It actually is a great DVD and I totally recommend it. It's quite outdated, but is a great way to prepare yourself in 2 hours if you don't want to take a 6 week childbirth class. I think Rob & I spent more time laughing at the 70-80's styles (you know: men with shorts shorter than their wives, the huge bangs- which I had as a child, etc.), then practicing the breathing techniques, but we did learn something.
Well, let me try to give you a visual of our experience, because it was hilarious! At the beginning the teacher teaches you how to put yourself into a state of relaxation. Imagine a lady in tight stretch pants and huge poofy hair who speaks ever so eliquently and tries to sound ever so relaxing. As you're laying in a comfortable position, she has you tense and then relax each part of your body- it totally works and it felt awesome, but she was a little intense about it. She would say, "Contract your hand as hard as you can and hold it, and feel how very uncomfortable that is, (pause, pause), now Reeeelllllaaaax.... just relax." Her voice was actually quite calming, even if it was a little over the top. So...as I'm laying in the perfect position on the floor, my body pillow propped wonderfully under my belly, having tensed and relaxed my feet, legs, hips, back, hands, and arms, and feeling pretty great- Robert pipes in with "Place your hand on a doorframe in your house, have your coach slowly walk over and slam the door on your hand and feel how very uncomfortable that is......Now Relax...." "Take a hammer and slowly hit each of your fingers breaking the bones and feel how uncomfortable that is...Now relax..." Then, he started quoting Brian Regan (look him up on Itunes-he's hilarious)- "Place your foot ever so gently on the small of your back and feel how uncomfortable that it is..now relax..." "Drape your leg over your neck like a scarf and feel how uncomfortable that is...now relax..." He went on and on and I really wish I could remember all the stuff he said. I was laughing SO hard. I'm seriously worried about the lack of oxygen our baby got Sunday night because I could not breathe I was laughing so hard.
Finally, I got him to stop messing around and we finished the relaxation portion of the DVD. Next we worked on breathing techniques and I'm sure you all can imagine how serious Rob was about this. He started complaining that he was getting lightheaded and I reminded him that he didn't need to try the breathing techniques- they were for me. Another portion of the DVD, we were supposed to pretend that we had lost control because of the contraction pains and our coach was supposed to calm us down and make us focus on breathing. Rob grabbed me by the shoulders, stared at me with his eyes unnaturally widely opened like the following picture, and moved his head in weird ways saying "FOCOOOOS....FOCOOOOS". Which made me start giggling uncontrollably! 
He just could NOT be serious and I wouldn't expect anything different from him. I seriously love him to death. He makes me laugh so much and has the greatest sense of humor. I know he'll be serious when the time comes if I need him to be, but I also know we will probably have a lot of fun during labor remembering doing this DVD together. He wasn't super excited about doing it, but several times while we were watching it he would say "Oh so that's what dilation means" or "Oh that's interesting". My absolute favorite though was when they showed you an actual delivery. I looked at Rob who was a little wide-eyed and all he said was "Holy crap! Sasha (our dog), look at that!" HAHA!
He just could NOT be serious and I wouldn't expect anything different from him. I seriously love him to death. He makes me laugh so much and has the greatest sense of humor. I know he'll be serious when the time comes if I need him to be, but I also know we will probably have a lot of fun during labor remembering doing this DVD together. He wasn't super excited about doing it, but several times while we were watching it he would say "Oh so that's what dilation means" or "Oh that's interesting". My absolute favorite though was when they showed you an actual delivery. I looked at Rob who was a little wide-eyed and all he said was "Holy crap! Sasha (our dog), look at that!" HAHA! In conclusion, since neither Rob and I can be serious long enough to practice how to breathe when I'm in labor, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be needing that epidural and I'm totally fine with that. At least I'll know somewhat how to "he..he..he..blow" if my epidural doesn't work. After, we watched the Lamaze DVD, we spent the next 10 minutes listening to Bill Cosby and his hilarious stand-up "Natural Childbirth" which if you haven't heard, go on YouTube now and see it. My favorite is the very end where after Bill Cosby's wife has delivered their child, he kisses her ever so gently and says, "Darling I love you very very much, you just had...a Lizard."
What a fun, eventful night!
8 comments:
We are laughing our guts out right now! You really MUST remember all this hilarity during the real deal! Love you two tons and are so excited for you.
I was laughing out loud when I read this because I could totally picture you two having this experience-especially Rob. I will have to remember that when my time comes to be a Mom, there's nothing like a good laugh! Thanks for sharing :)
That is so funny! We took a weekend class and yeah, definately had some funny experiences! Nothing wrong with Epidurals!!! :) That Bill Cosby thing is hilarious, I heard it years ago before even being married, so funny! I can't wait to hear your news!!!
I'm totally laughing so hard right now. That's EXACTLY what I expect from Robby.
that is HILARIOUS!! oh my gosh. love the 80's.
i'm SUCH a planner, but for some reason refused to take a class before having elle. i figured a class would explain how bad it could really get and i would get freaked out. i'm a pansy.
you know how to breathe the normal way and however you get that baby out, GREAT! :) hey, i don't remember how i was breathing, i just remember pushing every 2 1/2 minutes, then laughing in between since 'days of our lives' was on in the background. if the epidural works and you have no pain, you'll really be breathing very little anyway while pushing (isn't that the point of pushing?). i needed to remember how to breathe BEFORE i was pushing-- like when they said, "you're ready to push!" then again, that was moreso because i was going to hyperventalate. A BABY IS COMING!
in, out. in, out. in, out. you'll do awesome!
We took Lamaze too..it was quite funny. Thanks for sharing!
Ker
Oh Linds, we'll see how hilarious he thinks the real thing is!!! HAHA. I remember those classes and Scott would make so much fun of everything, but in the heat of the battle he was pretty serious and so worried after 18 hours, if I was ever going to get through it. Good luck dear, you're going to be fine!!!! Just pick out the wimpest person you know that has had a child and say, if she can do it, I KNOW I can do it. Love ya!!!
that is hilarious lindsay! your husband sounds just like my husband. totally unable to keep any situation serious! i need to go watch bill cosby himself now, definitely one of the funniest things i have ever seen!
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