Adventures at childbirth class

Okay well, not really adventures, but a little bit of inappropriateness.

Danny and I had our 7.5 hour childbirth class marathon today. Overall, it was really good. I was familiar with 90% of the stuff we talked about, but there are some things you don't learn about in medical school. KU's L&D is pretty old school.....very old school....so we never get to see patients use the bathtubs or the labor balls. There is no room for either at KU. There is barely room for mom, dad and a doctor at KU. Also, most of the patients at KU deliver without much in the way of pain intervention, so I didn't see many patients deliver the way that I want to deliver. Drugs please :)

During the class we learned about different postures and positions to try with our "support person" to relieve the pain of contractions. At the end of class, we had to try out four different positions for one minute each. This is where it gets fun. Danny and I started out in a position where my back was to his chest. I leaned back into him and he was supposed to massage my belly. We made the mistake of facing the rest of the class so Danny couldn't help but see all of our fellow students in funny poses as well. Lights are dim, relaxing music is playing.....my darling husband can't stop giggling. Things were going well at first, and then I feel Danny's whole body start shaking. Then I hear this muffled snorting noise coming from his head. He couldn't stop. For most of this exercise, instead of relaxing and actually practicing these techniques, I myself was trying not to laugh. At one point I had tears running down my face because, 3 minutes after the initial giggling episode, Danny was still shaking and making grunty/snorty/giggly noises and I could barely keep myself from busting out laughing as well.

Hopefully we can take things a little more seriously when I'm actually in labor.

Another fun Danny story from today: we're watching the birth video and the husband is being all supportive of his wife who has chosen to have no pain meds. Under his breath I hear Danny say, "suck it up...." Ah, August 17th could be a long day.