Dear Blog,We spent Saturday night at a birth class. There were 5 pregnancies there, 5 partners and one Grandmother-to-be. Of the 5 partners, two were women. Of the two women, I was one. It was very odd when the midwife said at the beginning "OK, men on one side and women on the other." She quickly realised her mathematical and political error and amended most of the rest of the night to referring to the "partner" and not the "man" .
In the video, we saw German women in labour, clutching ropes and husbands. They looked like they were in a lot of pain. I have been very proud of my darling and her very big belly. (It really is big. This photo is two weeks old. It has got bigger). I still am proud, but Jesus, i was a bit worried about her for a bit there. I did that thing, watching the panting, crying germans, when you giggle a lot because you are so terrified. I looked around the room. Other people looked serene and interested. I looked at the pregnant bellies. All of the babies are due weeks sooner than ours. All of the bellies were smaller than KT's. I was even prouder/scareder.
She can almost not get into the shower recess. It only opens so wide. Clambering out of the car, she then closed the door on her belly, not realising it stuck out quite that far.
It was certainly a good and practical class and I feel much more in the spirit of things having done it. I have a good sense now of all the stages of labour, what to do when KT's water breaks (clean it up), when to go in to the Birth Centre ( when the contractions are five minutes apart and/or she can't stand the pain any more or I can't stand the screaming) and what pain relief she can get there (a bath). Also we got a bit friendly with the other lesbians and maybe if one of us is feeling brave we might even call them. Coz they seemed really nice and pretty together. Which could mean they made an attractive couple or that they were relatively grounded and emotionally stable.
There is an adventure ahead, it seems. And that's all before the little tacker comes home.
Soon this will be a parenting blog and not a trying to conceive blog or a pregnancy blog. Parenting seems so grown-up.
4 comments:
OK I have some objections to this post. I am not 'a pregnancy'. The women in the video (for the fourth time) were Austrian, not German.
Fair comment about the shower/car. And corridors generally are narrower too.
And I can't go to the birth centre until six to seven hours AFTER the five-minutely contractions begin. But yes, you will be cleaning up the amniotic fluid, my angel.
If you're lucky there won't be anything to clean up. It's not like they make it out to be. It just feels like you have to pee. And then you hurry to the toilet and realize, hey, did my water just break, maybe??
kt180-sorry about "pregnancies" didn't really mean it to sound that horrid. And yeah...Austrian, ta.
Wanderlust- Hi! (how exciting a new person is reading!)
Ta for the tip. We have a friend whose water broke in Target and she was luckily wearing a pad and shiny black pants which hid the water and she bombards us often with both the anecdote and the advice to wear likewise.
Ah, yes, well I was lying in bed at 2:00 a.m. Helps to be horizontal I suppose (and in one's own home near a bathroom).
With my first child I was induced at 41 weeks so they broke my water for me. I felt so cheated! 2nd one came 4 wks early. You just never know...
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