Time keeps on slipping into the future.....

Here we are, already into November and only two weeks away from Thanksgiving. Christmas and New Year's will be upon us before we know it. Where does the time go?

Sunday night, Mike and I attended our first childbirth education class called Holistic Birth. In part of the class, we each had to draw our image of birth and then share our picture and thoughts with the rest of the class. For me, I couldn't really think of an image as when I think about it, I feel more of an emotion than see an image. How can you draw that? Mike had a distinct image in his mind, but right after the class was over he tossed it into the trash since he felt it wasn't the same caliber that brother Matt has been producing in his art classes. (But if you ask us, Matt's "masterpieces" look more like simple paint-by-numbers.... Just teasing)

We had some good discussions on the subject and I have to say that I am really surprised at Mike's attitude on the whole thing. For months, I have been waiting for him to totally freak out about the whole thing, but he hasn't. I, on the other hand, have been doing enough of that for the both of us. I had expressed my concern in class that he might not be prepared for the process of labor and delivery. He went on to explain his thoughts and has a pretty realistic idea of what to expect even though some of the details are a little fuzzy. After he was done speaking, the instructor turned to me and said that he'd be just fine. I agreed.

The giving birth aspect doesn't scare me at all and I am attempting to do this again completely natural--no drugs. Some people look at me like I am totally nuts because child birth hurts, but every change in life--good or bad--involves pain in one way or another. I am more terrified of catheters inserted into my spine, narcotics injected into my blood stream and probable medical interventions as a result, than I am of the natural process of child birth. Maybe I am a little crazy, but I am more afraid of modern medicine interfering than I am of the pain. Doctors scare the hell out of me.

We are also seeing a group of midwives instead of an OB, which is also strange to some people. In the US, there is this negative stigma associated with it--I've heard things like only poor people in the countryside use them, that they aren't properly trained or educated and that babies should be delivered in the hospital under the supervision of an OB. The truth is that in parts of Europe, most babies are delivered by midwife and only high risk patients are tended by OBs. I also like the fact that a midwife is technically a nurse who tends to have a better bedside manner with their patients than a physician based on my own personal experience. They also try to stay with you during your labor rather than just making the appearance at the last minute for the big catch--that will be $4000 please. Our average appointment with the Midwife lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and we have plenty of time to talk about whatever questions, fears, concerns, etc. we have with her. So far we have met five of the eight midwives and we have liked them all. Given my general distrust and fear of modern medicine, it's a good fit for me.