Childbirth Class #1

Peter and I attended our first of two childbirth classes today at the hospital in Hutchinson. There were some good things, some disagreeable things, and lots and lots of information. The biggest shock to me was how big of a role the coach plays during childbirth. I (almost) was glad that I was going to be going through the physical birth with all the pain and exhaustion rather than being the coach, who is pretty much in charge of keeping the mom focused during some crazy times. We watched a few videos, one of them showed 5 different births, a c-section, an epidural birth, a completely natural birth, and 2 birth where other pain meds were administered. During all of the births, the coach, be it the husband, boyfriend, mother, sister, doula, or whomever was up and totally supportive throughout the labor, which in every case seemed to last FOREVER. In every case, except the one were the woman got an epidural nearly immediately, the woman in labor was at her wits end at some point. It was at this point that the coach had to step it up with encouragement, massage, breathing exercises, and whatever else. It really does take some major support to give birth.
We had our first exposure to lamaze breathing. It is not easy. As well as making sure the mom gets oxygen during each contraction, the exercises are also a distraction-they take a lot of concentration. Peter and I were told to sit across from each other and do the breathing patterns together while making eye contact. We weren't very good at it. We will have to practice quite a bit if it's going to help at all.
We're going the natural route- no drugs- and this class was mostly about taking drugs, so it wasn't all that useful. The instructor made it sound ridiculous to want a birth without an epidural. To me, it seems an epidural is all great, except for the fact that you are then confined to lying on a bed hooked up to quite a few monitors. I would rather be walking around, in the tub, on the birthing ball, etc. Of course, it became quite evident today that if I'm not going to have an epidural, Peter and I will need to really work together to execute this birth. The main thing an epidural does to have such a high success rate is to relax the mom during the heightened contractions that come right before you push. With all the pain, it's (probably) really hard to relax your legs (tightening them will only tighten up your nether regions), and just plain let your uterus and cervix do their thing and not get worked up as your organs and bones get pushed all over the place. The task at hand is to practice relaxing and I guess do some visualization. That whole mind over matter bit. Yikes. A month or two ago I had a real "bring it on" attitude about birth. This was before I had trouble sleeping every night (either my hips ache, my back hurts, or pressure on my stomach makes me feel like I'm going to barf) and pretty much got winded and worn out doing ANYTHING at any time of the day. So, now, I am a little discouraged about being able to find the energy for labor. Rumor has it that I will feel more emotionally charged up and ready as my delivery date approaches.
Interesting birth-related factoids from the day:
1. A girl baby has her first period the week of her birth, it's caused by hormones passed from the mother.
2. Babies can look a lot like Darth Vader when they come out (really white and veiny and just pretty scary).
3. The baby's skull plates actually overlap as he passes through the pelvis. Poor little brain.