Our Little Baby Blog

A Real Education

Mike and I participated in the Great Expectations class last weekend at the hospital. Northwestern has a great prenatal education program. The quick overview on this class is that it walks you through the stages of labor (who knew there were four) and provides information on pain management (epidurals, yes please) and c-sections (ouch) and other things you may face on D-Day.

I can't say that we were completely unaware of these things already, I mean, we do have The Learning Channel, but it was overwhelming to sit through 8 hours of it. They taught us breathing techniques and how to push. I'm hoping it's helpful, but I have my doubts. We did, however, learn some new things.
- We could spend easily 12 hours at home in labor before hitting "active" labor. A lot of women actually go to the hospital and then get sent home.
- Only 15-20% of women actually have their water break on their own, usually it's broken by the doctor during labor.
- Bumpers (the pretty padded thing that goes around the crib) are actually dangerous and not recommended for use because they could suffocate the baby. We learned this in infant CPR and at this class again. They're already banned in Europe.

Not only did we learn a lot of about labor and delivery, we also learned that I am suffering from a severe case of baby brain. If you're not familiar, it means a pregnant woman's brain turns to mush. Case in point. We walked down to the garage on the morning of our class and discovered the car was gone. Gone. Where did it go? Well, it turns out I had driven to work the morning before and, um, took the bus home. Granted, I had had a horrible day and had to deal with a major client issue, which occupied my mind the entire day, but that's not exactly a good excuse.

Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who, instead of making fun of me, just hailed a cab and bit his tongue. He did however start a new rule in our household. If you drive to work, you really have to bring the car home.

I promise honey. I will try.