Getting Ready For Baby

Now that we (finally) believe that a baby is definitely coming, we have been furiously working to get ready for said baby.

The nursery is pretty much ready - the furniture is put together and arranged, the walls are decorated, the changing table is stocked complete with a diaper genie, the crib is made with mobile in place, and Baby S even has a fully stocked dresser and closet.  (Mark jokes that Baby S will be better dressed than he is - that may be the case).

Childcare is in place and they have confirmed our start date.

We have found a pediatric practice that is close to home, has night and weekend hours and is accepting new patients.

Decisions have been made regarding cord blood banking and whether or not Baby S will be circumcised.  We have even called insurance to find our when and where the circumcision is covered.

The car seat has been installed and the matching stroller is assembled and already in the trunk - along with a packed hospital and baby bag.

All baby equipment has been registered and checked for recalls.

I have already been in contact with a lactation consultant and have found my nearest La Leche League group.

Pretty much the only thing we need to do is figure out what to do with Baby S once he actually gets here......

In order to start finalizing preparations we went to a baby class today.  This class was sooooooo needed.

After my miscarriages I have been purposefully detached from children - especially babies.  I have become quite adept at avoiding babies when they are brought into the office and always "have a cold" whenever someone wants me to hold their little one.  I have basically spent the last 15 years of my life avoiding children and probably due to this fact, really don't know a lot about them.

So, now that I am (finally) having one of my own I need some crash courses on what to do.

We had trouble finding the room and got to waltz into class a good 5 minutes late.  I felt like everyone was staring intently at my suspiciously absent baby bump (the only baby bump that was missing in the room by the way).  But.....it may have just been that we were late.

It turned out that we all were pretty much in the same boat - that in a very short time we were all bringing a tiny human into the world and that none of us really knew what we were doing.

The class was great - by the end we knew how to give a bath, swaddle, diaper, (hopefully) read our babies subtle signs of being engaged or disengaged, and when to call the doctor (to name just a few of the important things that we learned).

I realize that no baby is the same and that I need to just be flexible and roll with the punches...... but at least now I feel a lot more prepared to do so.