The First Birth Class

Tonight Josh and I had our first birth class with our doula, Erin. It was very informative and somewhat inspiring. I am very happy that we have decided to attempt natural child birth and to use a doula. We started by talking about our expectations and desires for birth. She told us a little about her philosophy and the ways she would support us both.

Then we watched a video with funny clips that showed how birth is portrayed in the media. I do think that media's love for drama has lead to birth being portrayed as violent and dramatic. We talked about our fears related to labor and child birth. It was interesting to learn that women, myself included, tend to focus on the pregnancy and labor pain and symptoms, while men, Josh included, tend to think more about the future after the baby comes home.

She then spent some time talking to us about how to work together and support each other. She had us practice massage and pointed out that we need to practice and talk about things like that now while we are both logical! Then we did some non-violent communication scenarios, which were fun. "Josh, imagine Mamie comes home very excited about all the things she has bought for the baby. She has spent a lot of money and you are worried about all the other expenses. How do you respond?"

After that we talked a little about anatomy and how birth works. I feel like I already knew a lot of this, but a lot of it was new for Josh. He said it did help him understand what I would be going through. I think that, for me, it was helpful to think about what is "normal". I think the big challenges for me when it comes to natural birth are going to be staying calm and focusing on the moment not worrying about what "might" happen. I feel very confident after tonight that Erin and Josh will be able to help me do it!