Childbirth classes

The last couple of weeks have not been eventful for us, but with December coming up, we know that we're entering the "red zone" with Harrison. His due date is not until the second week of January, but we're getting to the point where early arrivals aren't abnormal. So it's time to get ready!

One of the ways we are getting ready is by taking childbirth classes at Community South Hospital, where we will be going (or, at least we plan to go) for the delivery. We've gone through three weeks of the four that we signed up for. I was going to blog about each class, but honestly, blog posts about comfort positions aren't really that interesting.

It is sort of interesting that we are the only couple in the childbirth class who already has children -- we've got two kids already but we've never had a baby before! -- and we're probably the oldest couple in there by a pretty wide margin.

What I am taking away from the childbirth classes is that you are not really supposed to learn things in these classes like I would in, say, a math class. There are a lot of facts and techniques and so on that are thrown at you, but there is not any kind of expectation that either one of us will remember anything, or even that those facts and techniques will even apply to our circumstance once everything starts happening. Or, at least, if our instructor thinks that we're going to remember the difference between breathing with an ah-ah-EEEE pattern versus an ah-EEE-ah-EEE pattern once baby Harry's head starts to drop into Cathy's pelvis, she's crazy.

Instead, you familiarize yourself with the overall concept of childbirth; you get the idea that you're not going to remember any of this stuff in the heat of labor; and finally you get the idea that you should learn to shut up and listen to the nurses in all situations because they are being paid to remember and apply the things you're seeing but are guaranteed not to remember.

I am also taking away from childbirth classes the profound awesomeness of the birth process. I can say "profound awesomeness" to some degree because I'm not the one who has to pass something the size of a watermelon through an opening in my body the size of a grapefruit. But still, watching the birth videos, looking at the anatomical diagrams of baby and mother and how it all works together during the birth process, gives me an awestruck feeling at how we are fearfully and wonderfully made and at how everything in the conception, gestation, and birth process is perfectly designed and tuned to just work.

And on a related note, I am learning a deep sense of awe and respect for Cathy, who is carrying Harry in her and will be going through all these things we're seeing in the videos very, very shortly. (I was going to also say that I'm learning just how glad I am to be male, but that would probably get me in trouble.)