During April and May we had a series of eight prenatal classes to help us prepare for the arrival of our little one. These classes were offered through the BCT (Brussels Childbirth Trust Organization). I definitely thought the classes were beneficial as you touch on a variety of topics from CPR, breastfeeding, breathing, pain medications, stages of pregnancy, diaper changing, bathing, crying baby scenarios, things to expect the first month or so after the baby is born and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Since we touched on so many topics, sometimes we forgot what we covered during the prior sessions; thus, we would find ourselves going back and re-reading our handouts. Our instructor, Alison Cooper, was good about sending us follow up emails after each class with the information we had covered. The very first class she asked us what we expected from the class and what questions we had about pregnancy and the first few months of parenthood. Once our concerns were laid out, we created a class outline and went from there. Most classes were held at the instructor's house while a few were held at the Imagine center for the BCT. She had snacks and beverages for us, but since I don't really care for store-bought cookies, I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for our class one time and everyone loved them (you don't find "American" style cookies here that are nice and soft; if you find cookies, they're hard as a rock!)We enjoyed getting to know the other couples in our class. There were eight of them, all from several different countries, like Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Belgium. It was nice to know others who were experiencing the same thing and also great to bounce ideas off of each other. I still occasionally hang out with some of the girls from my class since most of them happen to live in the same commune as us in Brussels (Ixelles).
Shannon practicing on a doll before the real thing shows up! (I don't think he should be giving her a cookie already as I notice in this photo!)
We all wrote our names, due dates and hospitals where we were delivering at on cutout baby outfits and strung them on a wall in our Prenatal classroom
Jo, Etain, Joana, Nina and I went out to lunch before the arrivals of our babies. This photo was taken mid-June (Nina is not pictured)
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