Had my labor class on 9th

Hi ladies,

Here in finland I had my labor class this wednesday and I thot will post what they said in the class.

The midwife who works in the labor ward takes this class. She introduced herself and said that she has been working as a midwife for 10 years and she has delivered more than a 1000 babies :)
We were around 10 couples and we all were first time moms. So she explained for first time moms what happens.
Generally the early labor stage is too long for the first baby. it can be as long as 12 hours.
First she showed the hospital as to where to come in case of night time, in case of emergency, where are the lockers, information of cafetaria, its a very huge hospital so how to go about the place, which lift to take etc...
Then she explained what happens when we come here when the labor pain has started. First we go to a room where the midwife immediately attends to and checks the blood pressure, baby heart beat. If the water bag has broke, she would ask the color of the water.
If the water bag broke, some fluid like thing would come out which can be either green, brown or no color at all. She asked us to wipe it with a tissue and put it over a pad. If the pad gets wet, its the fluid else its normal urine.
Also the color determines if the baby is distressed or not. If distressed, the baby's pooh changes the color of the fluid which the mid wife wants to know to estimate if we are in actual labor or not
She showed pictures of uterus canal, which slowly disappears and the cervix dilation starts. Once the cervix starts dilating, or has dialted by the time we reach the hospital, we are direclty taken to labor ward.
In labor ward, husband is allowed inside. There is one midwife who will be there. And if we are opting for epidurals or any other form of pain relief, the doctor comes to check and then we are given the pain relief.
Once the cervix dilation reaches 10 cm, one more mid wife is called in for help. And this is where we have the hard work of doing the push. She said the more you push, the sooner the baby is born. She showed various positions of push. In Finland, giving birth in bath tub is not practised.
There is a bath tub in the labor room, hence a warm bath could also be used to take our minds of the labor pain.
Episiotomy (tearing of the part of the skin) is done when the vaginal opening is too small for the baby, in other words, if the baby is too big.

Pain relief methods:

1. Epidural: This is most commonly used by many ladies. In this they insert some liquid to the back bone just before the spinal cord. It numbs the pain and she said its most safe to be used. For this to be done, they first put an injection as a local anatheasia. Then a needle is inserted in the backbone and its connected to some machine.
Simultaneously, IV is given to maintain the blood pressure.
Also they tear the membrane artifically using a crow bar shaped instrument (she showed us the instrument which was fearsome). Becoz thye need to insert a detector which gets attached to the baby to monitor its heart beat continuously.

For any pain reliveing method, this is done so as to monitor the baby. If they notice a slight variation in baby's heart beat, it helps them to take quick action.

2. Spinal anasthesia: Anathesia is given to spinal cord and she said something about this not being given for first time moms.

3. Laughing gas mask: They give a mask to inhale very little amount of laughing gas or nitrous di oxide. This just alters our mood and makes us feel funny and thus acts as an aid in forgettign the pain. This the midwife said she would recommend to go for as a first option

After the baby is born:

Once the baby is born, one midwife checks the baby and gives it the apgar score. One midwife delivers the placenta and immediately an injection is given in the thighs to stop the bleeding.

Then after 2 hours, both the mom and the baby are shifted to the post natal ward.

Hi pavithra,

Thank u so much for sharing such a valuable info. with us...Its really an eye opener for first time moms to be like me...We are brought up in sucha way that, we feel shy to ask to our mom and even our moms feel uncomfortable to freely talk abt these things...So , we just gather tit bits of info and go to the hospital, even there we might not be told whats happening around us and what is being done or to be done...So this anxiety, fear, doubts, worries, pain everything gets piled up and worsens our mental and physical condn...

Though all those info that info was something new and scary for me, i hope i can get prepared mentally for the day...

Thanks once again..

Hello again Pavithra,

Thanks for such an elaborate post on your labor class.

I have a few questions:

1. Did they give you some tips on breathing techniques? Many of my friends said that it was the most useful part of the class, and that it helped them relax during labor.

2. Would you say this class was useful? Would you recommend it to your friends?

3. Did the class scare you in any way? Sometimes, not knowing about certain things will make the rest of our pregnancy peaceful. One of my friends said that they showed a video of labor which got her very scared. Is it true that this class might psych us if we are not mentally prepared for labor?

Please give your suggestions. I am in double mind as to whether to take it or not. My doc said its not absolutely necessary but that it will help to take it.

Thanks again for explaining everything in detail. Take care.

hi geetha ,
sorry to drop in but just wanna clear the doubts u have put forth ...i am a mom to a toddler and my exp with child birth class was gr8 ...it really helped me to prepare for the upcoming labor process ....yes the video will def freak u out ...but it also helps u to know what to expect in the labor room.....the breathing and relaxing techniques will help u too when u r in actual labor

i will def recommend u to go ahead and take it ...also plan to take hospital tour.
thanks
manju

Hi geetha,

In this labor class they didnt show any video of labor, but she did show the instruments that will be used in case of epsiotomy and also if we take epidurals, thye would have to break membranes for which the instrument she showed.

I didnt get frightened on the other hand I am bit cool now becoz the explanation made me feel that I would surely know when the d-day comes :)

I do understand what you mean, yes sometimes ignorance is bliss. But being in a foreign land, its better to know certain things in case of emergency.

Also it would take some of our unnecessary fears and as they say pain has two parts: one is the actual pain and other is our reaction to it. We would not be in a position to say how we would react that time, but atleast such classes would definitely help in reducing the early fears.

Sorry missed out to mention that in this class they didnt say anything of breathing techniques.
I have heard that in UK and US, they are classes where they teach breathing techniques.

Thank you Pavithra for such a useful thread. In India I don't think all hospitals explain procedures in such detail but my doctor in Bangalore had explained me a day before the delivery (she said my cervix was already dilated 2 cms on Monday.. i delivered the next day) how to breathe, when to rush to hospital etc., Your post is very detailed and valuable reference point. Geetha: In germany the birth-preparatory class also includes breathing techniques and one can always ask the midwife any additional doubts to be clarified. I suppose it's the same everywhere. If you think you'll be scared by the videos I'd recommed you borrow a book on pregnancy from your local library and have a look at the pictures first (this is what I did). In a way these videos prepare you for the real pain that you'll endure in labor. Do think about it:) Latha

Thanks latha.
I guess you are also awake late or what time is it now there?

I slept so much during the day that I am now sitting without a wink

it's 10 minutes to mid-night Pavithra:) mondays are always bad coz my son is all excited with his appa around in week-end and he loses his routine first day of the week. we both slept blissfully from 3-5.30 and now i'm sitting like a boodham

hehehe.

Here its 5 mins to 2 am so I am a big bootham :)
You have your son to keep u busy :)

my husband had a hectic day and he slept early and I am like walking inside the house counting the square metres of the house :)
Tomorrow morning have to wake up by 7 atleast as he has early meetings.

I shall now try to get some sleep.

Good night to you and your son :)

See you tomm