Birth Class and a Sono

Birth Class is very much like yoga class but with alarming timing cues. For instance take a deep four count breath when active labor contractions get "a little intense". I don't know if this stuff will work and wont know until things get as she says intense but when lying on the floor having your back rubbed I must say deep breaths and relaxation techniques work great!

I had a better time than poor David did. The class was quite long 7pm-9pm and much of it was DVD watching or hand out reading from a seated position. David should still be prone and spends most of his time this way. Earlier on the same day we were pretty busy and up so he had little time in his appropriate position. David spent the birthing class in much more discomfort than a room full of third trimester women. This is an achievement if ever I saw one.

5 more classes to go if we make it that far.

Kiernan is big. Maybe he is big for his age or maybe his age is a bit off. For my first few Dr.'s visits the just kept moving my due date up by a day per visit. My original due date was 3 Feb 09 and more recently it has been at 31 Jan 09 but this time when I got a copy of the sono report the due date by size was 26 Jan 09. The Dr. said "don't pay any attention to the date when i give you this report OK? We are giving you a +/- 3 week window here."

A few things about this Sono.

1. Mary (my fantastic lovely and ever kind stepmother) came with me for this one. This turned out to be great because she will ooo and aahhh in ways that I am too shy to be even tempted to do. For reasons of shyness, professionalism or nerves none of us (me or David or Mom) has ever been very emotionally reactive in the Dr.'s office unless the Dr. left the room. Not Mary. . .oh no.
She ooo'ed she aaaaww'ed she made quiet mummers of joy and wonder. This had the commendable result of a longer sono and a better look at his face instead of just a fast list of measurements with a flashy fetal squirm here or there.

2. Because of the longer and more face-centric sono we saw Kiernan makeing the greatest faces. Apparently when hungry babies in the womb make the same sort of faces they make as newborns. He exhibited all the the lip pursing jaw gaping pre-suckleling signs they listed in the breastfeeding class. What it looked like was kissy-face followed by gum smacking followed by cavernous maw mouth followed by kissy-face. . .on repeat cycle. It was hilarious.