Baby Classes

Robert and I took three classes through Cox Health in preparation for baby: Baby Sense, Breastfeeding Basics, and Prepared Childbirth.  Baby Sense was first.  Cox describes this class as:

Take this class during the last two months of your pregnancy. Valuable information on basic baby care and safety, including bathing, diapering, baby proofing your home, car seat safety and more.

I would say this class was about as basic as it gets.  Robert said it best - basically, this class if appropriate for someone who has never seen a baby before.  The best part was car seat safety, and we scheduled an appointment with their experts afterward and they helped us install a car seat in each of our cars.  It was nice to confirm that they are installed correctly and safely.  Otherwise, the class was pretty boring, and we actually left about an hour early because the last hour was discussing how to find a safe childcare provider.  We don't anticipate leaving our daughter with strangers as I'll be staying at home full time, we have family nearby, and we have plenty of people we know and trust who could watch her a couple of hours as needed.

About a month later we went to Breastfeeding Basics.  Cox describes this class as:

Take this class during the last two months of your pregnancy. Learn nutritional and emotional advantages of breastfeeding and "how to" breastfeed

I had already read The Breastfeeding Book by Martha and William Sears and The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League, so this class repeated quite a bit of what I had read, but if I hadn't read either of the books then this class would have been very informative.  It was a good two hour intro for Robert which was nice.

Our final class happened in two parts and lasted a total of seven hours.  Prepared Childbirth is described as

Prepared childbirth education in two consecutive weekly sessions. Learn about labor, delivery, breathing and relaxation techniques as well as pain medications and what to expect postpartum (after delivery)

We covered things like natural pain relief, epidurals, intervention, and postpartum.  The class also included a tour of the hospital.  Cox South opened up a new women and children's wing on Tuesday, and we got a tour of it on Thursday.  Labor and Delivery will still happen in the old wing, but two hours after delivering, the three of us will move over to the new wing.  All of the rooms are private and pretty big.  Of course, they're super clean and up to date.  Just hoping the strong smells of glue, paint, and plastic die down a bit before I'm there.  It kind of took my breath away!