Our Last Childbirth Class (For Now)

I don't really have any specific subject to write about today, other than Tuesday's childbirth class. I've had a bunch of random stuff on my mind the last few days, but anyway...

Tuesday was our last childbirth class. It was supposed to be a three-part class, but the nurses teaching it have to work next Tuesday, so they shortened it to two days. It seemed to be a pretty short class despite having apparently had more information. They started off by talking about the signs of labor, and when to call the hospital. Then we watched a video of a cesarean section. Last week we watched one of a vaginal birth. After the video, a nurse anesthetist came and talked about various pain relief options, spending most of her time on epidurals, since that is the option of choice for most people. Then we went up to the second floor of the hospital to see the Labor and Delivery Center. We saw the triage rooms, where you start out when you first come in, and then we saw a labor room, where you deliver and I think you stay there until you are discharged, unless they need the room for someone else. The triage rooms have two beds, but the labor rooms are private, you only have to go just outside the door to go to the bathroom. One of the women in our group had absolutely nothing nice to say about the facilities. She actually went so far as to tell the nurses that she hoped the hospital was full when it came time for her to deliver, so that she could be transferred to another hospital. But we did get to go see the nursery. They are transitioning to a more specialized nursery, so that they can take babies that are born before 37 weeks gestation. That should be ready by the time we get to that point. I still felt strange going to the class, since everyone else there was ready to pop in the next month. But it was good information, and I was glad to be able to go see the labor floor. We might end up going again once we get closer to term. Bryan and I talked about my opinion on pain medication. I told him I wanted to try to have a natural birth, but I would do the paperwork for an epidural, in case I couldn't handle the pain.

Other than that, things are pretty normal. My body hasn't changed much since the last picture, so I'm not going to bother adding another one. As of yesterday, we have exactly six more months to go. I'm stalling on taking out my belly button ring, even though the last doctor I saw told me I needed to take it out. Looking at my belly, I can see it poking out there, and I just keep thinking, (think of Hammy from Over the Hedge) "But I like-a my belly button ring..." I'm just afraid I won't be able to put it back in without getting it re-pierced. I'll probably get it out before January 8th, when we go for the 18-week group class.

Passing the first trimester mark definitely lifted a weight from my shoulders, aside from the nausea going away. Most of the problems that are going to occur in any pregnancy occur in the first three months. My primary doctor definitely sent my blood pressure skyrocketing when he said the m-word (miscarriage), but I've heard SO many times since then that the bleeding I experienced in the second month was completely normal. Any pressure on the cervix, such as intercourse or an internal vaginal exam, can cause bleeding. I had both of those in a 12-hour span. But aside from miscarriage worries, if I get sick, it's not quite such a big deal to take medicine now as it was in the first 3 months. My preg doctor even said that if I needed to go back on anti-depressants, I could do that after three months. So passing that landmark was definitely a good thing.

As far as other things go, I've still got testing to go through, and I still need to get the results of my cystic fibrosis carrier test. The next tests are screening for neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, and for Down Syndrome. I think I get those after 20 weeks.

I don't know if I've posted it yet or not, but we have decided to go ahead and find out the baby's gender. We both thought it was the other one who didn't want to know, so we decided to just go ahead and find out. I also conceded to circumcision if it's a boy. My worries about circumcision, such as the pain and stress the baby will go through, will go away after a month or so. Bryan's worries are more toward the social aspect of it, and that will never go away, so I added that into the deal about finding out the gender. So we haven't added anything gender-specific to our baby registry, not until we know, or at least have an idea. I had been referring to the baby as a boy pretty much all the time, so until we know, I'm trying to quit that. If they do an ultrasound at this next appointment, we might even be able to find out then.

My appetite seems to steadily be getting back to normal, which is good and bad. I worry even more about getting enough to sustain the pregnancy above my maintenance. I'm not being woken up in the middle of the night with hunger pains, but they hit early in the morning. I wake up when Bryan gets up for work at 5am, and they'll hit as I'm trying to get back to sleep. So I'm still keeping granola bars by the bed.

That's pretty much it for now. I've got to walk to the store nearby to pick up some milk, and then I think I'm going to have a bowl of cereal. My stomach's growling at me.

TTFN!!!