So last week hubs and I got to be school children for about three hours. We popped up to Special Beginnings in Arnold to attend their Infant Care Basics class.
Special Beginnings for those of you not from these here parts is a birthing center. It seemed nice, and clean but given Adam’s family being filled with lots of doctors, and me not getting a warm fuzzy feeling from a midwife clinic in AAMC like I did my doctor’s office, going with my OB who was recommended by a coworker just seemed logical.
I learned a decent amount. We’ll disregard the old school large picture boards that got passed around. And the fact that of the three hours, hubs was probably paying attention to a third of the class. The other third he was researching why people are so against vaccinations.
Yes, of course that came up.
Here’s the thing, Baby Schmidt is going to vaccinated. I mean, vaccinations are around for a reason no? People say “we don’t have polio anymore…” so vaccinate for it. No. No we don’t. But for instance, India does. And it’s rampant over there. And Indians immigrate to the US right? Flawed basis yes, but unrealistic? No.
Why do you think there’s a whooping cough epidemic?
Now I’m not educated enough on the topic (yet) to really argue for or against but a large basis of the arguments against (and I can understand not arguing for diseases like Yellow Fever which we don’t have…but I don’t believe the CDC recommends that vaccination) seem fatally flawed. For instance, about not trusting pharmaceutical companies.
Ehhh…really??
Really???
I digress, I try not to judge, because it’s really not worth it, everyone has their own sets of values, and beliefs and criticizing or belittling those who have different ones than your own is really non-productive.
As for the rest of the class, when our classmates weren’t trying to find out which Pediatrician in the area would still see them if they didn’t get their kiddos vaccinated, we did learn some valuable information.
-Timelines. Who knew baby’s little stubby umbilical cord fell off within a week to 2 weeks. I didn’t!
-How to dress baby. (Add one layer from yourself)
-Why room sharing is so important. They do better sharing a room for the first 3-8 months, helps prevent SIDS, etc…
-If you’re ever in a car accident… don’t take baby out of the car seat until you get to the hospital. I would have never thought of that. Also, apparently the car seat warranty is voided if you check it on a plane. There goes my Christmas travel plans. D’oh! (Makes sense though given how baggage is handled)
-How to swaddle. She dissed the “$20 swaddle blankets” and gave us a lesson. Not hands on. Showed us. I’ll stick with the dozen or so swaddle blankets we’ve received (most as hand me downs) because I don’t want to be fussing with a blanket at 3a after I change the little guy when I could just zip him up in to a baby burrito. Simplicity for the win my friends.
So yeah, some valuable information there. Some… not so valuable. Definitely not three hours of valuable information, but still worth the $10 spent taking the class.
Did you take an infant care basics type class???
