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When we first visited Carla, our midwife,
she gave us a book about being pregnant. It described the
whole process in gory detail, with pictures and
explanations. There are plenty of descriptions of what
happens during pregnancy and, even scarier, what happens
during birth. We call this book “The Scary
Book.” We much prefer the more "soft and
feely" book "What to Expect When You’re
Expecting". For a while, we never looked at the
scary book. Well, no more. We started our birth classes
last week, they are being taught by the author of The
Scary Book, Penny Simkin. There are a total of eight
classes and eighteen couples. Everyone files into the
room in the hospital slowly. Everyone is obviously
pregnant. There is a long line for the single bathroom
when people arrive. Last Wednesday, we all sat in a big
circle and introduced ourselves. Everyone is having their
first baby, and we all look like deer in the headlights.
We all look forward to the birth experience with a
combination of excitement and fear. Penny is there mostly
to tell us what to expect. By the end of our eight weeks,
we'll all have some idea what is going to happen, a
general outline of the process. Sure we'll learn to
breathe, relax, do some exercises, but mostly, birth will
no longer be the big mystery. The classes are divided
into three parts, first Penny lectures from the book. We
have reading assignments just like in college. Then we do
some exercises, like relaxing techniques, breathing, etc.
Finally, and most frighteningly, we see a video of a real
birth. Of course it's not the whole thing, the class is
only two hours. But it details the process and shows the
actual moment that the baby comes into this world. There
are lots of close ups of the mother's face and the baby
right after birth. This is just like driver's education,
but we're already behind the wheel. They should show
these videos before we get pregnant. I know I felt
something after watching my first video, I dreamed about
it that night. I was impressed at what the new mother
goes through, the determination on her face. In some
ways, I wish I could be more of a part of the physical
effort. In the end, I can only help Julie. I know she
will be tough. I've been hiking and spinning with Julie,
I know she can do the physical part. She's not so sure. Yesterday,
we went on our hospital tour. We went to see where the
baby is going to be born. The tour consisted of seven
couples, all very pregnant. This time, there were other
children along for the tour, not everyone was doing this
for the first time. We are going to have our son at Group
Health in Seattle, Washington. It’s a pretty nice
place, right smack in the middle of a typical Seattle
neighborhood. There's very little parking, some rooms
have a view of Puget Sound and the downtown buildings.
It’s an easy commute for us, (except for the part
where we cross the bridge which can be tough). Now we can
picture the place the baby will be born. And now
it’s time for us to pack up the suitcase and put it
in the car.
Today is day one of week thirty-two. There are eight
weeks until our due date. We have seven birth classes
left. The countdown has started. Early on, we counted up,
two weeks, one month, three months, etc. Now we count
down. The baby could be here in a month or it could be
two months or it could be ten weeks. We are mostly ready,
the nursery is complete, and we have clothes, our car
seat and Penny and Carla.
We are now ready, except we still have no name.
Everyone will be happy to know the names from last time
are now all back on the list. Except for Kyle, Spencer
and Sean (my favorites). It's funny, I don't know why I
really like those names; they just sort of stuck with me.
Julie is stuck on Mathew, Ethan and Adam. I doubt this is
really the short list, I guess we'll find out.
Hope you are all well. We are.
P.S. It Natalie's Birthday today. Happy Birthday!!!!
D.
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