So we just finished our LAST baby training course: Breastfeeding. And before you ask, YES, husbands attended, too – and they were given BEER for their efforts! (probably not the tradeoff they hoped for)
Seems like there should be some sort of certification, but we’ll just feel proud to have made it through the training. Childbirth class, Infant Care, Infant CPR, Breastfeeding. We’ve also watched the “Happiest Baby on the Block” DVD (interesting), read a few books, and done some self-guided Internet training.
That combined with the awesome advice (solicited and unsolicited) we’ve received should hopefully get us through the first few weeks ;) Oh, we even have a pediatrician selected!
We still have Baby Signing on our radar – funny, guess you have to learn it, if you want to know what the heck your child is telling you. And some new-parent friends just loaned us the Dunstan Baby Language DVD, which will teach us to “discover the secret language of baby cries”. I can hardly wait. Who knows what we’ll actually DO when the baby comes, but at least we KNOW some things, right?
With just 6 weeks to go (WOW), I think we’re in good shape. Of course, there never seems to be a time when we feel “done” (there’s always one more thing to do – like test/replace our smoke detectors), but then, I imagine that’s just preparation for the rest of the having the nonstop baby/child experience, or so I’ve heard.
We’ve also heard some GREAT advice about what some of my favorite mothers “wish they had done” before having a baby, including:
- packed the hospital bag early
- slept more (and listened when they were told to sit down/rest)
- watched more movies, read more books, gone out to eat more
We also hosted our Annual Staff BBQ last night with around 30 folks (7 of them kids from 4 weeks to 10 years old), so we had a great chance to see parenthood in action and get some belly rubs and good advice. And Bart made a lot of kid (and adult) friends handing out popsicles at the end of night. Hope he didn’t make any enemies on their way home ;)
If YOU have any last-minute advice for us, please share – the clock just keeps TICKING!
Emphasis on Joy 
Eat and sleep.
Sounds like good advice to me – I’m doing WELL on the first one (if it doesn’t matter WHAT I eat) and fair on the 2nd one. See you later!
Hi – Make sure your freezer and pantry are well stocked with all your easy to prepare (meaning basically no prep needed) favorites. The last thing that you want to do is to have to think about making breakfast/lunch/dinner once you have a newborn. Make it as effortless as possible. And accept all gifts of food.
Jana
Great advice! I’ll bet my wonderful husband will be willing to make & freeze some yummy stuff, in fact. That’s just the sort of task he likes :) Thanks, Jana!!