First Parenting Class

First of all, thank you so much for all of your feedback in regards to what I was considering posting in a "note" on facebook.  I still don't know if I feel right in posting it--at least not yet.  But it's reassuring to hear that I'm on the right track, and nothing came across as offensive or hurtful. 

Well, I crossed into the third trimester today, and with this new step, I'm starting to realize that this really might happen for us.  We have a lot that we need to do (pick a name, find daycare, paint the nursery, etc.), but I'm just taking it one day at at time.  The first big step was signing up for the various classes offered through our hospital.  On Friday, my husband and I attended one of the "Bringing Home Baby" classes (or something along those lines).  I felt a little self-conscious that I was the smallest in the room (the other women were due in July and August), but our schedules wouldn't work with the later dates.  I felt familiar with most of the topics that the instructor shared, but it was rather nice to get a "refresher" (and as my husband pointed out--to have the ammunition to explain why they don't recommend doing things the way our moms did it in the past).

But the best thing about the class was watching my husband practice with the baby dolls.  The instructor had each couple practice giving their baby doll a bath, changing a diaper, and swaddling the baby doll.  It did feel a little bit silly to play with a doll (I haven't played with baby dolls since...well...last week with my niece), but it's good practice.  And I totally loved that the instructor suggested that the new dad be in charge of baths for the first few weeks since us moms will be recovering from giving birth and it might be too painful to lean over for baths.  I don't know how true this is--but it worked in convincing my husband to take an active role in the process (not that he's "unwilling" to do so--more so just that he wouldn't know where to start).  It was amazing to watch him be so tender and careful with the baby doll, and it makes me so excited to watch him "for real" with our Baby Girl when she arrives.  Something tells me that I'll fall more deeply in love with him, as we both fall in love with her.

Today's blessing was the chance to reconnect with one of my good friends over lunch.  In between both of our busy schedules and vacations, I haven't had any "quality time" with her all summer.  So it was really nice to catch up with her and hear that she's at a really happy point in her life.