You will all be happy to know that my "grouchy" phase has passed. Well, at least it is not as extreme now... I may still be a little moody every once in a while but isn't that to be expected to some degree?
We started our childbirth classes last week. It is really strange to be in a roomful of other pregnant women. Everyone was really nice though. With one exception, every couple in the class is due in June. In fact, there is only one other couple that is due later than us and it is by just a few days. The "one exception" is due at the end of this month and what I learned in class is that it is really hard to tell how far along people are. I guess I should be more understanding when everyone assumes I am 8 months pregnant because I really do look about as pregnant as this girl does. Everyone is different I suppose... The class was a lot of fun. The teacher is nice and the class promises to be very educational. The teacher is not forcing natural childbirth on us but she says she wants us to make an "educated" decision. She had us do a pain test in which we held a bag of ice in our hand for 1 minute. Then we held the bag of ice in our other hand while we did deep breathing, she lowered the lights, played music, did guided meditation and had our husbands massage our other hand. Her point was that the pain level the second time around should be much less and go more quickly and consequently, the pain of labor would be tolerable if we just used these tools.
To be honest, my hand hurt just as much the second time as it did the first time so I am not sure it was a totally successful experiment for me. If I am not able to have an epidural for some reason it definitely won't be the end of the world. Women have been having babies with no pain medication since the beginning of time so I am sure I will get through it. On the other hand, I don't really see the point of putting myself through the pain if I don't have to. My guess is that most other women feel the same way because the teacher said that about 99% of the women that give birth at that hospital opt for the epidural.
On to the weekend... The family came over to visit for the holiday weekend. ("The family" in this context included Sarah, Greg and the boys, Dad, Grandma Dottie and Aunt Lynn.) Of course, we had big plans for Saturday that got frozen out because it was so chilly outside. We ended up spending most of the day in our house, but we still had a nice time catching up. We did venture outside for about 15 minutes Saturday for our photo shoot with Sarah. She was nice enough to take some maternity shots with me and Mark and we all had a really good time with it. Mark had the opportunity to get his "silly" out and I have no doubt that Sister got some great shots (despite the lousy weather and some frozen fingers all the way around). The boys were a lot of fun (as always) and the best part is that we get to see them again in just a few weeks when Mom will be here to visit as well.
Mark and I had a quiet day yesterday for Easter. I think it was the first do-nothing day that we have had in about 3 weeks (so it was long overdue). We both took full advantage of it and did nothing. Well, Brad did come over for dinner but that is about it. So, this is the full recap of the last week. I hope everyone had a great holiday and made it home safely.
No comments:
Post a Comment