Last Monday (July 10th), Tina and I started a "birth prep" class at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano. It's a series of four classes, and we had installment #2 last night. Each class, weighing in at right around 3 hours, is full of facts, medical info, videos of live births, etc. During the "breathing exercise" portion of each class, Tina and I have a hard time keeping a straight face...there are just too many funny things to laugh about.

Perhaps the funniest moment of the night occurred immediately after the first "live birth" video. The video was pretty graphic...you get to see childbirth in all its gore and glory. The pain is real and evident in the mother's face. As soon as the instructor turned off the VCR (yes, the VCR), she asked if we had any questions or comments. Silence from the class of about 12 or 13 couples. Then, Tina raises her hand and asks, "When do you usually get the epidural?" We just saw the miracle of childbirth, and Tina just wants to know about the epidural. Tina can't wait until she gets that epidural...I wonder if she realizes that there's plenty of contractions and pain before the epidural is administered. And, I've heard that the actual administration of the epidural isn't the most comfortable experience.

During the "breathing exercises" portion of the class, the instructor had each of the "labor partners" massage the mother-to-be as she practiced going "hee-hee-hee-hooo." After several practice sessions and much massaging, one of the labor partners commented that his hands were getting tired from all that manual manipulation. However, the husbands jointly decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to complain about hand cramps while our wives were suffering the most excruciating labor pains. Yeah, we're no dummies. We smart.