So, yesterday Elliott and I had our childbirth class. We had signed up for it back when I was only maybe 12 weeks pregnant because my nurse said to sign up early because the classes tend to fill up fast. Well, we had the choice of participating in a 2 night a week class that lasted for 3 weeks or a full Saturday class from 9 am to 4 pm. We decided it would be easier to attend a Saturday class then maneuver our schedules around and go for 2 nights a week for 3 weeks. Our class was just a basic childbirth class provided by St John Hospital in Detroit, which is where I will be delivering at. I have to say the thing I was most excited about was the tour of the hospital and the thing I was least looking forward to was any type of video we were going to have to watch.
The class was very informative. Obviously, Elliott and I have read up on everything that pertains to pregnancy and childbirth, so there were things that we all ready knew, but it was still nice to get a review of everything. Plus, since there were other couples in the class, it was nice because they sometimes would ask questions that you wouldn't necessarily think of asking. The class also went over hospital policies, which are different at every hospital, so that was good to know. They went over breathing techniques, pain relief options, signs of labor, the stages of labor, and recovery. And of course, they also showed some videos.
They showed a video of a vaginal birth and a video of a c-section. The vaginal birth was not a big deal for me, I could watch it and I was fine. The c-section, on the other hand, was not so nice to watch. I had to close my eyes for seconds at a time so I wouldn't have to endure watching the whole thing...lol. My philosophy is that I'm all ready going to be going through childbirth and knowing what is happening down there, I don't need to see it happen on someone else. And I know Elliott whole-heartily agrees with me, since he was watching it with one eye open and one eye closed and a hand that would periodically cover the open eye...lol. I have to say, after watching those videos, I thought to myself..."Do I really have to give birth, can't Ethan just one day miraculously show up in his crib and that be it?" Obviously, thinking back on it, of course I'm scared of childbirth because I've never experienced it before, but I know in the long run I will be grateful I went through it because it will be such a profound moment in our lives and a bonding experience for Elliott, Ethan, and me.
The last part of our class was the tour of St John's birthing unit. They have 31 birthing rooms, which are all private and very spacious. That's were I'll be during all the laboring and the actual delivery (other than a c-section....they have operating rooms for that). Then they have 17 postpartum rooms, which are also private but a little smaller. And that's were I'll be after Ethan's born for our recovery in the hospital. We got to see where we sign in, a birthing room, a postpartum room, we walked by the nursery, and saw where the NICU was and I think that was it.
All-in-all, I'm really glad we signed up for the class. It gave us a look at everything, even if we'd heard it before,... it was a nice refresher. Plus, there was alot of things that we hadn't known about before, so it was nice to hear about those things. My favorite part of the class was obviously the tour of the hospital, since I was so looking forward to it. It let us know where we would be going and it actually made everything more real. Another favorite was actually the breathing techniques. It showed you how to focus in on something else other than the contractions, which is supposedly a big thing in order to get through the pain. Plus, Elliott was such a good encourager... I know he'll be great when the time actually comes! Elliott even enjoyed the class and even suggested that we could go to the 2 hour breast feeding class together.
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