So even though I am a Labor and Delivery nurse, this is my first baby so I thought that it would be a good idea for both Tom and myself to take a Lamaze class. I wanted Tom to go so that he could know what to expect with labor and I wanted to go to learn more ways to help myself cope with the inevitable pain that goes along with the labor. It was a month-long class, and for the most part we both really enjoyed it. My favorite part (aside from the last 30 minutes each class that we spent practicing relaxing, aka tom gets to massage ellen) was the very last class when the labor coaches, or husbands, got to try on the empathy belly. For those of you unfamiliar with the belly, it is a fake pregnant belly complete with boobs, that non-pregnant people get to wear to see what being pregnant feels like. Tom of course, got to go first to wear the belly, and I must say he looked pretty good pregnant. Here are some pictures of him trying on the belly.
The whole belly get-up weighed 20lbs so after Tom had it on we had him pick things up off the ground, lay down on the ground and then just watch a video as a pregnant man. He did pretty well with it but who wouldn't do fine with a pregnancy that lasted 10 minutes. I wish they had one we could have taken home for the week. Then he would have gotten a better idea of what it is like to be pretty pregnant. Not that he isn't empathetic already, he is. I have no complaints in that department thankfully. Here is my favorite picture of us on the last night of lamaze, me at almost 36 weeks pregnant and Tom with his belly.
