BabyD at almost 5months

If there is one thing that I can really say that I have learned from pregnancy and after the birth of BabyD ,then it is that I have learned to love and respect my parents even more than I have ever loved them before. It is really amazing how they managed to bring us up so well! I realise this every day, every hour of the day that I spend with BabyD. I pray I raise him well but as the days pass by and D learns new things I find myself really wondering...

BabyD is learning many new things. He now turns over more easily and is practising his pre-crawling and he is getting curious about the world around him. I know that moving forward on his tummy doesn't make him 'mobile' but I am already facing trouble. I can't leave him on the bed or on the carpet or even his rocker. He has learned to get out of his rocker and roll off the bed and when he is on the carpet, although he still doesn't have a pincer grip, he still manages to grab something or the other. Everything edible or otherwise goes into his mouth. He doesn't care if it fits into his mouth or not, he just has to try and have a taste. Sometimes I find it funny to watch him so desperately trying to put his beach ball into his mouth but most of the time, I am the one who is desperately trying to keep everything out of his reach.

BabyD has learned to laugh out loud too and believe me it is by far the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. I can keep on tickling him or making faces all day just so that I can hear his laughter. More recently he has learned to be more social, he now knows when I am joking or trying to make him laugh and what's more is that he sometimes tries to make me laugh too. Especially during feeding times, he looks up at me with a grin and a naughty look in his eyes and when I smile back, he laughs and then quickly gets back to having his milk. After a few seconds he again looks up and laughs and when I laugh back... he resumes. This continues for as long as I have the time or he has the moods. He has learned to reach up and touch my face and when I am sitting with him in my lap talking to him or someone else, he reaches up to put his fingers on my mouth as if trying to see how I talk. If he is standing in my lap, he puts his fingers in my mouth and starts to laugh which in turn makes me laugh and we both keep giggling together.

But more recently, BabyD has learned to shout and scream and that is what alarms me. At first, we didn't mind him screaming because he had only just discovered that he could scream. In a way it was like he had discovered his voice. We kept him going and encouraged him to shout or call someone. BabyD would often scream and make noise while with his dad and I didn't mind it because I thought it to be 'father and son' time and well, I didn't think it right to tell Z how to play with his son. But now, we are both alarmed because we have found BabyD to be screaming when he is angry or irritated. D wants us to carry him around or hold him into a standing position all the time. Yesterday, I was busy in the kitchen and had to put him in his rocker or on his tummy. At first I thought he was playfully shouting but then after sometime I realised that he was angry and was actually screaming to ask me to pick him up. I picked him up and calmed him down. I had to carry him around the rest of the afternoon. He did the same thing again in the evening and even Z agrees now that BabyD is throwing a temper tantrum. I hope that it is just this once that he did that and that he doesn't do it often. How do you tell a baby to not scream? He is still too young to understand 'no' and there is no reasoning with him. I am just so scared that it may become a habit. Last night at dinner I put D in his seat and he started to scream. Z came in just then and told D in as stern a way as he could to stop that. D thought it funny and started laugh as though Z was playing with him! We both stared at him before bursting into laughter ourselves. Clearly, it is not going to be easy. There is no reasoning with a baby.

BabyD has learned to play on his own too. That is, when and if he is in the mood. He now looks at his toys more closely and turns them over and feels them and of course, puts them in his mouth to taste them too. He can now differentiate between colours and I have found him many a times putting his hands on colours that match. He looks at them to and fro patting on them. Last week, I found him putting his hand on the bed sheet. The bed sheet has alternating boxes of patterns of different colour and D would keep on putting his hand on one pattern and then looking for the match and then putting his hand on the exact same pattern. At first I thought it was a coincident but when he kept looking at both the patterns and putting his hands on them and continuing to search for others that looked like it, I was sure that he was matching them. I haven't read any where that babies at his age can do that and I have been too busy to ask Joey about it.

