Baby 101

Hubby and I attended our first baby preparation class last night called "Baby 101" since neither of us has much experience with babies. We've both changed one diaper in our LIVES, so we thought this class would be beneficial and ease some of our worries and fears of the unknown.

It started at 6:30 p.m. last night, so we met right after work and lasted until 9:30 - a little long if you ask me. Especially if you consider about half of it was filled with videos from 1982, and I'm not over exaggerating the outdatedness. One of the videos even mentioned using a mercury thermometer, which the "live" nurse/teacher said was a big no-no (remember those things?).

Within the first ten minutes of the teacher's lecture focusing on the reality of how newborns look, my husband began laughing uncontrollably, causing me to do the same. Apparently, we could be handed a cone-shaped, hairy, bluish purple, pimpled little monster in the delivery room! The class also had more right-after birth photos than I anticipated - the hubby doesn't seem to handle this very well. His eyes were very wide and the most uncomfortable look crossed over his face. Plus there were more breast shots than viewed in a late-night HBO movie; thought hubby would actually enjoy that but when it includes a suckling baby, I guess it ruins the fun of it. I was already a bit concerned about how hub is going to handle the one-day childbirth class we're signed up for in mid April, but now I am almost afraid.

On the plus side, we learned how to swaddle, which is the first step in Dr. Harvey Karp's "Five S" system. The nurse teacher swore by this with her 10-month old. I'm going to see if Netflix has his DVD or if the library has his book about this. We also changed a diaper on the little doll baby, how to give a sponge bath and how to clip it's tiny fingernails.

I actually walked out of the classroom feeling more confident about handling a newborn. Taking care of baby is definitely not rocket science, and now I feel like I have some good step-by-step information on how to handle the whole thing. One step closer to being a new mom.

Inhale, exhale! :)

Pregnancy yoga for the day: Arm exercises for pregnancy (almost 6 minutes)

Read your way to a healthy pregnancy

I'm not enrolled in a Lamaze class to prepare for the late May birth of my baby (is that a mistake?). However I was checking out the Lamaze Web site and found a quick sheet you can reference of "2008 Recommended Resources for Pregnant Women and their families" that may be of interest if you're expecting too.

A few books I hadn't heard of before that stood out to me:

• Nurturing Baby and me during Pregnancy (book and CD with ways to bond with your baby)
• Breathe your way through birth with yoga
• Mama Knows Breast: A Beginner's Guide to Breastfeeding (One Amazon reviewer called it a "Fun Breastfeeding 'Manual' for Moms." Received five stars from six customer reviews.)

I'm all about utilizing free resources - that's what you get for being raised by teachers - so I'm looking them up at the local library now. Otherwise I'll add to my Amazon wish list. I'm most interested in the breathing book for labor. Let me know if you recommend any of these books.

26 weeks and starting to nest

Feeling an abrupt stream of motivation, I prepared immensely for baby this weekend. Good for me!

Finally began a list of "baby to dos" on Excel, started organizing my maternity leave paperwork, enrolled for a "Baby 101" class at a local hospital, and I think I found a pediatrician for the baby! Pause.... inhale, exhale ... must add to spreadsheet to continue breathing throughout tackling my to-do list.

My mother-in-law Donna and I also began our second store registry for the baby at Target. I was very apprehensive about setting it up there since it has such a Hitler-return policy (Remember to send receipts, people!). However, I adore Target and was actually an employee in high school and college so I couldn't shun the retailer. Hopefully I won't regret it. So now we're all set at Babies R's Us and Target! YAY! Donna and I also made the trek over to Nebraska Furniture Mart, this crazy big furniture store, to look at cribs. Lots of selection and prices on cribs there, but I have no idea how to disseminate between the choices. Good news is my mom informed me she and Dad are going to purchase the crib - yay!

I do have a budget on the crib and am wondering what type to buy. Do I need a conversion crib that changes into a child's bed? Donna brought up a good point that if we're planning on having another kid, then we're going to need the crib for it and the oldest won't be able to use the bed anyhow. Plus they are a lot more expensive. I also saw a crib with a small changer table with drawers attached. Anyone out there have one of these and if so, are you glad you bought it? I thought it looked kind of cool, but I was planning on skipping the changing table since we have one on the pack n' play. Is a drawer underneath necessary because they usually cost extra? I am also debating between white and maple/natural finish. I really like the look of a white crib with the baby bedding I registered for at Babies R' Us (in photo), but my mom thought it looked girly and since we don't know what we're having, I can't decide if white is a no-no for gender neutral.

Who knew cribs could be so complicated?! Help!

Laughter is good for baby too

Gratitude is key to leading a happy life. Lately I'm so grateful for all the generosity exhibited towards me during my pregnancy - people love to give baby gifts! The other day Maureen, a coworker and friend, stopped by out of the blue and gave me the book 97 Ways to Make a Baby Laugh by Jack Moore.

It's such an adorable book with cute baby photos on every page and 97 ideas on how to play with your baby. As I blogged about the other day, laughter is good medicine, not only for mama but for baby too.

Below are some "laughing" ideas for your baby from the book:

• Ride on a carousel with your baby and have familiar people stand around it waving to the baby.
  
• At dinner, have the adults play with glasses of water and spoons to play music for the baby.
• Play 'this little piggy' - an oldie but a goodie.
  
• Sit the baby in front of a mirror with you as you both wear hats, and then switch hats back and forth.
• Make an exaggerated sneeze for the baby.
• Fill a laudry bag with the baby's toys and take each one out with great fanfare.