Painting a Picture...

So last night was our second childbirth class. We watched some great births on video, I got some anatomy questions cleared up, we decided to ask Claire to be our doula (labor attendant)… a lot of good things happened. BUT, this also happened….

Part of Claire’s class includes hypnobirthing. Basically, hypnobirthing uses things like imagery and self-hypnosis to help your body relax during labor. The goal is to relax the body to the point where a lot of fear/tension is relieved and you can better work through the pain, etc. All well and good.

So, last night the lights were dimmed and we were all to sit in between our partners legs. Joel was in a chair and I was sitting on a birthing ball. Soft music started playing and Claire began to “paint a picture” with her words while our partners were asked to draw the imagery on our backs while she talked. She began talking about nature and Joel went to town on my back. He was dramatically drawing the mountains and rain and sky that she was so soothingly describing. Even now, tears come to my eyes when I describe the scene. Unfortunately, they are tears of laughter. I held it in for as long as I could and then erupted in laughter. Thankfully, most of it was quiet, shoulder shaking laughter and Joel quickly got the picture and immediately stopped painting his masterpiece. And yet, we were still surrounded by 10 couples listening to this voice talking about the “large, strong tree trunk that led to full branches that reached up towards the sky”….and just imagining their husbands drawing this on their backs led to more bursts of hilarity from me. Thankfully, we were in the corner and thankfully the laughter was mostly quiet. I berated myself saying things like, “Oh Jenny, how juvenile, no one else thinks this is the least bit funny.” That didn’t work. I resorted to thinking about tragic events in my life and that worked for a minute or two until Joel dared to put his hands back on my back and started painting the “two peaks of the majestic mountains in the distance and the soft rain that was pelting my back”. I shook my head vigorously as I broke into horrible, stomach aching, silent laughter once again. Meanwhile, apparently, there were some girls so moved by this imagery experience with their loved ones that they were crying. I am hoping they thought I was just one of the gang. Hey, maybe I even started the whole crying movement. Finally, blessedly, the laughter moved away…maybe it flew up into the sky and joined the sun and moon and stars…. I don’t know. By the time the lights came on I was composed and even relaxed. I could even listen to Claire talk about “a beautiful garden that we were walking into and a gift that was in the middle of the garden, waiting there just for us.” I’m glad I didn’t miss that part. I do love gifts. I imagined mine was food, of course. One of those big, bouquets of fruit that look like a flower arrangement (I mean, we were in a garden…and I have always thought they were brilliant). I noticed a couple of people glance at me as the lights came on but I sat perfectly relaxed and I smiled back at them like “Wasn’t that great?!”

So, now I know what to do if comic relief sounds like a good idea during labor. Have Joelie draw one of his dramatic paintings on my back and let hilarity ensue.

I’m just thankful I didn’t fall off my birthing ball….Jen