Baby Care Workshop

This is our baby!

Jeff and I got to take our first workshop!

During this great workshop you had 6 couples and a wonderful nurse sitting in a small office with very little air conditioning. Oh and it was for 3 hours! We learned what many would expect to learn at a baby care class like swaddling, feeding, and car seats.

Yet before we got to the fun stuff like how to burp a baby and how to expect to never sleep again we had the adoption section of new baby. This was the section that isn't talked about much and people who don't adopt never think about. When your adopting you spend so much time planning to brig the baby home that you never think about what happens when the baby is born. Since Jeff nor I will be the one going through labor and pushing the baby out we won't be the ones making those first decisions. We will not be the ones who the baby is handed to or the ones who will have the matching wrist bands. If we are even invited to the hospital we will be just guests. This first part was the realty that I personally was not wanting to think about. This is the expected parents time to make sure adoption is what they want to do. This is the time I don't want to get to attached but at the same time want to be part of. The class helped me understand the different things that will happen and how it truly varies from hospital to hospital. It has helped me truly want to go with the flow so that the expected parents have their time to say goodbye.

The next part was the 2nd fact of adoption. Travel! Since the probability of our child being born locally is like 1% we have to be prepared to travel. It could be an hour away or many hours away. We also have to be ready to stay in a hotel for a week or more while the paperwork is processed. If our future child is born in a different state the process to come home is a bit longer. There are laws to protect babies from being sold and we have to make sure our paper work is done before crossing state lines. We also learned about bonding with baby and how the baby may not want to be held. Most people don't realize that a new born already knows their birth mothers voice and the smells of the hospital is their normal. When your adopting an infant those sounds and smells are taken from them so it is important to understand bonding will take a bit longer then normal.

The final part was the normal baby care many would expect. We learned about the different ways to hold a baby while burping, the different ways to warm a bottle, and how to bath a baby. We also learned about car seats and swaddling. The wonderful nurse reassured us that even those babies are cute there will be times we need to hand the baby off and walk away. Sleep will be a blessing and everyone has their specialty when dealing with the new family member.

We were sent home with a packet of papers including care seat check list, vaccination information, and how to bond with baby. My favorite sheet is the shopping list. The this is real and these are the things you will need when baby is born shopping list. That one sheet makes me feel no different then any one of my friends and family members who have been pregnant. It is my happy I'm so excited list. This was our first OMG this is for real class. It was the first step for us to feel like expecting parents and we loved every moment of it.