Birthing Class

We had our first (of eight!) childbirth class last night. It was okay, but it was pretty long. It starts at 7:30 and lasts until 10 so by the time I got home I was exhausted. The class we are taking is held at the Birth Center where we are having the baby, but is taught by an "outside" person. We decided to take this course because we knew that the woman teaching it would be familiar with the procedures at the birth center. And, it's geared toward people who want to have natural childbirth, which we do. We found out last night that Svea's (the instructor) second child was delivered by one of the midwives at the Birth Center so that's pretty cool. Plus we know at least one other couple who took her class and they said they found her strategies immensely helpful.

HOWEVER, last night was kind of like a trial by fire in some respects. We had a lovely little time getting to know the other couples in the course (there are 4 couples, but only 3 couples were there last night - she said that normally she has 8 couples, but I'm kind of glad that our class is small). Svea took some time to ask us about what we wanted to get out of the course, what our ideal birth would be like, and to give us our packets, etc. We took a nice break and had a snack. AND THEN, we watched a video. My friends, I did not see one birth last night; I saw THREE! One was a home birth, one was a hospital birth, and one was a birth in a birth center. All of them made me equally squeamish. I told Chad that I was glad that it was him who had to watch that in person and not me. HOWEVER, apparently we get to watch more of these videos over the next seven weeks so that it will seem like a normal and natural thing to us. In other words, I'm going to get used to that head mashing through such a small space and the baby looking blue until he or she takes his or her first breath. I know that this is a good thing, but it's kind of hard to watch random women giving birth...not that I'd rather it be someone I know, but still, I'm not quite sure how to take it yet. Just thought I would share. I know you're glad.