Childbirth Class

This past weekend Justin & I went to prepared childbirth class at St. Pauls - neither one of us was looking forward to it, but as new parents we want to be as prepared as we can be so we sucked it up and went. Unfortunately, it was not any better than we expected.

The first topic of the morning was the stages of labor - while I didn't like listening to it, it wasn't horrible. Then came the dreaded video. We had planned on not watching it, but then when we saw that it was mainly drawings we thought, ok, we can do this. So we're about halfway through with the video on birthing the baby when all of the sudden they switch from drawings to a live birth, showing EVERYTHING. As soon as it was over I looked at Justin and said I am NOT doing THAT. We immediately decided that I would request a C-section. Then, after some discussion comes the video on having a C-section. As soon as it was over I looked at Justin and we both said We are NOT doing THAT! So, the conclusion of that we came to was that some brilliant doctor, somewhere, needs to hurry up and find an alternative way for me to deliver because neither of the 2 current options are acceptable. The rest of the day focused on breast feeding (more graphic videos), and breathing and relaxation. We did learn how to bathe the baby, and also that the baby will need to wear hats the majority of the time since she will be a winter baby.

So, 7 hours later we had officially completed our class and are supposedly "prepared parents." I am not sure if we are any more prepared than we were before we started the class, but we are definitely more freaked out about the actual delivery part. I am hoping to block everything I now know about giving birth out until it is actually time, at which point I will be asking for LOTS of drugs!