« Double Digits | Main | Week 26 Belly Shot »
April 07, 2005
Birth Prep Class #5
Last Tuesday we had our final birth prep class. Mostly it dealt with various positions in which to labour, with being flat on your back the one to avoid the most as it's the least beneficial to the labouring woman. Mostly its function is to make things easier for the physician, biologically it makes things harder on the woman.
We got to see a couple of birth videos, including one towards the end of class that was nothing but watching Brazilian women in 1979 birth all their babies squatting (one of the best positions, as well as the position that is used most around the world in all kinds of cultures), with no intervention at all... most of the time they'd even "catch" their babies themselves. Very interesting, and also obvious why this was kept until the last class, most people wouldn't really conceive of that little intervention from caregivers at the first class, or even that they might be capable of doing it themselves like that ;)
Other than that we re-capped the previous classes, addressed any remaining questions and also any fears that people might be having, and what the common fears are.
Not much of a class to really write about in a blog entry, but it was a fitting end to the 5 week course we'd taken.
At the end we were talking with a couple of the other people there, and one of the pregnant women mentioned her due date was in a mere 2.5 weeks, due the 17th of April. That made me go 'whoa' a bit. She also mentioned how much the class had put her mind at ease, because she'd reached the stage where she was starting to freak out. Not entirely surprising if you leave classes and other research and information gathering until the final stretch.
Personally I'd recommend taking classes earlier, like we did, in the second trimester. It gives you so much more time to digest what you've learned, seek out other material and information, and even change what plans you might have had before you took the class and learned about something new/different that appeals to you more. Thinking about possibly switching to a different caregiver, or even changing what you want them to do or not do, is much more stressful late in pregnancy than it will be earlier on. Plus being stuck with a caregiver or method you've decided you don't want anymore can also be stressful or just increase anxiety.
It really pays to think well in advance about these kinds of things.
Posted on 03:16 PM to: Pregnancy