Another novel of a post

Nik and I went to our second birthing class last night and it went really well. I know I said this before, but I am so glad that we decided to take the class. I am learning all of these little things that I did not know before. Plus, our instructor is teaching us so many ways to help us relax and relieve pain/pressure while in labor.

This time I actually did the meditation part much better too. I decided that I want to buy a soothing sounds CD. Not only do I want to bring it to the hospital for labor, to help me relax, but I want to start putting it on at night when I'm laying in bed and trying to fall asleep. I think it will help put me to sleep and doing it night after night will make my mind and body really in tune to "relaxing" when the music is on. That will be great for labor!

Our instructor also showed us all of these odd body positions to do in order to help relieve the uncomfortable pressure of contractions. I think all of them involve leaning or using our hubby's for one reason or another. So we all walked around the room and every so often we would stop and do one of these positions. They were all so goofy looking, but I think they will definitely help. In all of the videos we have seen, there is always some laboring mother-to-be bent or leaning in some funny position, and now I know why! Hey, whatever gets me through one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do is ok by me.

In addition to the music and the relaxing positions, we also used massage and back massagers to help relax us. Let me tell you, I was never big into massages, but the moment Nik put that massager on my bag (one of those wood ones with the "balls" on the end), I was sold! I told Nik that we had to go and stock up on some of this stuff. She also took out a bunch of bottles of lotion and had our hubby's massage our hands with lotion. That was very nice and soothing so I’ll want to try that during labor as well.

One thing that our instructor mentioned that I didn't get to try out was the birthing ball. She said that it can be a great comfort to many women and I definitely would like to try it out. I think I'll have to buy one though because she says there is only one in our hospital and you never know if it will be in use when you need it.

Speaking of the hospital, luckily our instructor knows a lot about the hospital and she talked to us a little about their policies and procedures (after finding out from a couple of the people in the room that the hospital tour SUCKED). Apparently, the woman who normally did the tours, does not work there anymore and she was never replaced. So, they have to use nurses that don't really know what they are suppose to do or say. No wonder!! I'm glad to find out that there is a reason that the tour was so very pathetic.

So our instructor told me a few things I wanted to know about the policies of the hospital . . phew! Plus, next week she said we will fill out a checklist of things we want to do and don't want to do. Knowing that she works with the hospital eases my mind, because at least I know that what she is doing goes along with what the hospital does.

Ok, so I know this post is getting really long, but I have to tell you one more thing. We watched a video again and part of it went into detail about the epidural. Let me tell you, OMG! I have always been a wimp and very often I get close to passing out when I hear or see something involving blood, needles, etc.

In fact, when I was in high school, I almost passed out in health class when the teacher was talking about steroids. I was so close to passing out in fact, that I lost my hearing and my vision. I had to get up and feel my way to the door. I walked out into the hallway and lay down on the yucky high school hallway floor, just to try to calm down and gain my composure. Don't worry, that wasn't embarrassing at all, lol, yeah right! Anyway, my sister gets like that too so I know I'm not the only freak :-)

Ok, so back to the epidural video . . . yeah, so I almost passed out. I really really wanted to learn about the epidural and be as informed as possible, but apparently my body felt differently. I was sweating, dizzy, queasy, and starting to lose my vision when finally I gave up and left the room. It took me a few minutes, a trip to the bathroom, and a bottle of water before I felt better. And of course, by that point not only had I missed the rest of the video on the epidural, but I also missed the video on episiotomies. That sucked because I really wanted to learn more about that, but I don't know if I could have handled it anyway.

I'm going to be great in delivery aren't I? LOL. Well, I have done SO much better since I started trying to get pregnant. I use to almost pass out every time I had blood taken, and now with all of the practice I've had (they take a lot of blood when you are pregnant), I can do it like a champ. In fact, I don't even get queasy anymore. It's amazing!! So, I'm just going to try this whole giving birth thing natural and we'll see what happens. And if I'm in enough pain to want the epidural, hopefully I will want it so bad that it won't make me pass out just thinking about the process.

Ok, on a lighter note . . I have another doctor's appointment tonight AND the exciting part of it is that my mom and my sister are coming with me. My sister is flying in today (as we speak) for my baby shower this weekend. I can't wait to see her and I'm looking forward to having my mom and sister come with me to the doctor and then we are going out to dinner with Nik.

I still have so much more to say . . . funny how I don't talk for weeks and then all of a sudden I can't stop talking! But, I know, I know, this post is already ridiculously long. So . . . I'll stop there. Talk to you soon!