Last night was our last childbirth class at KMC, and we kicked it off with a "mock" labor. The instructor setup the story: "It's 9 AM and you bend down to take the laundry out of the dryer, then GUSH your water breaks"...clearly, she doesn't know me very well ;o). Then we proceeded through all the different breathing exercises, changing positions, practicing not killing each other, etc. until we finally got to "push" and practice holding our breath. And viola! Our mock baby was born. If only it could be that easy in real life.
Afterwards, we took a tour of the hospital, which Tim and I had already done as part of our pre-admission, but this time she took us into one of the labor rooms and showed us how all the cool gadgets work. I was proud of Tim for not explaining the electronic components of the ultrasound (or any other) equipment to the group, though I'm sure he could have. ;o) (We have often joked that he will die an untimely death during labor after trying to explain to me what kind of circuit board the little machine that reads the contractions has..."Look honey, this is a 'whatever' and it's connected to the thinga majig and, oh! that was a big one...." Silly electrical engineers.)
Anyway, having a mock baby, seeing the delivery room and all the equipment hooked up really brought it home and made it real...the end of this tunnel is approaching, and we're starting to see the light! As if to confirm this, the little monster kept me up all night last night changing positions and pushing on random parts of my body that made other random parts on my body very unhappy. She has been laying transverse for the past week or so, but this morning she had flipped her little self around and is now cute little chubby baby butt over tea kettle, with her little feet up to the sky...as if to say, "OK Mom, I'm ready, too!" Knowing her, she will flip herself around many times more between now and the big day, but she also seems to be practicing for her world debut.
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They even had one of the women in the class lay on the bed and hooked her up to the monitors. You could here the baby slowly move closer to the probe then we heard it kick the probe then move away again. The instructor was kind enough to show the guys how to make a cold compress with the stuff in the "kitchen".
I have to say I feel much more prepaired for my role in all of this. I think Mandy feels a little more prepaired as well.
Did they show you the machine that goes PING!!!!!?? ;o) (Hopefully your birth is slightly different than those displayed in The Meaning of Life, though)
Andy~ keep in mind that sometimes things go very different and nothing goes by the book at all..you know my story but all I can say is never leave her side and even when she is screaming at you keep encouraging her in what ever it is she needs to do even if she doesn't want to hear it...its what I needed when things were not going the way they should of gone...and remember once its over it is so worth it and mandy will agree once the baby is out. I'm so excited for both of you....and mandy something they don't tell you in the birthing classes is that sometimes because of all the pushing you may not have control over your peeing ablity or your bowl movements for several days...I had to learn the hard way and thank goodness mom was there to help....so bring extra underwear and pants/shorts and slippers/socks...just in case...love ya
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