Childbirth Class Followup

Our class was interesting last night. The teacher went over the basics of anatomy, stages of L&D and terms, drug options, and some breathing techniques. We watched a video of a natural childbirth. Dave did fine through the movie, as expected. I looked over at him and as the baby came shooting out, he quietly said "ow". The interesting part of the class was that there were about 12 couples. Every mother was with a male, except one girl who brought her mom. We were probably the 2nd oldest couple in the class. The older couple looked as if they were in their late 30s. So the class basically looked like a scene from Saved By the Bell. ALL young teens. When we went around introducing ourselves, every single one of the mothers introduced a boyfriend. No spouses here, folks. Married couples were the minority. It was, well, interesting. On our way home, Dave and I commented about the ages of one couple and guessed that the boy was about 13 or 14. He really looked that young. Dave even thought he may have been a son of one of the older moms upon walking in.

Anyway, we had a chance to try out some breathing techniques. Dave was hilarious, as usual. I've always imagined a very calm, fun-filled, lax labor and delivery (a girl can dream, can't she) and Dave helping me through breathing provided a preview. Each breathing technique was practiced twice. The first run was always humorous, but Dave sobered up on the second one so we could actually see if it was something that may work. During one technique, Dave got the counting wrong and almost sent me hyperventilating. We won't be using that technique ;) I was also pleasantly surprised at how willing Dave was to give me back, foot, and hand massages during the practices. He even got to rubbing the Buddha belly without the teacher suggesting it. I was very impressed with his "coaching skills". Overall, the experience was a good one and I'm glad we decided to take the class. We'll have two more after this and then hopefully 4 weeks later, pop out a strapping young lad!