baby care gurus

tonight was our required infant care class.  so we're gurus on baby care now - right?  we learned how to swaddle, how to comfort a baby when crying, how to burp a baby, change a diaper, how and when to feed a baby, what to feed a baby, how much to feed a baby, what to do when a baby gets sick, how to suction out yuckies, how to take a baby's temperature, what to expect with the umbilical cord, the heat lamps at the hospital, jaundice, circumcision, information on newborn's skin, the difference between choking and just gurgling, and saw some slides of "normal" things you don't have to panic about.

entering the building i was excited that we were there, but nervous about the reactions we'd get when we entered the room visibly not pregnant.  the presenter was boisterous and called across the room to ask us our names, when our baby was due, and what hospital we'd be delivering at.  we called back with our names and the fact that we were adopting so we just did not know the rest of the answers.  we were smiling when we said it.  she came over and told us how great she thought that was and that she knew someone who adopted, but their kids were in their twenties now.  funny how people try to connect.

she admitted early on that she was a lactation consultant and that she could get off on a breast feeding tangent, and she was not kidding.  we learned way more than we need to know about breast feeding - but we do feel like we learned lots of other things that will be helpful.  while we're definitely not experts on baby care at this point, we do feel like we're less anxious now about some general baby care and are eager to read the suggested reading materials to learn even more.

this is the hundred year old building where the class was held.