The Class:2

On Sunday we had our final Childbirth prep class. This week we got to tour the maternity floor. Your maternity stay starts with at the PET (I forgot what this stands for and goggle isn't helping) unit. You get evaluated (maybe the "e"?) and checked out and a decision is made whether to keep you for L&D, send you home, or send you to antepartum unit. It wasn't a big hoopla except the millions of families in the waiting area. I even overheard someone say "there's a whole bunch of pregnant women walking through here"... I didn't get a glimpse of THAT genius.

Then we saw a delivery room all set up and ready to go. It was pretty small and not really what I expected. I think TV does that to you. I loved the show 'One born every minute' on lifetime and either this hospital is way ahead of the game or the hospital I am delivering at is way behind the game. Unfortunately you can't watch episodes on line any more but their L&D rooms were way fancier which is why the L&D room where I will be delivering isn't what I expected. We didn't get to see an 'after the baby is born' room but our instructor said they are private. She also said they remodeled some rooms so hopefully if we get one of those it will make our stay a bit more comfy.

Next stop was newborn nursery. All those people who were in the PET unit waiting room seemed to have migrated to the newborn nursery (at least that what it seemed like). Inside the nursery must have been the cutest room full of people (and by that I mean babies) I have ever seen! This too calmed my fears because when the instructor kept saying that they will take my baby to the nursery I kept think o no they won't! I don't care what needs to be done. They can gather up all their materials and schlep it to my room and do what you need to do in here with us. But actually seeing how they babies were ok made me feel better. I knew they weren't going to torture my child but I just didn't like the idea of someone else taking him or her from me to do whatever they do. What if my little one was cold or tired or just wanted his or her mommy and you people have him or her in there ignoring my cutie patootie?! Well the babies were all fine, no one was screaming or being ignored and there was a set of twins in there whose dad looked so overwhelmed trying to rub on both of them at the same time. It was too cute! So cute- it made me cry. Yes I cried standing in the window of the newborn nursery staring at some babies I don't even know.

It was an overwhelming feeling knowing that my baby will be in there shortly with my husband rubbing on him or her! I tried to scope out as much as I could. Each baby holder (for lack of a better description) was clearly label with baby's name, birth date, parents, and birth details (like time, weight, etc). Underneath each bassinet (there you go...that's it!) was a two tiered draw stocked with blankets, diapers, and a whole bunch of other supplies. Some of the baby's had ink on their feet from being stamped, you could see the ID bracelets on each one, and they all had on the cutest baby hats! It's exciting and scary at the same time!

After our tour, we talked some more about the birth process and went in depth into C-sections. We then did an exercise where each of the moms were given a card that had an action or phrase on it. During our practice contractions we were supposed to act our or say whatever is on the card and our partners had to help us work through it. My card said "refuse to breathe" and my husband guess right away. He immediately yelled at me to "KEEP BREATHING"! Some of the other husbands had looks of concern and bewilderment on their faces. One guy outright said "I don't know what you are supposed to be doing". It was good practice for the big day and I think my hubby will remain calm and be an amazing and supportive birth partner.

She also taught us how to swaddle a baby although it wasn't part of the curriculum. Hubby got it right on the first try on the practice baby! This reminds me to add blankets and swaddlers to our registry. I am now aggravated that it didn't occur to me to take any pictures of anything during the past two classes- especially of my hubby swaddling the baby doll :( By then end of this class I had made up my mind that I want to do the natural birth class to see if I can take a stab at it or at least use a reduced amount of medication but these classes are so expensive!

All in all I would say we are just a little bit more prepared about what to expect in the overall grand scheme of things- but we don't know what will happen to us specifically.