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Location: Iowa, United States

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

At ease, soldier

Last weekend, on Saturday morning, I went to "Boot Camp for Dads" class down at the hospital where Jenny and I have taken a couple other pre-birthing classes. It was fun, because a couple of other new dads brought in their babies, and they had a chance to share their overall point of view of the birth experience, and the dads-to-be got a chance to be around a couple of babies. The main reason the babies came was, if a diaper needed to be changed, one of the soon-to-be dads had to do it for some worthwhile practice. Unfortunately there were only 6 "Boot Camp" dads and 2 babies, so not everyone got the challenge of tackling and coming out alive from going toe to toe with a stinky diaper. I am proud to say that I got stinky diaper #2, and survived (barely). Actually I jumped right in, and felt at ease doing it. So I will say right now, and I'm sure Jenny will remind me quite often of what I am about to say, but I am excited and looking forward to doing a lot of the "dirty work" with the baby when I can. Not only changing diapers, but everything. Jenny has already gone through being a "New Mom" twice, and I'm sure several years ago that she never really thought she would be doing it a third time, so now it's my turn to do as much of the initial parenting exercises as possible.

I also liked hearing from the other dads, because they offered a much more pragmatic and realistic point of view rather than the idealistic point of view from the Holistic Birth class. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed most of the Holistic Birth class, and was able to get a lot of nice ideas from it, but Boot Camp was more about what really happens, instead of learning ways to cope with the process. The dads that brought in the babies said that there wasn't time for all the soothing material suggested in the Holistic Class. They said they couldn't take time to put on the right music, think about aromatic scents and oils in the birth room, lay out pictures or objects that take you to a different time and place, read books and magazines, etc. The new dads said that they brought in boat-loads of this type of stuff, and didn't touch most of it. Actually they overlooked other more important things and had to make additional trips back home. But basically, what I got out of the three hour class last Saturday morning, was to expect the unexpected, don't overpack for the hospital, and do whatever you can do for your wife. Simple enough, right?

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Way to go, Son!

4:36 PM  
Blogger Mike and Jenny Olson said...

Thanks Dad!

4:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wrong guess, it was Mom. I also want to compliment you for getting right in there and showing that you want to learn and be a great DAD!!! Mom only let me get to do it for three kids and I was hopeing for more! Keep up the "training", it's getting closer!!!!
DAD

3:55 PM  
Blogger Anita and Joost said...

I can just agree with the comment of your Mom: Way to go, Mike!

Enjoy the coming weeks!

Anita & Joost

10:11 AM  

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