I sometimes think that BabyD is hyperactive. But then again, I am sure most mothers of toddlers think that way about their children. D cannot sit still at all. I wonder how it will be after he starts to actively crawl or when he starts walking... Uh OH!! I am disturbed by the thought already!

D loves to go out. He has learned to say Vroom Vroom and Zoom Zoom and it is just the mention of the word 'car' and he starts. He sits in his rocker ( which by the way doubles up as his car seat also) and goes Vroom Vroom for so long that he drools and spits all over his shirt. No matter how many times we tell him to stop it... his car just doesn't run out of gas!

While there are babies who bring their parents to tears over bath time, my son loves to take a bath. We have just to mention 'bath time' before he starts going boo boo. D bathes at night before going to bed. It is a part of his bedtime routine. Sometimes Z and I get so tired that we want to skip out the bathing but D remembers and as soon as we mention that it is 'sleepy time', he reminds us to boo boo him. He bounces and gets so excited that we forget how tired we are.

Z was asking me a few days ago as to what it is that I really taught BabyD so far that I can count as really teaching him something. I think, I taught my son to get up in the morning with a smile. :)

9months to BabyD

Today I have the time to sit and write. Where was I the past few days? Uncle2D had come over and we were all very busy trying to update each other on what's new in our lives and then play with D too. D is crazy about his uncle… when I say crazy, I mean really crazy! D doesn't remember his bedtime or his nap time or that he is hungry when he is around his uncle. He may suck on his hand if he is hungry, rub his eyes when sleepy but still continue to play with his uncle. Uncle2D bought BabyD another bear, Benny Bear, and he has bought him one big ball which we have named as Poo Ball and he has The Three Tennis Balls which we call Tibbs. D loves wrestling with Benny, carrying his big Poo ball around and holding Tibbs close like a doll. He is so crazy about his new toys that he even sleeps with them.

We were afraid that BabyD had developed stranger anxiety when we found him not taking too easily to his GrandmaT but now we know that he likes some people and dislikes a few others. I know that I need to teach him to love her but I am really not sure how to make him like her. The past two weeks I have been calling her to my place almost on a daily basis and the days when she can't come over, we go to her place. I want BabyD to like her and she is trying everything that she can to make D like her but we are still having trouble.

Here is the update on Nine months to babyD.

A week before Baby D was born, I had moved to my apartment to stay with Z. Z's office is closer to our place and he couldn't come and stay with me at my parent's house. Z was having trouble trying to juggle home and work and I thought that I could handle myself at my place but after only a few days I found that I was getting cramps and we worried about early labor. The day before BabyD was born, Z dropped me off at my parent's place while on his way to work and I stayed there chatting, joking and giggling with/at Joey. It was a normal day, nothing unusual. We discussed about how we wanted to arrange the nursery and what theme we'd keep; we argued about baby names all day with Joey bent on naming her nephew D and threatening us if we named him anything else and we packed my hospital bag. Z had asked me to take my hospital bag along with me when he left me at mom's that morning. He had asked me to finish packing it. That evening, I packed it up and put in all the 20 or so things my mom had asked me to put into the duffel bag that I had decided to take to the hospital. In the evening around 6pm my parents went out shopping. Mom wanted to make cloth nappies and jhablas for the baby. We weren't sure if we would ever use them but we wanted to do everything, traditional and modern, that could be done for the baby. My mother was becoming a grandma for the first time and she wanted to put in her two cents (they are worth way more than that!). Mom and Dad went out, Joey and I stayed at home watching Spacetoon. Z came home around 7pm and after he had dinner we decided to go back to my place. Mom and Dad had still not come in and it was 9pm then. It was getting late and I ached all over. I was too tired to even carry my purse and so I thought it better to give the hospital bag to Joey. At the door, I gave her the bag and told her to bring it along if I called to say that I was going to the hospital.

