This past weekend Jim and I had our childbirth class and hospital tour. The class we took was the "Short and Sweet" version of our hospital's week night class. We chose the weekend version because with Jim's schedule, he would end up having to miss a lot of the sessions if we had to go two nights a week for several weeks. And I wanted him there for all of it, of course! I was so excited about the tour but kind of nervous for the class part. I was just kind of worried that all of the information would scare me about labor and delivery.
But the complete opposite happened!
I AM SO EXCITED!!
Call me crazy, but talking about what my body is going to go through to get our baby boy into our arms was so cool. Learning about the stages of labor and how it will progress (even though I'm sure it won't go by the textbook) was really interesting.
On Sunday the instructor had stations set up all around the room for us to practice each of the positions that women find helpful during labor. We practiced the different breathing techniques and acted out as though we were having a minute long contraction at each station. I would be lying if I said that Jim was mature and serious this whole time. And I would have been surprised if he had been! Oh my goodness that boy wouldn't let me do the "Hee Hee Hoo" breathing without making owl noises back at me after the "Hoo". And if he's cracking jokes like that while I'm in labor, I'm sure it will either bring me some comic relief that I seriously need...or I will smack him.
One of the two. I'm not sure which.
But seriously, Jim was AMAZING in class. He actually would answer questions (which, for him is HUGE...he doesn't do talking to strangers) and I could tell he was really paying attention. He was such an awesome support person during every practice minute of labor, even if he was cracking jokes to make me laugh. He would massage my back and try his best to practice encourage me, without laughing at my strange breathing and awkward body position. It made me realize just how amazing having him by my side while I'm giving birth to our son will be. It's going to bring us even closer together and I know there is no way that I could do it without him there to comfort me.
I also completely changed my birth plan over the weekend. Going into the class, the plan was to go to the hospital almost as soon as contractions started and to say "EPIDURAL!!!" before they even knew my name. I wanted to feel nothing. But after learning about how epidurals can actually slow labor and therefore increase your chances of needing a C section, I've modified my plan. Now, the plan is to labor at home for as long as I can, the instructor said until my contractions are about 5 minutes apart and lasting for about a minute and they have been like that for abut an hour. Now I have no clue what my contractions or labor will be like, so we'll just go to the hospital when I say so ;) And I'm not saying I'm going to be going completely without an epidural, because again, I have no clue what contractions will feel like and how my body will handle the pain. But, my plan is to now go as long as I can without one. I don't like the idea of not being in control of my body. I don't want to just lay in bed and wait on my body to get ready for pushing. I want to be able to use some of the comfort positions we learned and to be able to move around. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of laying in my hospital bed hooked up to all these machines for hours on end. I want to do whatever I can to get baby boy into our arms as soon as possible, and even the thought of just laying there and waiting drives me insane.
So, if I get an epidural farther into labor, so be it. And if I give birth without having one at all, that's cool with me. Basically, my birth plan is to try and be flexible. I have no clue what my labor will be like. I've never felt full blown contractions before. So I have a tentative plan that I am very confident in, but I'm willing to modify it if the pain gets too unbearable or the doctors think it would be in our best interest. I must say though, the thought of giving birth naturally is very empowering and I'm kind of anxious to see if I could do it. I guess we'll find out in a few short weeks.
XOXO,
Courtney
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