We woke up today to glorious sunshine outside. Zach seems to be suffering from a touch of seasonal depression (this Geneva fog is getting to be a bit too much for him) and the sun this morning immediately lifted his mood. Unfortunately, we had to spend the entire day inside, as we were scheduled to attend our birthing class today (10am-6pm). We realized that we're gonna have to start budgeting a bit of extra time for defrosting the car on these cold mornings, as it (and everything else outside today) was covered in a layer of frost/ice. It was really beautiful, actually, I wish I'd had time to take some pictures. There were frozen spiderwebs in the bushes out front, and crystal patterns on our mailbox. Everything out in the fields was covered by a light layer of white, which then shone in the sunlight. It was -5C as we drove into town.
The class was small, us and 4 other couples, all due between mid-January and mid-February. And mine seemed to be the biggest bump in the room (Zach agreed with me on this one). ; ) I didn't really learn much that I haven't read in books before, but it was good to meet the other couples (we all exchanged contact info), and I also think it was really good for Zach since he hasn't had the time to read the mountains of pregnancy books I've bought. We practiced some positions and slow breathing for helping through contractions. I still definitely feel a bit of fear about the whole labor process, but I also feel fairly confident in my ability to do this, especially with the help and guidance of our midwife (and my mom). I imagine having their support and guidance, along with wisdom about how to deal with labor, will make a world of difference in helping me achieve this goal of giving birth without medication. And while part of me may be afraid, part of me also expects to make it through the whole process and feel incredibly empowered for having done so.
Did you have Ina May Gaskin's book on your list? Her Guide to Childbirth. During my last month I found this the best book to read in preparation for labor - natural or not. I wanted to have a labor without medication too and reading birth story after birth story really increased my confidence. My husband liked reading the Bradley method because it gives the papas lots of great ideas to use during labor. It also has a great explanation of the different phases of labor and how he can recognize them and help you out.
ReplyDeleteMy only little piece of advice is this: I, too, felt so confident that I was going to make it through my labor. My pregnancy was so easy and I had no reason to think that labor wasn't going to go smoothly but it didn't. I came very close to having a c-section (I was on the operating table) and realized that I hadn't prepared myself enough for the possibility that things may not go as I wanted them to. (And I was in a special clinic famous world-wide for natural birth...)
That said, you're right to think so positively. Just prepare yourself for anything like maybe having to get an epidural or a c-section. Then you might not cry through your whole epidural like I did...
You're going to rock though!
How exciting! I think the hardest part for me was not feeling prepared for the pain of the contractions. I kept thinking that if I had some strategy for dealing with them (ie, breathing, whatever) I could bear it but since I did not, I opted for the epidural.
ReplyDeleteI had planned on the epidural all along so I wasn't disappointed by it, only that it seemed to slow my labor down. That said, it enabled me to sleep through the night so that I was ready to push in the morning!
PS: Not sure if you've mentioned it before but if not, have you read Misconceptions by Naomi Wolfe? I'm just reading it now, and while it pertains mostly to the US healthcare system (and takes a dim view at that), I feel like I may have been more prepared if I'd read it before I gave birth.