Class #6

Class #6 was interesting and bittersweet as it was the final class. We started by discussing diapers. Most of the ladies intended to use cloth diapers and our instructor demonstrated how to use the cloth diapers that she uses with her daughter. It comes in 2 parts - the cloth diaper and the pants that it slides into. She has 20 diapers and 3 sets of pants and they actually were used with her son first. We all received a few cloth diapers as Christmas gifts.

We then discussed what should go into the birth plan. This led to a lot of discussion as the detail that was encouraged was definitely in depth. The initial section included the couples names, doctor, whether it is the 1st, 2nd child, etc, the Strep B result and a short intro. The next section covered the initial stages of labour. It included whether you want food and drink, how you wish to labour, movement, when you wish to go to the hospital, etc. This area lasts through to about 6cm. The second section was critical as it was the time at the hospital when you are at the 7-10cm phase. It included how you wish to labour, how you wish to be examined, drugs (if and when), use of shower (or bath), use of clear fluids (water, tea, miso soup), etc. The final section was after bith and it included requesting skin to skin contact with your child, whether you wish to store the cord blood or to allow it to remain connected to the clild until it ceases pulsing, whether you wish the baby fully bathed or wiped down, etc. Needless to say, there were many questions and lots of discussion.

We next discussed what should go into the birth bag. The bag we had as an example was the Doula's bag. It had a sarong, a birthing skirt, a nursing bra, a headband, 6 1.5l bottles of water, rasberry leaf tea that was sweetened with honey in ice cube form, packets of miso soup, a cup, bendy straws, disposable cups, mouthwash, breath mints, a kneeling cushion, pillows, multiple pillowcases, a sweatshirt, multiple pairs of socks, a homeopathic kit (has to be on the birth plan if intended for use), rescue remedy, and a few other things I don't seem to have recorded.

We then got into the exercise component. We started on our hands and knees with cat/cow, into circles and then side bends and rocking forward and back. Then we sat with our feet together and did circles, rocked back and forth and then added singles arm stretches behind us as we rocked forward. Then we stood up and did pelvic tucks, hip circles amd with our hands on the floor we swayed side to side and then did stretches from one leg to the other. Then came the calf raises for 3 minutes, lunges and then squats.

We ended the evening with 2 videos. The first was the home birth of twins (the second was breech but was delivered safely with no intervention) and the second was a circumcision (I couldn't watch the whole thing - it was so upsetting). We ended the evening with a picture and info on the next course which consists of 12 weeks of the excercise component of this course for the moms-to-be.I truly enjoyed the course and am so glad that we did it. I feel better informed for what we're getting ourselves into!