Last night Ike and I attended the first of two childbirth refresher classes at the hospital. Boy, did we ever need the refreshing! I had no idea how much I'd forgotten/blocked from last time. Eww, mucus plug?? Yuck, yuck, yuck.
Anyway, the class was good. We spent a good deal of the first hour sharing birth stories, as everyone in the room had had a baby previously. I thought we would be the ones with the oldest sibling, but the woman with a 7-year-old and 10-year-old beat us by quite a bit. If I've forgotten everything, I can't imagine how she must feel! None of the moms had natural births before, although at least one of them wanted one. Can I admit that I was secretly relieved? There'd be nothing more intimidating than walking into a room full of women whose previous births were natural, in a pool of water or something like that. All these women had an epidural, which I think disappointed the nurse. Personally, I was thrilled. Some of them even sounded like they'd never felt a contraction either, despite already giving birth. Whew!
We got to practice breathing, which felt very silly, but important. We talked about the signs of labor, the stages of labor...all that stuff you forget (yuck, mucus plug). The nurse used a doll and a model of a pelvis to show the baby moving from anterior to posterior (or is that backwards?). Unfortunately, the baby got stuck, and Ike and I sat horrified, watching the nurse yank this baby over and over trying to get it out.
OUCH. I know what we both had nightmares about last night.
While we were in class, Jake had an unusual treat. Because of bad weather, Leslie couldn't come stay with Jake (Leslie, please don't apologize again--you know I would have worried about you the whole time). So, Ike's backup plan? Mark. One of Ike's best friends, and someone we both trust very much.
Mark came to hang out with Jake and put him to bed. For me, it's a little funny. You know, boys babysitting and all. But I made sure Jake was fed, bathed, clothed, teeth brushed...and I reminded him again and again, "If you poop while Mark is here, you will have to wipe yourself." After all, someday we want Mark to have his own kids--we don't want to scare him away.
It must've gone well because Jake talked about Mark all the way to school this morning. And Mark didn't seem unusually scared by the time we got home.
A good night on all counts.
Anyway, the class was good. We spent a good deal of the first hour sharing birth stories, as everyone in the room had had a baby previously. I thought we would be the ones with the oldest sibling, but the woman with a 7-year-old and 10-year-old beat us by quite a bit. If I've forgotten everything, I can't imagine how she must feel! None of the moms had natural births before, although at least one of them wanted one. Can I admit that I was secretly relieved? There'd be nothing more intimidating than walking into a room full of women whose previous births were natural, in a pool of water or something like that. All these women had an epidural, which I think disappointed the nurse. Personally, I was thrilled. Some of them even sounded like they'd never felt a contraction either, despite already giving birth. Whew!
We got to practice breathing, which felt very silly, but important. We talked about the signs of labor, the stages of labor...all that stuff you forget (yuck, mucus plug). The nurse used a doll and a model of a pelvis to show the baby moving from anterior to posterior (or is that backwards?). Unfortunately, the baby got stuck, and Ike and I sat horrified, watching the nurse yank this baby over and over trying to get it out.
OUCH. I know what we both had nightmares about last night.
While we were in class, Jake had an unusual treat. Because of bad weather, Leslie couldn't come stay with Jake (Leslie, please don't apologize again--you know I would have worried about you the whole time). So, Ike's backup plan? Mark. One of Ike's best friends, and someone we both trust very much.
Mark came to hang out with Jake and put him to bed. For me, it's a little funny. You know, boys babysitting and all. But I made sure Jake was fed, bathed, clothed, teeth brushed...and I reminded him again and again, "If you poop while Mark is here, you will have to wipe yourself." After all, someday we want Mark to have his own kids--we don't want to scare him away.
It must've gone well because Jake talked about Mark all the way to school this morning. And Mark didn't seem unusually scared by the time we got home.
A good night on all counts.
3 Comments:
You should add a disclaimer for your friends without children: "Do not read, may cause permanent birth control..."
I'm glad Mark worked out though!
If you ever have something come up like this, by all means call me! I would be glad to help out if I possibly can. Glad the class went well. You just reminded me of one of the few perks to having my kids close together. I didn't have alot of time to forget all those things between the first and second ;-)
I wish FOX could've been there to film Mark as a babysitter for a reality show. I would've bought the DVD for sure. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home