Prenatal Classes

Dear Sweet Pea,

This weekend, your Dad and I attended the two-day prenatal course that I signed us up for back in January. It was for 5 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, and we got a lot of great information. The instructor was a doula who has attended over 300 births, so she had a lot of insight into what labour and delivery can look like for different women, since it varies so much. There was a lot of information that I already knew at least somewhat, but it was great for Daddy, who hasn't done quite as much reading and talking to other moms as I have! We learned all about what goes on during each stage of labour, from that first contraction to the delivery of the placenta. She talked a lot about c-sections too, so even though that's the last way I want to deliver, its good to know the information so that it wouldn't be a big surprise if it came to that. We were really interested to find out that elective C-sections aren't even legal (at least in BC), but there are still many doctors and obstetricians that will schedule them. I've definitely heard of moms who decide they simply don't want to go through the experience of labour and delivery, so they opt for a C-section instead. It makes sense though that they should only be done if medically necessary, but that's definitely not the case.
We got to practice a few good positions for labour and delivery, and she gave a lot of tips to the Dads (ways for them to help as opposed to just sitting back and watching, and not knowing what to do or say). We learned about some natural options for pain relief and to speed labour along if necessary. Finally we spent about an hour or two on baby care, including diapering, swaddling, bathing, and the correct use of the car seat.
In August, our class will get the chance to meet up again for a little reunion to learn about how everyone's birth went, and of course to show off our babies!
Overall it was well worth the time and money, and we're both really glad we went.
Tomorrow we'll be attending a breastfeeding class, so that should be good as well. After that we'll be all set to meet you!