Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Watching Buttin Turn Green

***Caution - maybe too graphic for some readers***

Last night, Buttin and I had our second Hypnobabies class.

It's difficult to describe, but the hospital/conventional birth world and the more organic birth world seem to be in conflict on a lot of things - and it's not just on what you might consider to be the BIG things like pain medication during childbirth. It's everything from the usage of drugs after childbirth (to help deliver the placenta) to the use of eye ointment on the baby after birth. Who knew that eye drops could be so controversial? Like with pretty much everything else in life, Buttin and I will just pick the parts we like from each and make our own decisions.

We spent the majority of last night's class discussing nutrition and exercise. It seems strange that we would be discussing these topics THIS late in the game, but oh well. I pretty much have the exercise part down, but the nutrition - well that part only so, so. (Maybe you've read about my mac n cheese, cookie dough and fried chicken obsessions.) Hypnobabies subscribes to the Dr. Brewer diet plan. The Dr. Brewer plan is BIG on protein and BIG on lots of calories - the plan recommends a 2,600 calories/day diet! (Again, here's where we pick and choose). I agree that I probably need to eat more protein, but I'm not sure I want to shoot for 2,600 calories/day. I'm supposed to keep a food journal for the next week - I detest food journals.

Next we get to the fun part - discussing the stages of birth (we don't call it "labor" in hypnobabies). This part didn't really seem to bother Buttin, but then we got to a part where our Doula started discussing the importance of perineal massage. (If you don't know where your perineum is located - I wouldn't suggested googling it because you may get some images your uncomfortable viewing at work.) I think Buttin is all for doing pretty much anything to make childbirth and pregnancy easier on me; however, this is where he may draw the line. He started to turn a little green when our Doula gave him a handy-dandy pamphlet on this topic. Poor Buttin.

Last night, we did a quick hypnosis session (Molly was the least cooperative puppy EVER) where I learned how to stay hypnotized while keeping my eyes open. If I'm being honest, this is still a lot to digest and "buy into" - but I am trying and I do believe that it will be helpful. We have a lot of practice to do this week and my goal is just to keep Buttin relaxed and rosy-complected.

1 comment:

  1. All Buttin needs to know about perineal massage:

    Lefty-Loosy, Righty Tighty

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