We had our first prenatal class last night at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, where I’ll be having the baby. The class lasted three hours! There were about six other couples there and we were all at varying stages of pregnancy. Since I’ve read so many books, the class wasn’t as helpful to me as I think it was to Pedro – but it did answer some of our questions pertaining to giving birth specifically in England.
It was reassuring that the midwife giving the class didn’t seem to promote any one type of pain medication, like I expected. I had heard that they don’t really like giving epidurals and encourage drug-free births – but this was clearly just hearsay. As for me, my mind is pretty open about it. Before I got pregnant, I always just assumed that I would go straight for the epidural, but I like the idea of having an active labor and being able to move around a lot more outside of the bed to aid in delivery. So we’ll see when the big day comes just how I feel about it!
Tuvimos nuestra primera clase prenatal anoche en el hospital (tres horas!), donde yo voy a dar a la luz. Habian seis otras parejas ahí, y todas las mujeres estaban en varias niveles del embarazo. Desde que yo habia leído muchos libros sobre el embarazo, la clase no era muy útil para mi, pero creo que Pedro la disfrutó mucho – aunque yo creo que esa clase contestó nuestras preguntas sobre como es a parir especificamente en Inglaterra.
La comadrona no recomendó ningun tipo de droga contra el dolor, como yo pensé. Yo habia oído que la sistema aquí alienta nacimientos naturales (sin drogas) – pero, eso no es la verdad. Nos dio mucha información, y tengo una mente mas abierta.
This week's belly shot was taken at the end of the day, just as I was about to go to bed! I had a bit of a scare earlier when I realized in late afternoon that I hadn't really noticed the baby moving all day. She almost always responds if I rub or push my belly or if Pedro talks directly to her, but she didn't budge after numerous (and increasingly frantic) attempts. So we rushed over to the community clinic to get someone to check out the baby's heartbeat and my vitals just to make sure everything was fine. Of course, as soon as a doctor put the cold jelly to my navel, the baby started moving. That sense of terror and helplessness that proceeded the visit was terrible, though. I cannot say enough how thankful I am that I can just walk into the clinic and get seen right away without having to mess around with insurance paperwork or other bureaucratic concerns. It's hard to believe that almost ten months of pregnancy have passed and we're about to have a baby. I'm including a photo of the positive pregnancy test that I took all the way back on June 26th, 2007 - the very first of many exciting surprises for us!
