A few weeks back, I was at my midwife appointment with the lovely Louisa Whales and she asked if we had planned on any kind of birthing classes. When I said I hadn't really given it much thought, she said there was an awesome doula in Seattle named Sharon Muza who taught an awesome class called, "VBAC your way". Our plan is to have baby girl in a hospital with midwives attending. Our hope is that I'll be in the 70% bracket of women who have a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). And with baby girl being the little rock star she's been so far, I'm feeling very confident that all will go just fine. Nonetheless, because of our previous traumatic experience, I decided to sign us up for the class.
It was kind of a big commitment because the class was in Ballard at 9:00 am and we live a good 90 minutes away. When you throw our twins into the mix, we asked Jason's parents if they would be willing to take the boys overnight so we could relax a bit and not have to travel super early on Saturday. They happily obliged and we were able to go on a date! Seeing as the last overnight we had without the boys there was last July, it was awesome.
Saturday morning, we got up at our usual time sans the boys calling for us from the other room (so peaceful). We got all packed and ready, had a surprisingly edible continental breakfast and headed for Ballard. Traffic was nonexistent so we got to our destination with 30 minutes to spare and decided to grab coffee and a pastry at the bakery we saw across the street. If ever you're in Ballard, Larson's bakery is worth the stop! It's a well established Danish bakery with cases packed with both sweet and savory treats. And the coffee was pretty darn tasty too. : ) The best part of this place for us was the fact that there weren't two little boys with us so we were able to fully sit and enjoy some quality people watching.
I looked at my clock and saw that it was probably time for us to head to class so we packed up and walked down the street to the building. We weren't exactly sure where to enter, but thankfully spotted another couple in front of us with a very pregnant mama and followed them to the entrance.
The class was held in a cozy well lit room that thankfully had a working air conditioner. Seeing as it hit 90 that day, we were all thankful for that. The session started with all the couples introducing themselves. Amazingly enough, one of the dads said he grew up in a small town in MN. When I said that I did too and asked him where he was from, he said, "Mankato". We looked to be about the same age, so it's likely we know some of the same people, but we were never able to chat about that, so it'll remain a mystery. Even still, small world!
In an effort to finish this post and have time to get my chores done, here's an overview of the topics and activities that the class covered.
- We all shared our cesarean birth stories. Lots of tears and pain for sure! It was comforting to have others who could truly sympathize.
- Went over the 6 stages of Labor
- Lamase care practices
- Labor simulation involving a bowl of ice and experimenting with coping techniques. That was probably on of our favorite/most useful parts.
- VBAC statistics: putting it into perspective.
- Sharing fears and concerns about our upcoming labor/deliveries.
- Exercises to assist in getting baby into an ideal birthing position.
- Techniques to help with back labor (counter pressure, asymmetrical movement, using a Rebozo)
- Ace in the hole positions for pushing.
It was a great class! We both left feeling empowered with a clear idea of the direction we are going as we prepare for baby girl's arrival. She gave us so many tools to pull from and for that I will be forever grateful. Most of what she said could be taken out of a book, but her passion combined with her knowledge and experience gave the information so much more weight and I know I'll have her voice pop in my head when I come to those moments of self doubt.
There were a few big "Aha!" moments for me.
- Don't get fixated on one stage of Labor! There's more to it than dilation.
- When it comes to childbirth, you're going to get there. One way or another, you're going to get there.
- DEP: When in labor, Drink, Eat and Pee constantly.
- I'm an adult and can make my own decisions when it comes to my care.
- Eating 6 dates/day in the final weeks of pregnancy will make you less likely to go overdue.
- The heaviest part of the baby is the back of the head so use gravity and get yourself upright!
One other story to share from the class was there was a study done in three major hospitals (can't recall where) that did an experiment and removed all the beds from their labor & delivery rooms. They filled them with birthing balls, a birthing stool, a rocking chair and an assortment of other birthing tools. At any time if the mother wanted to have her bed, it was brought to her swiftly. No questions. If she wanted any other medical interventions, they were made readily available. But the result of this experiment was not so surprisingly that these hospitals experienced a lower c-section rate, fewer interventions and all around much more satisfied and happy mothers/families. So Sharon's advice to us was that when we got to the hospital, to spread our stuff out on the bed. It's a great place to see everything we brought easily! I thought that was a great piece of advice.
Sharon was great! I'd recommend her class to anyone.
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