Laughter Through Tears

So, we had our first baby birthing class last night. It was great, but we had a few missteps along the way. The class begins with each person introducing their partner and saying what the other person is concerned about and then excited about. The mothers and fathers before us spoke about their concerns for a safe delivery and having a healthy baby. Then it was our time. I said, "Travis is most concerned about a safe delivery and how I'm doing." I'm keeping it simple and hoping Travis will follow suit. So, it's Travis's turn to introduce me. He says "My wife is most concerned about the shot. You know, how soon she can get her epidural. She doesn't want to be in any pain." Well, I was a tad bit embarrassed, I wish he would have said I too was concerned about a healthy delivery, which I am. But on the other hand he could have said my biggest concern was loosing the baby weight quickly, so all things considered it was a good answer. Point for Travis.

So, then we got in trouble. It all happened as we were getting on the "elevator." For those of you who are not familiar with the elevator exercise, it involves a woman tensing and then releasing a muscle that is supposed to help her during birth. yes, THAT MUSCLE. Well, this was just silly to me. I mean I'm tensing this muscle in front of strangers, who know what muscle I'm tensing cause they are tensing the same muscle. It was uncomfortable so I started giggling. Well, our wonderful instructor politely but firmly asked me to quiet down, because there were couples who were trying to learn the "elevator" technique. Oops.

Travis and I also got the giggles during the breathing exercises. We were staring into each others eyes and panting like dogs, again uncomfortable and kinda weird. As I'm practicing my breathing, I'm thinking when do we learn about what kinda drugs we can take?? That's the next class.

In all seriousness, we both learned a lot and our teacher is wonderful. We feel so much more prepared and can't wait for our next class. Plus, I felt very close with Travis. I love it when you look at each other and know exactly what the other is thinking, without even speaking. Then we giggled together. To me that's intimacy. Real intimacy.


As one of my favorite southern ladies said "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." (Dolly Parton, Steel Magnolias) After last nights class (and video) I'm certain of one thing, we are going to need a heck of a sense of humor, each other and an epidural to get through this beautiful process we call birth. We can't wait. Bring on the labor. Right Mom??