(First of all, huge apologies that this chapter is so late - is being stupid and not updating, even though I've had this chapter uploaded for aaaages... :/ )
Chapter 29 already... Are you freaking kidding me? :O
So this is a sweet little chapter... :)
I have to mention though, my beta has been super busy with a whole lot of RL stuff so this chapter hasn't had a second opinion; and with this chapter, I had to do so much research for it because I had no idea what I was talking about ( :L ), and I got so lost it in when I was actually writing it that I have no idea if it's a serious case of TMI or not... :L So if it is, I sincerely apologize for scarring you! :/
I give you... The birthing classes. :L
Chapter 29 ~ 34 weeks
"Come on, Edward, we're going to be late!"
Bella stood with her hand on the door handle, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Bella, I don't know..." began Edward hesitantly. "Are you sure I'm meant to come? Last time I went there were hardly any other guys there..."
"Edward, this one is important. If you want to be in the room when I'm giving birth, you have to come to this childbirth class!"
Edward, appearing quickly at her side, put his hand over hers and opened the door, speaking gently into her ear.
"Bella, you know I want to be there. But only if you're comfortable with that..."
Bella rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself as they began to descend the stairs.
"I already told you I want you there too, Edward." She giggled. "And since you've already promised, that means you can't back out after you find out this evening what's going to be in store for you!"
He rubbed her back gently, grinning also.
"However bad it is, I'll have plenty of time to come to terms with it."
Bella looked at him in astonishment.
"Six weeks, Edward. Six weeks until my due date!" She shook her head in wonder at his relaxed expression as he laughed, getting into the passenger side of his car – he had been insisting on driving her everywhere lately.
~o0o~
They reached the hospital, where the childbirth classes were being held, with a few minutes to spare. Climbing out of the Edward's car in the parking lot, Bella spotted Charlotte, another woman from the classes with whom Bella had become friendly, and her husband Peter, who Edward had met the last time he had come with her. Charlotte was thirty six weeks pregnant, two weeks ahead of Bella, although she was having twins and spent her days worrying that they were going to decide to pop out at any moment. Bella waved, making her way over as Edward locked the car.
"Charlotte! How are you doing?"
Charlotte pulled a face.
"Any day now, Bella, I swear!"
Bella laughed as Edward appeared next to her, jingling his keys in his hand.
"Edward, my man, how are you?" Peter's loud voice carried across the parking lot as he came to join his wife, grinning and shaking Edward's hand enthusiastically as the couples began to make their way to the room where the class would be held.
"Not bad, Pete, not bad!" replied Edward, happy in the reassurance that there was going to be at least one other guy at the class tonight. "You got roped into this again too, huh?"
Peter chucked, rolling his eyes as he patted Charlotte's shoulder.
"No way out of it man, you just gotta do what you're told!"
They entered the room, Bella immediately pulling Edward towards the back as Peter and Charlotte followed them. Edward quirked an eyebrow at Bella's eagerness to be out of sight, but she just shook her head, giggling as she remembered the video they had been shown the previous week of some labor pain management exercises they were going to practice today.
"You'll understand later, Edward, I promise."
Charlotte sniggered with her, knowing what she was thinking of, but their laughter was interrupted by the entrance of the woman who would be teaching this week's class and they quickly sat down on the yoga mats provided, Bella pulling a slightly happier Edward – now that he saw there were indeed plenty of other men at the class – down next to her.
"Moms, dads, birth partners and any babies listening in today – welcome! Before we start, I'd love to know how everybody's getting on. Does anybody have any stories or experiences from the past week they'd like to share with the group?"
Bella listened intently as a woman named Victoria described the Braxton Hicks contractions she'd been having for a while, after which the teacher, Sue, gave them a rundown of what they'd be doing in today's class.
"I will be briefly going over the stages of labor which we covered last week, but today I'd like to focus especially on positions and techniques that can help ease pain during labor if you choose not to have an epidural, or aid delivery. Those of you whose birth partners couldn't make it tonight, don't worry, you'll still be able to participate, and it will be easy for you to show your partners what to do when you get home. Now first of all, moms, I want you sitting cross-legged for me and we'll do some breathing exercises. Partners, pay special attention, as you may need to gently remind mom of these during her labor if she becomes tired or distressed."
~o0o~
Fifteen minutes later, Sue had all the moms sitting backwards on chairs, their birth partners standing behind them.
"...and as soon as you start having a contraction your partner needs to lean in with their hands, putting firm pressure on your lower back."
"You ready for this?" whispered Edward into Bella's ear, his breath tickling her neck. She giggled as he pushed his large hands into her back and wiggled his fingers.
"Edward, that tickles!" she hissed, trying to straighten her face. "Come on, this is serious!"
He pouted jokingly.
"Sorry..."
"Another position you can use to take the weight off of mom's legs during contractions is a little something I like to call the dance," continued Sue from the front of the room, once she was happy with their practice and the chairs had been put off to the side out of the way. "In this position, mom wraps her arms around her partner's neck and allows them to take her weight, letting her legs and body relax and just... dangle." As Sue demonstrated with one of the moms up in front, Bella turned to Edward and clasped her arms around his neck, leaning into him and grinning as they stared into each other's eyes.
"Hi," she said softly as he wrapped his arms around her waist, taking her weight.
"Hi," he replied, a smile dancing around his eyes. He cocked his head as he looked at her, her chest pressing into his. "You know what this kind of reminds me of?"
Bella frowned slightly, looking at him curiously as she dangled from his neck.
"No... What?"
