I had my first childbirth class with the ex last night. Before the class, I was kind of nervous. I mean, come on, in a few weeks I’m going to push another human being out of my body! Up till now I’ve been concentrating on raising the baby (which ironically most people find scarier than childbirth) and my worries have been focused on the lack of sleep I’ll have and worries about being a good mother. Those are definitely valid worries, but I feel like I’ll have a good support system and although it won’t be easy, it’s definitely doable.
But now I’m going to a class where the whole focus is on getting this baby out of my body and into my arms! No matter how much support and help I have, it’s still up to me to do most of the hard work. I don’t know exactly why I’m so nervous. Literally, the only friends of mine who haven’t given birth will be giving birth within a year of me. If they can do it so can I…right?
But after class I felt much better about the whole thing. My favorite midwife is teaching the class. She’s really great at breaking things down and making them understandable. She talks a lot, but it’s all very useful information.
The first part of the class she was explaining how pregnancy affects your body. Although we really could’ve used most of that information earlier in pregnancy, it was still interesting and made me understand a litle more what’s been going on with my body. She also talked a lot about nutrition, which kind of made me feel like I’ve been eating horribly (and I’ve probably eaten better than most) but there’s not much I can do about that at this point other than eating better from this point on.
Finally we started talking about labor. I thought back to when my best friend gave birth when I was 16 or 17, and the stages seemed familiar with what I remembered. I think it helps me to understand what is going to happen, so when I’m going through the rough part, maybe I can at least look to the next stage.
We practiced some breathing exercises. The ex and the baby conspired to keep me laughing! I’d be exhaling, and the ex would make a face at me and I’d start laughing. At first part of me thought he should take this more seriously, but then again, maybe laughing through labor will be a good thing. But when he wasn’t making me laugh, the baby was kicking me. I’d be in deep concentration, focusing on my breathing and feel the little tap of her feet! Looks like I’ve got a little prankster that takes after her Daddy.
The thing that made me really happy was that progressive relaxation is supposed to really help. I’m GREAT at progressive relaxation. I learned progressive relaxation in a high school psychology course and used it again when I had anxiety and depression problems. I used the technique to get to sleep many nights. So I can DEFINITELY do that part. What’s different is that I’ve never done relaxation with a baby in my belly. I’ve always had to make sure that I went to the bathroom first because otherwise I get to the point where I relax my pelvic muscles and my bladder relaxes too and I GOTTA GO!!! That was BEFORE PREGNANCY. Now I’ve got that same problem only with a little girl sitting on my bladder. Also, when I get relaxed, she decides it’s time to play! “Oooooohhhh, it’s all quiet and peaceful in here! Time to practice my gymnastics!!! Mommy, I’m doing a flip!”
So I guess the main thing I have to learn is how to concentrate on breathing and relaxing without letting the jokers distract me.
