getting ready for the real thing

Yes, that's a fake baby. And a fake boob.

All part of our predelivery education. Classes are normally offered in groups. In Swedish. Instead, my midwife gave me and Lewis a private lesson in English. What happens during delivery. When to know it's time. How to breathe (something many Swedes have been telling me is very important). And how to breastfeed. They want you to breastfeed within the first two hours after the baby is born.

Then we watched some videos in Swedish. The first documented the birth process for a few women. It pretty much showed everything. I think I was on the verge of tears a few times seeing how uncomfortable painful it was for them. It didn't make me scared, but it did open my eyes about how long I will be in pain. How long it takes to wait before you start pushing, etc. We didn't really need the movie to be in English for that.

The second film followed a few sets of parents home for their first days on their own. Nothing too interesting in that one. The people looked pretty happy, so that was good.

The baby and I were checked out as well. The baby's heartbeat is now 144 (down from 150 a few weeks ago) and my fundal height (uterus) is now exactly on the line of where it should be. I had been a little low the first few measurements. Let's hope this jump doesn't mean I'm going to have gargantuan baby!!

I've been a bit nervous about that since they don't like to do Cesarians here. It truly is a last resort. But the midwife assured me that if it looks like the baby is having a problem coming out on its own that they will do it. And that they track the health of the baby the entire time.

I definitely feel a bit out of the loop going through this in Sweden. I mean, we were at the bookstore the other day, and there are tons of books you can buy to be prepared. But they are all in Swedish. Maybe it's good that I'm a bit naive. Sometimes it's when you know too much that you can freak yourself out. That seems to be a Figlar trait. :)

 

Comments

[aimee]

It's not too late to order a book or two off of amazon.co.uk. Whenever I want specific books in English, that's my source.