The evaluation asked if I would recommend other new parents I know take the hospital's childbirth class, and I guess I would, but this certainly wasn't my most positive experience this pregnancy. Nearly everything we learned I could just as easily, and probably already have, gleaned from the vast array of resources on the Internet. I'm a planner. I research. I want to be sure I'm giving my son the best that I can. Therefore, I really didn't learn a tremendous amount from over eight hours of class. I'm sure the relaxation and breathing techniques will come in handy, but probably the best thing I learned is that I'm probably already about as prepared as I'm going to be.
So, you're probably wondering why, if I found parts of the class helpful, I would only grudgingly offer this class to other new parents. One, we were clearly the oldest couple in the room. At least three of the couples were unmarried and looked to be between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three (and that's being generous!). The other two couples (one of which was married last October and the other was married last December!) on closer inspection were younger than I originally thought, most likely not more than twenty-five. Now, I'm not a particularly young first time mother, but I am younger than many of my friends were with their first babies and I am younger than my mother was with me. I still felt extremely out of place among this group of new moms. Add to that the fact that M and I were the only couple to both be fully employed (two homemakers, three unemployed/marginally employed dads - video games anyone?), and we were quite out of place.
Two, according to all the statistics, approximately one in four pregnancies ends in pregnancy loss. Given the group of which we were a part last night and today, I'm fairly confident we were the only ones with any experience of pregnancy loss. Statistically unlikely, but I'm still pretty certain that it was the case. Add to our knowledge of loss the fact that we delivered our daughter in that very hospital and that the tour of the maternal/child unit included a stop in the very delivery room where that loss became so horribly real, and it all added up to a less than stellar experience of childbirth class.
I realize that we live in a small community where the number of people who have had similar experiences of loss is very small, but it certainly would have felt different sitting in class with others who might have similar questions to mine. Things like, what emotions can I expect during labor given my past experience? Or, how will my body respond differently to labor this time than it did last time? I'll start a list for my doctor, but it does feel like we could have spent our weekend in a more productive way. While our instructors gave time for questions, it felt inappropriate to subject the others to my questions and even my history of loss.
Would I recommend other new parents take their hospital's childbirth class? Yes, but if your journey to parenthood has been a little, or a lot, rocky, know that you may have awkward moments and even rather raw emotions. Be prepared to ask your doctor your burning questions because your class may not feel like the appropriate place. And, if you have the opportunity to take a different type of class, look into it. You might find an alternative option more helpful.
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