Childbirth Prep Class

Saturday was a busy day for Tyler and me. In the morning we headed out to the hospital to take our childbirth prep class. It started off with a bang - walked in to a video of a birth in progress that I wish I had never seen. The video was followed by a presentation where the teacher explained the process of childbirth and how long each of the phases last and ultimately when you should actually go to the hospital. I kept getting stuck on the details and specific numbers she kept throwing out (i.e. - the average labor is about 18-20 hours) but then she kept listing how long each of the stages last and even at the longest intervals her "averages" didn't come close to 18. Especially since she kept saying true labor isn't until you're in the hospital, starting the transition phase. I think her highest estimate was only about 8 hours. And then there was one woman taking the class who was on her 2nd child. She said she went into the hospital at 2 pm and had the baby at around 8 am the next day. The teacher then congratulated her on having had such a short labor (while hers adds up to an average 18 hour labor...) So most of the time she was talking I was busy trying to figure out where her numbers were coming from and why nothing was adding up quite the way she said it did. It was kind of hard for me to concentrate on what she was actually talking about. I kept trying to remind myself it wasn't a math class, but it was still really distracting for me.
But, I did learn the all important "5-1-1." This is when you get to go to the hospital and they will hopefully let you stay and not send you back home. Contractions are about 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, lasting for an hour. She said up until this phase you should be baking cookies and doing things to keep your mind off the contractions. Since I haven't experienced this before I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure I won't be baking cookies to keep my mind off the contractions...but who knows, maybe I'll get a craving for chocolate chips.
During the class we also practiced breathing and positioning techniques. It was probably the most exciting part of the class. I got to bounce on a "birthing ball" while Tyler massaged my back. I had a hard time concentrating on the breathing techniques because it seemed a little odd to practice breathing slowly or quickly without actually feeling any contractions, but hopefully all the practicing will come in handy.
I also thought the positioning and breathing techniques were a little weird to practice because the teacher went on to explain that about 90-95% of births at the Huntington Hospital use epidurals, so we wouldn't actually be able to do any of the positioning techniques and we really wouldn't have much use of the breathing techniques. Maybe she was just trying to convince some of us to hold out on the epidural so we could try out bouncing on the birthing ball instead. It was actually kind of fun--without contractions, mind you.
We had a lunch break in the middle of the class, so Tyler and I walked over to Burger King. They recently started serving sweet potato fries which are actually fairly decent for a fast food burger joint. But, the real excitement was the Coke machine. I could have spent at least an hour playing with it. It had a touch screen were you pick a kind of drink: Sprite, Punch, Lemonade, Coke, Mountain Dew....whatever; and then it brings up several different flavor options: Cherry, Lime, Strawberry, Kiwi, etc. So you can make a Cherry Sprite or pretty much any flavor combination you could think of. Not going to lie, I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately I think all the sugar in my drink gave me a sugar headache which led to a stomach ache. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever had a sugar headache before I was pregnant. It's really kind of disappointing now.
After lunch we made it back to the class where I slept through the first half of another birthing video. Then we practiced more positioning and massage techniques. Then the teacher answered questions until the class was over. All in all, I'm not sure I learned anything other than "5-1-1" but I'm not sure I'll even be patient enough to wait until then before running to the hospital, so I'm not sure how useful that knowledge really is. I think Tyler learned a lot though. So at least one of us got something out of it.
After the class I took a nap and tried to get rid of my headache. Then we went to dinner with the Bentley's and watched Batman in IMax. It was good, but super loud. Tyler really enjoyed it and even asked if we could watch it again. I think one time was enough for me though. I was proud of myself for not having to go to the restroom during the movie though. I thought there was no way I'd be able to make it through a 164 minute movie, but my squished bladder somehow made it.