Robyn.Bowles.es

Last week we attended our first Prenatal Class with the midwives. We are one of seven couples in the class, and not the only foreigners! There is also a French couple and Argentinean couple.

We spent a lot of time just getting to know one another and even played a silly “name game” to help us remember names. I really appreciated taking that time to relate to and listen to one another. Mayte and Menchu (the midwives) also asked the class about what we each hoped to gain or learn from the class and sharing those things lead to some interesting conversations.

One woman asked about why she had been told by her doctor that she needed a tetanus booster in pregnancy. She hadn’t had any injury, but she was told she needed it “in case she would need a surgery like Cesarean or even episiotomy.” Since when are barnyard animals (the main carriers of tetanus-causing bacteria) allowed to roam around in the hospital?

There may be other legitimate reasons to receive a Td booster in pregnancy, but to use the “possibility of Cesarean (about 30%) or episiotomy (about 90%)” as a scare tactic just doesn’t make sense. Neither did it make sense to the midwives, so this question lead into a lengthy discussion.

We ended the class with a relaxation exercise that even the husbands were asked to do. It was a funny sight to see 14 adults lying on the floor on mats and cushions as though it were kindergarten “nap time.”

As we were all leaving, we asked if anyone could give us a ride to the city bus station where we had left our bikes. Four different couples offered at once! After the confusion of choosing from all who had offered, we learned that one couple lives just a few blocks from us and is willing to drive us back and forth each week! Thank God for that!

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