infant visual stimulation

Engorgement

In Ordinary genius, Kim Addonizio writes about her mom reading out meanings of words along with their latin origins. For example, of regurgitate originating from gorge - flood.
I came across milk ktichen in an essay in 'Use your words' - a writing guide to mothers.
I didnt get what the lactation consultant was talking about when she asked of milk squirt, it is very funny to look at.

Infant feeding
When I was a school kid, any time I went into the kitchen, I would eat some curry. I wasnt hungry for food but for the taste. How do kids feel hunger? If its right after their previous feeding has digested, then by which age do we change our relationship with food? When do we know that we can have more than our body needs? May be a stomach ache is one way to teach us not to have more.

Cleopatra's Milk bath beauty tip might have reached the infant world newsletter.Baby lets part of the milk into her hair. Even before I can wipe her mouth at the end of the nursing, she waves her mittens over her mouth.

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History provides a hinge point for humour.

Wipies and Diapies

Huggies new born diaper pack came with a box for wipes.On the top it had a zigzag opening. I once wondered how to pull stuff out of it until my friend figured that we had to pull one sheet of wipe through it just enough so that it tears through the perforated line and leaves a bit, easy to pull one next time. There's a lid on this so that it all still says wet for the next time. Talking of it, how stupid we feel when we tear through a packet only to find that it had a ziploc opening, more so if the contents have to retain their moisture.
In a recent visit, a friend looked at the baby's face turning red and surmised that it might be time for diaper check. Keep your ears out with the experienced. And now when I look at baby's struggles during the process, despite the Dr's assurances that its just baby's coordination skills practice, I wish there was something I could do to make it easier for the baby to poop.
With a newborn, for the outsider it seems like the baby is doing nothing but sleep. whenever anybody asks over the phone about the baby's doing, thats what they get in reply. But mommy knows that the baby is up to more. yesterday she moved to the side, taking up my space. I didnt complain. when I feel her hand next to my body, it feels good, some sort of communication.
When I went to visit a friend with a 2 month old baby, I didnt hold her as I was unsure of how to. When it came to my baby, I had no misgivings.
Theres all the talk about breastfeeding and bonding. With the time limit on how long the mommy can be away from baby, with them being so close all the time, they have to. Kind of being snowed in.
I saw a neighbour take some stuff out of the back of her SUV. The tell tale red of Huggies. I then knew of who else stays with her.

Another quirk of pregnancy

Just a week before the baby was due, is started noticing facial hair which is not new but I forgot all about it while I had the baby in me. If lesser pounds is something all moms look forward to after the delivery, my body hijacked by the baby until then, was given back to me in its old self even if imperfect.

My brother gre with my grandfather for a while. Once we were settled into a family staying at a place, my grandfather brought my bro home. When he was about to leave, my bro asked him if he was leaving. He then took my bro back to the village.

An old saying in telugu

daughter(married and at her inlaws): mallepudosthave naina?
                                                       when wil you visit me again?
father: ni bottu cheriginappudu, ni inti muggu cheriginappudu
          when your bindi is lost (when you lose your husband)
          when the white powder formation on your porch is disfigured (by your playful son)

Pampers has a distinct smell. In the new motherhood daze, I thought that was baby's smell. My husband soon realised that when that smell got more intense, it was actually associated with baby's pee. I could catch baby's poop smell. Our smell detectors are so different.

ooonnnn

My mom reminds me that the baby is due for a diaper check. I reply in 'ooonn'. Another reminder with a remark that thats how elders are after everyone till a thing that needs attention gets it. She recalls that my aunt told my mom that over my stay with her as a kid during vacation, I never replied in words, always in sounds of 'oooonn'.

As we tranisitioned into high school, teachers started warning us there would be no more spoon-feeding.  We had to come up with answers on our own. Theodore Rothke in 'On poetry & Craft'  refers to it as breastfeeding. Correct me if you know otherwise.

In newborn screening, I saw PKU. Before the test, a small pack with hot gel is applied to the baby's heel to improve the blood circulation in that area, before pricking the heel for sample.

Wow. I didnt know that blood circulation is so different in foetus and newborn.

