So yesterday Henry and I went to a workshop put on my my prenatal yoga teacher called "Preparing for Birth." It was a workshop for partners to learn some yoga tricks to help mamas in labor. The workshop was really pretty cool. There was much more talking and discussing than there was yoga, but it was neat to see all these women I've been getting to know through my yoga class with their partners, and it was great to have Henry get a chance to meet my toga teacher, as she's been so helpful throughout the harder parts of this pregnancy.
Anyway, we learned a few poses that will be really helpful I think in getting me through contractions. But the last thing we did in class just about killed us both. So here's what we had to do -- I hope I can describe it in a way that does it justice, because it was just so funny! By the time we were done I was laughing so hard I couldn't speak...
One partner was instructed to lie in the fetal position while the other was to sit behind him/her and squeeeeeeze him/her as hard as possible. After doing that the squeezer was to put his/her hands around the crown of the squeezee's head, and push as hard as possible, while the squeezee pushed against the hands. Now, I've always thought I would draw the line at any type to exercise that encourages you to have a "rebirth" type experience -- it is just too out there for me... Anyway, this was close to bordering on that type of thing, and I had the giggles before it even started. Henry squeezed me first and ack -- it was awful! My hair was getting pulled, and my face was getting squashed into the floor, and I really had to pee, so of course I started laughing. And then Henry started laughing too. And when we are both laughing, it is really hard for either of us to stop, and trying to stop only makes us laugh harder. So then it was my turn to squeeze Henry, and I was laughing too hard to get a grip on him at all. When squeezing the crown of his head, my fingers just could not stay together, and his head came right through. So of course my first thought was "well shoot, if I dilate this easily, labor is going to be a snap!" And then, the Beatles song, "I am the Walrus" started playing in my head. But instead of the Walrus, it was "I am the cervix, coo coo ca choo!" And then I just started laughing even harder.
It was a good thing the instructor had condoned laughing before we got started, because there was no way we could have gotten through that without any laughing. And others in the room were laughing too. After the squeezing was over we had to go around the room and talk about what the exercise felt like and what it made us think about. We still hadn't recovered from our giggle fit, but somehow we wound up having to be the second couple to speak, but we were both still laughing too hard to talk about it. We were laughing so hard we weren't even able to make any noise or begin to speak. It was so much fun.
Which of course got me thinking... we spend so much energy dwelling on the PAIN and the CHALLENGE and the ANXIETY of going into labor. But isn't any of it going to be fun? And shouldn't we try to find something fun about it? Henry and I do great when we are laughing, and I hope that we get to laugh during labor. There must be aspects of it that are going to be fun -- I mean, it will be a really intimate and new experience for us both, and at the end we'll get to meet our kiddo! This is fun stuff! And I'm excited about it, and I am looking forward to it!
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