Yesterday was the 30th of August, 12 days before our baby is due but my first guess at when he’ll come along.

With classes under our belts and the nursery almost done (more to come on my very fatherly achievements on that front), we’ve been making some predictions on when the boy will make his grand entry.

Week 4 of classes was the best so far I thought. We spoke about how our lives would change once our babies arrived, not only as a couple but also as individuals.

After the “shock and awe” approach taken by our teacher last week, I was a little nervous about the methods that breastfeeding was being taught and spoken about. I half-expected I would walk in and see a woman up the front, breast flopped out and ready to get going – but I soon learned it was only going to be a video in week 3, and sighed with relief.

Class 2 was all about ‘alternative’ deliveries. The title had me expecting all sorts of means of birthing – water births at home, Indian and Aboriginal corrobboree-type ceremonies and so on. But in this context, as I was to discover, ‘alternative’ pretty much means anything other than ‘straightforward and easy as pie’ delivery, which is pretty much all of them so I’m learning.

And it also turns out that I hadn’t gotten off lightly on the gruesome video front at all.