What to Wear

One of the pregnant ladies in the birthing class asked the instructor,

"What should we wear during labor and birth?"

The instructor said while pointing at the woman's stretch pants,

"Not pants like that." 

She then went on to say,

"Getting a baby out of your pants is really awkward." 

HA!

Mike Will Be My Constant : Birthing Class III

 

In our third class we talked about the different roles that people take on during labor and birth: the midwife, the doula, the birth partner, helper(s) and the pregnant lady. It was such a great class because it opened up a good discussion for Mike and me and I think we resolved a lot of things. We were required to purchase a book called, "The Birth Partner" for our class and I've be diligently reading it. It is written for the birth partner a.k.a. Mike. It is extremely informative and I expressed to Mike that I would be much more confident in him as a birth partner/coach/helper/dependent/constant if I knew he read that book and soaked in that information. I do not want to be explaining to him, while having a contraction, what is happening. I want him to be able to tell me what is happening (to the best of his knowledge) or assist me, distract me, soothe me, rather than me having to explain it to him. Plus I probably wouldn't be able to explain it to him while in distress...that would be annoying.
The Midwife and Nurse
The on-call midwife and nurse will be there but if there are other births happening at the same time their time will be split between all of the laboring mamas. The one constant will be Mike, the birth partner extraordinaire. Even if I am the only person giving birth at that time the midwife and nurse will not be there constantly, especially in early labor(this part may take place at home anyway); they will check in with us and be there if we have questions or concerns.

The Birth Partner

Mike is my birth partner. Our instructor suggested having a doula but that they are not necessary. She said that if we do choose to have one that they are EXTREMELY helpful. I told Mike that if he can read up that I will feel comfortable with just him but that we should still have some "helpers." The instructor said that when she was a doula she always recommended having "helpers."
The Helpers
Helpers are people who could run errands, get food, do the chauffering, get something from home that we may have forgotten, etc. so that the doula can focus on the mother and be her constant. Mike, essentially, will be my doula; Mike will be my constant. We have a couple of people in mind to be on-call helpers, if we need them. Even if Mike needs to rest a little, we will call our helpers.
The Pregnant Lady
That would be me. I will be pretty helpless at times, I'm sure. I will also be bossy and snappy and strong and thankful and patient. I hope. I'm incubating this baby 'til it's good and ready to come out with the help of the midwife, nurse, Mike and the helpers.

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_constant