Antenatal classes - good clean fun

We had our first antenatal class last night and it was very entertaining and not at all scary.

I didn't get off to the best start, squashing one of the realistic newborn baby dolls as I sat down on the couch! Then I temporarily forgot one of the three things I was meant to know about the person I was introducing to the group, but at least everyone laughed.

Each couple (everyone was part of a couple) were given a baby doll at the start of the class and told we had to treat it like a real baby while we were in class, (i.e. support the head, in particular) for the rest of the course.

Our baby is the freaky-looking one, with its hands stretched out zombie-style, but at least we didn't get the crying one that you have to comfort to make the noise stop.

The funniest thing was the tea break. J had the baby so I got the drinks. He asked for a black tea, so I thought I'd better have cold water - which was fine, as I don't like caffeine at night anyway. There may have been decaf tea on offer, I'm not sure.

I came back to J and the guy he was talking to with a water, a black tea and two jaffa cakes. I put the tea down on the kitchen bench and gave J the jaffa cake. Then I put my drink down too and took the baby so he could drink his tea.

To pick up my drink, I had to wedge my jaffa cake between two fingers of the baby-holding hand. So I put the water down again and carefully transferred the jaffa cake to the other hand, trying hard not to get melted chocolate on the baby's suit.

Other guy: You did that very skillfully - and I like how you prioritised the safety of the jaffa cake!

Our leader is really nice and not at all Thou Shalt Do It This Way. There were no scary videos - but from now on we'll watch one 'normal' birth a week - water birth, caesarean, home birth etc.

I've got one of the latest due dates in the class. Some people are due before the last class and noone is having a home birth. So weekend homework is packing our hospital bag...