Antenatal #6

Our sixth and final antenatal class was held this weekend at our instructors house. Due to her being sick we had missed out one of the nights and to make it up she has us all over for afternoon tea and had the class in her lounge. That commitment seemed above and beyond to me and it was a really fun and relaxed time.

Newborn Care 101

Sleeping, Bedding, clothing, bathing, nappy'ing, immunising - all of the important 'ing's were the topic of conversations. 

Sleeping - We plan to sleep our babe in a bassinet close to our bed. I'm not really sure how this will work though if her sleeping patterns aren't the greatest. Graeme will still need to be at work at 7.30 in the mornings so I'm hoping he wont be too sleep deprived. Otherwise we may have to make other arrangements. The catch is though, babies tend to sleep better when they are in your room or in your bed. Go figure. Did you know modern western society is the only culture to ever have their babies in different rooms to sleep? Makes you think.

Clothing - We have been given everything we could possibly need for the first 6 months at least. We'll probably need to buy a few warmer things for autumn and winter next year but that's no biggie at all. My mum has knitted some really beautiful pieces and we've been given soooo much. Honestly, people are so generous. If you get pregnant - don't buy any clothes!! I know its so tempting. Some people gave me money or vouchers so I could choose some new items which was really lovely. We've bought her a novelty cow suit and that's. IT. 

Bathing - We bought a baby bath (and change table) this weekend for super cheap off trademe. I feel reluctant to use lots of products on her skin so am going to try and keep things to a minimum. We were shown techniques to bath them. We'll figure it out. FYI - You don't really need a baby bath or a change table. We just bought them because they were so cheap and thought they might come in handy. Baby's are so little you can bath them in a sink and then after a few months you can have them in the shower with you. 

Nappy'ing - We plan to use disposables for the first few months and then use a combination of disposables and modern reusable nappies. We really need to get onto purchasing more disposable nappies (they grow out of newborn nappies sooo quickly) but I think we have all the newborn ones we'll need and we have a stock of reusable nappies ready to go when she's big enough. I like the idea of reusable. I'm all about the environment and saving money. Sure, extra washing - but saving over $20 a week on something that gets used for a few hours and thrown away into a landfill. Graeme put a nappy on a teddy bear while we were there. For some reason it surprised me when he asked if he could have a go. I don't know why, it just did. 

Immunising - My jury is still out on this one. I really haven't done enough research to have formed an opinion. Some immunisations seem like great ideas, others seem dangerous or a waste of time. My general philosophy is that we were made this way, so why inject ourselves with things like that. But then I also think we have doctors and research and science for a reason so we should take advantage of such opportunities. But then, what about drugs that women used to take for morning sickness that gave a whole generation of babies stumpy limbs? Hmmm... Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I do intend to research all the different vaccinations available but in the mean time we have signed up for the Vitamin K jab which they have after they are born and we will also be doing metabolic screening. 

And so ends our antenatal chapter. Now we have permission to have a child! Infact, one couple from our small group of 5 couples gave birth this weekend just been. 5 weeks early! Anything can happen. 

I really felt like the antenatal classes were so valuable. I highly recommend them. Out of the 5 couples I felt as if Graeme and I were the most liberal when it came to our choices. We were the only home birthing, reusable nappy'ing family there. However, I felt that our choices were also completely normal and didn't once feel like they were unusual. I'm not sure if this was because the instructor was obviously pro home birth and accommodated our choice in every example she gave and if that would be the case at all antenatal classes or not. I kind of get the feeling we struck it lucky with our instructor and class though.

We are having a reunion in approximately 7 weeks time so we can all see each other again and all according to plan meet everyones babies and see how they are all going. This baby journey is so unique for everyone, there is no right or wrong I have discovered, and I'm sure that every single couple will have a different experience to share. 

Big thanks to our instructor, Pam, for an excellent journey and learning curve!! If you're doing any antenatal classes in Christchurch soon I hope you get Pam! Infact, I'd even call ahead and find out what classes she is taking and book in for those :)