center, Nativiti. A doula, Megan, (pronounced with a long e) was the one that taught the class. Overall reaction = it was great! I hadn't met her before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but she was wonderful and *VERY* enthusiastic about labor and delivery.
On Saturday we attended from 10am-4pm, with an hour break for lunch. Because it's an incredibly small world, there was only one other couple taking it the same weekend we were (which was actually really nice for topics like these), and we KNEW the girl! She was the other senior transfer into Concordia the year I transferred. We didn't really know her, but we did recognize her and know her name. Loren & Chad were a fun couple to take the class with. They are due a week after us, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of them. We love making new couple friends!
In the morning we learned about the different stages of labor, and what to expect in each one. This was really good information for me, because I've been slightly paranoid about when exactly am I supposed to go to the birthing center? What if I don't know I'm in real labor instead of all these supposed *fake* contractions I've been having? I now have a much better idea of how to time contractions, and how to tell if labor is progressing or if I'm still just having Braxton Hicks. I think Bryan was relieved to have a better understanding of this as well.
We also started practicing "breathing through contractions" in the morning. To make our "contractions" feel more real (since we weren't having any, obviously), we would hold a handful of ice for 60 seconds, which is about as long as the average contraction during stage 2, active labor, when most soon-to-be-mommies get tired of the pain. I'm not gonna lie, the first time we did this it was NOT hard for me at all because I was having a hot flash anyway. The ice felt spectacular. I even thought about dumping the entire bucket of ice down my shirt. I felt kind of bad because that defeated the purpose, but I still practiced breathing correctly! When we did this some more in the afternoon and on Sunday I realized that it was a little harder than it looks when you don't feel like you're sitting in a furnace. We didn't do the "hee hee, oo, oo" breathing like you see in lamaze videos, but it was slow and cyclical and it actually really is relaxing if you forget you're kind of embarrassed to be doing it. (We got over our embarrassment pretty quickly.)
A bite of lunch and we're back! The afternoon was brilliant. We focused on relaxation and comforting measures. This was the part the husbands really had to zone into, and Bryan was a champ. He really does deserve some serious respect for paying such close attention and trying really hard to master the techniques we were taught - including breathing, massage, positioning (standing & on a birthing ball) and different ways to help when I'm in the water. We practiced each one several times with and without the ice until the guys got the hang of it. Since I obviously won't be using any pain medications at the birthing center, I thought this was a really important part of the class. We both need to know what may or may not help! My Mom will probably be there too, and I'm sure Bryan will show her some of the different comfort techniques when his hands start to kill him :) We finished by watching an 80s movie on comfort techniques to reinforce what we learned.
As soon as we left for the evening, Bryan pulled into HEB & Walmart and bought Red Raspberry Leaf Tea which is supposed to help women in their last 6 or so weeks relax their uterus/cervix. I guess liquid labor prep? :) And then he bought us an exercise ball which doubles really well for a birthing ball. And that night he suggested we try all of the different techniques again to reinforce what we'd learned earlier.... Except I refused to continue holding ice. Burr. The dogs thought we were nuts :)
The next morning we skipped church because I think if we're all honest we don't expect us to get up and go to the 8am service (it's just not gonna happen), and we had to be back at the class by 10am, and the next service wasn't until 9:30, so we'd show up and have to leave 5 minutes later to get to the class on time. Oh well.
The morning focused on breathing & practicing comfort measures through iced-contractions, as well as learning a few more. We also talked about the actual birth part - the pushing and delivery. All those contractions are supposed to lead somewhere, right? We got into different pushing positions and she showed us better ways to breath and prep for that part of the delivery process. I'm thinking by that point most women are just thinking, "get the baby out!!"
Lunch break (I LOVE the tortilla soup from Salt Grass!), and then back at it. This class moved surprisingly quickly. The only time I found myself getting sleepy was during the 30 minute video we watched right after getting back from lunch. After the video we talked about what worries/concerns have been lurking in the backs of our mind and did a pretty cool visualization/art deal that I thought sounded stupid, but ended up really good for both Bryan & I. I don't think either of us was truly aware of what major concerns the other had but was shy about discussing. Then we talked about postpartum - what happens once the baby's born in those 4-6 hours we stay at the birthing center post-delivery, and then what happens once we take the baby home. Those were two really good questions we needed answered :) We also talked about birth plans and pediatricians.
Sorry for the blow by blow, but it was a really good class! And if you're looking to deliver your baby in the Houston area, whether you want an un-medicated water birth or not, I would recommend this class to others! I think I'm going to attend the 2 hour breastfeeding class before the tiny one is born as well. We touched on it during the class, but I'm a the-more-information-the-better kinda gal, and think that would be good.
Hopefully we retain what we learned!
