ABCs of Babies

Last night, Ray and I crossed the last must-do off of my "Before the Baby Comes" list by taking TMH's ABCs of Babies class to prepare us for basic infant care.  The class took about two hours, and Ray and I agreed that it was two hours very well spent.

There were only two other couples in the class with us.  One couple is expecting a baby boy in October, and Ray and I decided the father is from some sort of very cold Eastern European country.  His accent was fairly thick, and he was very, very concerned about the baby being too cold.  His wife asked lots of questions about how many layers the child actually needed, and he kept insisting that maybe one more layer would be good.  The other couple is expecting their baby next week, and it appears neither of them has any experience with children.  The mom asked at one point, "Do we change her for every wet diaper?"  (Ray and I are hopeful that maybe she meant "change clothes," but given the context of her question, it's doubtful.)  The course covered the basics like how to change a diaper, how to swaddle a baby, how to bathe a baby, how to burp a baby, and a plethora of other things.  Our instructor started us off with a quiz regarding terminology (which, sadly, we failed because we didn't know the medical terms for things like cradle cap), then moved to a discussion about keeping baby safe at home, and then she started a video.

This video was awesome on several levels.

• Awesome Tidbit 1: It is clear that the producers of this video didn't use actors.  They used real people with brand new babies.  These real people looked really tired, especially the moms.  
• Awesome Tidbit 2: One of the topics covered in the video was what to do when a baby won't stop crying.  It stopped short of the "NEVER shake a baby!" PSA, but I swear that I know the dad they showed in that segment.  I cannot figure out where I know him from (Ray suggested that perhaps I was reminded of Ice Cube, but I think maybe he was an assistant coach at Munroe).  
• Awesome Tidbit 3: As we were seeing real people in their homes, I got to see how different people chose to decorate their nurseries.  My personal favorite (and the favorite of the mom who's due in October) was the poster of Tupac on the wall next to the crib.  Ray and I have decided we need to get one for Wolverina's room.  I think I'm leaning towards this one:

However, a friend pointed out that if Wolverina learned gang signs before she learned English, that would be beyond awesome.  So maybe I should reconsider and find one with him throwing a West Coast sign...

After the video, we began the hands-on portion of the class. 

• Ray learned to change a diaper, and I learned that if we ever have a boy, I probably won't diaper him until his circumcision has healed (the instructor told horror stories about the diaper sticking to the healing skin).  I found the stories horrifying and think I'd rather take my changes with elimination communication.
• We also learned how to bathe a baby, and Ray agreed to be in charge of umbilical cord care.  
• We learned techniques for swaddling, and Ray pointed out that when I swaddle an actual child, I probably shouldn't lean on the baby to keep her arms down by her side.  (We were given these dolls whose arms are made to stay up by their heads, and I was practicing the arms-in swaddle.)  I think his point was fair given what I was doing, but at the same time I feel like I've got enough sense not to do that for a real baby.

Other fun facts that we learned/had confirmed for us include:

• Baby powder causes respiratory problems, so we shouldn't use it at all.
• The hospital-grade aspirator will be priceless to us, so we need to make sure we bring it home from the hospital.
• C-section babies tend to gag a lot.
• My insistence that we have no crib quilt and no bumper was the right thing because these things do contribute to SIDS.
• Insisting that people wash their hands before and use a blanket on their shoulder while holding Wolverina is good practice, not us being germ-Nazis.

Although we will probably still frantically google things regarding care of Wolverina, I have to admit that I feel much more prepared about how to keep her safe, clean, and happy after that class.  And, for a guy who's never changed a diaper, Ray was extremely adept at it.  I was very impressed with his skill, and I'm now hoping that he'll take the lead on that! :)