childbirth education class #2...

We went to our 2nd childbirth education class last night.  Everyone that was there last week came back so that was good.  We only scared off the sister-in-law that I mentioned in this post.  :)

Again, there was a lot of information covered in this class.  We talked about things to pack for our stay in the hospital, both for before & during delivery, as well as after delivery.  There were lists in the books that we got last week, but Jackie sited specific things that she thought were really helpful.  I made a special note of those.  Especially the one about the "hair tie for long hair".  :)

We also talked about different tools that we may or may not see during the process.  AND it was show-and-tell.  Yes, Jackie brought out things like an IV tube/syringe, an IUPC (internal uterine pressure catheter), a vacuum, a fetal scalp electrode...

It was not a real upbeat time in the class.  And then we went through some of the reasons for induction.

Kind of a downer -- even Jackie said that -- but still, it's a part of being informed and prepared and I'm glad to have the knowledge we learned last night.  Even if it's not all *rainbows & butterflies*.

Jackie did cover pediatricians in the area, too, and had nothing but good, positive things to say about each of them.  I think we've decided on our pediatrician -- one in the Hampstead area so it will be relatively close for us.  That, and we know other kids (and their parents) who are patients there.

childbirth education class #1...

Jeff and I went to our first childbirth education class last night, Prepared Childbirth.  This was the first of a 4-week series of one-hour classes at the lovely (no, really) Women's & Children's Hospital of New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

Our friend -- and phenomenal (so I've heard :) labor & delivery nurse -- Jackie is teaching the class and she did great!  I wondered how she felt about 1) teaching her SS teacher and 2) talking about such things as vaginas & discharge in front of him.  She said it was a little awkward, of course, but she's a professional so she did what she needed to do and told us what we needed to know.

It was a FULL hour's worth of information she threw at us so before we knew it, it was 8:30pm and time to go.  We talked about some of the basic terms involved with childbirth (anatomy, birthing terms, etc.), the different stages of labor, what to look for/note if this or that should happen, etc.  She gave us a book with the information so we had that to take our own notes in if we chose to.

I enjoyed the class and at this point, don't have anything to fear yet.  She was very upfront with how hard this childbirth thing is and how it is painful, but even with that, I'm not panicking.  Yet.

We still have 3 classes to go, so there's still time to scare me out of my wits.

There were about 15 folks in the class -- only one who was there by herself.  I was proud of the soon-to-be daddies that came with their mommies (including mine :) -- there were 5 of those.  One of the girls brought her mom since her husband had to work, and another girl brought her sister-in-law since her husband was also working.  Incidentally, her SIL made a good point: "This is an excellent class to take to KEEP you from getting pregnant!"  :)