Bradley Class #4

Class 4 was about the Coach's role in the pregnancy, labor and delivery. We were privileged to have a fresh labor story from a couple that was in Rachel's Bradley class last series. The couple had just had their baby boy 2 weeks ago and the details were still very fresh in their minds. It was so great hearing how they used things they had learned in the class in their labor. I know it was the woman in labor but from the story we learned that it was very much labor for the husband as well. Obviously just not as much labor or work as what the mother was doing but still it was a work out. He said that days after he was sore from supporting her with his knees and his hands were sore from massaging for 6 hours straight. The things loving husbands do to support their wives.  They brought their new baby to the class as well and he was just so darn adorable. We were then asked what each of us what we needed to do to better prepare ourselves for the great event. Sean and I decided that we needed to do better with our stretches and exercises. Also I need to learn how to just relax and stop always trying to think ahead. haha Trust me it sounds a lot easier than it actually is. But Sean is helping me learn how to just be ok in the moment and not constantly be thinking ahead. The relaxation technique this week was Mental Relaxation. It has to do with what you are thinking about. Self explanatory. The objective in this exercise is for the husband to coach the wife through relaxing thoughts. There are many ways of doing this. First he gets her in a comfortable position, has her close her eyes and then either reads a story, poem, or has music playing. One really good idea is for him to recite a memory of something that was relaxing to her in the past. In the class Sean whispered to me memories of our honeymoon and days of just relaxing at home. I think this technique will be very helpful to me in labor. It will make time seem to pass more quickly.

We then discussed different "coaching cues" for the husbands to use during the stages of labor. We got a whole list of cues for the husband to say. Some of them were: Massage her fee, Hold her hand and tell her you love her, Talk about how well the baby will handle the labor birth and its transition into this world because it is undrugged, help her to sleep between contractions, read to her, give her a pep talk, wipe her forehead with a cool towel, remind her the more relaxed she is the sooner it will be over. And many many more. Sean and I have decided to go over our birth plans every night just so that we will remember them when the time comes and it will just be a second nature. I am getting more and more anxious for it to be August already but at the same time I'm grateful for the time to prepare myself and Sean. Tomorrow we have a doctor appointment and I'll give another update about how me and Noah are doing.

For now here is an update from the Sean husband man:
Hello blog people! It has been a while since I have written anything on the blog so, I beg your forgiveness if I'm a little rusty. Life is going well for us. I am really enjoying our Bradley class. It is helping me to feel more confident in my ability to help Deana with the birth of our son. I am quite excited for Noah to be born and for us to be able to be his parents. We have been waiting a long time for him to come and are very excited that the wait is almost over. That's about all that's going on with me theses days, so, until next time......

Family Picture! Deana, Sean and baby Noah