Parenting Class

On Saturday Julia and I had our first parenting class at St Vincent's Hospital in the middle of Melbourne. Its at St Vincent's that our Obstetrician is based and it is where the baby will be born when it is due.
Despite Julia being pregnant for almost 8 months, and the fact that the rest of my family and friends have all had babies, I'm sorry to say that before Saturday I knew very little about the actual process of child birth and what to expect.
Now I know too much!
The class was about 4 hours long and covered everything leading up to the birth of the child. I now know what terms like 'cervical dilation' and 'braxton hicks contractions' mean. I know about the 3 stages of prelabour, about how to time contractions properly and about what way the baby comes out (I already knew where it came out from). It was a long and interesting afternoon and they provided us with snacks (dim sum, sandwiches and cake, very nice). There were about a dozen couples there. It was funny to see so many pregnant women together at one time. You couldn't swing a cat without hitting a bump.
We watched a DVD about the whole birthing process which freaked me out only a little, and did some relaxation exercises.
They also gave us a tour of the birthing suites and maternity rooms. Its all very plush and everyone gets their own room. Its a long way from Forth Park Hospital in Kirkcaldy (a crumbling victorian institution).
I should point out that its St Vincent's Private Hospital. So its a new health care experience for Julia and I. About half women opt to have their children privately in Australia and the costs are normally covered by health insurance. Because private health care is so well established in Australia the costs for something like this aren't actually too bad, and for us its made cheaper as we missed out on a lot of the early pregnancy scans and treatment we would have had in Melbourne. St Vincent's is where Julia's sister Nicole had all three of her children and she recommended the Obstetrician very highly.
We were both quite tired by the end of the afternoon but we feel much more prepared for what's ahead (easy for me to say). My main role seems to be providing emotional support and massages and trying not to get in anyone's way too much.
Next Saturday we have the 2nd class which deals with everything we need to think about after the baby arrives. That's gonna be a whole new head spin!

boxes, not of nappies but of baby stuff donated by Simone

Meanwhile Julia is doing pretty well to say she's nearing the end of pregnancy. The bump is getting bigger week by week. She does get tired some days and sleep isn't always easy. The baby seems to be the right way up (or down) at the moment as it keeps kicking Julia in the ribs.

We went out for Thai food after the class. It was getting hot on Saturday, 30C and blue skies. Fortunately the forecast for a 34C day on Sunday didn't come true and things cooled down a bit. On Sunday we met up with Larry and Ange for brunch and then with Martha in North Melbourne for pizza and beer. I've done well to string out my birthday celebrations for 3 days and my own little bump is also coming along quite nicely.


ps thanks again for birthday cards, most of which arrived today.