Let me give it to you straight.
I’ll be honest with you, my friends. I’m not feeling quite as great as I have been up until now in this pregnancy. I’m generally aching somewhere most of the time, like my feet or hips or back. Baby Gleeson has gotten very big, and he likes to push himself under my right ribs, which isn’t very comfortable. I feel really tired like I can hardly keep my eyes open a lot of the time. I get heartburn pretty frequently, but that one is no big deal because it goes away with Tums at this point. Possibly my biggest complaint is that I feel very fat and have outgrown most of my maternity clothes. So, in addition to feeling physically uncomfortable, I also feel dumpy on top of it. Of course I would do it all again and know it is all worth it for this baby on the way, but I have to admit that I will be glad for pregnancy to be over at this point.
Enough whining. I have real information to share. We went to our second childbirth class last night, and it was enjoyable. I feel like I am getting so much out of every class. Last night we started out talking about the pain of labor like what makes it painful, what to expect, how to deal, etc. For me, my biggest fear is not of the actual labor but of the delivery. All that pushing and stretching and tearing scares the hell out of me. I fessed up about this in class, and our teacher really helped to alleviate my fears, which I am grateful for. She said that women generally tolerate pushing much, much better than contractions and that it is not really painful. She mentioned the dreaded “ring of fire,” which is the burning sensation that a woman feels when the widest part of the baby’s head is being delivered. This was a biggie fear for me. She said that, yes, it burns, but it lasts about 30 or 45 seconds and then it’s over. I’m sure that will be an extremely uncomfortable 30 seconds, but knowing how short lived it is makes me feel like I can do it. I asked about tearing, and she said that there is so much stretching going on and such diminished blood flow that women don’t even feel it if tearing does happen. This seems impossible to me, but I’ve heard other people say the same thing and will just have to believe that it is true.
So, after she talked about all that, we then practiced different positions we can use during contractions to help with relaxation and to ease the discomfort. I didn’t really like any of the positions she showed us, but we have even more in our book, so I’m sure there’s something in there that I’ll like. I expect to spend a large amount of the time in the bathtub, but we’ll see how I feel when the time comes.
Then, the big moment came of watching a video of a woman’s labor and delivery. I was feeling worried that it would traumatize me forever, but it really wasn’t that scary and actually made me feel better about the whole process. Basically, the more classes we go to the more comfortable and prepared I feel, which is great.
As a side note, let me give props to the delicious Mediterranean restaurant, The King of Falafel, where we have been eating dinner before our classes. This place makes a mean shawarma or falafel sandwich. It’s on Divisadero at Bush, and I would highly recommend it if you’re in the neighborhood. I can’t wait to get another falafel sandwich before next Tuesday’s class!
