Lamaze Class #3

What should one expect during labor and delivery from your spouse? I wrote a list of what I expect from Brandon and I just want to make sure they are "valid" expectations. Since I've never had a baby before it's very hard to know what I need during that moment. So those experienced ones I need your advice. Please give your suggestions here. Here are some of my expectations:

• Support me, tell me I'm doing a good job
• Motivate me, tell me to keep going
• Cut the U-Cord
• Be with our baby girl
• Help me during the contractions with breathing
• Feed me, I might get hungry
• Not to get frustrated with me, I might be difficult to handle
• Stay with me

I'm preparing to go "Natural" and need all the help I can get. I'm going to try to stay home as long as possible during labor so the hospital won't give me any medicine and I can eat and drink as much as I want. Once I get to the hospital I'm told that I can't eat or drink anything! Some tips our teacher said last night to have a easier and faster labor is:

• Drink 1 cup of water per hour
• Go to the bathroom every hour
• Eat foods to give you energy like carbs (waffles, pancakes, whole grains, yogurt, eggs, etc.)
• Save your energy, don't try to do all the house chores, relax-watch movies!
• Breathe (he, he, who)
• Change positions, use gravity to help bring the baby down.

They say for your 1st baby that it takes about 1 hour to dilate 1 centimeter- and that doesn't include the effacing time, so it could take longer. I can only imagine that it takes a very very long time.

At the beginning of class we noticed that a couple wasn't there, but in the middle of class they showed up. They had their baby 6 weeks early. She ended up having a seizure and had high blood pressure and they had to do an emergency C-section. The baby was 3.5 lbs and is doing great. He will be in the hospital for a few weeks to get him to a good weight. This scared me very much. It means that I'm getting closer and closer to having a baby and it could happen at any time. Brandon says not to worry because the girl wasn't very healthy and had a lot of health problems that I don't. That made me feel better. Phew! Thanks Honey! 10 weeks left!