Belly Wars

Birthing Class

Puck and I had our first birthing class Sunday night, and it was a fairly informative three hours. (We even got to watch a video showing footage from “normal” births. It reminded me of high school biology, without the teenage snickering.) I must admit that I had a bit of an advantage in knowing what I might be in for thanks to my sisters Janet and Wendy who both allowed me to be present not only during labor but also delivery. Thanks, Janet and Wendy!

My experience with each of those births was very different. During Janet’s I gave general support, and I saw the whole delivery up close and personal. With Wendy’s I was her primary support person, so I had the experience of comforting a woman periodically having contractions through the night. When the actual delivery happened, my focus was much more on the mommy. Still, it will be a whole new adventure to be the mother giving birth.

Queen Belly

Belly Wars

When you gather together a group of pregnant couples (7 couples in all as one set didn’t show up), it is inevitable that you will exchange information about due dates and gender and check out each others’ bellies. I’m in an earlier birthing class than I would normally be in because there is another couple having twins in this one, so almost all of the women were 6-7 months pregnant while I’m only 4 months along.

Before the introductions, I was analyzing each woman’s belly and trying to guess which one was the other twin belly, though it wasn’t the belly I expected. When the mothers all stood up, I noticed that the taller women tended to have less prodigious bellies than their shorter counterparts. This makes some sense since tall women have a little more room already built in. I was surprised to see that my belly surpassed the size of almost all the bellies there, even the other twin mommy’s. It is indeed a truly prodigious baby belly. Let us hope that this translates into a healthy size for the twins.

We were pleasantly surprised to hear several accents in our group of parents, and at least one other couple were fellow geeks who were also interested in the fact that our birthing center now has free Wi-Fi and in the idea of taking a laptop in to track the contractions.

Expectations

One thing I’ve been reflecting on lately is the difference between my expectations for pregnancy and for me as a pregnant woman and my actual experiences. This is related to Puck’s post that “Pregnancy Is Not Burger King.” Often, my expectations have been foiled, though sometimes in very positive ways. For example, I expected to have 1 child. Surprise! I also thought I would have a generally normal pregnancy without many complications. Surprise! Though we have still had a fairly easy pregnancy, we’ve definitely been thrown a few curve balls.

Sunday night, we also confronted another expectation that might have to be adapted. We expected to have a fairly regular birth experience (with an epidural), with a C-section as a backup in case something made it necessary. At the moment, the C-section is looking more likely, and watching and discussing the birthing experience the other night, we both grieved a little as we adjusted our perspectives. Now, the most important thing to both of us is having two healthy babies, and we don’t mind having to adjust our plans.

As for my expectations for pregnant me, I had thought I would keep fencing (at least during the first trimester) and that the pregnancy would not greatly affect my day-to-day life for some months (other than possibly having to throw up on a daily basis for a few months). After discovering I was pregnant, I initially didn’t want to give up my black tea with its caffeine, but doing a little research convinced me to go ahead and let it go. After our early miscarriage scare, I also found that I had absolutely no interest in fencing and most recently I found that I just couldn’t buy the tickets to fly home in early May. While I would love to see everyone, when it came down to it, I didn’t want to take the risk, small as it would be, by flying. Why add even a tad more risk or stress to the pregnancy?

Puck & Mary

No, I am not as carefree a pregnant mom as I thought I would be, but as a pregnant mom, I have continued to embrace my inner nerd, doing research on twin pregnancy and possible complications, reading up on what to expect, and trying to stay informed on what I should be eating and doing. Embracing his inner geek, my husband Puck has been right there with me.