A Boy's Gotta Eat

Last night we went to a Breastfeeding Class, offered by Day One Center (for new parents). As members there, we get special discounts on classes and merchandise, and there is also a great lending library with soooo many books. Sean found a book about making your own baby food, so I'm excited to see how the chef of our house creates some organic smooshed up delicacies. Day One also has a nursing area, where you can hang out in the rocker and nurse your baby. They have changing stations and weighing stations, including free diapers and wipes. And they have lots of new parents groups, exercise classes, and so many other things to help you meet other new moms once your baby is born.

BUT...back to the Breastfeeding class. I promise I won't get too detailed here....for those of you who are not women, or for those of you who are just squeamish about hearing all about BOOBS.

A few fascinating facts from last night:

1. Sean was one of MANY dads there. Not like the first class, where he was the ONLY one. The lactation consultant/teacher was great about including the dads, and really focused on how they were a part of this process (as our coach, cheerleader, support person). I think that I even heard my husband say on the way out "I may need to take more time off work than I thought, so that I can be up with you and Max when you're feeding him every two hours". ;)

2. Sean was a SUPER STUDENT. When the other dads were sitting there like morons, Sean volunteered great answers when he was called on. He had answers like "bonding with your baby" that showed that he totally GETS this.....and my personal favorite, when they were talking about how breastfeeding can't be counted on as a form of birth control (and other dads were trying to figure out why) Sean announced "It's not like she's going to have time to get pregnant when the baby is attached to her boob every two hours anyway!"

3. The 'Boppy' may be a neat contraption, but the 'My Brest Friend' ROCKS. I was morally opposed to registering for one because of it's stupid name (AND because it was invented by a man), but we got to try them last night and I LOVED IT. Why? Because it attaches to you. And it is firmer than a Boppy. And it has a BACK REST PILLOW built in.

4. Lots of great info about how breasts and breastfeeding actually work. Milk ducts are like a "bunch of grapes" that need to be squeezed by baby's whole mouth. And babies need to be on their side, not on their back when they nurse. Duh, right? But not really. YOU try testing this out with a doll and see how well YOU do! It was great to actually PRETEND and then have the teacher show proper positioning.

5. Helpful at this point to see other VERY pregnant women all in one room. Other women shifting and squirming in their seats because it is impossible to sit still for two hours when your tailbone is throbbing and you have to pee. Other women who were all wearing flip flops or un-strapped sandals because their feet were swollen and they couldn't fit into any other kind of shoes. Women who were carrying bigger, smaller, higher, and lower than me. And women who asked LOTS of stupid, controlling questions that made me feel like a Zen Goddess about this whole BABY thing.

6. In true Day One fashion, we had free snacks and drinks, and went home with a huge (and free) nursing book and lots of other info.

7. The new nursing mantra, according to our teacher: "Put your baby on the breast, girls!" Said in her thick Irish accent, this seemed hysterically funny to me. Especially when she continued with "If you're experiencin' pain, something is wrong"....except her Irish accent made it sound like she was saying "If you're experiencin' PEE-IN, something is wrong"!