3rd PreNatal Class

Tonight's class was a little bit different. It was dominated by a stupid person and we had a video of 3 people giving birth. The stupid person wasted a lot of class time on things like "So the baby will be a Virginia resident just because he is born in Virginia? I was born in Florida but I am a Virginia resident" and "I thought you said there wouldn't be an automatic IV when I went to the hospital but I went in last week and they gave me an IV." The instructor explained that for pre-term labor one of the first things they do is try to hydrate you because that can stop contractions. The stupid person again asked "But you said you didn't have to have an IV and they made me have an IV." And the instructor again tried to stress that it was because she was having PRE-TERM labor. There was something else where everyone else in the class was able to answer the question the second time she asked it, but my coping skills are blocking those details out.

The birthing video wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. But it wasn't great. I don't need to see it again. They didn't focus a lot on the gore. Mostly it was focused on how three different couples coped with the stages of labor. All three couples were non-medicated. I'd like to see a video that shows what happens when you walk in and say "I want drugs and I want them now" so that I will have a better idea of what my process will be like! :) It was also really good to hear that the doctor's office has an episiotomy rate of 5%. And that they have a very low rate of 4th degree lacerations. They have a lot of techniques for avoiding tears and cuts and I have to say I really like to hear that...

Max is still kicking around happily. We have been doing our kick journal for the last week. Tonight it took 5 minutes for us to count all 5 kicks. We started counting at 7pm which was about an hour after I ate dinner. We always try to count at 7pm. It usually takes about 10 minutes, but sometimes it has taken more like 45 minutes, with 8 of the 10 kicks coming right at the end. I think we are just getting unlucky sometimes and Max is sleeping during counting time. He is active enough that I'm not really worried about him not moving around enough. But we are doing the journal to provide a baseline for later in case it is needed.

Tonight we also learned more about what to pack for the hospital and how many people can be in the room when I am giving birth. I can have up to 5 people in the room but Mark will be the only person. I hadn't realized that there could be as many as 7 medical personnel in the room. I think that is only when needed towards the end and that it would mostly be a nurse, the midwife, and the guy with the drugs. Good to be prepared for a whole lot of people to be there. We had mostly figured out the stuff we needed for the hospital, but we hadn't realized we needed to provide the name of the pediatrician. We already have one for the kids so we will just provide that info to the hospital. It is an easy fix. We also knew we needed the insurance cards and we are waiting for them to arrive. So again, easy enough to get that ready in the not too distant future.