The Grays

Over the holiday break we were able to catch up with some of our good friends from Darden who happened to be visiting family in the Phoenix area at the same time.  We miss the friends we made in Charlottesville and it was really nice to see them again.  We plan to see both couples in Chicago in March.

Over the past few weeks we have taken several classes to prepare for the arrival of Baby Gray.  These classes are all offered through Martha Jefferson Hospital.  Monday evenings we attend a 2-hour preparation for childbirth class that meets over a period of 6 weeks. This class details the stages of labor, how to be a helpful birthing partner, breathing techniques, complications, etc.

On the first day of class the ‘birthing partners’ were asked to get into their favorite birthing position.  I’m pretty sure the instructor had every intention of embarrassing the guys and making the women feel more at ease.  Bill immediately went into a squatting position with his butt in the air – it was rather amusing.  Since then we have learned many birthing positions for early labor and later stages.  Our favorite is the ‘8th grade prom’ (I lean on Bill and wrap my arms around his neck while swaying) and using the exercise ball.  We have both been doing yoga 2 times a week and hope that some of these positions are helpful during labor as well.

Last week we were given two ice cubes and asked to squeeze them as hard as we could for two minutes and pretend it was a contraction.  Bill and I liked this exercise and coached each other through breathing to cope with the discomfort.  I will never think of an ice cube in the same way again…

Today we went to the basics in baby care class and we have yet to complete breastfeeding (Bill is really excited about that one) and infant CPR classes.  The classes have definitely been helpful but we’ve also just about reached the threshold of information that we can handle for now.  Bill is complaining about the lecture format of the classes – the Darden case method has spoiled him forever!