Just a little more than an anthology

of essays from Literary mama magazine. Use your words: A writing guide for mothers introduces the readers to many good writers with their essays as examples to improve the craft of writing. This book depends so much on these examples that it seems like a sparse skeleton without those well fleshed out pieces of writing. Some authors make you weep through their experiences while others make you appreciate the original style they bring to writing.
The good thing about the writing exercises is that they can easily be extrapolated to any topic and not just motherhood. I feel that 'writing motherhood' by Lisa Garrigues is more geared towards motherhood.
If this is your first book on writing, then you will appreciate it, else most of it has been written of in many books and places.

After reading Chitra divakaruni 's   Common scents , I could smell the mango leaves at the end of it.
Three takes on a jump. How others remember your story? I never jumped off a roof but I was the other person who when asked by a person wishing to jump off a roof, I said yes as an elementary school kid. And it wasnt even into sand. Why didnt I think it would hurt? Jill christman's another essay - The Allergy Diaries.
beth kephart  and her write on wednesday

music in his genes by Sara Martin.

Catherine Newman's Pretty baby in Its a Boy Women Writers Raising sons

Samuel by Susan Ito. When she refers to evacuation of her baby to the Japanese past, I didnt realise it was coming from her ethnicity. Her columns

Anne Greenwood Brown's Insights and her interview

breastfeeding while sick with diarrhea
Angel Kisses
blocked tear ducts
I heard of diaper rash but didnt recognise it when it actually happened. It occupied my mind till I figured it.

order of REM in a baby's sleep is interesting.

Struwwelpeter in what to look for in winter

Bulb syringe

I thought watching my baby I would be able to tell any change in her. My mom who is a frequent watcher of te baby is more adept at it. What I took for a sleeping baby was a baby with mucus in her tiny little nose. I panicked if she had cold.
We were wondering how to clean it up. I had told my mom about the bulb syringe. She recalled that helpful funny little thing. After some tries, I was able to coddle out the mucus.

Breastfeeding FAQ
kellymom

when the Pediatrecian and Lactation Consultant on hearing that some days the baby wakes up every hour after 12 in the night for feeds, they sympathised that that would make a tired mom. I wasnt complaining but I wasnt happy too that all that time was not translating into baby's weight.
Its funny how when in bed I think I could sleep more, but once I am up and about, I dont feel the need for sleep. But some days it does catch up and I am back to catching some aaaaaaaaaa's, bbbbbbbbbb's if not zzzzzzzzzz's.

at the breastfeeding support group at regional hospital, they were talking about boppy (is that a short for body pillow) and another such that you can wrap around.

swimming for babies from age 6 weeks?

For a baby who manages to get hands out of the swaddle, velcro version might help.

I became a big fan of peanut butter in the last month. Even on chapati.

moby

how cool are these leg warmers

I heard of a mother pushing too early and cervix swelling in a home birth.

Massage time

My relatives are asking if I am doing baby massage with oil.  My mom says that when elderly people visit newborns, they apply oil to the baby's head. I am enjoying visitors. Its a nice break from the incessant cycle of sleep-feed-diapering. I just have to remember to prop myself against cushions so that I dont find myself in discomfort after hours of talking. I am enjoying doing some errands too - gives me time to catch up on music and be in daylight.
When I was going through a stash of clothes and other stuff, to add to baby's wardrobe, I found Aveeno baby calming comfort lotion that I can use to massage. What it could have some bacteria in it? Such cases are covered by Personal injury law and Product liability.

Baula the cow

Today at a grocery store, I saw a silver car with a black barbed wire painted all along its length.
'Chain gang' exclaimed my friend. I wanted to take a picture lest the story of Baula the cow happen.

For the last two days, baby is startled without even a noise.

 We were told of this during discharge from hospital.
All those sneezes
Its interesting to know about the anchoring and growth of tongue.

Lochia. At the child birth class when they had a big granny pad on the desk that the mothers will use right after delivery, I thought it was a joke.
Every once in a while, the nurse would arrive to flush IV of the baby.

breastfeeding and backache

I like this statement "To understand when a baby is sick, you have to understand what he's like when he's well--and that's something a parent knows best," says Paul Horowitz, MD, in this article.

