Thursday, February 26, 2009

Adventures in Prenatal Classes

Mr. Happy and I just got back from our first prenatal class. These are the free classes put on by Public Health. We had two classes in one tonight as there was a storm last week.

We had a bit of an adventure getting to the class however. The classes are near my office, so Mr. Happy and I met for supper at Kebabji first. He had stopped at the bank machine so we could catch a cab to the class. Somewhere between the machine and the restaurant, the money he had gotten out slipped out of his pocket. He didn't discover this until we were getting dropped off at the class. Luckily, the cab driver was very understanding. I gave him my card and we took his number. But if anyone out there happens to find $$ on the ground... sigh... that was ours. (more on this later)

The Public Health Nurse teaching the class is wonderful. She worked as a midwife and delivered over 300 babies! She's originally from Australia and has worked, from what she was saying, all over the world. I found her references to different cultural practices to be the best part of the night, really.

I was so happy to hear the nurse say that she changed her daughter's diaper on the floor. I worked as a caregiver in a private home for a year and when I started the mom informed me that she didn't have a changing table. She always changed the baby on the floor. It was so much easier for the mom, the baby and for me. And when the baby got to the stage where she was more active, I didn't worry about her falling. Of course, I'm short, so changing tables are always just high enough to be awkward for me anyway! Now, for moms who aren't able to get themselves comfortably on and off the floor (which I'm guessing will be me for the first little while at least), there's always the bed.

Despite what I thought I already knew, I'm sure we're going to learn a lot and that some of the classes (in particular the out-dated videos) will make us giggle.

At the first of the evening, we discovered that there was a couple in the class that Mr. Happy knew. Mr. Happy and the husband had worked together a few years ago on a TV show. We ended up catching a ride back with them and told them how relieved we were to know someone in the class. Phewf. I'm sure everyone there is nice, but it was just good to have a connection.

About the cab - Mr. Happy had to go back to work tonight, so he called the cabby to pick him up, swing by the bank machine and head to the studio. We have a friend who works for the same cab company, so we certainly wouldn't want to leave one of their drivers short! Phewf.

ETA: I just called Mr. Happy at work - apparently the cab driver told him that this was the first time in his entire 30+ year career driving that someone has actually called him back to pay their fare. He was quite touched. I, on the other hand, am appalled.

Ok, knitting content on the next post. I'm almost finished a pair of denim pants for the boy. So cute... on a baby. On an adult? Not so much.

2 comments:

  1. I love my changing table...but it's not actually a changing table. Phil made it years ago, it was supposed to be a dresser. He ran out of wood, and it only has drawers on one side, so he declared it to be a desk. It's really too high to be a desk, and the drawers are really wide. It's perfect as a changing table...room in the cubby for dirty laundry and garbage pail, ample room in the drawers for diapers and supplies.
    When I worked in daycare my toddler classroom was without a changing table for a couple of months. Finally I went to the director and said "Either you get me a proper change table, or you pay for my chiropractor and the time I'm going to miss because I can't move anymore." But, there is a huge difference between changing 20 toddlers 3 or 4 times a day and changing just one :)

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  2. Anonymous2:07 p.m.

    The floor - brilliant! Good for shorties.

    I think it IS disheartening that most people wouldn't pay back their fare. It's not like cabbies are independently wealthy...who to people think make up the difference when the fares/mileage don't balance?

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