On our way home, I suddenly felt too tired to even sit in my seat. We reached home a few minutes later and I sat there waiting for Z to come over to my side to open the door. It was a ridiculous idea to wait for him… desi guys don't like opening doors for their women! Once home, I took off my abaya and decided to go to bed but then changed my mind and decided to look at the symptoms for labour in the What To Expect When You Are Expecting book. Z came in and found me flipping through the book. I told him that I was getting cramps and that I was looking to see if that was normal. He asked me to call the doctor just to be sure and although I didn't want to call her (it was anything serious), I called her up. I told her that I was having cramps and described to her exactly what I was feeling. She asked me if I had counted the baby kicking and I told her that I hadn't. She asked me to come over just to have a routine check. I was too tired and didn't want to go but Z was adamant and he called up my mother to ask what we should do. She wanted me to go to and after a few minutes of arguing, Z convinced me that we should go. I called up Joey to tell her that we were going to the hospital. My mother had still not gotten home and when Joey heard that I was going to the hospital she naturally assumed it was 'time'.

On the way to the doctors clinic, in the car, I noticed that the baby wasn't kicking or moving. It always kicked around furiously whenever we went for a drive and I was surprised that I could sit so comfortably this time. I then remembered that I had eaten chocolates two to three hours ago and even that jolt of sugar hadn't energized him to get active. That is when I started to panic… I hadn't felt my baby move for four hours!! At the clinic, I told Dr. A what I was feeling and she proceeded for a USG. After half an hour of trying to get the baby to move, she gave up and said that it was no use wasting time. She said that if I didn't deliver my baby in four hours, I could lose him. I had a low lying placenta, the amniotic fluid was low and the baby was under stress. She said that I needed an emergency C-section. We were asked to check into the hospital right away. I tried making excuses to not have the baby that early. I was sure the baby would move and that everything would be well. It was 11pm then and I hadn't even had my dinner. I was too disturbed and had decided to eat later. All that I had had was two sticks of Twix. Once outside the doctors clinic, I told my mother that I didn't have the hospital bag ( as if I needed it right then!) and so we couldn't go that day. Joey quickly responded with 'I didn't forget to bring it. It is the car'. I had never been so annoyed at my sister my entire life as I was that day. I couldn't believe it; these people were really going to get me to have my baby that night.

At the hospital, we checked into OB-GYN emergency and had three different doctors and two nurses take my BP and ask me about my allergies and medical and family history. I was then taken to the delivery room where I changed into the hospital gown and was then strapped to the foetal monitor. The anesthesiologist came in then to ask me the same questions that I had already answered two to three times earlier. He asked me when and what I had eaten and if I had any questions. I asked him some questions and I must say he knew his work well. We waited for two hours to see if there was any change in the foetal movements. I felt only four movements in two hours. The chief of OB-GYN came in with my doctor to discuss if I really needed the c-section. Then another doctor came in and they argued and debated for sometime. It was then decided that we'd wait till morning.

