Thursday evening meant the first of five weekly birthing classes.
Two-and-a-half hour sessions filled up with videos, nutritional factoids, and
exercises, all curricularized to put minds at ease. Deep breaths, in through the
mouth, out through the nose. Phweeeeasy does it.
We were politely asked to fill out and pin on name tags including the
attending doctor’s name and baby’s due date. And then we sat in a classroom for
the first hour, running through the series of familiar-making gestures. "Let me
tell you a little bit about myself…." Chalked on the board, important notes:
History of OB
1900’s – Grantly Dick-Read: "Fear-Pain-Tension Syndrome"
1940’s – Fernand Lamaze: "Psycho-prophylaxis"
1950’s – Robert Bradley: "Husband-coached Childbirth"Goals:
1. Understand your body
2. Physically and mentally prepare
3. Trust your body
4. Make sound, informed decisions
5. Pack a "tool belt"Nutrient of the Week
Protein
B Vitamins
We watched a ten-minute movie, the 1989 low-budget video Hello, Baby.
Won’t find this one in IMDB. I’ll skip over some of the obvious critiques about
the stuff on the board; that’s not the reason I’m t.here. But I will say that I
found it a tiny bit unusual that there were two triangles drawn to correspond to
Grantly Dick-Read’s century-old research. According to the lesson as told on
Thursday, Dick-Read came up with a "syndrome" based in the anticipatory buildup
toward childbirth, a pre-birth triad of fear-pain-tension and its
antithesis, education-control-relaxation. The pair of three-term cycles
were drawn to match with a pair of triangles on the board. The unusual part: the
triangles were used only because there were three terms to each sequence or
cycle and that they were embattled with each other, even if, as drawn, they
didn’t initially appear to be at odds. I also didn’t know (and so learned)
Lamaze was influenced by Russian psychology (including Pavlov). Lamaze’s
"psycho-prophylaxis," again, as explained Thursday, gets at the idea that the
intensities of labor are more bearable with mental and physical
distractions–focal points, strict breathing patterns, etc. But are there better
distractions than regimented breathing and looking at favorite photos?
For the second half of the class we switched into another room with an open
space for various exercises. After an hour in there, the session was over.
As a woman that has experienced natural childbirth three times, I have to sat that I am intrigued that these “experts’ have never had to have a baby themselves! Where are the theories from those of us that actually know what the hell happens-a.k.a. keepin’ it real? I can’t be mad at them, though. The classes can be very helpful, though breathing in a synchronized way when you feel like your insides are being torn to shreds can be a challenge. I can’t lie though; I have my Lamaze certificate in Ariana’s baby book! LOL Enjoy!
Fair enough. Although, who can argue that Lamaze is The Name on the list of folks who’ve revolutionized obstetric thinking? A popular one, anyhow. I don’t know much about it, really. But I feel much more at ease sitting in a room full of the uninitiated and amiably unraveling the fears and apprehensions (heh, this sounds like a graduate course, now that I think of it.)
Yes. Reading a good book. Did it for me. No agony here. I was a bore at the circle of birth stories and pity parties. Read a book – “Gestalt Therapy Verbatin” and remained quiet and relaxed. Hard labor – 10 minutes.. 3 hard pains and the future Dr. was born…the rest is history… Get into a good book before labor…stop until labor starts…start reading again when labor starts.. better than looking at photos…gives the brain something to dwell on…put book down between pushes…Good Luck.
S
Thanks for the suggestion Sybel. Derek’s mentioned getting a new game and bringing a game system – all in the name of relaxation of course.
Just make sure that if he is watching t.v. that you get to pick the program. With the younger T., J. insisted on watching Waterboy (which I hate) and then promptly fell asleep in the chair! I woke him up when the excitement started. As for the pains, there can be quite a few and if they tell you that you can’t hold your breath, tell them to shut up! I did!