Birth and Family Education

Together with a dozen or more other first time expectant parents, we spent Saturday at Fairview Southdale Hospital attending Birth and Family Education. Of course we were late, but arrived just in time for the 1970's video of the woman in labor...we saw three videos of women in labor. John's response after seeing them, "Can't the baby just stay inside forever?". I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to more...the early phase, the middle phase, or the phase when I am actually allowed to push. Good grief. In addition to learning about the phases of labor, the anatomy of my body (as if I didn't already know that I would feel back pain, and that going up one flight of stairs would leave me winded or that I would have to go to the bathroom that much more because everything was being pushed and squished), we also learned several ways that our partners could help us feel comforatble when in labor. It was a bit of a bonding moment for John and I. If only we could do these classes more often, if only for the foot rubs and the back rubs and all the hugs in between. All in all, the class was a treat and we were glad we attended. Incidentally, we skipped Part II of the class on Sunday- it was just too nice outside.