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“Why do they look so happy?” he asked.
“What’s that, babe?” Sara answered.
“All the others here for class,” he told her. “Look at them. Shouldn’t they be nervous?”
“They look thrilled,” she told him. “I know I’m thrilled. I want you to be thrilled, too, dear.”
Xavier climbed out of the car. Sara got out on her side. They met in the middle in front of the car.
A handful of couples were walking in, and some others were waiting and chatting out front. Xavier hadn’t seen any shifter couples yet, and he doubted there would be any.
His wolf paced. The people in the class were too happy. Relaxed, too, and this was the part that bugged the hell out of Xavier. There were a lot of things that could go wrong with a pregnancy. Some couples were showing a bump, and some weren’t.
Sara grabbed Xavier’s hand, leaned over, and whispered in his ear. “Let’s go inside, boo.”
He chuckled. “You really are feeling a good groove for class tonight, aren’t you?”
“What I am excited about is that you and I are going to be amazing parents. I know this will be the case from this moment onward, no matter what happens.”
Then Sara gave the hand she was holding a light squeeze. Xavier knew this was his cue from her to head into class. He took a deep breath, and they walked in, shoulders back, heads held high.
The alpha in his blood picked the seat choice when they got inside. Front row but in a spot where he could always see the main entrance to the room, even from his peripheral vision.
The class started friendly enough. The instructor was sweet and welcoming. Once the teacher started talking, however, Xavier knew that what lurked beneath the surface was perhaps a demon.
The instructor, who had started slowly with her PowerPoint presentation, morphed into an overwhelming battle-ax by swamping Xavier, and likely the whole class, with a litany of impossible labor positions.
“So here are some basic labor positions,” the instructor chimed. “I will run through some of the more popular positions, and then in a few minutes, we will break into couple groups and practice some of these on the mats in the back of the class.”
There was a quiet nod from the whole class as an answer.
“Kneeling on a birthing ball, swaying, rocking, leaning forward,” the instructor rattled on. Each position she named came with a picture of a woman doing impossible things. “Lunging, kneeling, squatting, on hands and knees, lying on one’s side.”
The instructor named several other positions, and then she finally stopped. His eyes had glazed over when she showed the picture of a woman squatting in a warm jacuzzi tub of water.
Xavier felt so completely out of his comfort zone. The wolf inside was hiding, cowering at the edges of his mind. Whatever happened to a simple woman on her back, a piece of leather or rubber between her teeth, pushing the baby out? Simple. People didn’t do simple anymore?
After the slide show, they went to the back of the room to practice on the mats. The focus was supposed to be on technique and breathing. The instructor brought out giant rubber balls for anyone who wanted to practice the position where a woman leaned over a giant ball while pushing out her baby.
“Look, kitten,” Xavier told Sara, leaning closer. “These positions they’re covering here tonight, these are things they do to people in the gulags in Eastern Europe.”
Sara answered by widening her eyes in shock.
“Yep,” he continued. “You see it, too. This is how they torture people. Leaning over a ball with your butt in the air when the baby’s on its way out? That’s trouble.”
“Will you please be nice?” Sara pleaded.
“I am being nice,” he whispered back. “This instructor may have started her career with good intentions. Half these positions have you imitating a stink bug when it’s threatened, hissing and breathing hard with your butt sticking out.”
After they covered labor positions, delivery positions, and techniques, they returned to their seats for another PowerPoint on what to expect in the delivery room.
“Oh, I know exactly what to expect in the birthing room,” Xavier whispered to Sara.
“Will you shush, please?” Sara whispered back.
“I’ll be expecting Beelzebub.”
“The most prominent features to expect in the birthing room,” the instructor began. She reached over and grabbed a remote and dimmed the lights when she said this. “Calm, comfort, and safety are what you can expect in the birthing room.”
