And we’re done! Managed to leave my sick bed long enough to sit down for this last two-and-a-half hour session.
We watched a SIDS video: the current thinking is that nothing should be in the cot – to avoid a choking hazard, that we lay the baby on its back (and change which end of the cot the baby sleeps every month or so, to stop one side of the head being pressed down too much), and not to smoke around the baby.
In groups, we had different questions to answer about coping with challenges that will arise after the birth: one suggestion that was memorable was having a list of household chores at the front door: when guests visit to see the baby, instead of stressing about looking after the baby, and the guests, a guest can do one of the chores while you look after the baby.
We then passed a doll (one of the ones we tried nappy changing on in week one) around the circle, only this time, the doll was playing a tape of a crying baby. Everyone had to come up with strategies for having the baby settle. Some of the parents were coping better than others with the sound of 15 minutes’ worth of crying: especially tricky was that as it was a tape, there was no way of knowing if your attempts at settling the baby were working.
We ended the night by playing a game of jeopardy: dads vs mums. Thanks in some small part to my knowledge of the epidural cavity, and a lot more to do with some of the things the other guys could remember, the boys won a book – “the nappy bag book”.
And with that, it was all done: we meet again in October for a reunion, with our kids in tow. It’s been a worthwhile series to go through: to share the experience of going from not knowing much about what to expect all the way through to having some vague idea of what to expect.