Yes you heard right. Kim "little-voice-big-attitude-in-male-dominated-industry" Stewart's next big project will be wrangling a little monster in around Auckland for a while. I suppose we just figured packing the dog, the house, the Jeep (still in custody), and shifting across the planet to start a new adventure was just a little too easy...so now this.
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| what the heck is a bassinet?!? |
This is an exciting and terrifying endeavor. The stress, weight gain, and restless nights are enough to drive you crazy....and thats just me....not sure how Kim feels. After getting through settling in, battling insurance claims for damaged items, panel-beaters to fix the Jeep, and a heap of other issues now it is time to get serious about baby-prep.
So antenatal classes it is! We chose the 2 Saturdays in a row, all day deal.....free in NZ!
Fascinating stuff.
They showed us a very artsy video of how it is done down here with no epidural......I got outed as an American when I asked "Where are the stirrups and the lady lying on her back?".....nossir.
Out West the women don't use the bed......they console themselves with a french yoga ball and squat that baby (bubs) out! I guess knowing that they give a "natural" birth is pain-killer enough.
Truthfully, the classes and the midwife teaching them are fantastic! Though not without their motives.
You can't look in the NZ Herald in a week without seeing some feminist controversy about how a rugby player was photographed bottle-feeding a baby.....BREAST feeding is the agenda that is shoved down your throat at every turn.
And then, there are the other folks in the class. They are.....quite normal...every woman had their man there supporting them and there were about 14 women. They are all local "westies" so it gave a great sense of community or something like that.
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| nailed it. |
So on we go. Time to practice! This week we were instructed to get a dolly or a stuffed animal so that we can practice dressing with baby clothes... and swaddling?? Don't know what all the fuss is about....easy to dress a doll....must be easy to dress a baby! Easy to care for a doll......you get the idea. Donesky!
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| thanks Jo & John! |
Thankfully our great friends Jo and John Russell have showered us with just about all the infant clothes we should need! I can't imagine what it would have cost to gather all this stuff from scratch. And our position is that c'mon....the baby ain't gonna remember what it wore when it was 0-18mo, so it doesn't need to be brand new.
So off we go on this one. It's exciting and foreign to us all at the same time. After all, the only bottles I have had any experience with are of the brown variety. Not to worry, Kim has loosened up her Green Belt and will do what she always does.....show us guys how a project should actually be done.
