First prenatal class update

So, for anyone who is curious. We had our first prenatal class last night. M made a lot of fuss whining and not wanting to go, but being the lovely man he is, he sucked it up and went with me.

There's about a dozen couples in the class, the lastest due date being July 24th. The gal teaching the class is a RN and has 5 kids (2 daughters and triplet boys), so I figure she's pretty qualified.

We started with relaxation and breathing exercises. For me, this was the worst part of the whole class. I mean, I love it when M touches me, but to be doing it in a classroom, surrounded by 20+ other people, even if they are doing the same thing, wierds me out. The breathing was even worse, I know it's good to learn and all, but talk about feeling like a complete gomer. M said I turned beet red the whole time we were doing it. I was very relieved when that part of the class was over and we could just sit and listen to the instructor talk.

She covered a variety of topics, true/false labor, what to put in your "goody bag" which is different from the "hospital bag". The goody bag is the stuff for YOU rather than the baby. Things to amuse you during labor, things to do, gum, chapstick, that kind of stuff. Also, to bring food for the "coach" cause the cafeteria has crappy hours at the Sturgeon. She also started talking about the stages of labor, really just the beginning. Lots of pictures to look at, so far nothing that scary except for what 10cm dilated looks like (yowch!).

I suppose the best thing that came out of it is the realization that I want M to make sure before ANY doctor/resident/nurse etc does any procedure on me, if I am not coherent enough, that he gets a definite medical reason for it. She showed us the tool they use to break your water if it doesn't break naturally and that made me really think about it. I mean, if they want to "speed things along" without any good reason, they can FRO. Now, if they have a medical reason, that's fine, but the doc having a golf game, is not a medical reason :)

I also never thought of myself as the "natural" person, but the more I hear about all the technology the less thrilled I am about using it. I know my mind may chance, but right now I'm leaning towards au natural with a healthy dose of nitrous ;) Epidurals scare the crap out of me, never mind the chance of needing a catheter with it (ick) and of course an IV (scream). Funny that, I am more scared of having to have an IV put in (I've had 3 in my lifetime) than labor.

Well that's it for now, unless any of you faceless (and one faced - *wave* Taryn) who read this have any questions :)