Classes

When I undertake anything new, the first thing I do is read books about it, then I take a class. I see no reason why babies shouldn't work the same way. I've read about childbirth online and in books, now it's time for the class.

I've been looking into which class (or classes!) we should take. I've enrolled us in an infant CPR class through OHSU. I was really looking for childbirth sorts of classes, but I was having trouble finding anything that matched up with our (irritatingly difficult) schedules and sounded like something we'd be interested in taking.

There's basically two options:
1. Class at a hospital (like OSHU). They sound fairly clinical, and talk about the anatomy of birth, pain management, and possible complications. It sounded sort of like a class I didn't want to take for the same reasons that I've chosen to not give birth in a hospital. On the plus side, there are a whole bunch of different ones available so it would be easier to schedule.
2. Class at a woo-woo place (like Zenana Spa). They're a lot more touchy-feely. They talk about visualizing birth, thinking about the birth process through art, and creating an atmosphere of love and intimacy. I visualize the people who take this class as people who wear crystals and weave their own hemp clothing (which I'm sure is totally untrue). On the plus side, they won't be trying to convince me of the benefits of scheduling an elective C-section.

Mike recommended that I call Dr Liz and ask if she had an opinion. I did, and she did. She said that she used to teach childbirth classes and then stopped when she realized that no matter what she taught in the class, births never quite went that way. No matter how you prepare before birth, nothing can prepare you for the actual process. She agreed that the hospital classes would probably be too clinical for what I was looking for and that the woo-woo classes would be very full of woo.

She recommended that I take prenatal yoga, which I'm going to look into at the yoga studio she mentioned. She also sort of recommended Hypnobirth classes: she said "I've never seen hypnobirthing go catastrophically wrong, no matter how it goes". Another thought is The Yoga Way to Birth. She said it might be a little "intense", but I'm not sure if that's intensity of woo or what. The website says that you don't need any yoga background to take the class. She also recommended that we take this "Becoming Parents" class, which I was already thinking about. She said it wasn't worth it to take a breastfeeding class (she will "get us through it") or infant massage, unless we discover that we really need infant massage after the baby is born (because it's "extra cranky").

I'd seen Hypnobirth and Yoga Way to Birth mentioned in other places and I'd looked into them somewhat, but it was good to get validation that they might actually be useful things before pursuing them further. I'd been planning on taking prenatal yoga next term, but I might work harder to squeeze it into this term's schedule as well (she thought that would be a very good idea). It was validating to hear that she agreed with my thoughts on the two types of classes (hospital and woo). It was also really comforting to hear that she didn't totally think we needed to take a birthing class. If we can't fit it in, the baby will still get born.