Guest Writer - Lesson 1

My friend Bec, who you may remember from various posts about her wedding last year, the baby shower I'm currently planning, and other exciting adventures, is having a baby. Last night she had her first class...and at lunch yesterday we were speculating abut exactly what might be involved. This morning she reported back for the amusement of me and my readers....


Ok you wanted details, here are the details....

I arrive early due to being anxious about the whole thing. I don't want to pant in a group, practice positions for the 'big show' or have to kneel on all fours in front of anyone. I have been thinking about this as a milestone 'must get to the Birth and Beyond session and then we will be ok'. Its down hill from here and I am now worried. I work myself into a sweat waiting for Luke to arrive. He arrives late, looking dishevelled after being caught in the rain. Not a good start.

We walk in and the teacher greets us and gives us paper work to complete, one for Mum and one for Dad. As I go through the paperwork some of the questions are 'What tests have you been for?' to 'Drs Name'. Now for some people this might not be to difficult to answer but for me with the dreaded 'Baby Brain' I had great difficulties answering these questions. So I put the broad answer of 'Scans' and 'Kent St Medical Centre' just to fill the gaps. The teacher came and took our paperwork and actually marked it off. I saw ticks flying everywhere much to my delight 'we passed!' even ran through my mind....

We start to browse through the brochures and workbooks. I come across some painful looking diagrams and feel myself getting flushed as my heart rate rises. I show Luke the diagrams and then look at him and start to giggle like a 12 year old in the PE van at school. I then mutter under my breath 'I don't think I can do this....'

The teacher then moves us into the other room, I charge off. Firstly wanting to get out of the claustrophobic room and secondly wanting first pick of the seating arrangements. I find that there are mats, bean bags, pillows, towels and chairs arranged in a circle. I pick the off centre position and plonk myself down on the bean bag and Luke parks himself in the chair and we wait for the games to begin.

I eye off the other bellies and feel strangely comfortable in this group. They all look different but there is something strangely comforting being in a room with people that are going through the same life changing event. We do the ice breaker and I successfully remembered peoples names. There are some people - a young couple, that live right near us which is nice to know. We finish the ice breaker and then start the learning phase of the class.

We are confronted with a life scale female pelvis and shown how it moves about. Now really, do we NEED to see it changing shape? Then we see how the baby (yes again to scale) passes through the pelvis and also how it can get stuck if it comes out the wrong way. The room is rather quiet during this show and I look around at the fearful faces, the brave faces and the red faces. Its good to see that there are all sorts of reactions, means I am 'normal' in this group.

We then stop for a break which gives us a chance to mingle with the other expecting parents. It seems that we share the same fears, thoughts and questions which is good. I think that we will be able to find some support in the group.

After the break we go back to our places to find a sheet of paper for Mum and a sheet of paper for Dad. We have to complete it without discussing our answers or questions. They are questions about the birth, pain relief and roll of support person. I go through and answer the questions. I then sneak a look at Lukes page and see that its similar questions but designed for him. To my delight he answers the same way as I do. I don't know why but I feel like I have passed an exam. We had never really talked about the 'birth' bit and how we would cope and knowing that he is thinking along the same lines makes things allot more easier to deal with. Feels like safety in numbers.

Over all, the class was good and informative. I think that it really helped Luke to understand the whole roll he will play in the process. It helped me to know that we are not alone and are not in isolation going through this. We have 6 more weeks of learnings and I am sure they will get even more confronting then last night but hopefully it will help for the grand finale - Meeting Mr Baby Bean.

Bec