We're at the head of our class!

We had our first childbirth class on Thursday night. Jon and I are determined to be the best in the class. :) Shouldn’t be too hard considering we’re the only couple in the class! That’s right, I’m not joking – we are the only couple in our class. At first I was kind of creeped out about that (all the pressure on just us!), but after the first class I think it’s going to be neat. We’re going to have lots of personal attention, that’s for sure. The instructor, Mary, seems nice – not exactly the same sense of humor as Jon and I, but still a nice lady. When we originally signed up for the classes she switched the day she teaches just for us, since we’re busy with Bible study on Monday nights, and she also moved up the start of her next class by a month so that we would be finished with the classes before the baby arrives (seemed like that would be important).

For those of you not “in the know” we’re taking a class called the Bradley Method. It focuses on husband-based coaching with the goal of having a non-medicated vaginal birth. They have an 86% rate of couples meeting that goal, which is really astounding to me! Of course, as they joked in our 3rd trimester nurse visit, the amount of time you spend preparing is longer than the actual labor, so it better work! We will have a total of 10 classes, each 2 hours long, and lots of exercises and practice each day.

One of the first things we learned are different exercises that we’re supposed to do (some just me, some both Jon and I) that will help us prepare. There are squatting exercises, pelvic rocking, the infamous Kegel’s (I’m not going to explain that one, you can look it up if you’re interested), other miscellaneous exercises to strengthen your thighs and increase flexibility, and – my favorite – relaxation exercises for Jon and I. That’s the best part of the classes!

Our “homework” right now calls for me to do my relaxation exercises for 10 minutes on my own each day and 10 minutes with Jon. What this is translating into is that 10 minutes before bedtime each night we dim the lights, turn on soft music and I relax on my left side, all propped up and snuggly with pillows, while Jon massages my back and makes sure that I’m not tensing any muscles and am completely focused on relaxing my body. I’d recommend the class to any would-be-mom just for the relaxation time alone! It’s quite wonderful.

We’ll keep you posted on what else we learn in our classes. Right now we’re looking at nutrition for pregnancy – I wish I’d known a lot of this stuff sooner, although I haven’t been that far off with what I eat really. We have a student handbook which we’re going through and the topics look really interesting. I never knew there was so much to learn about having a baby!