Childbirth Class 10/31/04

Sorry this is a little late. My Internet's been down since Tuesday, so I've had this one waiting in Word.

I got a bit behind, but I need to update about our 2nd class on Sunday night. It was pretty good although I’m not sure I’ve learned that much “new” information. We kind of went over the same things we discussed last week as far as how labor progresses, but with some more detail. This time we specifically focused on the early signs of labor and how to tell the difference between real and false labor.

We also practiced the relaxation and visualization excercises again. I couldn’t get completely comfortable, because Eric’s foot went to sleep and he was wiggling everywhere because he couldn’t feel his legs. The visualization is still hard for me and I can’t imagine trying to do it while in pain. We also practiced some slow breathing techniques. Again, it’s hard to imagine being in pain and doing it, but I kind of feel like my body will naturally know what to do to help ease any pain. Then we tried out a couple of positions to use during contractions to ease pain. There was one called the double hip squeeze. It basically requires your partner to put pressure on your hips. It works best when you get on your hands and knees or on your knees with your upper body on a birthing ball or even the couch (we tried that last night). Then your partner stands over you and squeezes your hips with his knees/thighs. At the same time, he can lean over and massage your back. It was wonderful. It’s so nice to get a massage that I think we’ll practice that a lot.

The most interesting part for me was when we went over the actual process at our hospital to go through the birth. She discussed it in class and then at the end we went over for the tour. The hospital has free valet parking, so when we get there, we just pull up to the main entrance and Eric will be able to come in with me. If we happen to arrive during non-valet hours, there are 4 parking spots right by the door for Labor and Delivery that we can use. We will then go inside and use the elevators to go to the 3rd floor. At that point we’ll check in at the nurses station. Then they will take you back to a triage room to be sure you are in labor (I’m guessing you can skip this if your water has broken). They will give you a gown, do an exam to check your progress and ask questions about your labor. Only one person is allowed with you in triage. Then they may have you walk around or do something else, and check back in to make sure you are progressing. If your labor is progressing, they will admit you and you get to go to a LDR room (Labor, Delivery, and Recovery). You’ll be in this room until about an hour after delivery. In here they will give you an IV, hook up a monitor to check the baby’s heart rate, and monitor your contractions. You are allowed to have 2 people at any one time in the LDR room with you. This is where you will labor and when it gets close to pushing time, they take the lower half of the bed off, add stirrups and handlebars, turn on the baby warmer, bring in the delivery table with instruments, and change the lighting for the doctor. Once the baby is born they either give it to you immediately, or take it over to the warmer to check it out. They let you keep the baby with you during that first hour. At the same time, you deliver the placenta, get stitches if needed, the nurses clean you up, give you a new gown, and they encourage you to do the first feeding of the baby. Once all that is done, the nurses take the baby to the nursery for newborn tests, the first bath, and to be sure the baby can maintain her body temperature. You are then moved to a post-partum room where you will stay until you check out. Once you are in your room, the baby can stay there the whole time or you can send it back to the nursery whenever you want/need to.

I am glad to know what’s going on, but now need to put together some questions for the doctor. There were several things that they said it depends on how your doctor does it. For example, if you get the baby before they cut the cord and take it to the baby warmer or after. I’m not sure what I want all the answers to be, but I need to at least ask the questions. Next week we get to learn about drugs!