Class #5

Class #5 was pretty cool. First we watched 'It's my body, my baby, my birth'. It was an educational film about natural childbirth - whether it takes place at home, at a hospital or a birthing center. It was good to see examples of natural childbirth in each location and the support of husbands/partners, midwives and/or doctors. And it wasn't a feel good, OMG natural childbirth is the most wonderful feeling in the world type of movie. The women actually talked about how they felt - ranging from pain to pleasure. It was honest and enjoyable.

Then came the really interesting part. We applied our exerises to the labour and birthing processes. We started with labour. The first scenario had us doing hip circles while standing, our husbands/partners behind us and moving with us. They had to press firmly on each side of our glutes while we moved. It felt pretty good as my pelvic area relaxed. We then faced the wall and swayed our hips side to side. The husbands/partners did the same thing with their hands but this time pressed firmly for 30 seconds (for a contraction) while we belly breathed. It really felt nice. After the 'contraction' they had to move each hand to our neck/shoulder area and massage it. Yes, it was a good one!The next scenario had us on all fours on the floor doing hip circles. In this position we coud be examined without any pressure on the baby. We then sat with our backs propped up with cushions a la the way birthing takes place in hospitals, etc. We felt the difference in that it felt like we were contracting our abdominal area due to the positioning. We then got into pushing. First, the ladies layed on their sides and the husbands/partners propped our heads with pillows and put a pillow between our legs. They then lifted our top leg, one hand on the knee and one on the ankle towards the ceiling. We then belly breathed in this position. The next position had us put the foot against our husband/partner's hip while we pulled our thigh toward us and they held the knee. We then belly breathed in this position, pulling the belly to the spine and then one floor back, our foot using our husbands/partners for resistance.The next exercise had a dual purpose. The first was trust and the second was a good transverse exercise. The ladies lay on their backs with their feet on the floor and our husbands/partners had their hands under our necks. We had to belly braethe into a pelvic tuck. With our head and neck relaxed our husbands/spouses raised our heads off of the floor while we were in the tuck position and we had to count 1-2-3. etc. without letting our stomach poke out. It was a great abdominal exercise. Then we got back on the ground and the husbands/partners had to practice motivating us to get up to go to the bathroom - in the midst of it we we given advice on havng water and a straw during labour, bringing your own mouthwash just in case your nausea resuts in you throwing up and bringing extra pillows and pillow cases with you to use during labour.We then got into hamstring stretches and the calf raises for 3 minutes. The guys participated and they suffered!!! It was good though because they had to continue 'breathing through the pain'. We then got into the squats, touching out 3rd eye (piuitary gland), heart and baby before going into the squat and rolling back up. The guys joned us for the last 5 and they were pretty good.

We ended the evening talking about when should you go to the hospital - and it wasn't when your water broke. Since we live on a small Island, it turned out to be when the contractions are 1 minute long and 2 minutes apart. In my case, since I live 30 minutes from the hospital I would probably have to leave when they are 45 seconds long and 3-5 minutes apart. Granted, this is if you are trying to labour mostly at home.Needless to say, tonight was really useful and many of my classmaes loved it.