I was moved to a room then but still strapped to a foetal monitor but this one was counting the baby's heart beat too. Dad and Joey were sent home to have dinner and some sleep so that they could come in the morning. There was no point in worrying. Z and mom stayed with me. Z had been up quite early that day and he had dark circles under his eyes. We asked him to sleep on the adjacent bed in my room and mom and I stayed up talking. It was 2am when I was wheeled into the room and the doctor had said she would come at Fajr. Fajr was at 5.30am. Mom and I chatted trying hard to cheer each other up but it was clear that we were both worried. We both kept praying. She for her daughter and I for my unborn son. The foetal monitor showed that the baby was not moving the first hour but the after 3am the baby suddenly started kicking and moving quite vigorously and his heart beat was too high. When the doctor came in at 6am, she said that the baby was excited by the foetal monitor as this sometimes happened and has thus moved but it hadn't stirred after the foetal monitor had been shut down. She said that she would perform the operation at 10am. She went out of the room and Z followed her to ask her a few questions. A few seconds later, Z came back and said that I would be having the operation right away. He said that the doctor had changed her mind and as the operating room staff had informed her that they were ready, she had decided to do the operation right away and not risk taking a chance. It was 6.50am when I was wheeled in to the OR. I am surprised that I wasn't scared. I saw my mother and Z as I was wheeled out and they looked quite worried. Z had nervously smiled at me and given me the 'I am praying for you' look. I didn't know what to say to him so I just smiled back. In the OR, they moved me on to another table and then wheeled me somewhere else and then moved me to on to the operating table. I was pretty excited. I had never been in an operating room before or seen the inside of the operating theater. It was cool, really cool! Such big round white lights that changed to a pinkish greenish tinge. They reminded me of jelly fish. :D I was so excited I had wished I had my camera with me so that I could snap pictures to show to Joey. The nurses in the meanwhile strapped me to the ECG machine and they inserted an IV syringe in my left arm and I saw the anesthesiologist walk in in his green dress holding up his hands. I saw my doctor walk in too and she came up to me to reassure me that everything would be alright. Right then I was given something in my IV that really, really sting… I had started to say the ayatul kursi when I passed out. When I came to I was finishing saying the ayatul kursi, the difference being that when I had passed out it was so quiet but when I came too, I was hearing too many voices ( all speaking in Filipino and Arabic) and I was in too much pain. I was in pain, I was throwing up and I wanted to see my baby. I was told I had given birth to boy and that I couldn't see him for four hours. I was sick, in too much pain and add to that that they wouldn't let me see my baby... they were getting me angry. D was born at 7am. They wheeled me out at 9.30am and when they opened the door, Z was standing right in front. He came to my side asking me how I was doing and I told him I was in pain. Mom was also there and so was Joey and Dad. Soon Dad and Joey disappeared and Mom and Z came with me to the recovery room. Once in my room, I threw up there too and was given pain killers. I was also feeling very cold and shaky. Amidst throwing up and in my drowsy state, I remember asking Z if he had seen the baby. He smiled and said 'yes' and I asked him if he looked like him and he said 'yes' to that too. Joey came in then and showed me a picture of the baby on her cell and he looked quite a scene with his hair plastered to his head, eyes puffed, reddish complexion and wrapped in a blue shawl. I remember crying because he was so ajeeb looking. Mom scolded Joey for showing me the pic, dad said something and comforted me saying that the pic was bad and Z kept saying, "he is really cute. He is beautiful…" Sometimes during that the nurse came in informed us that the Director General had come to see me. We were all puzzled when a very good looking tall and handsome Saudi in his twenties walked in and asked me how I was doing and if he could do something for me. I told him I was sleepy and that I wanted to sleep… Everybody burst into laughter and (thankfully) left me to myself. Round 12pm, I woke up to find Joey taking pictures of me and my room and singing, "Joey bunny Aunny" . I would have thrown a pillow at her if it wasn't for the fact that I was quite comfortable with a pillow under me and that the throwing would have hurt me. I asked her if she had seen the baby and she proceeded to tell me everything about what all had happened since she got there that morning.

We called up the nursery to ask them to send the baby but they only said that they would be sending the baby after 2hrs. We waited and while we waited I worried and thought out loud:

'Joey, what if I don't like my baby?'

'I'll take it', she said.

'What if I don't make a good mom?'

'I'll adopt him.'

'What if he doesn't like me?'

'All babies love their moms. Besides, you are a lovable creature.'

Thank God for giving me a shrink for a sis. I wonder how I would have survived without her.
Dad came in around noon and they bought the baby in soon after him. Joey bought him to my side and dad picked up the baby and then put him in my lap. Z came in right at that moment and he stood there at the door with a smile on his face.

My first look at my son? He was beautiful! All I could say was… 'Assalamalaikum baby. I am your mom' and just then… he opened his eyes to look at me.

What's the feeling like? I don't know… I can't describe it. It is a memory.. A feeling that just cannot be described. A feeling that A will be experiencing very soon. A feeling that, I pray, is as beautiful for her as it was for me... InshaAllah, all will be well.

