Sunday, December 13, 2009

Our Second Birth Prep Class at LIJ

We finally got around to going to our second of three birth preparation classes at Long Island Jewish hospital last Wednesday! We had started our class series way back in October, but had to postpone when my husband caught a bad cold (we definitely didn't want to pass any germs along to our fellow classmates.)

We started out the evening by meeting nurse Brenda in the maternity ward at 7pm for a quick tour. She showed us a birthing room, which we thought was nice--private, with a cd player and tv and a bathroom without a shower--but a bit small. She then pointed out the recovery rooms, which seemed bigger and are either private (for $565 per night) or 4-bed (free).

We also swung by the well baby nursery where several adorable babies--including a 9.5-pounder!--were sleeping peacefully. Brenda told us that at LIJ all well babies are taken to the nursery an hour or so after birth for 3 hours of monitoring while mom is transported to recovery across the hall. After their time in the nursery, babies can stay with their moms unless she wants him/her to be returned to the nursery.

After the tour, my husband and I headed to our 7:30pm class where we spent 3o minutes on the floor practicing breathing techniques. This had us laughing but was very helpful none-the-less! I suggest bringing a lot of pillows, however, to keep you and your husband comfortable (sitting on the ground is not fun for my non-flexible bloke.)

After a quick food/bathroom break, we then watched a birth video that explained all of the many possible birth interventions--epidurals, inducement, cesarean sections, etc.

We ended the class with a Q&A session where Brenda really calmed my fears about getting an epidural if I felt I needed one. From Brenda's answers, however, I did have the sneaking suspicion that LIJ is a hospital that prefers its delivering moms to take pain medication. I'm starting to believe that if you want to go natural, your best bet is to find a midwife or a doula to be your advocate on the big day!

In our next class session we'll be going over baby care basics. I'm really looking forward to it and to entering the home stretch of pregnancy. Just under a month to go!

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