"I welcome each contraction by saying Hello."

Tim and I had a nice long 4 day weekend for Veteran's day. On Saturday and Sunday we attended an all day labor/birthing preparation class. The first day was spent discussing 'natural' (aka no medical intervention) births. This day was a hoot. I'm pretty sure Tim and I laughed more than practiced, but laughter is good and hopefully we can do the same once I'm really in labor. The teacher was a nice self proclaimed hippie who is trained as a doula and a "Happiest Baby on the Block" educator. I give women who chose natural birth a lot of credit and I don't mean to make fun of it because by all means those are stong courageous women, it was just the things the teacher was saying like repeat to yourself "I welcome each contraction by saying Hello" or "embrace your primal instinct." We watched videos on water births, births by women who chose to squat as someone caught the baby, and were even provided information about a place in Palo Alto that will dry your placenta and turn it into pill form if you chose to digest it later on. Apparently it prevents post pardum depression, but so does Prozac so I'll take my chances. Today was much more my style and we found it very informative. We talked about timing contractions, when to go to the hospital, dilation, various pain med options, breastfeeding, c-sections, etc. Both days we enjoyed learning and practicing massage and breathing techniques. It was a great opportunity for us to communicate openly about our expectations for the birth and what we would like/need from one another in terms of support. Tim is a great 'Doula Dad' and worked hard to learn and practice all the techniques. We have agreed on what our best case scenario 'birth plan' would be, but are very open minded to the fact that sometimes plans change and we are willing to accept and embrace whatever our doctor recommends for the health of our baby. This weekend we were also pre registered by the hospital so that no forms need to be completed one I'm in labor and we can just go straight to labor and delivery. I think we both left today thinking that we are as ready as we're going to be. We've read books, watched movies, talked to loved ones, gone to classes, practiced pushing, and even know what to do in the case of an unlikely emergency home birth in which Tim would deliver Hannah on our bathroom floor. It's probably all more than we will ever need to know, so yes, I think we are ready. Ready to embrace the fear and pain in order to meet our miracle and look back at these nine months knowing it was all worth it.