Certified for Birth!

What's more fun than spending a Saturday at a Child Birth class at the hospital? 

As you probably know, Ryan and I have spent the vast majority of our life in school.  Collecting degrees and now helping others collect degrees.  So the debate for taking a birthing class came to an end when we found out we got an actual certificate (too bad Ryan's name isn't spelled correctly!)!

In addition to getting a new "diploma", we also learned a bit about the birthing process. 

Well, I do want to say that we knew a lot of the stuff already.  We've read a lot of pregnancy books.  Our friends have all had lots of babies.  And we're biologists, so we know a bit about the actual process of it, like the stages and the hormones involved, all the anatomy of it, how the drugs work, etc.  That part wasn't as helpful for us as it may have been for others, but there were some terms that we learned to describe things that we didn't know previously.  It's good to know the terms used by the nurses.

I think the most valuable portion of the class was the hospital tour and learning how things worked.  It made me feel a bit more comfortable for when we actually have to go there for "the big day".  I am not someone that feels comfortable at a hospital.  All of my hospital visits have been to see friends or family members that were very sick. Hospitals are "bad" places in my mind.  They make me anxious ... the smell ... the thought of germs ... yuck.

But our maternity ward is nice!  It smelled very clean!!  And it was bright and sunny.  Nice views of the river!  Our own private room (for delivery and recovery)!  Lots of nice nurses, everyone is friendly and helpful.  We found out where to check-in, where to park, what to do.  It made me (and Ryan) feel more prepared and less anxious.  Definitely worth taking the class!

On an interesting side note, we were one of two couples that took the Saturday class.  The other couple -- a woman with a PhD in physics and her husband who is finishing his PhD in physics at the University of Rochester.  She grew up in Ontario (not too far from Buffalo) and he grew up near Ryan's hometown in PA.  Seriously ridiculous.  It really is a small world!

Now that we're officially certified, I feel like we're ready for the birth of Baby Wynne.  Of course, I hope Baby Wynne waits at least 3 more weeks!!