Childbirth Prep Class #2

On Sunday we had our second Baby Class. Carl couldn't come with me, though, because of the big boat show going on, but I went by myself and took really great mental notes. In this class, we got to see the epidural needle (WAY smaller than I was expecting!!!) plus a couple of the internal moniters that some women have to have. We watched another birth video which didn't scare me at all and we "practiced" contractions. I looked especially stupid since my "coach" wasn't there, but I didn't want to be a party-pooper, so I participated.

The part of the class that I was most interested in was the part when we talked about the different options in pain medication. Call me a hippie if you want, but I really want to try to do this naturally because of all the possible side effects of the drugs. Now that being said, I'm not against meds, so I wanted to educate myself about the different kinds out there. I really don't like the idea of the epidural because it prevents you from moving around and in many cases, it slows the labor down. Plus, the very slim chance that it can cause temporary or permanant paralysis really scares me. I think, if anything, I'll stick to the IV drugs that last 2-4 hours. I'm not sure why this seems more appealing to me, but it does for some reason. We will see, though, I want to go into this open-minded and prepared for anything.

Next class, we talk about c-sections, birth plans, more breathing and visualization techniques and we get to tour the Birthing Center!