Tuesday, September 26, 2006

We Survived!

So, we survived the scary movies this past weekend. Believe it or not, watching the live birth was not the worst of it (though I truly could have done without seeing the placenta passed, I almost lost my breakfast!). No, of course - for me - the worst part was finding out that an epidural is not a one-time shot. It is a shunt they put into your back and feed medication through. So, believe it or not, if I can deal with a non-medicated birth, that's what I'll do. The medication delivery system wigs me out more than the idea of birth. Yes, I know I am strange.

The class was supposed to have 9 couples in it but we ended up with 3. We were the loudest of the group (the instructor called us her "hecklers") but it helped us get through it. There was an interesting exercise we did on the 2nd day where we each held ice cubes and tried to divert our attention from the pain of the cold by using various techniques (breathing, music, relaxation, visualization, etc). It was neat to figure out what did and didn't work and Ken and I are going to try and start practicing various types of distraction each week so he can be ready when the time comes.

That's about it for now. Appetite is good (though the films really didn't help with that this weekend) and I'm starting to get tired again, but I hear that is to be expected. Thanks all for reading this and I hope you're doing well.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ok, so the distraction technique I recommed is for Ken to smack you silly with each contraction. You will soon forget about the contractions. I had the epidural and never knew the thing was in. Take the drugs, you'll be high and fine. Best way to do it is to get IV pain meds before you get the epidural.