2nd Childbirth Education Class

This past Tuesday night we had our 2nd of 4 childbirth education classes.

Thankfully, it was held at the Birth Center (and not the call room at the Radnor Police Station) so it was a much more relaxed night. Sarah talked about the cycle of tension and fear and how it creates for decreased oxygen, more fatigure and increased lactic acid in your muscles. When you can reamin calm and not tense, you (and the baby) get enough oxygen and less fatigue and don't have the negative effects of the fear/tension cycle which prolong labor. She emphasized the importance of learning how to relax and led us on another guided visualization, this time having us imagine white light every time we breathed in going to different parts of the body. It was very calming. After that, we talked about pain management and she had each couple demonstrate a different pose that could be used during labor. Jim and I got a pretty easy standing up pose with him hugging me from behind and his hands on my belly while I leaned into him and just rocked back and forth. It was a nice one and it's said to be particularly good because it increases Oxytocin, the hormone of love. I'm currently facinated by Oxytocin as it's the hormone that is involved in birth, sex, breastfeeding and get this - sharing a meal with others!! Isn't that amazing? Other positions for labor included one where you sat on a chair and leaned over the back and your partner rubbed your back. Another was very cool where you crossed your arms with your partner while both of you were standing and facing each other and then the woman can drop down into a squat position to use gravity to help out. After the positions, we all watched another movie and while it was overall a pretty good birth movie everyone got a little squeamish at just how long it was taking this woman for her labor. When we asked Sarah about it, she said no, that was pretty normal actually!! Yikes! Good thing we are learning relaxation techniques...

Tomorrow is 33 weeks. Only four more weeks until Sophia is full term! I can't believe it!