Antenatal class

I was reading through my previous post and of all things, I forgot to update that I attended my first antenatal class last Sunday. No wonder my kononnye packed weekend didnt sound so pack after all :P

Anyway, yea, attended the antenatal care talk at Britannia last Sunday at 11am. This was supposed to be my 3rd class, but I conveniently skipped the previous 2 two months ago... so well, erm... lets get to the details of the talk, shall we? :)

It was divided into several sessions, each spoken by senior 'sisters'/nurses and company representatives. The first speaker was from Dumex, talking abt nutricious food/diet during pregnancy, what's good and bad for mother and baby during these 10 months and what are the essentials to be consumed by the mama in order to have a healthy baby. To my horror, everything and almost all nutriens can be obtained by just drinking milk :P How easy it would be if I can just drink that whitish yucky stuff.. sigh.. nvm, it's not the end of the road if I cant swallow that cow's liquid. There are substitutes or other just as bagus food to be taken instead.

Next session was the main reason I found discipline to attend this talk, ie, a session on Natural Delivery. The talk was by one of the senior mid-wifes of Britannia. Her first and last sentence was "Remember, no pain, no baby". DARN! and I thought with the help of epidural, everything will be as easy as pooh-ing :P ok-lah, maybe not as easy at that, but at least more comfy. But noooo, this sister said it'll be so painful that we'll remember it for life! and she went on to describe the step-by-step pain that the mother would feel when the baby is gonna come. She said, the rule of the thumb for the cervix to fully open and allow the baby's head to come out is to have an opening of approx. 10cm!!! (imagine! 10cm opening THERE!!) and the timing to get such a result? a whooping 1 hour for every 1 cm!!!! MEANING to say that, the oh-so-waitai mother will have to endure pain for about 10hours before the baby is at the crowning position! (*note: Crowning is a term used to describe the baby's head at the opening of the mama's canal).

Both dearie and I were already pulling our hair when the sister was describing the way to breathe and push so that the baby comes out right and easy. Then there's more to come! Most of us who dont know much abt giving birth would think that right after the baby comes and the stitches done up, everything's complete, no? wahHh.. no! There's another stage! ie, to deliver the placenta, ie, the baby's source of food throughout the 10 months in us! The sister said that should it be a no-fuss delivery of the placenta, it'll usually just come out when the gynae pulls the umbilical cord that's attached to it. But SOMETIMES, there are complications whereby the placenta would be stucked and just wouldnt come out and at situations like this, guess what?! THE GYNAE WOULD PUT HIS HAND INSIDE US AND PULL OUT THE DAMN THING! wahlau!!!! sei mou! Put the whole hand inside to pull it out!?!?!??! *pengsan* ok-la.. I think I shan't continue, coz I'm having goosebumps just typing this out! hahaha.. Will save you poor souls from reading such yucky details. When you wanna know more, ask me.. I have all the books that can describe it in a nicer / friendly way to u.. hahahaha

ok.. next session was a talk by Stemlife, on preserving the baby's cord blood for future use. The talk was abit too technical and revolves around too many figures and cost. I wasnt really interested, but it seems to be a good 'insurance' to invest in just incase there are any complications that might arise in future. The use of the cord blood? Well, very broadly, it's the good blood cell that reproduces itself for usage when a person is diagnosed with many health issues concerning the blood / tissues, ie, blood cancer, etc. For more infor, go to Stemlife's website here.

and then came the last session, which was super interesting, ie, ways to massage the baby. Apparently, massaging helps the baby relax and improves confidence and growth for the baby. The sister that gave this talk actually had a real baby to demonstrate the step-by-step massaging skill to the audience! There were toooooo many steps to remember by just looking at the demo once. All I remember was a baby should always be massaged when s/he is happy/not-stressful. Ideally in the morning, abt 1/2 hour after bath, or at night, before going to bed.

The essential things to remember before massaging the baby are:-
1) ensure that the room is at the right temperature
2) ensure that you have all the needful items with you, ie, the baby massaging oil (that's not harmful to the baby, ie, best to use plant oil like Almond oil, etc as the baby might taste the oil -coz if u massage the baby's hand and the baby puts the hand into the mouth... meaning makan lor, right?), towel, new diaper, makintosh, etc
3) the mother/massaure is at a comfortable position

According to the Sister, before attempting a massage, always ask permission from the baby. Dont care lah if s/he answers u, but make it a point to ask so that the baby knows from young that no one is allowed to touch their body without their consent. If the baby cries when you ask (so happen larr), then dont massage her yet - to indicate that we respect them. And it's important to speak to the baby and look into their eye when massaging so that s/he knows what we're doing and enjoys it. Speak with a soft, loving voice and concentrate on the baby while massaging (dont multi-task, ie, watch tv and massage at the same time).

Alright, now to the step-by-step method:- (to readers: you can just skip this, I'm typing it so that I can refer to it 4 months down the road when the princess arrives :P )
1) always start fr the baby's legs. remove the diaper (but dont take it away as s/he might wee-wee when you massage).
2) Go from leg-to-leg doing the Indian milking (pull from top to bottom with a little bit of pressure), the Swedish massage (the opposite of Indian milking, ie, massaging the leg from bottom to top), the hold and turn (just hold the leg firmly with two hands and do as if you're twisting your baju dry after washing - of course without force.. the magic word here, everything has to be done GENTLY).
3) Go on to the toes after finishing the thigh/calf. First, massage the bottom of feet by pushing up from heel to toe. Then, clip the toes with our 2nd and 3rd finger and pull it slightly upwards. Then, pull the toes one by one (the Counting method).
4) Repeat step 2 and 3 with the other leg.
5) Move up to the baby's tummy/chest. Remember: always only remove the clothings for the part that you're massaging. Dont expose the other parts unnecessarily to avoid chilling the small one.
6) Rub the baby's tummy anti-clockwise to remove wind.
7) Rub the baby's chest with the Butterfly stroke to also remove wind (Butterfly stroke means, use your right palm and start from the bottom right of the baby's tummy, moving upwards to the top left shoulder, vice versa)
8) Then comes the baby's hands. The method to massage the hands and legs are almost similar. Therefore, repeat step 2 and 3 for each hand.
9)Then comes the most difficult part.. massaging the baby's face/head. The model baby was getting impatient when the Sister reached her head, so we couldnt see her perform on an actual baby. She proceeded to show us on the maniquin instead. Start with the baby's temples, massaging softly -clockwise. Then to the eyebrows, from the centre of the nose towards the outer part, the top part of the lips and lastly, the chinbone area.
10) If the baby permits, turn her over, and massage the baby by just going circular motions at the whole back part, from shoulder blades, right up to her buttocks.

okie... that's about it. The whole massage procedure should take no more than 15 minutes. After massaging, re-dress the baby, put on a new diaper and walla! All done! (gosh! Sounds so difficult hor?! hehehe)

Hm... anything else I left out? Besides having a nice lunch complimentary of Britannia after the talk, I dont think so-la.. this post seem uttterly long. I cant seem to stop typing coz if I dont do this, it'll be left hanging half way and I wont remember what I heard during the sesssions 6 months down the road :P

Alright. Will stop here. I guess both dearie and I benefited quite abit from the antenatal class. From now on, will TRY to attend every single one (it's done once a month at Britannia and free for all moms-to-be that are seeking antenatal care from them)