Prenatal Classes

We went to some prenatal classes put on by our naturopath this weekend; they were good. Informative, and some experience-sharing, in a relatively small/intimate setting so that it was more of a discussion than a 'class', which was nice.

Deanna (naturopath) is opinionated (pro-breast-feeding, anti-vaccination, anti-formula, anti-circumcision), which has its moments, although she's mostly pretty good at differentiating between 'general information' and 'my opinion', which is important.

I haven't read up on vaccination, I know it's controversial for some, so I don't really have an opinion on the subject, but I mostly agree on the other points, at a high level. I'm pro-breastfeeding, but I also know from some of the experiences that others have had, it doesn't always work out the way one might like, so it obviously depends on your experience. That said, there's an argument to be made that some of the problems that can occur are brought on by the way the birth experience goes for the baby.

Babies who are medicated (e.g. mother gets epidural, which gets into baby's blood) and who are separated from the mother right after birth seem to have a harder time triggering the instincts, which can lead to some early formula-feeding, which leads to nipple confusion, etc.

It seems that like the epidural cascade, the farther you head from a simple natural birth, the more other kinds of intervention you're likely to be forced into employing, so I'm hoping we can stick to the former as much as possible.

Visitation
By the way, just to get some of y'all prepared now, we're planning on doing a little of the babymooning approach - spending a fair amount of the first days and weeks in close quarters with the baby without too much outside influence, and bringing family and friends in for short visits independently of each other to keep the stress on everyone low.

That means that many of you can expect you're not going to see the baby in the first week, and that when you see the baby, it may be a short visit at our convenience, and could even get rescheduled a few times. I know you're all busy, but the first few weeks at least will be all on our schedule.

So if you were thinking otherwise, now's a good time to start readjusting expectations. Doesn't mean we don't want to see you, doesn't mean we won't try and make it happen, just means that we're not going to be pushing to get everyone in quickly, we're not going to throw a big bash with all friends and family, and we'll play it by ear a lot.

Speaking of babies, I hear Shawn's in Mtl until the twins arrive. Good luck, Shawn!