Education, Injection and Accessories (or How I Spent My Saturday)

We got up early today for childbirth classes.  I've done quite a bit of reading about pregnancy, labor and delivery, so I didn't expect to learn a lot in childbirth class.  Isn't it nice when your expectations are met? :)  I didn't get any new information about having babies.  At this point, experience is probably the best teacher.

I did get a tour of the Women's Center and learned about their philosophy and policies, which is really what I wanted to get out of the class.  The facilities are nice: somewhere between home and time share condo.  Hospital beds have wooden headboards, walls are papered and have bold borders at the top, and televisions are in a wooden hutch instead of just screwed to the wall.  Labor and delivery happen in the same room, so unless you're taken to an OR you remain in the same room for your entire stay.  If possible, all rooms are private, and they have a couch for husbands to sleep on.  There is a nursery, but babies are allowed to "room in" (stay in the mother's room).  They have tons of security so no one can steal your baby.  The attitude of the medical staff seems to be that it's your birthing experience and they are present to assist.  From some of the answers I got to questions that I asked, they'll let you labor and deliver in pretty much any position you want, but they're not going to be imaginative and suggest delivering in any position but semi-reclining with feet in stirrups.  They encourage unmedicated birthing but really like drugs, too.  IVs seem to be mandatory, but I was already going to need IV antibiotics for the Type B Strep they found several months ago in my urine.  They seem pretty insistent on my wearing a hospital gown to keep me from messing up my clothes and to make some IV stuff easier, but I'm going to show up in what I want to wear (a knit skirt that I don't mind staining) and Matt is going to insist I get to wear it.  I'm pretty bummed that they don't have hydro-therapy tubs to labor in, but they have a shower that I can sit in as much as I like.  I swim like a fish and love taking baths, so I was really looking forward to a pregnant-woman-sized tub to relax in while in labor.  I'll just have to take warm baths at home before I go to the hospital and have Matt help pry me out of the tub when I'm done.  Overall, I'm pleased with what I've seen and heard.

Matt was unimpressed by our instructor.  Her presentation meandered and there were some unfortunate racial stereotypes early in her presentation.  The fact that he had to get up early on a Saturday didn't put him in a mood to be easily impressed.  He did find some of the videos informative (he hasn't been reading like I have). And we kind of enjoyed the silly breathing exercise portion of the class.  We mostly talked about our expectations for his labor coaching while we were supposed to be practicing breathing, and I'm hoping it leads to further conversations so that we're on the same page when I go into labor.  When we had to "perform" our breathing for the teacher, she told Matt he has a very authoritative and soothing voice.  It made us smile because he gets that kind of comment all the time, sometimes in much weirder situations and from crazier people.

While on lunch break, I had blood drawn in preparation for my Rhogam shot.  After classes I got the injection, which will keep me from forming antibodies in my blood that would attack a fetus with a different blood type.  Most people/babies have positive Rh factors, but I'm A-.  Supposedly, this baby is safe, but the next one would be in trouble if I reacted to this one.

When I stopped by the ER to get the shot, I was given two bracelets to wear to the lab and got another one at the lab.  All I wanted was a single injection, but I got three bracelets to go with it.  As I was wearing them all afternoon, I thought about Dad getting a hospital bracelet after receiving pain medication for his gallbladder surgery and asking the nurse if it meant they were going steady. :)  A good anecdotal reason to aim for unmedicated labor.