No More Class

Tuesday was the last night of our 4-week "Preparation for Childbirth" class. With pillows in tow, we headed on over to the hospital for our final installment. This session dealt with relaxation techniques and simple breathing patterns. The relaxation techniques come into play more for those who choose a "natural" delivery--i.e., not having an epidural. Suggestions involve such things as a back rub, a focal point, and even something simple as changing positions. I did enjoy part of this discussion--the first thing she had the women do was give the dads (that would be me) a massage. Apparently studies show that people give massages the way they want to receive them. I don't know about all that, but I do know that I got a decent shoulder massage for 5-10 minutes (but I'm sure Leah won't be up for repeating it when she's in labor).

Then our instructor hit us with something that caught us, and our emotions, off guard. When returning from a break, she held out some stationery envelopes and some paper, telling us to pick one of each. Uh, ok. Then, she said that she wanted us to write a letter to the baby and seal it in an envelope. She got the idea several months ago, after her mother passed away. In going through the stuff, she found her baby book, complete with a letter that her mother had written to her several years ago. She (our instructor) didn't even know she ever had a baby book, so it made it even that much more special. So anyway, all of us got quiet and began writing. It really was impossible to put all my thoughts in a pithy manner onto a 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. But I did. I probably could've written several more pages, but I didn't. I didn't read what Leah wrote, and she didn't read mine. Leah was noticeably wiping her eyes, as were several other moms in the class. I even found myself wiping away a tear or two--I guess parenthood does strange things. I don't know when we'll open them up to read, but I'm very anxious to. Something tells me if we wait until Nicholas is like 10 or 12, he might thing they're stupid. I can already hear myself saying someting like, "When you get older, you'll understand" or "When you become a parent, you'll know what it feels like." I'm sure we'll come up with something, though.

All in all, I think we enjoyed the class. We learned a lot about the labor process and what to expect. I'm sure that nothing can prepare you for the real thing, but at least we'll know ahead of time what's going on, and hopefully be more prepared when the nurses start saying stuff about breathing patterns and "cleansing breaths."