Baby Basics class

I return to you now at the turn of the tide as a Baby Basic expert. Or something. We had a two-hour class tonight on the basics of taking care of a baby, and... well. It wasn't horrible. It was largely a waste of time, with a couple of good pieces of information and a handful of WTF thrown in. We had to buy a doll to take with us to class, because I kept forgetting to borrow one from the small girly creatures in my family. (I think we will return this one because it is kinda creepy.) There were seven couples in the class, and only two of us actually brought a doll. The others claimed not to have been informed, which is plausible, but.. didn't they get a letter? We got a letter. Then again, we weren't told to bring a pillow and blanket to the last class, so maybe not.

Anyway. It was a bit.. political, which made me a bit uncomfortable at times. Did you know that babies don't even notice when they're being circumcised except that they dislike being tied down? She spent a good five minutes expounding upon this theme. I really don't feel the need to open a debate or anything, but I'm sorry, I just don't believe that. There are some pro-circ arguments that I can accept, but "it doesn't hurt anyway" has never been one of them. I would never volunteer an unsolicited opinion on anyone else's child's genitalia, but I just can't imagine someone using that as the reason for doing it, so it surprised me to hear an extended lecture about how wonderful it was--and she totally knew what she was saying because she did point out that it wasn't "propaganda" or anything. I think that her phrasing it like that automatically means that it IS propaganda, but I am feeling cynical tonight anyway--I suppose I should think that she was just trying to make sure that the couples planning on doing it wouldn't worry about it, but I think it's a bit dishonest to tell parents that it doesn't hurt just so they won't worry.

I also asked about their policy regarding cloth diapers in the hospital--I don't really plan on starting with that before we get home anyway, but I did want to know in case I change my mind. She said that it would be fine as long as we really let them know what was going on, and then added that I should bring "plenty of pins" and everyone in the nursery would be a bit leery of how to handle her, because I am the last of a dying breed. (On a completely different subject, that's one of the best things to say to annoy a tatter, if you ever feel the need.) It was just odd because I could not be the only person who has EVER broached the subject with them--she is a labor and delivery/nursery nurse, after all! I know for a fact that there are other cloth diaper users in Frankfort, as one of them is helping run a LJ diaper coop. I would have expected the instructor to at least have been familiar with it to some small degree. She just struck me as being pretty anti-crunch, which is fine, really. (She also made fun of La Leche League and the lactation ladies on staff who are "religious" about breastfeeding.) I didn't get the feeling she was a bad nurse, and not even that she was a bad instructor, it was just unexpected. Maybe I am just spoiled from hanging out with my online friends and I forget that we're the minority, not the majority.

The best part of the evening, though, and worth the price of admission (admittedly, free) was a door hanger that was included in the folder they gave us. I went to find it just now so I could scan and post it, but I think we left it in the car. It had a cute picture of a sleeping baby, with a "Shhh, baby sleeping!" message at the top and a printed reminder on the bottom of the card that you should always put baby to sleep on their back to prevent SIDS.

The baby sleeping in the picture? Was on her stomach.

You just can't find quality irony like that every day.