Better Beginnings

Last night Ryan and I attended "Better Beginnings" at the hospital, the pre-admission clinic for maternity patients. I was secretly worried beforehand that I would faint at some point during the evening because, well, that's what I do. But the whole experience actually made me feel a lot better and leaving the hospital I felt less anxiety than I had going in. The first three-quarters of the clinic was in a classroom setting, though very informal. The instructor went through what to do at the onset of labour, where to park once you arrive at the hospital, pain management procedures, the role of your nurse, length of stay, etc. At the end of the clinic we were taken up to the maternity ward and given a tour. There's nine labour/delivery rooms, which are private, but there are no longer any private post-delivery rooms because of the baby boom in Red Deer. They're averaging right now between 200 and 220 births a month, and a few weeks ago had 20 babies born in 13 hours! And on that day, the nurses fielded 600 calls from not only patients wondering when to come in but also from family and friends wondering if babies had been born yet, a definite no-no. At the end of the tour we stopped at the nursing station and a nurse was holding a newborn boy, who was so small to me but was actually 7 pounds 5 ounces, so exactly average. He had a tough time through the birthing canal so he was getting a little TLC. It took everything in me not to tear up when I saw him, thinking of Ryan and I bringing home a little guy like that so soon.

Anyways, even though going on a tour isn't going to make labour any less painful, I'm not as scared as I was before. At least the hospital is one "fear of the unknown" that I can strike off my list! Oh, yeah, and it also alleviated Ryan's concern: where should we park?

And as a follow-up to yesterday, I ran into a friend today who had an ultrasound at 35 weeks (same as me) and was told her baby was 6 pounds (same as me). She delivered a full-term baby who weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces, so that made me feel better, because I really don't think this baby is already 6 pounds. I'm still telling myself, even though I have nothing to base this on but it helps psychologically, that my boy will be under 8 pounds. And who knows, if I happen to deliver early, because you never know, he very well could be under 8. Or as Lana says, I could deliver tomorrow. Yikes! Definitely not in that mind space yet!