38 weeks, 1 day - Infant Care Skills

Well, Shirley and I took Infant Care Skills last night.  Overall, it was a pretty good class.  We had a presentation from a pediatrician to explain what we should expect in the first couple of weeks.  We learned how to give a bath to a baby with an umbilical cord still attached, how to swaddle, the difference between different diapers and diapering techniques, how to regulate Baby's temperature, how to take Baby's temperature and things like that.  And a bunch of safety tips.  As much as I loved having Sheri there with me, it would have been a really good one to have Matt there for.  Oh well.  I can teach him all I've learned and gleaned and think.  :)  Mua-ha-ha-ha... he'll have no idea which things the nurse actually told us vs. what I think so he'll just have to believe whatever I tell him.  Sucker!

A few take aways from the class:

• The ridiculously over-priced monitor we got is a waste of money.  The SIDS detector on it has never been shown to work effectively and generally causes more anxiety and stress than it does to relieve it. If the baby actually has an apnea issue, the hospital will provide a hospital grade apnea detector.
• Dressing a baby is less intuitive than I would have thought.  I'm sure you can do it any way you want, but as Matt discovered when changing Carter, there are some ways that they prefer over others.  The instructor said that babies get freaked out by having things pulled over their heads so she showed us how to scoop shirts over their head in a way that shouldn't freak them out as much.  Of course, when what's waiting on the other side is Matt's Pinocchio nose, who WOULDN'T get freaked out? (Yes, yes, I know, honey; it's distinguished.  Just like the little wooden boy's was.)
• Swaddling is like baby origami.  It's not nearly as complicated as it looks and once you know what you're doing, it's a piece of cake.
• My house in Alexandria is WAY too hot for Baby to live in.  It doesn't really make sense to me because what did people do before air conditioning?  Certainly babies have not evolved in the past 30 years to require air conditioning in the summer, so why the heck is it so ever loving important to keep the temperature around 70 degrees?
• When you put a diaper on a boy baby, his penis should be pointing down.  It's common sense now that I think about it, but until she mentioned it last night, I never thought about it.  I bet that's why Carter's diaper leaked the first night we were watching him.  I for sure didn't pay attention to that.  
• It is normal for a breast fed baby to go up to 10 days without pooping, but they could poop 10 times in one day.  It's different for every baby, but not something to be worried about.  How weird is that?  Let's keep our fingers crossed for a non-pooper!

Moving day is tomorrow.  I'm trying not to be nervous, but I am.  On recommendation from Nana Deb, I am going to let Matt orchestrate it and handle the movers while I go pick up the new car and play with my former neighbors, Allison and Emerson.  Being here during the truck packing would likely cause me nothing but anxiety, not to mention make me feel like a jerk because I can't actually do anything other than watch and judge.  Good recommend, Nana Deb.