Labor Trial Run & Infant CPR

Last night was our first baby class.  We showed up at the wrong hospital.

I would like to take all of the blame for this, but honestly, there are only two hospitals in the area (20 minutes away from each other and in different cities) and I assumed it was the one closest to me.  And when the city listed on the paperwork matched this assumption, I was convinced.  Nope, I didn't look at the hospital name because with only two hospitals in the area, I assume you can just go with the city name and end up in the right place.  Nope.

I am one of those 15 minute early to everything type of people, so I rushed my fiance through getting showered and dressed, stopping at Chipotle for dinner, and driving to the hospital.  We ended up getting there so early that we even had time to stop by Walgreen's to grab a cute notebook to take notes in.  

Once we get inside the hospital, the directions to get to the conference room were completely off, so we asked a group of nurses who kindly informed us that we were in the wrong hospital and city.  Apparently both hospitals are "officially" in the same city, but everyone just refers to them by the cities that they are closest to, hence my confusion.  Seriously!? I wasn't going to miss the class, and I didn't care if I was late, so I gave my fiance the directions to the hospital in the next city and learned that we can get there much faster than I originally thought. Twenty minute drive in less than 15? Alright!  We decided it was a labor trial run.  

We ended up being about 9 minutes late and after getting a death stare by the assistant nurse, we were allowed to take our seats.  There was only one other couple, a single woman, and a single man.  We each got our own CPR baby complete with "lungs" that moved each time you gave a correct practice breath.  We had a very sweet instructor who gave us lots of extra tips in addition to the official video.  Some of the things we learned that were new to me:

• Cut food longwise because if it does block the windpipe, it will only block half.  She said breadsticks, in particular, are a choking hazard because the bread swells up in a baby's throat.
• Breathable or no bumpers are ideal to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  These are on our registry.

BreathableBaby Universal Crib Bumper (Image: Source)

• Obviously nothing "fluffy or puffy" is allowed in the crib, however, a thin blanket is allowed if you place the baby at the end of the crib with it's feet touching the edge and tuck the end of the blanket under the mattress.  Make sure the blanket only comes up to his chin/chest.  Babies only go up, not down.  She said they are used to being squished up in the womb and look to have something touching their head for comfort, so they scoot up but not down.

I have to admit I teared up at the beginning when the instructor was describing choking/cardiac arrest scenarios-  picturing how I would react if it were me.  I believe I would act rationally under pressure, but the thought scared me.  After we went through the scenarios and completed several practice rounds, I left feeling confident and much better prepared than when I walked in, so I'm very happy we were able to make it.  The next one is Baby Care Basics, which should be equally exciting!

Correct hospital (and growing baby bump!)