Pain Management

Last night's childbirth class (2 of 4) consisted mostly of the tour of the maternity ward (which we already did) and then all about the epidural, with the last 20 minutes breathing exercises.

I'm pretty sure I've decided against Stadol. The retired nurse Martha who does the class kept saying that it was a great choice in the first stage of labor, but I've read a lot of negative things about it. The comments online said it knocks you out, but you are still "awake" to feel the pain and hear everything around you. There were multiple entries about that. How creepy! No thank you!

I also am now contemplating not getting an epidural. Going all-matur-al. Lol, I'm sure when it comes down to it I will forget that I ever even thought such a thing. It's not completely because I'm afraid of it, but... oh, who am I kidding, I'm afraid of it. Just think about it, that needle to just the outside of your spine - but there's no machine to show them how close they are. What if my spine sticks out further than others? I'm sure most people think I'm nuts, but it's stuck in my head for now.

We also watched a video about epidurals which ended in seeing the actual labor. I cried. I have no idea why I cried, but I did, and I was the only one who did. And the baby was blue. It's been years and years since I've seen a labor video, and I forgot all about the baby being blue, and the cheese looking stuff on it. Gross. And the doctor in the video just flopped their baby on mom's lap for a few seconds. Flopped! I would have been ticked, and I hope my doc doesn't do that! I think they get so used to doing deliveries they just forget that the mom and dad don't think their baby should be handled that way.

Oh, oh! We got shown some tools they could use during delivery. This metal thing that they can put up there and screw (yes, screw!) into my baby's head. Baby's can't talk to say that it hurts and it seems pretty barbaric to me. And then there's this hand-pump vacuum they can suction to the baby's head to help pull them out, but it bruises baby. Ugh. I am seriously hoping for none of that!

Lastly, was the breathing. This week's breathing exercises and homework was "moderate" breathing (in through nose and once air hits throat out quickly through the mouth) and "patterned" breathing (fast paced a lot like moderate but all through the mouth, 3 quick breaths, faster, and a deep out breath after each set). I didn't enjoy either. If the point is to relax, those breathing patterns are not going to relax me at all. Gene wants me to keep practicing them though because he is certain the deep, slow, in-and-out breaths wont cut it once we are into the second phase of stage one labor.

The things that I love about class are that Gene gets all into it. He doesn't ask questions or anything, but he pays close attention, and he does all the relaxing and breathing exercises with me instead of just watching me. He had to fill out this sheet of questions, and he seems to be so concerned with helping me get baby out safely and quickly. I have tears just thinking about his concerns. :) Did I mention that we are the only married couple in the class? One girl has her mom as a coach, the other girl has her baby-daddy with her (and he has 3 other kids from who knows how many women already), and the 3rd couple, sho didn't bother coming to class last night, was a young couple just "dating."

I feel so lucky to have Gene, and I appreciate that we did this the way we wanted to. We wanted to get married, have fun, get to a good place, and then THINK about having kids. A little more than 6 years in and here we are; things couldn't be better. In fact, things are so perfect right now that every day I worry about how it will all come crashing down. Let's hope that whatever crashes does not involve Baby B.

8 weeks to go, and each week I get more and more irritable at work and anxious at home. Let's get moving father time!!!

Jenni