Childbirth Preparation
I’ve just gotten back from our second Childbirth Preparation course, so please excuse me if this post seems a bit rushed. It’s nearly 10pm and I’m anxious to relax a bit before the workweek begins anew tomorrow.
Never before did I realize how complicated child birth can be. Naively, I expected the process to go rather smoothly, with Karin notifying me one day that “the time has come”, and with that we’d spirit ourselves away to the hospital, and shortly thereafter we’d find ourselves the parents of a brand new baby boy. Little did I know about “preludes to labor”, “early labor”, “active labor”, “transition”, and “pushing and delivery”. The very thought of forceps and suction cups was entirely alien to me. Learning about “tears”, “epidurals”, and “perineums” made my head swim and concern grow for my wife and the challenges she’ll soon be facing.
Let me tell you, the first thing I’m going to be doing this week is picking up an exercise ball, brushing up on my “he-he-he-whos”, and making sure that I’m ready for my part in this grand experiment. I’m growing more and more nervous about this whole thing, but can’t wait to greet our new baby boy in February.
I hope you plan to be in the delivery room during birth. I did it for all three of our kids. The best think I can compare it to is being picked up by a tornado, thrown for 150 feet, then getting up and walking away from it. It maybe the only time in my life that I just had no control over what was happening around me. It is pretty awesome.
Trust me, brother, I will be there. Not sure how I’ll fare, but I wouldn’t miss this for anything in the world.