This past weekend Bryan & I were signed up for the 10hours in a weekend birthing class through our birthing center, Nativiti. A doula, Megan, (pronounced with a long e) was the one that taught the class. Overall reaction = it was great! I hadn't met her before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but she was wonderful and *VERY* enthusiastic about labor and delivery.
On Saturday we attended from 10am-4pm, with an hour break for lunch. Because it's an incredibly small world, there was only one other couple taking it the same weekend we were (which was actually really nice for topics like these), and we KNEW the girl! She was the other senior transfer into Concordia the year I transferred. We didn't really know her, but we did recognize her and know her name. Loren & Chad were a fun couple to take the class with. They are due a week after us, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of them. We love making new couple friends!
In the morning we learned about the different stages of labor, and what to expect in each one. This was really good information for me, because I've been slightly paranoid about when exactly am I supposed to go to the birthing center? What if I don't know I'm in real labor instead of all these supposed *fake* contractions I've been having? I now have a much better idea of how to time contractions, and how to tell if labor is progressing or if I'm still just having Braxton Hicks. I think Bryan was relieved to have a better understanding of this as well.
We also started practicing "breathing through contractions" in the morning. To make our "contractions" feel more real (since we weren't having any, obviously), we would hold a handful of ice for 60 seconds, which is about as long as the average contraction during stage 2, active labor, when most soon-to-be-mommies get tired of the pain. I'm not gonna lie, the first time we did this it was NOT hard for me at all because I was having a hot flash anyway. The ice felt spectacular. I even thought about dumping the entire bucket of ice down my shirt. I felt kind of bad because that defeated the purpose, but I still practiced breathing correctly! When we did this some more in the afternoon and on Sunday I realized that it was a little harder than it looks when you don't feel like you're sitting in a furnace. We didn't do the "hee hee, oo, oo" breathing like you see in lamaze videos, but it was slow and cyclical and it actually really is relaxing if you forget you're kind of embarrassed to be doing it. (We got over our embarrassment pretty quickly.)
A bite of lunch and we're back! The afternoon was brilliant. We focused on relaxation and comforting measures. This was the part the husbands really had to zone into, and Bryan was a champ. He really does deserve some serious respect for paying such close attention and trying really hard to master the techniques we were taught - including breathing, massage, positioning (standing & on a birthing ball) and different ways to help when I'm in the water. We practiced each one several times with and without the ice until the guys got the hang of it. Since I obviously won't be using any pain medications at the birthing center, I thought this was a really important part of the class. We both need to know what may or may not help! My Mom will probably be there too, and I'm sure Bryan will show her some of the different comfort techniques when his hands start to kill him :) We finished by watching an 80s movie on comfort techniques to reinforce what we learned.
As soon as we left for the evening, Bryan pulled into HEB & Walmart and bought Red Raspberry Leaf Tea which is supposed to help women in their last 6 or so weeks relax their uterus/cervix. I guess liquid labor prep? :) And then he bought us an exercise ball which doubles really well for a birthing ball. And that night he suggested we try all of the different techniques again to reinforce what we'd learned earlier.... Except I refused to continue holding ice. Burr. The dogs thought we were nuts :)
The next morning we skipped church because I think if we're all honest we don't expect us to get up and go to the 8am service (it's just not gonna happen), and we had to be back at the class by 10am, and the next service wasn't until 9:30, so we'd show up and have to leave 5 minutes later to get to the class on time. Oh well.
The morning focused on breathing & practicing comfort measures through iced-contractions, as well as learning a few more. We also talked about the actual birth part - the pushing and delivery. All those contractions are supposed to lead somewhere, right? We got into different pushing positions and she showed us better ways to breath and prep for that part of the delivery process. I'm thinking by that point most women are just thinking, "get the baby out!!"
Lunch break (I LOVE the tortilla soup from Salt Grass!), and then back at it. This class moved surprisingly quickly. The only time I found myself getting sleepy was during the 30 minute video we watched right after getting back from lunch. After the video we talked about what worries/concerns have been lurking in the backs of our mind and did a pretty cool visualization/art deal that I thought sounded stupid, but ended up really good for both Bryan & I. I don't think either of us was truly aware of what major concerns the other had but was shy about discussing. Then we talked about postpartum - what happens once the baby's born in those 4-6 hours we stay at the birthing center post-delivery, and then what happens once we take the baby home. Those were two really good questions we needed answered :) We also talked about birth plans and pediatricians.
Sorry for the blow by blow, but it was a really good class! And if you're looking to deliver your baby in the Houston area, whether you want an un-medicated water birth or not, I would recommend this class to others! I think I'm going to attend the 2 hour breastfeeding class before the tiny one is born as well. We touched on it during the class, but I'm a the-more-information-the-better kinda gal, and think that would be good.
Hopefully we retain what we learned!
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