Classy.
Last night we went to our first of four childbirth classes through UCSF. We were excited to go but a little nervous because that newborn basics class was such a flop. I’m happy to say that this class is very good so far! The teacher has been a labor and delivery nurse for 15 years and teaching childbirth classes for 8 years. She is very nice and friendly and explains things well. She had lots of visual aids, which were very helpful in understanding whatever she was describing. Last night we introduced ourselves first, and then she talked about some of the mechanics of pregnancy and labor and birth. She went over the stages of labor and when to go to the hospital and that sort of thing. We hauled two pillows and a blanket to the class because the course description said we would need them at every class session, but we didn’t end up using them. We are supposed to bring them again next week though, when we will be learning different birth positions and relaxation techniques. We’ll be glad to sit on the floor or move around or whatever next week because the chairs in the class are very uncomfortable.
We were given a few homework assignments, one of which was “intensity practice” in which we are supposed to do an intense physical exercise every day to help us prepare for the intensity of labor and getting us in the right state of mind for that. The exercise we were given to do is an arm exercise that involves putting your arms straight out to your sides and then slowly lowering them to 45 degrees and raising them back up. Basically, you do this until your muscles are fatigued and then keep doing it a little while more. You take a break for about a minute and then repeat, take another break and repeat once more. I’m not fully understanding what we are supposed to get out of it, but she is going to talk about it more next week. This week, we’re just supposed to do it every day and pay attention to what our inner thoughts are while we are doing it.
She gave us an alternative to the arm thing if we didn’t want to do it, and that is to turn the water to cold at the end of our shower and stand in it for two full seconds, working up to standing in it for ten seconds. This morning at breakfast, Matt reported to me that he did the cold water exercise today! He said it was about as bad as it sounds. I was very surprised and impressed with his dedication.
I’m looking forward to next week’s class and do feel like we will get a lot out of this. I think we’ll feel prepared by knowing what to expect, and I think that will help me get through the pain and intensity of labor.
As for me and the baby, everything is going well. He will be full term in 4 weeks and there are only 7 weeks until my due date. (That also means only 4 more weeks until we get a glimpse of him on ultrasound at my 37-week appointment.) He has been more active than ever for the past few days, and he is definitely growing and filling up the space in there. I can feel his little rear end way up just under my ribs now. Yesterday morning he was really pushing against my ribs, and I tried to push him down a little. He pushed me right back and wouldn’t budge! He is already stubborn like his mom.
