Baby care class

We learned how not to kill our baby last night. All kidding aside, the class was really useful and well worth the $50 we spent on it. Our teacher was a nurse with 30+ years of experience and 4 kids of her own. I left with a huge boost of confidence, thinking "we can do this." It's funny because I've babysat for years, but I've never taken care of a newborn. Plus babysitting only entailed a few diaper changes and feedings - no bath times or sticking thermometers up butts. I think my favorite parts of the class were the bath time lesson - it was really easy (although we were working with plastic baby dolls) and learning some soothing techniques.

There were about 8 couples in the class and all of them were having girls. When we walked into the room we were told to pick a baby (they were swaddled). Well, come diaper changing time we discovered we had the only boy doll in the whole room.

Our teacher suggested that we put together the car seat and stroller when we got home so we could practice with a doll. The car seat and stroller came pretty much put together - we just had to put the wheels and tray on the stroller. I then practiced with our stuffed Bart Simpson doll - it's a good looking baby.

We parked like a mile away from the hospital doors because we didn't realize there were multiple patient/visitor parking areas. Next week we have our maternity tour and we'll make sure to scope out the closer parking. They have free valet parking Monday-Friday, but only during the daytime business hours. I hope I go into labor then so we can take advantage of that service. Otherwise I'll still get valet parking, but Tom will have to be the valet.