Preparing for the Big Day!

At 34 weeks, I am finally getting to the end of what has been, so far, a fantastic first pregnancy! It’s been a long, but easy road and I know the real “hard part” is coming up quickly. 

A very pregnant Kristin standing in front of our Le Top spring and fall 2011 collections

At my doctor’s suggestion, I signed my husband and me up for a four week long Childbirth Preparation class. With my first pregnancy comes a lot of apprehension about the whole birthing process. It doesn’t matter how many people I have talked to about this subject, I know that I can’t go into this based on other people’s experiences and advice alone. After all, I am one of those “prepared” people who has to know what is going on…or at least what is supposed to happen.

I walked in to our first class on Tuesday night, slightly dragging my husband along since he was somewhat reluctant to attend because he said we could learn everything on YouTube! Can you believe that!? Let’s just say that by the time our class was over, my husband had realized that YouTube, may not be the best teacher of childbirth. The benefits, even from the first class, have helped ease my mind a bit. Some of the key things I took away were:

• Stages of labor – understanding what my body would be going through and the duration of each stage in the big picture.
• Defining the terms I had heard so much about, and had not much of a clue as to what they actually meant. Things like “effacing” and “dilating”.
• Pregnancy discomforts – we all share the most common ones (Yay! I am not the only one who has started snoring at night!)
• Pain Management – how to relax

I am really looking forward to the upcoming classes, as I know that my anxiety about this part of the pregnancy should continue to decrease as my knowledge increases.

…Now where did I put that pint of ice cream?