Birthing Class

We went to the birthing class on Saturday from 8am until about 3pm (Rob was thrilled that it got out early so he could watch his USC Trojans stomp on their rival UCLA!!).

It was a terrific class that answered a lot of questions we had on the labor and delivery as well as breastfeeding. One of the main pluses found were that I can eat spicy food (if you normally do and I DO!) and drink alcohol when breast feeding. This was my #1 as I have been worried mainly about the spicy food thing (the alcohol thing I have down by now) because I love it! The lactation consultant on site basically said that it's when you introduce new things all of a sudden to your diet that the baby doesn't like your milk. So as long as you continue to eat what you normally do (even if that includes spicy foods) then the baby should be fine with it because he will be born with no expected tastes. And as far as alcohol is concerned basically the new rule (that squashes the whole "pump and dump" thing) is that if you are intoxicated so will be your baby if you nurse him during that time. Other than that your baby should be fine and if you normally drink 1 glass of wine with dinner (and this doesn't intoxicate you) then your baby will be fine with that too. All very interesting.

So - we proceeded to win both of the games played during the class. The 1st was the team (2 couples) who dressed up one of their members 1st in the labor/delivery gown won a thing of pampers (very nice - like a $10 - $15 prize). It was hilarious - we dressed Rob up and all the other teams dressed up female members. Wish I would have had my camera! But, we had a nurse from the hospital on our team, so we were at a slight advantage because she pretty much new exactly how to put the gown on. Oh well - whatever works - it's part of life to learn to use all your available resources! :)

Another highlight was the epidural video . . . it really didn't look as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Maybe it was because I've had like a million IVs (when I was sick a couple of years ago), but all it is really is an IV in your back. Of course, I'm sure the difficult part is staying still during contractions while they insert it. They also taught us relaxation, massage techniques and breathing as well as gave us information on the IV drugs available. I think if I knew for sure I could get an epidural at any time then I would do a wait and see thing and try to deal with the pain through these techniques and IV meds, but if I then wanted an epidural and it was too late that would really suck. SO - although Rob told me that's what he would do (but it's completely up to me)- I think I will stick with most likely the epidural whenever there's a doctor around to administer it. Because my understanding is that someone is not all the time in this little town hospital and it might be better to be safe than sorry! :)

Ok - so the 2nd game . . . a Life Saver is much like your cervix during labor - it gets wider and thinner . . . so the game was to see who could get their Life Saver as thin and wide as possible without breaking it. Rob won hands down! He told me later that he engineered the whole thing in his mind and placed the Saver around his tongue and rotated it as needed (oh my gosh way too much thought!!). But - what can I say mine broke! :) Anyway, we won a Chinese Rice sock - you may have seen these at a spa somewhere around the line. It's a tube sock filled with rice and bath salts. You warm them in the microwave and then place them around your neck for relaxation, etc. I've had one before at a spa it was great. I was so glad we won because I was going to try and make one anyway to use during labor (saved me the trouble!). The other thing I do want to try and make is to put 3 or 4 tennis balls into a tube sock. This feels great on our back for massage. Even just one tennis ball is a nice tool to use for easy massage.


Humm . . . so that's about all I cant think of as far as highlights of the class. Mainly I just wish I had gotten a picture of Rob in the hospital gown with the breasts open, etc. VERY FUNNY!

One other update - I was called by the doctor on Monday about my blood work. I was a nervous wreck thinking it was about my sugar level, but luckily they were just calling to tell me my blood had come back as anemic and that I needed to start taking an iron supplement. This wasn't that big of a deal as my blood had come back anemic back when I was really sick so it wasn't that surprising. I was glad they had realized it and I started taking the supplements right away. Hopefully the little guy will get all the iron he needs now!