1st antenatal class

Wooh! We went to the first of our 7 antenatal classes yesterday evening. It was great! I was so relieved. It's run by the NCT and I have to admit I was (stupidly) a little bit scared that everyone would be stuck up. Anyhoo, they weren't! Everyone was really nice and the session was really helpful. The first thing we did was introduce ourselves - we're the only couple having a home birth, everyone else is booked in at the City (now Royal) hospital and one lady is at Chesterfield. Our teacher, Rebecca, made split us into the men & the women to write a list of things we wanted to know more about under the following headings: pregnancy, labour, early days, ghastlies & ground rules. We filled in the ghastlies first with things like tearing, pelvic muscle recovery etc. The men actually raised some interesting points which I think surprised the women!

After that we had to put some pictures of a baby being born in order. This was incredibly helpful; I've read quite a lot about labour & pregnancy, but as yet didn't really have a clue as to what actually happens while the baby comes out. So now I do!

I could tell people were a bit shocked that I was having a home water birth, but Rebecca explained that the risks of home birth (if you take out the unplanned and free births) are significantly fewer than giving birth in hospital. She also confirmed that it's the best way to get one on one care and that I get lots of other stuff I wouldn't if I was in hospital. By the end at least 2 more couples were considering home birth & more were thinking about water birth - hurrah!  I think they were secretly a bit jealous lol!

Simon really liked it too - I think it's helped meeting other men in the same situation as him. We're both really excited about our next class on Saturday - bring it on!

I bought a steriliser & some bottles on Wednesday - half price in Boots and triple points on baby!