34w3d - Baby Care, Baby Safety and Infant CPR

Hubby-poo and I took a 6 hour class yesterday. Not only was the class 6 hours, but it went from 2-8. Talk about killing a Saturday! But it's okay, because it was a very important class. It was a class on basic baby care, baby safety and infant CPR.

Okay, we probably could have survived without the baby care. It was good, but none of it was rocket science. We learned how to change a diaper, how to swaddle, things to look for when baby is crying, how to give a bath, etc. I have done enough research that I have all the book smarts on most of this stuff as it is. But I enjoyed it, it did give me some food for thought, and I think that Hubby-poo needed the reassurance of classroom learning. I did take away a few tidbits (and learned that most of my swaddling blankets - at least the ones I registered for - are just too small to be practical), and it was good to get in one practice diaper.

The baby safety stuff was more of the same. This was also a giant mix of common sense and stuff I had already researched, for the most part. But I did learn that I am WAY ahead of the game on many of these things. Half of the people in the class had bumpers on their cribs (SIDS risk!) and several bought those fancy ear thermometers (inaccurate unless you use them correctly, and the rules change for every year based on a variety of things, and not recommended for infants). I was surprised that nobody told them that those things weren't safe. Weird. See, my book smarts might save me a bit of hassle on this one :-P.

The infant CPR was GREAT, though. I hope I never need to use it, but I know now that I can. It wasn't a certification course, but it was most of the training that goes into a certification course without the test. We have the American Heart Association booklet to read and study from. The class also covered choking and how to fix that. I was very, very glad to have taken that last class. And I really, really hope I never need to use the skills. I can't imagine anything more scary than a choking or unconscious baby (especially if it's my own).