All the Pregnant Ladies...

We attended an all-day child birthing class on Saturday and were pleasantly surprised by how informative it was.  We definitely feel more prepared for the "Big Event" and I am more confident in being able to have our baby naturally and unmedicated.  I know that ultimately the baby will come the way she wants to come and I have very little control over the entire thing.  Obviously our highest priority is her health and safe delivery, but I do feel very strongly about laboring and delivering as God created our bodies to do.  (But then again, ask me when I'm in the middle of a contraction 20+ hours into labor and barely progressing and I may say God blessed us with scientific progress for a reason!)

The class was taught through the hospital we are giving birth at, and we really enjoyed the instructor who is a lactation consultant and doula.  There were about 20 couples, which means my anxiousness about being around so many pregnant bellies resurfaced the minute we walked into the room.  Still, it was a worthwhile experience and some highlights from the (long) day were:

• Not feeling like a giant balloon compared to the other women.  I know it's bad to compare because every woman's pregnancy is different, but I've been feeling like a giant jelly bean lately, and it was comforting to know that I'm not THAT big (yet).
• The instructor's excellent analogy of how the cervix grows--from the size of a cheerio to a Ritz bit, to a Ritz cracker, to a rice cake--even if we can no longer eat those snack foods again.
• The men learning how to properly massage a woman in labor.  (And warnings to them to not just ask "How are you doing?" while trying to help the woman through the pain.)
• Adam breathing like Mia (the pug) when instructed to practice groaning as a method for dealing with contraction pain.
• Adam quietly singing "All the pregnant ladies, all the pregnant ladies, put your bumps up!" to the tune of "Single Ladies" while we were doing different exercises.