Prepared Childbirth Education Pt.1

Game on. Tori and I started our childbirth education classes at Lankenau Hospital.  We arrived at the hospital early to have dinner in the cafeteria.  Good news, I think our family and friends will be OK with the food options offered.  It's not the healthiest selection but it gets the job done.  We were under the impression the classes started at 6:30pm.  When no one else was there, we started to think we were in the wrong location.  I then realized that I told Tori 6:30pm so that she'd be on time - then I forgot.   My Bad..  So classes actually start at 7:00pm and go until 9:30pm.  We saw several couples arriving and noticed they all had pillows.  DOH, another detail I forgot - we're supposed to bring pillows.  Luckily we didn't need them for day 1.  

The instructor arrived and we walked to the auditorium.  She handed out our childbirth workbook.  I flipped through the pages looking at pictures then handed the book to Tori because I'd seen enough.  The course was long and there were a few moments when I spaced out but I'm hoping Tori stayed awake for those parts.  The big take-a-ways for me were (1) contractions hurt and (2) Tori needs to breathe - ALOT.  When Tori is in pain, I need to touch her in places to relieve the tension [Isn’t that's how we got in this situation in the first place – HELLO?!?].  Seriously, when the contractions hit, I need to start massaging the shoulders and her arms and remind her to breathe.

The tour of the hospital was very good.  I learned where to park when we arrive, where to go, what the rooms look like and where our friends and family will be waiting for us.  It's a very nice room.  There is a phone and internet access.  No, I won't be blogging from the delivery room nor will I stream the birth over the internet.  I will be sending out a message to friends and family alerting the world when my son arrives.

In the next class we will watch the 'birth video'.  I'm going to bring popcorn and candy.