L&D class

Was last night and was awesome! I love our teacher nurse and all the couples in our class are pretty awesome. We had to go around the room and kind of talk about ourselves and our pregnancies and stuff and out of the 10 couples that were in there, 3 of us are infertility survivors! It just made me so happy to hear there were others who struggled for years to finally become pregnant (one of them 4 years total) It was just kind of cool to connect with complete strangers on that level. We were one of the last couples to speak so when I did and told our story a bit, my eyes locked with one of the other once infertile girls and just in that moment, for just a few seconds, from the understanding smile on her face and that "knowing" look in her eyes, it was like she spoke, with no words, and I felt her say "I understand". *happy cry*. I don't think you get those moments often in life, but that is one I probably will never forget. 2 once infertile girls sitting in a Labor and Delivery class room of couples complaining about aches and pains and surprises, and we connected from across the room.

Anyways, we watched some videos, one being a live birth and I'm so proud of Mike for not being squeamish at all! Although I did hear some moans and groans from other dads around the room, even a few moms Some of the class was just basically about the actual birth, where the baby has to go, how he has to turn, what happens if this happens yadda yadda, and she had a "dialation chart" and holy cow, 10 cm is pretty big She compared it to, something the size of a fruit loop going to the size of the outside of a bagel. I don't know why I guess I never really thought of it.

Most of our class last night though was more for our "support person" which were the dads, to help them understand what they need to be doing during labor and how they need to help us, by giving words of encouragement and things like that. We also practiced massage/relaxation techniques which was pretty nice. All 10 couples laying on mats around the room with our blankets and pillows and the nurse was teaching the dads how to massage our backs and hands and stuff, so that part of the class was awesome! We got to try birthing balls too and she showed the dads different ways to hold us in early labor to support us to help baby drop and stuff. They also practiced pushing on our hip/lower back bones in case of back labor it's supposed to dull the pain.

She talked a little about what the hospital will want to happen after birth and stuff, like at my hospital we have what they call a "Baby Moon" which is 1 hour skin to skin just mom and dad directly after birth and I love that! I had put that in my birth plan anyways.

So that's basically what we learned last night. We have 2 more L&D classes the next 2 wed and this coming monday we have our one and only breastfeeding class. A+ if you got through all of that!