AFTER TWO BIRTHING CLASSES, I'M HAVING CONTRACTIONS MYSELF
09/08/11 18:27
I'm two sessions into the birthing class seminar series and already I know more about stretching vaginas, tender nipples and contracting uteruses than I ever cared to know about.
I guess somewhere along the way I managed to grow up because I realized the other day I didn't snicker when the instructor said the word, “vagina”. That used to be a funny word to me. I didn't turn red from embarrassment when she talked about tender nipples, either. That was a taboo topic to speak of in mixed company once upon a time. I have to admit I was a little saddened that I realized my innocence had been further etched out. I like being a kid even as a grown up but when you can no longer snicker about stretching vaginas, what's the point of living?
I actually raised my hand in class to further inquire about a contracting uterus. Perhaps I've lost my mind but I was intrigued. The teacher said that if we husbands have our arms around our spouses when she has a contraction that we can feel it, too. I needed some clarification on this. I avoided using the word "uterus" but instead opted for the more standard word, "contractions". (I can hear the word without giggling but wasn’t sure if i could say it and remain composed.) The instructor pointed out that during a contraction, the uterus just doesn't contract but first rises up like a wave does in the ocean. Then the wave subsides and the contraction begins. With all that going on, husbands can definitely feel it.
My stomach began to create its own waves at the thought of this. Every day that I dig further, decoding the meaning of being a dad, the more I marvel at how mothers give birth and the strength and fortitude it takes to have a child. And the more we Dads need to be sympathetic to their needs.
In closing, I found this National Geographic footage of cameras actually inside the mother’s womb. Seeing the baby as a bump on the outside is one thing. Seeing the baby that makes the bump from the inside is just a whole other ‘wow!’