Practice makes perfect?

My beautiful and brilliant sisters and mother put together a magnificent baby shower for me this past Saturday ... and as soon as my mental capacity expands, I'll post a little video of the shindig.

I'd post photos, but my dad took all those and I meant to pilfer those Monday when we were in the area for the doctor's appointment, but as luck would have it, Lane and I got to see the hospital up close and personal.

I mean, we'd intended to take a tour of the maternity ward to get our bearings, but instead, we took a dry run at a portion of the whole labor thing. My doctor saw signs of preclampsia and promptly sent Lane and I to the hospital to have the baby monitored and run some tests. Luckily, we were sent home, but only after the afternoon was spent in a hospital bed and I discovered laboring in a bed for who-knows-how-many hours is not going to be my cup of tea (I got a little crabby ... or if you ask Lane, a lot crabby).

Which brings me to a vital question ... why all this practice stuff for the whole birth process? The practice isn't enjoyable, as I'm sure the main event is not, so why can't we just do it once and be surprised instead of inflicting small amounts of pain and discomfort before a butt-load of pain and discomfort? I'm talking here about Braxton Hicks and my prenatal instructor's opinion that you should inflict pain upon yourself while practicing breathing (to get you prepared). Let's not and say we did.

I'm sure many mothers out there will think I'm being illogical. So be it.