"Your first self defense class with me." He smirked. "Only this is even more fun." Bella giggled, rolling her eyes, as Sue spoke up again and described how the position also worked reversed if the birth partner held the mom under her armpits and let her dangle that way. As Bella turned around and let herself be supported again by Edward, she giggled, looking up at him over her shoulder.
"It's a good thing you're strong!"
Edward winked at her, pretending to flex his bicep awkwardly from under her armpit.
"Arms of steel," he drawled, setting her off into another fit of giggles. She didn't know why she kept laughing so much tonight. It was strange. Perhaps Edward was right, maybe being so touchy-feely with him in a group like this was bringing back some of the fun memories from her first self defense class...
"The benefit of being in an upright position during labor," Sue was saying loudly from the front of the room, "is that it allows gravity to assist the baby in dropping low into the pelvis in preparation for birth." She held up a model of human pelvic bones for the class to see as Bella straightened up. "Sometimes, your baby may not have dropped completely because he or she may be coming down slightly to one side, or too far forward or back. There are a number of ways you can help your baby to drop if this is the case, and most of them involve one of my favorite things..." Sue motioned towards the wall where a number of large, brightly colored, inflatable yoga balls were waiting to be used. "The birthing ball!"
Edward watched nervously as Bella and Charlotte made their way to the side of the room with the other moms, grabbing a ball each and rolling it back. Bella immediately swung the ball under her and sat on it, balancing easily and she bounced up and down gently. She smirked at Edward's look.
"Relax, Edward, it's just a yoga ball. It doesn't bite, I promise."
"Yeah but... It's so... squishy...!"
Bella laughed loudly, before Sue began speaking again and the room quietened.
"The easiest way to use the ball for the purpose I mentioned is to simply move your hips back and forth, side to side, or in a circle, which will encourage the baby's head into the widest part of your pelvis. Another good way to help the baby to drop is for your partner to sit on the ball, and moms, you squat between your partner's legs and rest your weight on their knees. You can go ahead and give that a try now."
Bella tried not to laugh as she stood up off the ball and allowed Edward to sit down, holding his hand until he got his balance.
"You sure you can handle this Edward?" she teased. Edward looked at her, his face a mask of seriousness.
"I don't know, Bells, I don't think six weeks is enough to get used to this!"
Bella laughed, ignoring him, and turned her back to him, using his knees for balance as she carefully lowered herself into a squatting position. She heard huffing and puffing next to her, and glanced over to see Charlotte wiggling around until she finally got into a squat in front of Peter as well. She noticed Bella looking and laughed.
"This ain't so easy when you've got two of them in there!"
Bella laughed back, and began swaying gently on Edward's knees as Sue gave them their next instructions.
"Another problem some moms may face during labor is that their pelvis isn't opening wide enough to let the baby's head come through. The pelvis can be manually assisted in widening by mom sitting on her partner's lap while they sit on the ball, on the bed or on a chair. Mom can then place her feet flat on the ground and spread her legs, with her partner helping to push her knees back as far as possible, in order to open up the pelvis."
Edward seemed to be relaxing in the company of the scary yoga ball, and smirked as Bella placed herself on his lap, his knees between her legs.
"Let me guess," he whispered impishly in her ear as she began to spread her legs. "This is one of the reasons you wanted to be at the back of the room?"
Bella raised an eyebrow as Edward began to run his hands slowly along in the inside of her thighs down towards her knees.
"Now don't you go getting any ideas, mister..."
"Who, me?" His eyes widened in innocence as he rested his chin on her shoulder and began to pull on her knees, spreading her wide as she leaned back onto him. "Never!"
Bella snorted, and winced slightly as she felt the pull on her inner thighs. Yeah, Edward was the absolute picture of innocence. She looked up as Sue began speaking again.
"One final position I'd like to show you tonight is one I found particularly helpful when I was having my first child. It takes pressure off mom's upper body, and can be especially beneficial if you have a lot of back pain during your labor. Partners, up you get off the birthing ball, but stay kneeling on the ground. Moms, get down on your knees as well, and lean onto the ball, supporting your upper body with your arms like this." She demonstrated on a large blue ball at the front of the room. "You might also like to sway back and forth or side to side as well." Bella copied her, and was amazed at how comfortable she immediately felt. She could have lain like that all day. But Sue wasn't finished. "Now, birth partners, if mom is experiencing back pain, a good way to take pressure off her lower back is to place your hands on the fleshiest parts of her buttocks and push them towards each other, squeezing her hips."
Bella's head popped up in surprise at that instruction to see Edward grinning widely.
"I think I'm beginning to see the benefits of this ball after all, Bells," he said, laughing, and she felt his hands grip her butt tightly. She rolled her eyes, giggling once again despite herself at the feeling as he squeezed.
"You having fun back there, Edward?"
"Oh, you can count on it Bella!"
~o0o~
Finally the class was over and they drifted out into the darkening hospital parking lot, waving goodbye to Peter and Charlotte before getting into Edward's car. Bella curled up in the passenger seat, the early dusk making her feel sleepy.
"I'm glad you came this evening, Edward," she mumbled as he started the car. He glanced over at her, smiling.
"I'm glad I came, too, Bella. As much as I might have complained, I really do want to make sure I'm ready to do everything I can to make this easier on you."
Bella looked at him, wondering what on earth she did to deserve such an amazing man as Edward in her life.
"I love you, you know?"
Edward smiled, shaking his head as he kept his eyes on the road.
"Love you too, Bells."
So... TMI or not? lol
Also, I've added a link in my profile to a necklace Bella's birthday gift from Edward in the last chapter was based off. It's not the exact necklace it was based off, but it's close enough. :)
