Birth Classes & Our Latest Photo Shoot

Yesterday Bryan and I attended our first childbirth class.  After considering a variety of options, we've decided to study the Bradley Method, a set of birthing tools centered on childbirth as a natural process and on preparing husbands/fathers to play the role of coach throughout the pregnancy and (most importantly) labor.  So far we're feeling really good about it.  The class is made up of only two couples--us and another young set of academics also due in August.   Our teacher is a wonderful woman with a baffling amount of energy and years of experience as a mother, Bradley Method instructor, and both birth and postpartum doula.  We'll be attending the class every week for 12 weeks, two and a half hours per week.

Our first class focused on natural means of managing pain (mostly relaxation techniques such as massage and abdominal breathing) and on prenatal exercises that prepare the body for the act of giving birth (which, apparently, is the caloric equivalent of running a marathon--so I better get in shape!).  We also watched a couple of birth videos, which, I have to admit, can be a little overwhelming.  Seeing those children make their way into the world is simultaneously thrilling, heart-string pulling, and, no doubt, a little bit scary.

Luckily, though it can be hard to watch the women in those videos express the pain they're experiencing, pain in childbirth is one of the least of my worries (for now anyway).  I'm pretty sure I was born with my mother's imperviousness--and, in a real pinch, there are always drugs, though I'm hoping to avoid them.  But I have realized that I'm still working on managing two other fears related to childbirth.  First, I'm fearful of unnecessary medical interventions, which I've heard/seen/read can start innocently enough but often quickly cascade into a series of increasing dangerous and otherwise completely avoidable procedures.  I hope that by taking this class, both Bryan and I will find ourselves better informed about--and, therefore, better able to make decisions around--this particular kind of challenge during childbirth.  Second, I can't help but feel nervous anticipating my exposure during the birth.  It's difficult for me to imagine myself grunting and moaning and generally becoming so "raw" in front of other people, possibly even complete strangers.  But maybe attending this class will help me tap into that seldom-accessed part of myself, too.  In any case, it's a relief to know I still have time to get myself psychologically--as well as physically--prepared for what's to come.

In other news, Archimedes was the subject of another photo shoot today, this one at the ultrasound office.  Here are a couple of the pictures we snapped.  I can hardly believe how big we're getting!  (Compare these to the ones we took just 6 weeks ago.)

Archie's giving us a peace sign.  A hippie baby, perhaps?

Our baby in profile, displaying a little fist