It’s all about her…
It’s all about her…
In the last few weeks Charlotte and I have been waiting to attend our prenatal class. Instead of taking the week to week classes, we decided to do it all in one day: 7 hours of learning. Now as expected, most of our friends had opinions about prenatal class, some for it, some against it, some undecided.
The arguments I mostly heard for it? Learn how to breastfeed, learn how to hold the baby, learn perhaps what to buy for the baby, baby, baby, baby.
Baby, baby, baby, baby…
The arguments I mostly heard against it, or undecided? “Holding the baby can’t be all that hard…”, “Just take care of the baby and you’ll be fine…”, baby, baby, baby.
Of course I have my own opinions about it, most of which are good, some of which surround the fact I’m not sure how much I’m going to learn. After all, most of us have cared for a child in some form or another in our lives; whether it be little cousins, kids of friends, camp kids, or perhaps younger siblings. I was pretty comfortable with the whole baby thing. Baby, baby, baby.
What I needed to learn the most about was not how to take care of the baby at all, it was how to take care of the mother…
Its interesting when you think about how our opinions always jump towards the “natal” side of the prenatal class. Little did I know the thing I needed to learn the most about was not how to take care of the baby at all, it was how to take care of the mother. Unlike everyone’s experiences with kids and babies, almost no one I know, save the fathers of course, have ever had to sit through 6-20 hours of a woman’s labour and be depended upon for 100% support.
My biggest takeaway was how much I can do to help Charlotte, and she’ll take care of delivering our baby.
Don’t get me wrong, the amount of information about the baby was awesome, but it was expected, unlike the insight into the other side of the pregnancy, the support side. My favorite part of the day (aside from all the silly placenta jokes) was teaming up with Charlotte to practice making her comfortable during labour both at home and at the hospital.
Whenever shows and movies show labour, they skip the dad’s whole part! Leaving only the slapstick broken hand or the sudden fainting spell. A big revelation for me was how long Charlotte can be in labour for, before we get to the Hollywood ending.
Whenever movies show labour, they skip the dad’s whole part!
From back rubs, to making sure she drinks, to making sure she pees, there are a number of things that will be my job, to make sure she can do hers. If I do everything I can to keep her as comfortable and happy as can be, our baby should hopefully arrive without a hitch.
For the first time during the pregnancy, I can say that although I can still hardly believe that we are having a baby I think I am ready to get that baby out!
