Ahhh, that's better, at least now I know that if I really am crazy, everything will be alright!
Ben and I went to our Childbirthing class weekend extravaganza this past weekend, and it was...
interesting to say the least. I'm relieved to know I am not the only new mom out there who isn't afraid to use the phrase "terrified of delivery". There were ten couples total and most of us tried to put on a brave face at first, but after a few of the labor videos it became clear the moms were more worried than the dads (or they are really good at hiding it!)
Some of the topics we covered were really useful, my favorite being the nutrition portion. Seriously, where the heck has that knowledge been and why do they wait until month 7 to teach you how to eat?! Over the months, when I was able to eat, all I've found is make sure to get calcium, DHA, and eat healthy. And it's amazing how many of us don't understand what "eat healthy" really means. I don't eat fast food, and I try to sub fruits for sweets, I try to eat more protein and veggies than starch, but even with that I wasn't eating correctly! Here's the chart they gave us and so far it's been a huge help:
I'm almost mad no one told me how important the calcium intake is! Basically, you have to take in around 1,000 mg of calcium in order to absorb a fraction of that, and don't get it all at once, and if you don't take in enough the baby saps it from your bones and there's no getting it back...ever. /jaw dropped
Other useful things were the tour of the facilities, signs you're in labor and what to do, what will happen when you're at the hospital, info about c-sections, epidurals, and postpartum care (if you haven't seen a Peri-Pad in person, just wait!). And I think it was really helpful that Ben was there and got to see how much he will be needed during all this. His biggest shock was how weird newborns look, though I reassured him that when people say it's different when it's your child they mean it. I've thought every newborn is strange looking, except for my youngest sister, she was freaking adorable.
Something that was a bit of a bummer was how our instructor could not detach from her opinions long enough to understand that some of us are different. She probably thought I was nuts when she found out that: I'm freaked out by the idea of having a baby, I'm a little grossed out by all the newborn goop, I will demand an epidural, I don't think anything is wrong with having a c-section, and I don't plan on nursing. So much of this class was focusing on natural childbirth (only two of us were really shooting for going natural) and breastfeeding (even though there's a whole other class devoted to that) that it was almost disheartening for me. I almost felt bad about my choices, almost. In the videos there were so many women saying things like "I was disappointed I couldn't go natural." / "I felt cheated that I had a c-section." / "I wanted to be strong for my baby." And all of it sounds so foreign to me! Why do people put so much emphasis on the process? Thankfully Ben agrees with me on this, but as long as you and your baby make it out of the hospital healthy, why does anything else matter?
All in all, was it worth $95 to go to a class about something that's going to happen no matter what? I think so, but I also think it depends on your personality. Normally I am a "just the facts ma'am" kind of gal, but I tend to shy away from things I really fear, which right now consists of: childbirth and robots. But the childbirth fear is slowly diminishing.
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