Two-Fer Tuesday

Yesterday, was not only the first night of our Childbirth Prep Class, it was also La Leche day! Our local chapter of La Leche League (llli.org) meets the first Tuesday of every month so I attended my first meeting yesterday morning, and very much enjoyed it. There was another mommy-to-be there and a few women with kids already (one woman with 4!). Basically, we just spent two hours talking about mommy stuff. Tessa, our leader, had a list of questions new moms might be asking themselves and everyone just brainstormed about them. I got lots of practical advice and it was nice to just hang out with some other moms. Plus there was plenty of fresh fruit and animal crackers. :) I think I'll go again. Josh calls it The Milk Union, which makes me laugh, but it was much more than just breastfeeding support. However, there is a ton of valuable information for breastfeeding mothers on their website. (see link above)- like you can look up your state's laws regarding the practice and I even looked up what different state's laws are regarding breastfeeding and jury duty. Who thinks about that stuff?
Course 1 of Childbirth Prep went well too...just about as expected. It's taught by a nurse named Theresa who turned out to be very good at what she did...and funny, too. There are twelve couples (that was the limit) in our class most of whom remind me at least vaguely of me and Josh. We're divided evenly- six of us are having boys, the other six girls! Only one couple is due before we are- July 1st. The rest are more like late July and August. We did practice our breathing and massage techniques, but this isn't lamaze. It's very comprehensive. We have a book, but all the important diagrams, etc. she has blown up on posters or actual tactile aids (like a fake pelvis and baby-in-a-uterus!) She even had weighted backpacks for the guys to take turns wearing backwards so they could sympathize with all the expectant moms! We're supposed to have three 2-hr courses. Our two hours were full ones last night! We're going over different methods of labor and delivery, fetal monitoring, medication options, comfort measures and the role of the coach (which was heavily emphasized in last night's class), c-sections, our hospital's policies, and what to do with your newborn once you get it home...and we're supposed to get to take a tour of the maternity ward so we'll know where we're going when we go into labor! So far, I haven't learned anything I didn't already know...except that Good Shepherd (the hospital where we're having the baby) delivered 2,398 babies last year...interesting, no? But then again, I've been a bit overenthusiastic about research over the past few months. Other people- clearly not the pregnancy scholar I am ;) had lots of questions, though. Josh seemed to enjoy it, too. It's like being back in college for a couple of hours! I'm looking forward to next Tuesday!!
Finally- two-fer Tuesday continues with two birth announcements! Congrats to our friends Stan and Lindsey who's daughter, Anniston, was born on Monday... she's in Pennsylvania now for heart surgery so please keep them all in your prayers. Their story is such an inspirational one...you can follow it here.
And congratulations to our friends, Alex and Meagan, who's daughter, Sadie, arrived yesterday here in Longview!
We're so excited for you guys and we can't wait to introduce our little guy to these two sweet girls!