prenatal class

Fri & Sat this past weekend, we attended the S'toon public health prenatal classes. I have to say they were pretty good. I learned a lot about the pros and cons of various medication options, and of course they made us practise the "he he he hoooooooo hooooooooo" breathing and stuff. I have to say the light shallow breathing made me quite dizzy when i tried it in class, but i also tried it in the middle of aquacise when holding in the chinup position for 30 sec, and it was way better then, so i suspect it's one of those things that is more useful when there's actually demand being placed on your body.

We also have more ideas for how we plan to prepare for labour (I told tony he has to practise the massage techniques on me a LOT before it actually starts), and some things to try when we're in labour. Of course when it actually happens it may be totally different and things i currently think might help me may get thrown out the window, but i like the idea of going in with a toolbox of things to try to help manage the pain and such.

I am not opposed to having some medications to help manage the pain if need be, but i also want to see how far i can go without anything...just how much i can handle. I don't want a drugged up baby at birth, so it was nice to hear about options that don't impact baby, but take the edge off (i.e., laughing gas). And i'm not completely opposed to considering an epidural, but i think that would be a very last resort thing for me (before 7 cm, of course, lol) if things were taking a very long time and i was near exhaustion and running out of energy for the actual delivery.

Of course, we'll just have to see when we actually get there. But the main thing i've gotten from the class, the books i've read, and some very informative and helpful emails and comments from some of you, is that the more relaxed I can stay, the better. So that is my ultimate goal, and having things like an mp3 player loaded with my favorite soothing, calming music, a few creature comforts packed for the hospital, and hopefully staying around home for the first part of Stage 1, we can accomplish that. And like i said before, i may or may not want or use these things when labour actually comes, but at least the options will be there. And hey, maybe i won't even have time to utilize any of the things i've prepared in advance (wishful thinking, i know - i'm actually mentally preparing for a long labour, that way if it's short, it will be a bonus!)

Oh, and one last thing, i have realized that i really dislike the term "Transition" (referring to the phase between 7 cm and fully dilated). From what it sounds like, that's where most of the pain and agony occur, and then the only reward is getting to finally push the kid out (which sounds like it can be quite the ordeal in and of itself). "Transition" makes it sound like an intermediate step that is over quite quickly and is just changing from one phase to another (yes, i know it's the period of change from labour to delivery, but man, that's where a lot of the action happens!) So I vote that we rename that phase...any suggestions?