Baby Class

Today we went to a baby class at the Fortuna Hotel. There were soooo many pregnant women there, maybe 500 or more! Most of the girls looked terrible... tired, bad skin, old clothes. But the receptionist said to Thao "Or, you're pregnant but still look good!" :)

The first class we went to was how to give a bath for the baby. It was strange for me, because so many things that they showed seemed to be the opposite of my instincts from Western culture. Like they put the baby in water up to their neck (don't tell Western moms to do that, drowning risk), do a full body massage and stretch the legs and rub the head (easy for new moms to do more harm than good I think), clean ears with a q-tip (easy to damage ears), etc.

Also in Vietnam, there are a lot of customs after the baby is born. For example, the new mother can't touch water for a whole month... no showers, not even wash dishes. And usually the grandmother or someone else in the family comes to stay with the new parents to take care of the baby. What? Somebody else will take care of my kid? I don't think so! :P

Anyways, the next class was how to breathe during labor. I wasn't allowed to go inside, only the girls. Which was bad, because Thao said she already forgets everything! But we are going to another class next week.