What i really would have wanted to know during my first antenatal class.....

What i really would have wanted to know during my first antenatal class, but i was faced with sillyness:


There are three stages of labour, and we'll go into each one in more detail in future classes but for now, this is what you need to know.
1. During the first stage your cervix, which is the entrance to your uterus (womb), softens and opens. You'll be having regular contractions: tightenings of your uterus. To start with, the contractions will be several minutes apart. But over time, they will get stronger and longer with less time between them. From start to end the first stage of labour can take a few hours or more than a day, and as things progress it can become a very intense experience.

2. Once your cervix has dilated to 10 cm, the work and excitement of the second stage begin. This is the stage of labour when you push your baby through your vagina and out into the world. At long last, you meet him or her for the first time. If you have had a baby before, the second stage may only take five or 10 minutes. If this is your first baby, it may take several hours. Either way, it's hard work! Have a go at the exercises in the section below - they'll help you to prepare your body for the challenge ahead.

3. You might be surprised to learn that labour isn't over when your baby arrives. Your placenta, which has supported your baby for the past nine months, still needs to come out. This is the third stage of labour. Delivering your placenta is much easier than giving birth to your baby, and you can choose to do it naturally or have an injection that will speed up the process. We'll help you decide which is right for you in week six. 

and this would have been useful to:

Giving birth to your baby can be hard work but there are a few exercises you can do now to help prepare your body for what's to come. Of all the exercises for labour and beyond the most important are your pelvic floor exercises. You need to do at least eight squeezes three times a day. Here's how they're done:

• Place one hand at the top of your bump and the other on one of your shoulders. Breathe normally for four or five breaths.
• If your breathing is relaxed, you should find that the hand on your tummy moves up and down more than the hand on your shoulder. If this is not happening, try to stop your shoulders moving and let your tummy rise and fall naturally.
• Once you have mastered this, gently pull up and in "down below" as you breathe out. When you are learning, don't try to pull up so hard that you have to hold your breath.  Start with a gentle contraction until you have managed to co-ordinate your contraction with a breath out.
• Try then to hold a contraction for a few seconds while you continue to breathe in and out as normal.
• You may feel your lower tummy muscles tightening and this if fine. If you are tightening your upper tummy muscles (above your belly button), then you are trying too hard! Go back to the breathing exercise and start again.

You should aim to be able to hold a pelvic floor contraction for 10 seconds while breathing normally. If you lose your breathing control, stop and start again.