Tyke's Arrival: The Waiting Game

The Tyke’s arrival is getting closer and it seems like we actually get to chose a date to pick it up. As we sat out the weekend in uncertainty and a wait that seems to drag on and on, Z asked me what had happened to the old fashioned stork-delivery-of-baby-days. It was a far more efficient system and cut out on the parent’s wait and a state of preparedness that just but unnerves them completely. I was massaging my Momzilla feet at the time and once again thinking how Mom’s have temporary amnesia. Before I hold the Tyke in my hands and forget all about what I went through to get to the little bundle all my own (and a quart Z’s) I thought I should record it. For most parts, I seem to have forgotten what hell the first trimester was. Somehow I’ve actually, really forgotten what it was like to be nauseated at the mere mention of food…how just passing by a cafeteria made me sick. I just remember that I did not want to eat, but somehow the days passed with the aid of a nausea medication. But was that all to the first trimester? I can’t remember anymore, isn’t it strange? Oh and the tear-fest that I was prone to some of the time, that was Z’s bane and all he remembers!
Then came the second trimester with its back and feet aches. I remember my lower back and feet, particularly the heels killing me, even at rest, the nausea had subsided but oh the pains and aches that I’d put up with, and what else can I say but SubhanAllah…the second and longest gestational trimester also passed and with it all the pains and pangs. I bought the Tyke’s first outfits sometimes nearing the end of the second trimester.

