Husband and I went to our first Childbirth Preparation Class last night. It was okay. The only new thing I really learned about is what happens if you go into pre-term labor.
The instructor seemed nice enough, but I wish she'd stop saying things like, "...and that's God's way of preparing you for (whatever)." I mean, a class like this is obviously going to be a diverse group of people. It just seems sort of rude (to me) to assume that everyone there is on the same page spiritually.
I'm not particularly religious, but I try not to get annoyed when people talk to me as if they are assuming that I am. I just choose to hear what I want to hear. The first few times the instructor said something was "God's way" of doing whatever, I reinterpreted it to mean, "...and that's just nature's way..." or "...that's just your body's way..." But she said it a few too many times and I couldn't unhear GOD GOD GOD. I'm not in church, lady. You're talking to me about my cervix dilating wide enough to squeeze a human being out of my body. I want SCIENCE on my side during this process. Everyone in my family waiting out in the lobby can be crossing their fingers and saying prayers, but the people who are staring at my vagina and telling me to push had better have some cold, hard facts supporting their decisions.
I know that the instructor was just trying to explain things in a way that everyone could understand, but to me, making things more vague by explaining them as "God's way" doesn't put my mind at ease.
Next class we learn about positions for childbirth and breathing techniques. Hopefully, God's way of delivering babies is relatively comfortable and pain-free.
This is why I love you.
ReplyDeleteI think the purpose of those classes is to make women feel more at ease- not alienate them. Maybe there is a different class with a different instructor who is a more effective teacher.
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