Back to class

Last Saturday it was back to school for Dustin and I as we went for an all day childbirth class taught by one of the Labor & Delivery Nurses from the hospital that we plan to birth at.  We actually were a tiny bit late since it started at 9:00am Utah time, and we live in Arizona so it was 8:00am our time, and we had a 75 mile, 1.5 hour drive to get there after dropping Austin off at our friends' house for the day. 

When we had Austin we actually drove just as far the other direction to have him at a much smaller hospital in Arizona.  They also offered childbirth classes, but they had 5-2 hour sessions in the evening, so we were only able to attend one session that was about pain management and the intervention tools they might use like forceps and the vacuum extractor.

I have to say that this class was very intensive, but so worthwhile!  The nurse that taught the class has had a very full and rewarding career in her field and was so knowlegable about all the topics.  Unfortunately because she had to cover so much info in such a short amount of time, she really didn't have a lot of time for questions or discussions.

At the very end of the day she took us over to the hospital for a tour of L&D and they have a seperate area for postpartum recovery.  It is going to be a way different experience this time around, this hospital is massive compared to the one we had Austin at that just had one little wing for all childbirth and recovery phases.  I was pleased to learn that this hospital has an extremely low c-section rate at 9%, which is MUCH below the national average, and even below the average for the whole state of Utah. My favorite part of the tour was that some of their delivery rooms have laboring tubs, and I so hope they have one available when I get there.  The unfortunate thing though is that since I will be attempting VBAC my OB insists that I get an epidural once I get to about 7-8cm, so after that I can't use a laboring tub anymore. 

The class and tour really got me excited about the whole process and feel so much more prepared to deal with it this time around.  I think both Dustin and I felt like our experience at the other hospital was just awful after attending this class, they really have limited resources over there which resulted in the negative outcomes that were associated with Austin's delivery.  Don't get me wrong, in the grand scheme of things I am thankful that Austin arrived in this world healthy, and I came through in one piece, it just by far wasn't my ideal birth story.  It's exciting to think about how much support I am going to have this time and how I really hope that Katy's birth is a much more rewarding and healthy experience for all of us.