Week 17: Birthing classes

Note: Weeks 16-20 are being posted during week 21 due to life and computer problems getting in the way! Sorry for the delay!________________________________________________________________

So, my sister is a nurse and while she is not working in the maternity floor, she used to work in the women's health center at our local hospital where she would help with women heart education/stuff and mommy/baby stuff. (side note: it's amazing the difference between women and men with their hearts!!! Be educated as a women about heart disease and how it shows up in women!) So, while she has not been pregnant (and honesty annoys me many times with comments she makes - the joys of being pregnant and all of a sudden understanding SO many things!), she does have a very good idea about pregnancy, babies and the education classes.

So, I have been starting to look at the classes offered through the hospital I will be delivering at (I love these programs!!!) and they pretty much have the basic classes:

* Childbirth Preparation A four-week course that provides you and your support person with information on pregnancy, labor, birth, relaxation techniques and the early postpartum period. Other discussion topics include medication, anesthesia and Cesarean birth.

*Childbirth Express Ideal for the busy couple, this condensed six-hour course covers pregnancy, labor, birth, medications, anesthesia, and the role of the support person. Learn basic tips for managing labor to practice on your own.

*Maternity Tours See where you and your baby will stay during this visit to Labor, Delivery and Recovery, the Nursery, and Postpartum Unit; offered for adults only. (ok, not a class, but in that grouping)

*Baby Care One session class for expectant or adopting parents. Information on what to expect from baby, feeding, bathing, diapering, sleeping, crying, illness, and safety.

*Breastfeeding for Success Prepare for a successful, rewarding breastfeeding experience. Coaches encouraged to attend.

So - I will do the maternity tour and I think the Baby Care and Breastfeeding classes would be good too, although looking at cost, maybe just the Baby Care for now and see about a consultant and my mom when baby comes. But, the main thing that everyone talks about this the Childbirth Preparation classes.

So, me being the busy person I am (!), I would probably want to do the condensed version. I hate to be very self-centered like this, because should I want to spend the time to learn everything well, but I just don't see me sitting through 4 sessions. Also, I don't expect my husband to come to these classes. I don't want him in the room while I give birth (just my preference, I think it's great when fathers are in there, but I'm not feeling it) and it would nice for him to know what's going on, but I've been down that road before and it doesn't get to far. :)

Also, I'm not sure about these classes because I always hear from people that they forget everything they were told from these classes and follow what the nurse tells them to do during labor. I'm not sure if I want to be around people who probably range from not knowing ANYTHING about children, babies, their bodies, labor, pregnancy to those SUPER excited about the pregnancy and probably with an idea of things will be all cheerful and rosy and such. It's fine for them, but I'm not sure I want to be around them.

So, I asked my mom and sister what they thought and kinda' felt it out on Twitter. But, my sister is pretty familiar with the classes and me and said, "I don't think you should go. I think the people in the class would annoy you too much." !!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought that was really funny, but actually made me feel better because, as much as I want to know EVERYTHING about what is going on, it made me feel better to hear someone say I didn't HAVE to go. She went on that I can read as much as I want to about labor and everything leading up to it online, watch videos, ask people and - when it comes down to it - it's the nurses' job to let me know what is going on and help me through the process. Of course, I'm going to ask my mom about her techniques (see my last post on THAT; she only thinks you need to know how to breathe), but I'm feeling ok not taking the labor class.

... the baby classes I think would be good to take. I mean, the baby is going to come out of my one way or the other (yes, my knowledge can help with comfort so I am going to read up on EVERYTHING), but I need more guidance in the 'after' parts of birthing.

Other Stuff:

* I'm waking up (and alert) at 7 am. Why is my body preparing me for the baby's schedule NOW?! Can't it wait another few months?!!!

* Starting to pee more frequently (didn't really have this in first trimester)

Week 15: Labor stories

lol - check out this cartoon: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/l/labor_wards.asp

So, I have been meaning to write about this for a bit; those who are following me on twitter may have also seen a few tweets about this.

