Childbirth Classes

The hubby and I signed up for a weekend childbirth course that consisted of a 4 hour class on Saturday and a 4 hour class on Sunday. I have to admit, I'm glad we did it this way. We got plenty of breaks and the classes actually went by really fast. Of course they have the best snacks there too! :) They took good care of us. 

It was $65 for the 2 of us to attend the class. I think that's pretty reasonable when compared to classes elsewhere, but I still think its a bit overpriced in general. Unfortunately, I had already read pretty much everything I could about childbirth and also rented DVDs from the library on base so I had a good idea of what information they may teach us. I was really looking forward to the more hands-on stuff like having my husband massage my back with a tennis ball and all that jazz that you hear about. We practiced some breathing techniques for a while both days which was nice, but the mats they had were so thin and with a herniated disc its a little hard to get comfortable sitting down as it is (let alone on a hard floor w/a thin mat) so I kept moving around and just felt miserable. I felt really good about my breathing though. I seemed to be really good at the slower breaths especially. I've been practicing them at home as it is when I get BH contractions so I think they may have helped.

Anyway, we did get some GREAT reading material with a booket that gives us all the information we learned in the class and more. Its incredibly handy. It also has a list of what to bring to the hospital (recommended by our specific hospital) so that helped a ton too. Basically that means anything they recommend I can bring and not feel awkward like I brought too much. The best part, they said, "Bring as many baby clothes as you want! We're great about getting them changed whenever you'd like so we can take lots of pictures in each outfit!" I kept feeling like I'd overpack baby clothes, but now I feel comfortable that even just bringing 5 outfits they would do their best to make our little one look adorable and photo ready! :) Along with the bigger booklet they gave us a smaller Lamaze booklet and a lullaby cd for the baby. 

I'd have to say the best part of the class was actually just learning about the hospital procedures, differences between physicians and what types of things they do more or less of when in delivery, the tour (and the cute baby we saw in the nursery), etc etc. Basically anything related specifically to how our hospital will do things. I kept reading different things so it helped to know all of that. It also helped a great deal to know where to go into the hospital when I'm in labor and where to go and check in and all that stuff. Now I feel much more prepared!

So overall, I'd say the class was a success because truthfully you can never really over-learn what to expect for labor/delivery. It all just made me feel more confident in what I had read (which is a good thing). The instructors were very friendly too. One was a day nurse and one was a night nurse so it was helpful to know that when we come in we will most likely see one of them! 

Hopefully all goes well when Ava decides to enter this world! I was a little overwhelmed with all the information on postpartum care since I hadn't heard a ton about that yet, but I think if I read the big booklet they gave us this week I'll be able to drill it into my brain!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!! 

PS - Did anyone else watch the VMAs tonight? They sucked...I was not impressed.