Classes, plastics and abnormal penises

The due date is quickly approaching and as Stephanie already posted, we've been taking a few classes. The classes have been extremely helpful but also a little scary. As practical as it may be to learn infant CPR, I shudder at the thought of ever having to use it.

On the positive side, the woman leading the class seems to think that that vaste majority of baby products/accessories are unnecessary. Yippee! Daddy needs a plasma anyway.

It seems that raising babies is more complicated than ever. From early parenting philosophies to diapers (cloth vs. disposable) to plastic products; there are many diverging viewpoints. Since its our blog, I'll go ahead and share our views on a couple of things - hopefully without being too preachy.

We are definately going with cloth diapers. While they are a little more work, I think the advantages are huge:

• cheaper
• more gentle on the babies skin.
• speeds toilet training
• avoid extra chemicals and dioxins.
• avoids unnecessary contribution to our landfill problems.
• fewer non-biodegradable plastics for our child to have to deal with in the future. And yes, our children WILL have to deal with the consequences of our culture of comfort.

Oh, and the biodegradable plastic disposables don't work either, because once they are compressed in a landfill, they aren't able to properly decompose - it takes a gazillion years - no that figure isn't accurate, but its a very long time and I can't be bothered to look up the accurate figure, but its big. Regardless, the point is the same and the new fitted cloth diapers make it as easy as possible.

While we're not perfect - we do have our share of plastic products - I think its a good idea to minimize or avoid plastics altogether where substitutes are available.

Someone in our class also mentionned additional studies released recently regarding the use of plastics in food/drink containers and more specifically with regard to baby bottles. Depending on who you choose to believe, plastics are entirely safe (plastics industry) or linked to everything from abnormal penis development - really, I didn't make that up - to autism (scientists). Yes, Gerry, given your recently expressed views, I'm sure babies in the 70's ate plastic burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner; and it added hair to their chests and anything abnormal was abnormally large - booyah!

Admittedly, it can be easy to get desensitized to things that may be bad for you, though I'm of the school of thought that if a food/drink container is leeching chemicals into my baby's food, I'll just use glass or stainless steel while others debate whether Chemicals do the body good.

I also want to mention that I have the best wife in the world. She has been incredibly kind to me on this blog. Frankly, I recognize that I've got it pretty easy in this whole pregnancy deal. Stehanie has been truly incredible through everything... so far. She has endured all the discomforts of pregnancy even while taking on a bigger workload and going through a move. So who has the best wife in the world?

I do! I do!

She's incredibly cute when pregnant too!