One fine dish washing mid-November evening, I felt it’s first kick. We had company so I could not jump all over the place (I was not yet the plus plus size being I am now and could, with soime effort, jumo around with joy) and inform Z of what the kid was upto. All of a sudden it seemed so real and close, an actual being. So far it was just a nauseating, aching thing we could, if lucky, catch waving it’s limbs (I suspect it was the hand) during the U/S sessions. With its first jab it announced that its limbs were ready, hardening as it became more and more human, more and more our kid, the Tyke who’d take over our lives completely, wholly. I actually felt more closer to it after the kicks and jabs, it felt like I was the inside of a goal post most of the times when it was active, but SubhanAllah, it was beautiful. And the best of it all, it stopped moving the moment it’s father neared. All Z had to do was step in the room and the Tyke would’ve been kicking, head butting, jabbing, poking around Amma’s innards and be at complete peace! Seriously, I mean I know how kids are completely their Abba’s pets (I’d favor Pa over Ma any given day and time) but such blatant favoritism already, before arrival, was unkind. One moment a tantrum and the second it was an angel waiting for Abba’s approval with perfect behavior; it was amusing and annoying at the same time. These active sessions were spaced out through the day of course and I lived for them. That is all I remember of the second trimester. All the reading I’d done, online and offline, all the information I’d gathered distilled into those moments. Nothing else mattered. I’ve all the monthly U/S pics up to this stage as I changed doctors in the last trimester.
The third trimester, when things start getting real, a bit too real. On Eid Day, the Tyke waked me up by poking a limb out of me, really… a rounded thing protruding from the left side of my bump…just a bit, but enough to be felt. It was also the stage when I was eating or thinking about what to eat most of the time. My weight shot up drastically so much so that Z tried to enforce a chocolate ban on me and get me to eat healthy; eggs, milk, fish, fruits and vegetables, the kind of stuff I don’t even think classifies as food essential. I managed to get past the embargo some times and got my chocolates and as he saw that I was eating properly or at least making an effort to, the embargo was relaxed and we could get chocolates when doing grocery. In the meanwhile, I’d lost my crazy craving for brown bars, I still can't get all that excited about chocolates and merely think of them as an item in the fridge that has to be finished, that’s all. Not the anticipation and excitement that was once a part of the choc-binge. I blame the Tyke and its obedience to its Abba, what else can explain this sudden loss of appetite for chocolates?
Third trimester also meant more activity for the Tyke, more amusement for Amma and shape-shifting of her bump. And then the U/S session, the first indication of what a worrier Tyke’s going to be…it was breech. Also the radiologist threw a tub full of water on my Tyke shopping so far by announcing that the gender was not what the previous doctor had confirmed. I was advised to walk every day and let gravity direct the Tyke into a proper position, of the gender, we had to wait till the next U/S session when it would co-operate with the doctor and let us know if the shopping had to be more blue or pink. It was week 29, I believe, when the U/S was done and the next two weeks I walked despite feet that refused to carry me, a back that declined to support my weight…and a fatigue that threatened to collapse me 24/7. I was showing now, though I did not realize how much obvious the Tyke’s presence inside me was till I stepped into the lift one day and saw a woman I could not recognize as myself. Bloated beyond belief, nose the size and shape of New Zealand and the rest of me like Russia, inflated and all over the place! My hands and feet were a splotchy purplish-red color by now and twice their size. All footwear I once had was already languishing in the shoe rack, now I was running out of space in the functional flip-flops I’d bought. I could get in them with some difficulty, see my feet flesh up on both sides of the straps, my toes like fat sausages complaining of their inability to live with their neighbors as they ran out of space on my feet. One of my fears is that one day I’d look down (while seated of course, I can no longer see my feet while standing) and see a couple of toes stacked on top of each other, sheepishly telling me they had no other way to go!
Just last week the Tyke gave us a new scare altogether, it had gotten into the right head-down position, but in doing so and dancing around and exploring in the cramped space it has, it got a knot in it cord and sported it proudly, like a medal round its neck. Of course it sounds not that bad now, but when the doctor told me of it, I felt all blood drain out of me seeing her make a knot out of my dupatta to demonstrate what the situation was. I didn’t help that I’d gone for my visit alone for the first time in all those months and the time I’d wanted Z most by my side he was not there. I was put on CTG and everything recorded fine on it. The Tyke was up to its usual dancing and prodding antics. I was to be monitored more closely then on. I remember returning home in a cab totally spaced out and crying, worrying, searching on the internet for the ominous words and then not reading any further as none of it was any heartening or even sympathizing read for a mom-to-be. Z returned from work and it was a silent evening, we did not talk about it. The doctor had already told me that instead of waiting for my EDD at the end of the month or the show to begin on its own, she’d not risk and induce me as the Tyke was full -term (37 weeks) weighed respectable enough…and that I should be ready for a c-section if God Forbid its heartbeat dropped. I was worrying that I did not want any epidurals and here was a new scare…that I was to be knocked out flat for the grand ‘arrival’. Z went with me for the second CTG and learnt for himself of the situation, so far a part of me was wishing that I’d heard wrong, how can there be a knotted cord around the neck, either one of the things on its own was worry enough for there to be a double dose of it. The prognosis was the same. Another CTG scheduled for Monday, March 17 and then the doctor said, let’s not wait anymore, we’ll induce you on Tuesday. So the bags are packed and ready, Ma’s being flown over on short notice, Ma-in-Law is packing her bags. The house is clean, all things dusted and properly placed, the wardrobe neatly stacked with freshly laundered, sweet smelling soft new clothes (I wasted one weekend evening sorting through Z’s clothes and dumping more than half of them above and away from sight and reach to make space for Tyke’s things, it already has my side of the cupboard taken over with small hangers). All set and the wait…we’re just waiting for Monday and what the doctor says of the Tyke’s arrival then. So back to Z’s question, why did the stork retire?

Stork's Assistants: Update IV, MomZilla's and The Tyke

A has broken the daughter run for this year and had a baby boy on February 20th, three days after W had her daughter. We went to see BabySh the other day and he is MashaAllah adorable. His elder sis, L was taking quite well to the new arrival, L is two and a half year's old and A told me that her reaction to her bhai was cute, she rushes to him when he cries and actually tells him that L and Dadi are there with him, so he does not have to cry, they'll hit the genie for him! But like the little girl she is, she takes and exception to being called an aapa or baji...L doll, she says. And she really is a doll, Z was reminiscing sitting at their place how L was just like BabySh when he'd met her parents two years ago and now she was running all over the place making her preferences known to her guests. She liked me better than Z, for the record! Yay!

