Parenting 101

Sara and I attended our first prenatal class this week. This one covered infant safety and CPR. We learned about the little things one should do around the house to make it safer for kids. Although many of the suggestions were just good general reminders about home safety (checking smoke detector batteries, emergency preparedness, etc). And we also learned how to help a choking infant and administer CPR.

I first learned CPR several years ago (perhaps 15 or so?). So it was interesting to see what recommendations have changed. For example, they no longer recommend "sweeping" someone's throat if they are choking. Instead, you just pull out what you can see and then move on to the rescue breathing. And, of course, with infants some things are a little different. For example, you do chest compressions with just two fingers!

The best part is that apparently there's some statistic that people who take an infant CPR class are less likely to need to use it on their own children. So, we're already that much safer! In the coming months we'll continue our education with classes on childbirth, newborn care, and breast feeding. Between this and all of the reading we've been doing, there's a slim chance that we'll actually know what to do with our baby when we bring him home :-)