It was the summer of 1977 and Doreen and I were expecting our first child. Lamaze childbirth was big and we jumped in with both feet. We attended the child birth classes at the hospital where we learned about coaches, stages of labor, labor positions, labor tips and breathing. The instructors really enforced the importance of working well together and practicing the different breathing patterns. We really took it to heart. We would attend class each week and then we would practice 3 or 4 times a week. I made breathing practice a game. I would change the pattern of breathing in the middle of a breath and we started to work so well together that Doreen would change without missing a beat. I recall that there were 6 weeks of classes which meant we practiced over a month.
We were in our second to last class which included a tour of the birthing and delivery rooms and Doreen was in labor. So much so that a nurse examined her and we came back to the hospital 3 or 4 hours later. Rebekah was born a little after noon that day. Doreen had a long and hard labor, but our preparation paid off. She didn’t even look like she was in pain, and the delivery nurse remarked how well we worked together.
As we await the re-birth of the Christ child into our lives, may we take time to prepare and practice by praying, reading the Advent reflections and participating in Christian formation classes offered at St Paul’s.
Oh, by the way, just so you don’t think that we had this preparation stuff all down pat, Doreen reminded me that while we were prepared for the actual birth, we weren’t prepared for our daughter’s arrival home. We had nothing ready… no crib or bassinet, no diapers and her room was a mess because we thought that we had at least 10 days before her birth. Thank God for the help of an aunt and a cousin with that preparation.
Tim Bottone