Bradley Class 7

I have to say that I feel particularly lucky to have a Bradley instructor who is dedicated to presenting a fair, complete picture of the birth process. I know the course has a reputation of having instructors who are very harsh about the expectation of natural childbirth. In this weeks class we went down the list of procedures, drugs, choices, etc so that we can write our birth plan. It was a culmination of lots of the little bits of information we have gathered so far.

Laura suggested that we start off by loosing the idea of a "birth plan" because there is no way to plan your birth. Rather than we entitle the document "birth preferences" and really get it into our head that that is all it is - preferences. What we can do is be educated about our options to ask the right questions should we need intervention, etc and know what our preferences are. Otherwise you are pretty much setting yourself up for a feeling of disappointment or failure if you deviate from your plan - which will almost certainly happen.

I have been waiting to get my B-Strep test next week before writing my "birth plan" as it will make a significant difference in when we go to the hospital, if I need and IV port, and how long we have to stay. But now that I am thinking about it, maybe I'll go ahead and draft my "birth preferences" knowing that it might change.

Morgan and I were also charged with getting packed for the hospital in the next week or so! By the time I hit 36 weeks our instructor suggests that we should be ready to go! We have a checklist and I am SO NOT ready to go based on its recommendations. I'm still trying to think of a way to sneak Cooper into the hospital - probably not the most realistic thing for me to be focusing on :)