Getting ready for Labor ?!?!

Tonight Eric and I went to our 5th Bradley Method class.  For those of you who don't know, we are going to attempt to have this baby naturally (no I'm not crazy and yes I know that it's going to hurt).  The Bradley Method is also referred to as "husband coached childbirth," so Eric comes with me to classes every Sunday afternoon. In yesterday's class we had a first-stage labor rehearsal. The mommies laid on their sides in our relaxation pose and tried to relax through a series of 60-second contractions.  The contractions were mimicked by submerging our hand in a bowl of freezing ice water - much more painful than it sounds. 

The 1st contraction we had to relax by ourselves - very difficult . For the 2nd contraction the coach was allowed to tell us how much time we had left, on the 3rd he was allowed to touch and massage us and for the 4th he could add words of encouragement and instructions on relaxing. It was amazing how much easier it was to relax when your husband was able to really help you.

On a side note - Eric got reprimanded by the teacher for making me laugh.  When he was able to speak, he told me to imagine swimming in icy cold water which caused me and the mom and coach next to us to burst out laughing.  Eric thought he was pretty clever, but the teacher was not impressed with our relaxation for that contraction.

Then we got to switch positions :)  Eric couldn't keep his hand in the water the first few contractions, but he could also agree that my "help" really made relaxing easier. I think the whole process made an impression on him.  He commented to me last night about how nervous he was about labor.  He just assumed that it would be similar to what you see in the movies, but realizing that he's going to have to watch me go through pain for hours at a time is going to be really hard for a man who wants to "fix" everything.

My third trimester began today.  We have 13 weeks or so until the "big" day arrives.  And although we're both nervous about what will happen on Owen's birthday, I'm very thankful we have these classes to prepare both Eric and myself and that he's going to be by my side helping me through whatever happens.