Important Studies

DH is a nursing student. This semester they are studying pregnancy and childbirth, and care of mom and baby. Can I tell you how happy this makes me?!

When I was pregnant with Handsome most of the technical stuff that I came home telling him he would nod his head and pretend like he was listening, but really he didn't hear most of what I said. When I told him how big the baby was this month, or when the baby could hear inside me he acted like he was listening, but I knew he was just placating me. He didn't care so much. What mattered to him was that I was healthy and the baby was healthy. Because his intentions were good, I let it slide.

But now?? Now he HAS to know those things!! He asks me questions all the time from what he is reading and I look at him dumbfounded that he doesn't know. I told him that two years ago!! We even took a childbirth class which told the majority of what he is learning right now. I can't give him too hard a time though, because he realizes now that he missed his opportunity. And I'm likely to be better at helping him out this semester because I want to learn all that stuff.

Some of the information is too hard for me though. Last night we were learning about the FHR monitor and what the different decelerations mean. Some were just fine, and some meant the baby was in serious distress. They had sample tracings that he had to answer questions on to figure out if the baby was ok or not. I actually got teary eyed when we saw one with late decelerations. The poor baby was struggling. I wanted so bad to say, send that mother to get a c-section and save the baby! I know it was just a drawing, but wow. I always wanted to work with newborn babies in the hospital, but now I don't think I could. Not until my babies are MUCH older.

DH is going to face a major cultural problem this semester. Men in his culture are not supposed to hold babies before their umbilical cord falls off. He didn't hold Handsome until he was almost two weeks old. We specifically told the nurses not to hand Handsome to DH after I gave birth. My bf cut the cord, because DH wanted nothing to do with that. But now? Now he has to with his school. He'll be graded for it. I know he's struggling a little with that. He said when we returned to Ghana he would wash his hands with herbs so that would counteract the effect. This is some of the stuff that I just don't understand, but if it makes him feel better, then ok. And the actual reason for not being able to hold the baby, I don't remember. I think it had something to do with making his spirit weaker. No idea now. Maybe he'll let his female classmates deal with the baby and he'll take care of the mother. It'll be interesting to see what happens.