Last night we took Olivia along to our old NHS ante-natal class on the invitation of D__ and K__, our midwives. We were to turn up and and tell prospective mothers about our experience of birth.
I had phoned K___ from work during the day to hear her sound extremely frazzled due to a refusal on Olivia's part to settle. I got back home at about six pm and she was still being quite noisy and restless and I suspected she probably wouldn't enjoy the mauling of limbs that ensues everytime she has to be put in her snow suit. It was therefore a bit of good news when K suggested we take her in just trousers, top and jacket, though she still wasn't down with the whole jacket/arms interfacing. There was a little light rain during the ten minute walk to the clinic where the class would take place but at least Olivia seemed to chill out a little.
We were the first to arrive and it was good to see D__ and K__, not least because Olivia had been formally discharged by D__ the previous Tuesday after our return from Grantham. The class soon filled up with heavily pregnant women and their partners. One of the other couples from our class arrived with their baby, a week and a bit younger than Olivia and it was nice to compare notes, even if I have to admit that the other dad and I were exchanging views on how impressive a baby's farting ability can be.
Olivia was being a bit fussy and I had to take her off into another room as the first couple started to relate their story and change her nappy. Upon my return she still didn't settle quite as well as we would have hoped and kept threatening to break out into grizzles. Honestly, you'd think she'd have learned not to show Mummy and Daddy up in public. It's not like she's a ba...
The other couple went first and I know that it wasn't just me thinking to myself that their story covered much the same ground as ours was going to. There was the inordinately long first stage of labour caused by a baby that was back to back and not putting pressure squarely on the uterus. The breaking the waters bit. There was the wanting to give up bit... Ultimately, the girl ended up having a longer labour than K___ and eventually had to have a C-section, and it was obviously in hospital, but there was a lot in common between the two stories.
I think we managed to add a bit to what the first couple had said, and we made a point of saying that we probably weren't the most typical of births and they'd most likely have much quicker ones. I got a cheer - pretty much exclusively from the men for some reason - for saying that if you've gone overdue, sex was essential, with a bit of a nudge and a wink! We got a polite round of applause at the end, which was nice considering we'd not done very much really.
It felt weird being back amongst all these pregnant women. Don't they even know what happens when a baby gets born? How do they cope!
