The caseworker who led this class struggled with infertility for many years, and she and her husband decided to adopt. They adopted twin girls at birth, who are now 18 years old. I think I would have enjoyed the class much more, if we knew this before class and could hear more about her experiences along with some time for Q&A. She's got to be a wealth of knowledge!
One of the most important things I got from this class was learning more about the importance of attachment with our babies. The baby experiences so many things in utero, which we cannot be a part of. A lot of brain development also occurs at this time. It is crucial that we are very intentional in developing a bond and working toward attachment with our baby. We must be the ones who are meeting the needs of our baby. We must be the ones holding and soothing our little one for at least the first 3 months. Sorry Grandmas (we will still need your help in other ways early on!)!!! This will be hard on us too! We've wanted to add a baby to our family for so long, and we won't get to do any of the showing off initially!!! But we need to set aside our wants for our baby's needs. Maybe we will have to make some, "You can look, but not touch!" onesies! Ha!
At the end of this class we were shown this very sweet, but very cheesy video. Maybe some of you have seen it before. I think it was a good way to end the class. It is important to be prepared and do the very best you can with your child(ren), but it's also important to savor those ordinary moments and ordinary days - we don't get those back.
"The Gift of an Ordinary Day" by Katrina Henison.
No comments:
Post a Comment