Lamaze Class

This weekend, we took the required Lamaze class with DC Lamaze. I could not bring myself to actually do 6 weeks of breathing rhythmically, so we opted for a 1-day 'express' course.

I should say that we did not have high expectations for the class. I have a hard time seeing how breathing will help me cope with pain. I mean, don't get me wrong - I think that if you practice enough to breathe through someone inflicting pain on you, then eventually you will develop a jedi warrior mindset and will be able to do it. Absolutely. The problem is, in the classes, you do NOT have any pain. At all. You are practicing to breathe 'correctly' in a perfectly relaxed calm environment. I don't care how long you practice that, those skills are going out the window the second you are in pain. Practicing breathing and practicing breathing THROUGH PAIN are totally different, and I doubt those skills transfer. It's like teaching someone to 'practice holding their breath' and believing that will let them make it through being dropped into 40 feet of ice-cold water from a helicopter. I say their chances would not be that great, no matter how many times they practiced holding their breath while watching Lost reruns.

Anyway. I shouldn't rant. We went to the class, we did the breathing exercises, it was exactly what we expected. The class did have a couple of useful things - it was definitely good for all the guys to see the female anatomy diagram, where the baby is, how it comes out, etc. It was good to discuss labor stages, progress, and so on. Most importantly, the instructor described labor by a marathon analogy, and that analogy actually made a LOT of sense to us!! Funny, but we know exactly how to approach a long-distance endurance event, and apparently those skills tranfer to labor wonderfully. So, forget the breathing - we will need an energy bar, a map of the restrooms, and to simply tune out anything other then the run. Just run until it's over. Don't think about it, just do it.

So it was worth it after all. :)