On March 1st I got an sms from A, my uni friend that they'd been blessed with a baby daughter. I think they knew of the gender all along and had a generic sms typed up to be sent the moment her child had arrived 'cuz I haven't heard from her since, not even a reply to my sms. I'll call her up or send her an email soonest I think she's returned to Earth. The baby, I assume hogs mom's time all the time so I don't feel like disturbing new mommies. Update on it later.

Some time earlier W had told me that her cousin W I'd met at my friend W's wedding also had a daughter, MashaAllah. I include her in my list and I kind of know W's cousin W who already has a cutie-pie handsome little son.

My SiL's bro and SiL also were blessed with a son over the weekend, so I think this is not going to be a year of the girls anymore...when I was sharing my theory with W she doubted it strongly saying that so far she'd heard an equal number of boys and girls joining the baby ranks this year. So. But babies galore, MashaAllah. Or perhaps you start noticing such things more when you are in the expectant parent list yourself...

I was watching Godzilla on MBC2 today and as I came to the scene where Mommy Godzilla sees her babies scorched to death as Madison Square Garden is bombed, I wanted to cry…for Mommy Godzilla…and I was livid with rage with her as she chased the pesky humans!
Tyke’s arrival, it seems would be sooner than we thought (or it’s Abba wished for; April 1st). Every time I go for an U/S scan there is something new for us to worry about; the tyke is an attention seeker and mommy worrier already. Last time it was in the wrong position and now it has itself in a knot; the result, consultations, constant monitoring and torment for Amma. Asides not being able to attend a function I was long looking forward to and had got a new dress all stitched up for, it pushes our whole schedule forward by a good two weeks. Before I went for the U/S the doctor was telling me that I might uneventfully go past my EDD of March 26/27 as it was the first baby for me. But the Tyke had other ideas, it had already kicked up a storm inside me, making my bump look like an alien shape-shifter the nights before and during the U/S session. By the time I returned to the doctor with my U/S report with the ominous words ‘Evidence of cord around the neck’ the doctor had changed her tune. So basically we’re now on constant monitoring and instead of having to wait out till the EDD, I’ll have to go for a CTG Wednesday and see what the doc advises…she’s ruled out the EDD wait as a risk, suggesting an induction some times next week and God forbid even a C-section if it does not work. I'm nearing full term of 37 weeks and the Tyke might be a tad teeny for it's impatient arrival into the world, so all should be well. I need prayers, loads and loads of them all the same.

What To Buy When You Are Expecting

The part 2 to 9months to BabyD is taking too much time and so I guess I'll post the list of what all I brought before D was born.

It is not as if we are superstitious but we just didn't want to shop for the baby before the last trimester. We did go window shopping as and when I had the strength to but the only thing that we managed to buy in the first trimester was a receiving blanket that both Z and I had fallen in love with. It was orange and white knit with a white jersey type border. We couldn't find a matching cap with it but I had crochet cotton that matched and in the second trimester while I was on bed rest, I managed to crochet a cap for my baby. I did try to make matching booties but since I had never crocheted booties my entire life, I made something quite ajeeb out of it. (We later decided that we could use the single bootie that I made as a beret for a french doll that I could buy and dress up. That was never to be.)

Z came back in my last term and when I was given the green signal to go 'walking', we went shopping. By then we knew we were expecting a boy but what we didn't know was what size to buy. Anyway, we bought two white T-shirts, two sleep suits, a romper, a pair of booties, a pair of mittens and a cap. Before we could go shopping again, D was born.

The evening that BabyD was born, DaddyZ, Nanu, Nani and Aunnie Joey went shopping on my behalf with a list in hand of stuff I had asked them to bring. We now knew what size clothes to buy and so they came back with two more blankets (which I didn't think we needed but later found that they came handy. One to wrap, one for hospital trips and one for bas yunhi), three pair of really cute socks, three bodysuits, a gift box which had a shawl, romper, baby suit, cap, booties, mittens and a T-shirt ( gift boxes can sometimes be really great with all the stuff you need and they are money savers too but you have to make sure you like and need each and every item in it). We also bought a set which had a cap with matching booties and scratch mitts.

