Baby 101

So, we had our first labor and infant care class this evening. Three hours. It probably should have been more like two and a half hours, but I'm hardly one to whack someone for rambling on a bit.

It's weird to be in a room with ten other pregnant women. I haven't been around that many people who are also in the situation I'm in and it is a bit odd. You find yourself comparing a bit (her stomach is bigger than mine, she looks more uncomfortable than me, I can't believe she's still flexible enough to sit like that and cross her legs, etc.) and generally wondering how they're dealing with the whole thing and if it's anything like the way we are doing it.

And the instructor. First, let me say this. Really nice lady. She obviously has a lot of experience and is a great source of information. She's quite earnest, straightforward, and has just a touch of a sense of humor. I suppose that if you get on your back on the floor and put your legs up in the air and pretend to push a baby out for about two minutes within the first two hours that you've met two dozen strangers, you would have to have a sense of humor.

That being said, do you all remember the characters Nora Dunn used to play on Saturday Night Live back in the day? The "Oh, my, what are we doing here? Well, we can't have that, now can we?" wrinkled nose, smiling women. She actually played an OB/GYN on The Nanny (Nora Dunn, not our instructor) in that show's last season. This instructor lady FORCIBLY reminded me of all those Nora Dunn type things.

A very nice lady, but just stereotypical enough to make me hide a smile behind my hand a couple of times.

The class made me feel both worse and better, which I suppose was unavoidable. But what are you going to do? Better not to be ignorant.

I felt a little like a very well-behaved Hermione through most of the class. I've been reading a lot about this whole thing and she kept asking us questions ("Do we know what the four factors of how quickly the birth will go? Hmmm?") that I basically knew the answers to, but I elected to hold back a bit because I didn't want to be the insufferable know-it-all of the class. Hopefully I can keep myself reined in.