"the class for people who do not have the internet"

I really intended to update this blog more, but I have been distracted by work lately. Yesterday was the release of the strategic plan for the poverty task force I coordinate and we had an event to mark the occasion at City Hall. Thankfully, it all went really well and the press from it has been great (one of the major goals). For those interested in my non-pregnancy related life events, you can read about it here and here. The only thing that would have made it any better is being able to come home and celebrate with a glass (or two) of wine. Instead, after the high wore off, I had to deal with aching feet and sore hips all night. Apparently standing in heels all afternoon when you're 7 months pregnant is not a good idea.

Now - onto the exciting baby stuff! We are now 30 weeks pregnant, meaning Tickey will be making a grand entrance in only 2 more months! Kris has been working on painting the nursery over the past couple of weekends and it should be finished this weekend so we can start organizing things. Right now everything we have for the baby is piled into the closet and making me feel a bit crazy.

I had an appointment with the midwife yesterday, who I now see every two weeks. The baby is measuring right on track, my weight gain is good, the baby's heartbeat is strong and baby is head down - all good news.

Last Saturday Kris and I had our first of two pre-natal classes. After about an hour, Kris renamed the class "the class for people who do not have the internet" since it seemed like none of the other participants had ever done a google search or picked up a book about pregnancy. Most were completely clueless about the stages of birth, benefits of breastfeeding, etc. Apparently everything they had learned about labour and delivery came from terrible movies. Kris and I were so bored that we couldn't have been any happier when the fire alarm went off and we all got to leave 15 minutes early. Being bored was one issue, but the bigger issue was how frustrated we both were by the teacher's failure to explain the different options available. Everything was geared toward those who were planning a standard hospital birth with an epidural. There was no mention of how an epidural causes labour to be longer, can cause long-term back pain for mothers, restricts the mothers movement during delivery, increases the need for forceps, and much, much more. This isn't to say that I'm entirely against the use of an epidural, but I don't think that women should decide to get one without being fully informed. There were a million other similar examples I could use that would demonstrate why we were so frustrated, but we have a midwife and a doula and have the support and information we need to make the right decisions for us so we're happy with that.

We have one more day of classes this coming Saturday and I'm hoping that we might learn something....anything!