I finally talked to my mom the other day for more details about how labor was for her. As in - how much does it actually hurt/what does it feel like? I still think that it's going to be one of those things that you have to experience for your own - I still don't feel like I know what it's going to be like too well. (of course, part of my problem may be that I always 'defined' my pain in categories due to sport injuries and so I probably have a different way of going about pain than other people! lol)

But, also - people don't often say too much about the pain. I mean, they say it does hurt (and open their eyes really big to get that point across), but at the same time, they then focus on the pushing and how tired you can get... So, the pain is not as bad as the exhaustion? And I would think that anyways you are super uncomfortable... the baby is in your pelvic area, your legs are wide apart when pushing, your breathing is off - it just seems very uncomfortable!!! ;)

Going back to my mom though - let me know share what her history was in birthing the 3 of us kids. Mind you, it's really sounding like the doctor didn't tell her much of what was going on... the last 2 births seem better, but she does say that the first doctor kept telling her during the entire pregnancy that she was doing everything wrong (don't eat ice cream, don't drive... ok, how do I get to your office? lol) and that the hospital was pretty industrial and not personal at all for delivery.

My older brother was the first one born and my mom says that she was in labor with him for 2 hours. That's it!!! He was also about 19 days early, although it sounds like the delivery estimates weren't as actuate in 1978 since they didn't use ultrasound that much. (my mom is LOVING my ultrasound pictures) Anyways, she said that they did the whole 'push, push!" thing, that they had her laying down (thank GOODNESS they don't do THAT anymore!), and that she got a pain shot (I'm unclear if it was an epi, she says it was) in her back. Now - she also says that the shot was given and about 5 minutes later she gave birth! She said if she knew that, she would have gone straight through with the delivery since it was only a bit longer. With it being her first birth, the main thing for her was that you don't really know what's going on and so it's kinda' scary.

... But, with births 2 and 3, she knew that she wasn't going to, well, die - and so that made it better for her. Also, my birth and my younger sister were also pretty quick: I was born in 45 minutes (15 minutes after she got to the hospital, 30 minutes after her water broke), and my sister was born in 3 hours or so. (my sister was the largest out of the 3 of us) The main thing that she says from us is that she really didn't need to 'push.' She says that if she pushed when they told her to, she felt that she would be going counter to what her body was telling her. She also says that the muscles were pretty much just doing the job... I guess if it's so short like that, they really do have a mind of their own!!!

I find her birthing stories really interesting (or course- it has me in them!), but I don't know if it's an indication of how my own labor will be. Other factors that I'm sure can contribute: 1. my grandma wasn't fast with her labor, although she was 38 and 40 when she had her 2 kids... apparently at some point the nurse told her that she just wasn't trying and needed to get serious - how rude! ;) 2. My mom was younger than me with her births, I think 23 with my brother 25 with me and 27 with my sister. I'm going to be 29 when I give birth to my first...

I get worried about her fast delivery because my delivery hospital is about 20 minutes away with no traffic, but there is a very good chance that I would hit traffic and/or ice/snow considering I'm expected to deliver in Feb!!! So, I'm probably going to be very paranoid about going into labor in case it's super fast! :) My mom joked that I should rent a room closer to the hospital.

I still have plenty of time to discuss delivery with my doctor (we haven't touched on it at all yet), but please share your birthing stories and if you think that family history does make a difference or not. Also, although I don't think this would help if it's super fast, I heard that having an epi can delay how long the labor is... any thoughts on this?

84% of Pregnant Women Get Back Pain Relief From Chiropractic

Here is a little gem of a study for those of you contemplating chiropractic treatment for your back pain or sciatica.

In a recent study 84% of patients receiving chiropractic manipulation reported relief of back pain during pregnancy. There was significantly less likelihood of back labor when spinal manipulative therapy was administered during pregnancy. ("Back pain during pregnancy and labor". Diakow PR, et al. Journal of Manipulative and Physiologic Therapeutics, 1991: 14(2): 116-118.)

Not only does chiropractic treatment bring relief of symptoms it also reduces the chance of "back labor" which as many of you know can be rather painful. Chiropractic is safe and effective and can help you feel better now and keep you from pain later.