Birth Classes & Baby Classes

34 weeks completed! Martin writes:

For the past ten weeks we've been attending a natural birth class run by two local mothers, both trained in the Bradley Method but now branching out with their own classes and adaptations. This has focussed on the day of birth and the first couple of hours after the birth almost exclusively, covering the (hoped for) sequence of events in minute detail, while also demonstrating through videos, examples and practical demonstration that every birth is different. They all follow the same path and way points (assuming all goes to plan), but most meander, dawdle, potter and dwimp, while others put on the running shoes and get to the finishing tape in minutes (though these are usually not first babies).

Last week we also attended a baby class, which focussed on dressing, bathing, health, sleeping and safety issues (especially car seats) for the newborn and infant, among other issues.

Now I know the birth is important, but for the guys we're still in an enforced observational role. We can be physically, mentally and emotionally supportive and useful, but the woman/baby combo is still the focus, so the latter class was more of practical help and interest to me personally, especially as I'm going to be 50% of the support team for the first 3 months, and planning to be the prime daytime caregiver for months 4-6 and possibly beyond. I know any first baby is mostly on-the-job training, and the instruction manuals and training books that come with the baby are a just guide and not always accurate, but still, it's nice to have some guidelines.

The surprise was that cloth diapering (the way we are planning) got more focus than disposables, the relative costs being mentioned and several local outlets for cloth daipering being given. Cloth diapers are no longer the towel and safety pin variety that probably covered my sweet pink tush in the late '60s, and Eugene is well supplied with options. We chose to live in Oregon in general and Eugene in particular partly for its liberal, progressive, green and slightly hippy lifestyle, and time and again we find things here run differently to many other states, and feel justified in our choices. There are states where a home birth is actually illegal, and if that isn't an example of unwarranted government interference in private life I don't know what is.

Breast feeding was given time while bottled formula was very much pushed to one side. This is in accord with the current mainstream advice, and we're glad that this is so. Every baby should get the best start possible in life, and breast is best if it is possible. We're going back for a breastfeeding class in a couple of weeks, and I'll try to get some photos of the hospital atrium because it's more like a 5-star hotel than a hospital.