The majority of this weekend was spent in childbirth prep class. Most of what was taught in the class is stuff I had read about before, but it was very helpful to have it all brought together in one place: the anatomy of childbirth, what happens when things go right, what happens if things go wrong, how to relax and cope with the pain of labor, how to recognize labor, when to call your doctor, etc., etc. The most useful information, which can't be gleaned from books, was about the procedures and such in our hospital. Mike and I took comfort in the fact that we had already had our panicked trip to the hospital, so that the tour and such were somewhat old hat (we even were able to provide some extra insight to the other couples about the daddy beds in the rooms). Still, it was good to have someone walk us through it all.
The class was interesting, too, in what a cross section of life in the DC metro area it presented. The Buckaneers blanket we brought for the floor exercises caused us to strike up a conversation with one of the other couples -- the woman went to FSU undergrad, U of F for law school, and had lived in Tampa for a while, so we had a lot in common there. One couple had recently emigrated from Estonia (during the pregnancy!) so they had a lot of questions about the differences in care to expect in the U.S. versus what they would have gotten in Europe. For another couple, the wife was American but the husband was a Russian living in Paris desperately trying to finish his PhD thesis so that he could be finished defending it and be back in the States before the baby comes. Another woman grew up in Italy; one woman was Indian and her husband was of Japanese decent. And did I mention our instructor? Margaret is a self-described "little old fashioned English lady" from South Africa who has in the past taught child care and birthing prep to indiginous peoples in Africa, and even now, while teaching at two upscale hospitals in the DC metro area, and working as a doula, also does community outreach in poorer neighborhoods around here. If New York is THE Melting Pot, DC is a very close second, methinks. The only downside of taking the class in one weekend instead of spread out over several weeks is that we didn't get to know our classmates as well as we otherwise would have.