Taking a deep breath

I'm preparing myself for the Big Day. It's 39 weeks now. I just finished my birth prep classes which was a HypnoBirthing Method. Have you ever heard of that? It is based on notion that giving birth should be easy, gentle and relaxed. It is focusing on breathing - long, deep and relaxing which help you to relax your mind and body. In this approach they don't say about harshness of giving birth, they don't use the word "pain". It is about having good affirmations about that amazing event. And I like it. I had three meetings with a lovely woman Awital Zingg-Bollag, who teaches those courses in Helsinki. So for some weeks now I'm doing almost every day a relaxation session with a CD. I've never done it before and was rather reluctant doing this, but it is really a great thing to try. At the beginning it's not so easy to turn all your awareness towards your breathing and turn off all your thoughts and just relax. But if you manage it, it makes you feel so well. Sometimes I simply fall asleep before the session ends and it is a good sign - it means I made myself so relax that my mind just drifted away to a stage of sleep. Those relaxations I'm suppose to make during my labor. We'll see how it will work :) Another thing I'm doing are prenatal yoga classes. Sometimes they are very nice with exercises suitable for me, but yesterday they were a bit boring. Also I saw the hospital and had a tour around the maternity ward. And I like it here. I like the whole attitude towards birth. They focus on all the natural methods, they want to give you the opportunity to feel comfortable and like at home, with your music, dim light and freedom to chose whatever position you'd wish to have for giving birth. They give you the newborn baby to your breast and let him stay there for at least an hour or more, they encourage you to co-sleep with the baby and to body to body contact for as much of the time as possible. And this is so different from what I remember from the States. In the hospital I gave birth to Wanda all they talked was how many TV channels are in the room, that the babies can stay in a nursery so the new mother can rest and enjoy being pampered with delicious menu and comfy single room. OK, the rooms were indeed very comfortable but now comparing those two different approaches I really prefer the Finnish way. I'm already excited. I guess I have more energy. Like yesterday afternoon while I was swinging Wanda and it was cold, so I started to jump to make myself warmer. And after a moment I realized I shouldn't do that, I'm pregnant with a huge belly. Are there the first signs of coming labor? Hopefully yes.