After 4-sessions spanning 4 days of lessons for parents-to-be, I believe my wife and I are much more equipped with the knowledge that is needed to prepare for the birth of our baby girl, Abigail. :-)

Thanks to Hunny and Eric who pulled some strings that enabled us to sign up for the Penang Adventist Hospital "prenatal class". If not for them, my wife & I (mainly her-lah) will still be guided by limited knowledge (Dr. Miriam's Book on Pregnancy) as well as "ancient" wisdom - which are typically mixed with superstitious and superficial fear.

3 words to describe prenatal class for all parents to-be who are wondering if the time & money spent are worth it: Must attend 1! Of course one can argue that millions of women have successfully given birth all over the world without going thru such classes and all that preparations may be out of unwarranted fear. Well, ignorance is not bliss.

Because of the lack of knowledge, some parents have either made errors or didn't do the things they were suppose to do, and their actions and/or inactions have either resulted in a lifetime of regrets or some life-threatening accidents - incidences that could have been averted have knowledge been disseminated at the right time and applied diligently.

Of course no MS Powerpoint lessons or classes can ever be sufficient to prepare any parents for situations that the world call the "act of God." Nevertheless, in life's journey, we must never stop learning - always be on our toes to equip ourselves with knowledge and good counseling that will guide us, and in situations that are beyond us, we should always seek for His mercy and grace.

Exclamations such as, "I was not told!" or "How could I have known?!" are normally uttered in despair when things go wrong. Base on the amount of precious information that I have learned, I would like to urge all parents-to-be to attend prenatal class - best is right before family planning or upon first confirmation of pregnancy. The earlier, the better!

One of the straightforward but yet overlooked item is nutritional needs for mothers - both prenatal and post-natal stages. We are so appreciative to have learned life's lesson from a Nutritionists who gave birth to a healthy 3.9kg baby. One of the precious info that I took away from her class is: EAT SPROUTED BREAD because it contains nutrients that are easily multiples of that found in white bread.

Out of curiosity, I ate PAH's freshly baked sprouted bread that very next day and found an irresistible man-food relationship. :-). And FYI, sprouted bread is not rich-man's bread - maybe about RM2 more than typical white bread.

So I decided to find out more about the actual benefits of sprouted bread, and why is it better than the typically fluffy and whitish bread we find all over. And I can say that the information that I have learned was in synch with my own body's reaction to sprouted bread. Do a Google search if you wish to know more about the benefits of sprouted bread.

Eating grains, fruits and bread are scriptural - Genesis 1:29. In a way, we can clearly see that God encourages us to eat a very well-balanced food consisting of grains, fruits and bread. :-)

Genesis 1:29 (New International Version)

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

Ezekiel 4:9 (New Living Translation)

“Now go and get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer wheat, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself during the 390 days you will be lying on your side.

....To be continued...