Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Birthing Class
I never thought that one would need lessons on how to give birth, but after attending the ante-natal class yesterday I am not so sure.
Lib* and me opted to take the full day class. This is partly because we are quite busy, but mostly because we forgot to enrol earlier on in Lib*'s pregnancy and with three weeks or so left, there are frankly not enough Tuesday nights left for us - I think it's six separate sessions. This day session is effectively a crash course.
Although the class did not prescribe anything about having children, it did present various options about the childbirth process and in particular focussed on the particular pros and cons of different pain management approaches. At the Calvary Hospital, there is a focus on "active birthing", which means (as far as I can tell) approaching birth with as little interference as possible. Some people might sight say it's a little masochistic to suffer the childbirth process without pain medication, and I would be one of those people. I think I'll leave that one up to Lib*, but I am nervous about watching her go through any kind of pain.
We also watched a video about three women's experience and while graphic, was not as brutal as I expected. I took a little comfort in the diversion provided of the fashion of the mid 80s as this was when the video was produced.
We met a lovely couple, Ben and Gillian, who have recently moved here from SE Asia, although originally from Perth. Hopefully we'll catch up with those guys soon. Their ante-natal experiences in Thailand seemed quite interesting. Maybe that's for another day.
Lib* and me opted to take the full day class. This is partly because we are quite busy, but mostly because we forgot to enrol earlier on in Lib*'s pregnancy and with three weeks or so left, there are frankly not enough Tuesday nights left for us - I think it's six separate sessions. This day session is effectively a crash course.
Although the class did not prescribe anything about having children, it did present various options about the childbirth process and in particular focussed on the particular pros and cons of different pain management approaches. At the Calvary Hospital, there is a focus on "active birthing", which means (as far as I can tell) approaching birth with as little interference as possible. Some people might sight say it's a little masochistic to suffer the childbirth process without pain medication, and I would be one of those people. I think I'll leave that one up to Lib*, but I am nervous about watching her go through any kind of pain.
We also watched a video about three women's experience and while graphic, was not as brutal as I expected. I took a little comfort in the diversion provided of the fashion of the mid 80s as this was when the video was produced.
We met a lovely couple, Ben and Gillian, who have recently moved here from SE Asia, although originally from Perth. Hopefully we'll catch up with those guys soon. Their ante-natal experiences in Thailand seemed quite interesting. Maybe that's for another day.
# posted by Sherlock @ 6:38 AM 
