$175.00 seemed like a lot of money to spend on a natural birthing class. At the time, we thought that maybe we could learn just as much by reading the plethora of information out there in books or doing some research on the internet. Boy am I glad that we decided to join the eastside Birth Zone class! Not only did it prepare us (to some extent) for a natural birth, but we met some of the neatest people. At one of our classes, our instructor told us to look around the room at one another because she was sure that some of us would become best friends. She had met her current best friend through taking her birth classes when she was pregnant with her daughter. She said something like, "Look around, someone in this room may end up being your best friend." I'll never forget all of us looking around at one another. I remember thinking "yeah right, we'll probably never see these people again once this is over"... in fact, none of us really got close during the duration of those 6 weeks. We didn't really have time to get to know one another! We were too focused on learning about "poop ninjas", watching scary birth videos (I actually got a case of the giggles during one), making a uterus and "plug" out of a balloon and ping pong ball and learning ridiculously funny birthing positions and how to tolerate pain (with ice cubes and simulated contractions). It really was a great class and our instructor had the best sense of humor! We shared some giggles and talked openly about our hopes and fears (and I even remember giving one of the other moms, Marcy, a wide-eyed nervous look quite often during class-ha ha!). However, it wasn't until after we all actually went through labor and had our babies that we got to know each other better. We shared our birth stories via email and then decided to have a reunion...and the rest is history. The first meeting went so well that we decided to get together once a month. We rotate between houses and hope to do even more fun events and outings as the babies get older. We are blessed to have a network of people to support us during this time in our lives. We will definitely be lifelong friends. Ha!...technically, we paid for these people to be our friends. ;)
Oren (and mommy Shereen) and Owen (and mommy Juliana) having a playdate with us at our house.
Our last baby reunion at Matt and Marcy's house (all babies are 6-7 months old)
Mmmm....Brunch! Everyone brings a dish to pass...the food is always so good!
Martin wasn't going to let any obstacles get in his way. He decided to crawl over Emmeline to get to a toy...it was so funny!
The baby band.
Martin, Keegan and Emmeline
The gang just hanging out while the babies played
Courtney and Oliver ("Ollie").
Martin, on the go! He is crawling all over the place!
Brigit and Martin
Owen, Charlotte, Oren and Oliver
Miss Charlotte. She is the oldest.
Little Oren. He is the youngest of the bunch.
My happy girl (not to mention CUTE)! :)
Can't wait until our next party!
It is so awesome to see the babies learning and growing together. What we've gained from that class has been priceless!