Most people don't think that scratch mitts are necessary because you keep a newborn all wrapped in a blanket but I have personally found that they really make a world of difference. Almost all newborns have long nails and they scratch themselves a lot. BabyD kept pulling his hand out of the blanket and kept scratching himself on his face. He looked quite funny when we put the mitts on him because his hands looked like paws! Another reason why mitts are useful is because babies tend to put their hands in their mouths. D was, literally speaking, born sucking his fist and keeping him wrapped up in a blanket meant that he collected lint on his hands and feet. Everytime he pulled his hand out to put his fist in his mouth we found that he had lint on them and tying them in mitts kept him from putting his fist in his mouth too. When buying mitts, I found that it was better to buy ones that came with lace that could be tied around the hands instead of the ones with elastic. BabyD was too smart for the elastic ones. Even at age 4 days, he could remove his mitts!

Along with clothes for him we also bought him a towel, a wash mitt, sleeping bag, a head support pillow, bedding and a baby carrybag. We had decided against buying a crib or a stroller that early and had decided that D would be sharing our bed and that we would be carrying him if we went out. Z and I wanted to go shopping for a crib together and since I was unable to even walk properly we decided to wait a month. One of our friends gifted BabyD a rocker and although I thought then that I couldn't use it right away, I was wrong. I am so thankful to them for bringing us such a thoughtful gift. It really made my life so easier. Even now that D is almost 4months old, I find that everytime D is sleepy I just have to put him in his rocker and he rocks himself to sleep.

The day we brought BabyD home, that night was the most difficult night of my life. D was hungry and we had only brought him two ready to feed bottles of formula. I was planning on BFing him and I didn't think we needed to buy bottles. Oh, how wrong I was! My advice to all women expecting a baby and shopping for their babies is that please, please don't make this mistake! Buy at the least 3 5ounce bottles, a thermos for hot water, ask your pediatrician what formula to give your baby and when you bring the baby home, bring the formula with him. Along with the bottles, you will also need a brush to wash bottles with, a steriliser or whatever you plan to use to sterilise the baby bottles and if you are planning on BFing your baby then you need a BF pump to express. The first few weeks the milk will be too less and although it gradually increases, it won't be enough. Expressing or pumping helps a lot and it is very handy if you plan on resting a while. Just pump and store to give to whoever is babysitting or keep it to feed at night.

That was about all that we bought. When I was packing my hospital bag, I had already bought baby powder, shampoo, lotion, oil, hair brush and nail clippers to keep him looking and smelling nice and clean.

Hmm... what did I forget? I'll update if I remember anything.:)

What Changes When You Become a Mom

Here is link from Babycenter.Com about stuff that changes when you have a baby. I agree, it is so true. Read it to know what I mean.

Here are a couple of things I'd like to add:

1. You actually want to do household chores in your free time.
2. You don't mind if your baby naps for only five minutes. In fact, you pray he sleeps for at least five minutes so that you can use the toilet!
3. You finally get your priorities right and you remember them 24/7.
4. Being unemployed doesn't bother you anymore. ( At least, I am not juggling a baby, a marriage, a home and work!!)
5. You become a pro at time management. ( Or at least I have, Alhamdulillah!!)
6. You no longer think of moms with big hand bags or baby bags as LS or NS ( LS: Low Standard, NS: No Standard)
7. Flat heels, jogging shoes, flip flops and the likes are in fashion all season. And so is a wash cloth or a towel on a shoulder.
8. You are forever on the look out for cool baby stuff or toys that can bring that toothless smile.
9. You now know what gift you can buy for your friend or her baby.
10. You don't mind sleeping for only four hours every night. In fact, you realize that even four hours of sleep is enough to keep you in 'working' order.