Child Birthing Classes

If you are approaching the end of your pregnancy, it might be a good idea to enroll in a child-birthing class.

Child Birthing Classes Juli Auclair: Hi everyone, I’m Juli Auclair, welcome to Parents TV. As you approach the end of your pregnancy it’s a really good idea to enroll in a child birthing class, you’ll learn the secrets of dealing with the pain of labor and you may even get some pretty good homework at the same time. Parents TV’s Kara Sundlun and husband Dennis House take us to their very first child birthing class. Kara Sundlun: It’s our first night of child birth class and Dennis and I are relieved to meet a bunch of couples as clueless as we are. Lesson one for dad, empathy. I like this. Coach: You’re up at night. You’re not comfortable. Carrying this baby, you gentlemen I want you to try to carry an extra 30-pound backpack 24 hours a day, see what it’s like getting up and getting down and trying to sleep and trying to turn. It’s not easy. This takes a lot of energy. Kara Sundlun: You’ll need the energy for labor but how will you know when it’s really time? Dennis House: For some women, it’s when her water breaks, others when contractions start and coach this is when you need a good stopwatch. Coach: You’ll time contractions from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next. So when you first try to feel that tightening you’ll look at the clock. The contraction itself maybe 30 or 40 seconds. When you feel that contractions start the next time, you’ll look at the clock. Beginning of one to the beginning of the next, talk to your doctors and ask them when should I call you if I’m having contractions? How far apart should they be? Has anyone been told yet? Usually first baby when the contractions are about five minutes apart for one hour but that can vary depending on your pregnancy, your due date, how far you live from the hospital, your family history. Kara Sundlun: So this early phase when you’re talking about that you can be at home and relaxing and your coach will be eating and how long is that supposed to last? Coach: It can be seven to eight hours but the first few hours you may not even realize it’s labor. You may have a low backache, maybe you have some cramping, intermittent contractions but it’s as these hours, these first two hours progressed that you notice things aren’t quite the same. These contractions are getting closer, they’re getting stronger. You may have that bloody show at this time with that mucous blood coming out. You may get a burst of energy but don’t get carried away with that energy and clean the whole house. You need that energy for later. So, the contraction begins, you get comfortable. You consciously relax your body. You find a focal point to look at in and concentrate on; you give that cleansing or signal breath to signal the beginning of the contraction. Taking a big breath in through your nose and letting it out through your mouth. [Demonstration] Kara Sundlun: When the time comes the easiest way for a baby to enter the world is head first. Coach: The easiest way to fit is when they’re looking at that tail bone, they come down, tuck their chin and they could turn that goes down and under and out to say hello. Dennis House: Hi, I’m born. Kara Sundlun: Everyone, the woman and probably the man do is kind of terrified of the episiotomy. Coach: Yes. Kara Sundlun: What is that and do you have to have an episiotomy? Coach: You do not have to have an episiotomy. There was a point in time where it was fairly routine. But at this point now, it’s only as necessary and that the statistics have really dropped. So, much fewer mothers are having it. Dennis House: So, in layman’s terms what is an episiotomy? Coach: Sometimes if the baby’s head is big or if the doctor feels there’s not enough given these tissues or if mom has been working hard, they’ll make an incision. But first they’ll give Novocaine or give an anesthetic to numb this entire area. Kara Sundlun: So you don’t feel this? Coach: Right. At this point, you don’t even feel that anesthetic going in because you’ve got pressures, you’ve got thinning tissues. You’ve got decreased blood flow. All of that will give a natural numbing but they will give the anesthetic it will take effect, they’ll make an incision either straight back or off to the side to afford room for the baby to come out. The baby is delivered and after the delivery, they then repair that clean straight cut with stitches that will dissolve. Dennis House: Am I going to put out for that? Kara Sundlun: No, but he can cut the cord. Talk about pressure though, did you know your baby will have to take a test within minutes of being born? It’s called the APGAR test. Dennis House: In this test doctors evaluate the baby on appearance, skin color, pulse, grimace, does it make a face when you irritate the baby? Activity and respirations, two points for each. Doctor Fromson: So, theoretically your baby can get an APGAR score of 10 at either this one minute and five minutes of age, Caroline had two points of her color because she was blue and she was sort of floppy so she got two, her APGAR score at one minute was seven. At five minutes of age, she pinked up. Her tone improved and I threatened her with a small wedding. That was a joke. That comes much later. As you get an APGAR score of nine, you have my blessing and reassurance that this score is really an introductory offer because if you call now you at five minutes of age you’ll get a much better score. Dennis House: If you’re feeling overwhelmed like us take a pass from Doctor Fromson. Doctor Fromson: Once the baby’s born and you go home you have my blessing that the first two weeks of life are like middle school, they don’t count. Kara Sundlun: But coach does count a lot so if dad is on defense about coming the child birth class, hear this. Coach: The coach is vanished in this case. They’re not really just here for moral support, why are they so important into this whole process? Why do they have to come to class? They are amazing. They will help you get through your labor. You’ll be so impressed at a man who’s never delivered a baby before what he can do with you. Kara Sundlun: If he doesn’t pass out. Coach: He’s going to be there because you go, you build with this labor. It starts off slow and easy and then as labor progresses they get stronger and coaches get more involved and it’s the mom that is going through this. She can’t remember what we spoke about in class so it’s up to the coach to remember what to do. Kara Sundlun: And you’re going to get great homework assignments. Coach: Massage her everyday, 15 minutes of massage per day for both parts of the team, both mom and coach. Mom gets whatever she wants first or last. Juli Auclair: And you can find out about child birthing classes near you by talking to your doctor or the hospital where you’ll be delivering. Thanks for watching Parents TV your source for the best information for your growing family. Thank you for watching parents TV, our families, our lives.