Childbirth Classes

This weekend we took two 6-hour installments of a childbirthing class at the hospital where we will deliver.  (And this was the abbreviated version!)  The classes were ultra-informative and we both left feeling very glad that we'd taken them.

Joe kept me laughing to whole time (as usual).  From nipple quips to funny, idiosyncratic breathing 'techniques'  - never a dull moment with this guy!

Here are some mini stories accompanied with pictures (sorry for the quality!):

Believe it or not, Joe was the king of swaddling!  He  was excellent at wrapping the fake baby into a perfect burrito   As seen above, he is practicing Kangaroo care and bouncing with the fake baby.

Baby looked drugged!  So...I have to admit, I was definitely not as good at swaddling than Joe.  However, I had down the burping actions.  Fascinating, I know.

View from the room we were in!  Found myself distracted by the view but noticed that Joe was enthralled by the content of the course!  He ate up all the advice during the class.  With the exception of the birthing video.... I thought he was going to puke!

During an exercise, they had us draw the scene of baby's birth.  This is Joe and I's collaborative drawing.  Things I want to point out that Joe included: himself standing by the bed holding ice chips and honey sticks.  He put a dialogue bubble with him blabbing.  Then he drew his (VERY SMALL) man chair that converts into a bed.  The flat screen tv (very important).  The other thing he put in there was a feeding tube into my mouth. HAHAHA.  I had to explain to him that a.) I can't eat during labor and b.) I will not lose the use of my stomach during labor.

I wish I had a picture of Joe's actual face.  However, while performing the above positions with our partners, Joe had to perform pressure points on my hands for a pain relief exercise.  The result was him making me laugh SO HARD at the faces he was making and the ridiculous 'hoo hoo heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' breathing noises he was making.  I couldn't take the exercises seriously because I had the world's goofiest birthing partner :)

In all - the classes were a great success.  I'm still terrified but there is something empowering about knowing all of the options/scenarios and being educated on them.  I can't really imagine if Joe wouldn't have taken this class.  He said after watching the birthing video 'well...... I'm going to toughen up FAST'.  True.  So. True!