I was reading my weekly baby email this morning, it was telling me how my uterus has been changing lately ... OK, so it's not my uterus, it is my wife's, but it is fascinating that I can receive an email that tells me what is going on with our incoming baby on a weekly basis....pictures, facts, etc. It is great.
It is also fascinating how many DVDs are now out there that provide information on child-birth. One in particular, "In the Womb" by National Geographic, was great. It had the latest "4-D" technology and shows pictures of babies in the womb during every month. We really enjoy them. We rent DVDs from the library now about once per month. Last week we found a 6 hour DVD which was a full-child birth class. No wonder I was reading the other day that attendence at child-birth classes is going down. There may be other reasons, but the amount of information out there allows you to learn so much of the information contained in "traditional" child-birth training classes. For the record, we have decided to still attend the class we signed up for, mostly to get a few unanswered questions answered and to make sure we know the lay-out of our hospital.
It had me thinking about "traditional" training. Seems like it will really be changing. Instead of going to a traditional training class exclusively, we comb internet sites, we receive weekly, timely emails, and we have even heard of "baby coaches" who aren't really mid-wives, they are people who coach you through the process. I was telling my wife the other day when we took our first trip to Babys"R"Us to register for her baby shower that we needed a coach! I know what a bassinet looks like now, pack-n-plays, changing stations, and playyards, and of course a crib, but you don't need them all and I felt the desire to have my own personal coach to help us out with certain questions and advice.
I probably need a "new father coach" but that is another story. (Responding "whoa" to my wife getting on the scale at week 20 because she had actually gained some tangible weight ... I was told later that was not the way to react, and now she loves telling that story to all friends and family.)
So having a baby coach, having access to DVDs, and internet sites which include message boards, FaceBook even has related groups you can join on the subject ... does that replace traditional training? As I have said, not yet for us. We are still taking a child-birth class, but I can see that happening for a lot of people in the future. It is more "just-in-time", and it is more convenient as we can have access to these things when they are most convenient and relevant to us, not based on having to sign up for something and commit an entire weekend.
I am sure you have already seen your professional training changing already. It will be exciting to see just how far we can go with the "just-in-time" concept.
It is also fascinating how many DVDs are now out there that provide information on child-birth. One in particular, "In the Womb" by National Geographic, was great. It had the latest "4-D" technology and shows pictures of babies in the womb during every month. We really enjoy them. We rent DVDs from the library now about once per month. Last week we found a 6 hour DVD which was a full-child birth class. No wonder I was reading the other day that attendence at child-birth classes is going down. There may be other reasons, but the amount of information out there allows you to learn so much of the information contained in "traditional" child-birth training classes. For the record, we have decided to still attend the class we signed up for, mostly to get a few unanswered questions answered and to make sure we know the lay-out of our hospital.
It had me thinking about "traditional" training. Seems like it will really be changing. Instead of going to a traditional training class exclusively, we comb internet sites, we receive weekly, timely emails, and we have even heard of "baby coaches" who aren't really mid-wives, they are people who coach you through the process. I was telling my wife the other day when we took our first trip to Babys"R"Us to register for her baby shower that we needed a coach! I know what a bassinet looks like now, pack-n-plays, changing stations, and playyards, and of course a crib, but you don't need them all and I felt the desire to have my own personal coach to help us out with certain questions and advice.
I probably need a "new father coach" but that is another story. (Responding "whoa" to my wife getting on the scale at week 20 because she had actually gained some tangible weight ... I was told later that was not the way to react, and now she loves telling that story to all friends and family.)
So having a baby coach, having access to DVDs, and internet sites which include message boards, FaceBook even has related groups you can join on the subject ... does that replace traditional training? As I have said, not yet for us. We are still taking a child-birth class, but I can see that happening for a lot of people in the future. It is more "just-in-time", and it is more convenient as we can have access to these things when they are most convenient and relevant to us, not based on having to sign up for something and commit an entire weekend.
I am sure you have already seen your professional training changing already. It will be exciting to see just how far we can go with the "just-in-time" concept.
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