Antenatal class

We went to an antenatal class on the weekend.  It took the whole day, unlike the antinatal class where you are simply given a pamphlet on birth control.  I, in my typical medical student way, was expecting to be bored stupid because I am a professional smartarse.  My expectations were met in the first hour or so when the midwife running the class imparted such valuable knowledge as:

• the uterus is like a bag inside the mother that the baby grows in,
• you have to take off your pants to give birth,
• the placenta is a special organ made by the mother's body to provide nutrients to the baby.

When she said that last one I shot my hand up and said, "Actually all trophoblastic tissues are derived from the blastocyst and thus are distinct from maternal uterine parenchyma."  She thanked me for my wisdom and all the brickies, cooks, accountants and lawyers in the rest of the class gave me admiring glances and left the nicest sandwiches for me at lunch time.

But the day improved from there.  We were shown a movie about the stages of labour which I found quite useful because simple stuff like that is often not well described in books or lectures.  One of the annoying things about being a smartarsed med student is that people often assume that you know quite basic stuff about life that you somehow managed to miss along the way.  They'll happily bust your brains out of your ears with detailed descriptions of protein cleaving but will forget to mention the bit about having to take your pants off to have a baby only applying to the woman.  Knowing that will save me plenty of embarrassment when B-Day arrives.