The sudden clanging of a steel spoon against a ceramic bowl sounds like a baby's cry. The clanging has always bothered me. It never occured to me that using a plastic spoon will take care of it.

Her soles are soft
so is her cheek

She puts her hands next to her. Mostly left. even in the ultrasound. A noisemaker had to be usd to get a clear view of her face. I usd to put my right hand against me. her repertoire of hand actions have moved from what my friend calls 'hands up' style to feeling her face with her fingers.

To be or not to be

I remember this baby poster in an undergrad room with a baby mulling over something.
A child's life is a quandary for the parents to let them do something or not.
My baby is removing her mittens and holding it in the other hand. I make her wear socks so that she cant take them off easily. A friend made her daughter wear mittens so that her baby wouldnt get into the habit of sucking her thumb. finger pacifier or not? sippy cup or not?

Concerns

when baby has fever
newborn hiccups

breastfeeding and law

Workplace Supporting Health Care Reform
breastfeeding law poses challenge to businesses

Growth spurts

It seemed like the baby nursed for almost 2 hrs including the diaper change time in between. My back gave out. What a cool thing it is to change the diaper once the baby is fed.

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Recollection:
once I was given money by my neighbour to buy a piece of bread. I returned home crying as a dog had snatched the bread from my hand.

I was nursed by my peddamma. No wonder she was along with my mom when I wanted to share the news of my baby with her.

AAP book said that the taste of milk changes when a nursing mother gets pregnant. My sis and I are just a year and a day apart. I might have weaned off from my mom's milk because of that change in the taste.

First day out to ped's

After the pediatrecian visit, I started walking like a penguin. I still do not believe that I am walking with a newborn. I watched the rectal temprature being taken. I dont know if I can do it. taking the baby in car seat was easier than I imagined. But hard for me to lift and walk with it.
vitamin d supplement for babies

Essential reading from a pediatrecian's visit

The reading up I meant to do the night my baby refused to nurse after nipple confusion with pacifier at the hospital. New mothers guide to breastfeeding.
I am appreciating all the information in it. My mother is by my side explaining all the weird things that are happening like the pins and needles (I would liken it to a mild shock). There are other things like after pains which I tell her of from reading the book. In India, postpartum women try a band of cloth around their waist. I would think it will hurt what with the after pains.

Oxytocin effects

Once the milk has let in, I have started feeling very sleepy.  I was on the phone, I had to cut the convo quoting that I was sleepy. another time my eyelids just shuttered loud and I felt drugged and went to sleep.

Baby's yawn made me yawn too, While mine didnt work on her.

This day baby started to hold the nipple but not nurse. With new borns, each day seems to be an adventure.
But by the afternoon, all is well.

Breaking free of nipple confusion doldrums

At the hospital, the nurses said that the football hold  was the best method for infants to latch on to the breast. By the time we reached home, I got comfortable with it. Once we reached home the baby refused to nurse. She cried for 2 hrs in the middle of the night. In the day, while taking photographs, the photographer used the pacifier to calm her. whenever the baby had antibiotics appointment, she  had the pacifier by her in the bassinet. By day 3, my baby with good sucking instincts was reluctant to even hold the nipple. She had a case of nipple confusion. I learnt this at 2am in the night. From now on, things cant wait till the morning. I was wondering if I should also start reading the book on breastfeeding given a the pediatrecian's office. dad snuggled the baby  into his arms and she slept well. That was temporary relief. What about th nursing problem? One of the suggestion was to nurse the baby when she is calm in the morning. 5.30am happened to be such a time. Now my baby is back from the confusion.

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bro was taken o the pacifier so much that he had one hanging from his neck.

Arrival of the baby

Even at 39 weeks, I hadnt felt any contractions. When the doctor's aide mentioned inducing labour, there was a sense of relief. After the exam, the cervix was at 3cm, so the Dr just decided to wait till next week.
3 days before due date I felt few.

The next day I felt some mild contractions.

The night after hat around 9.45 I started getting contractions around 8-9 min apart.It went on like this till 2am. Facing the contraction wasnt bad.From what I have read I was to find relief in the time between contractions.I slept through them, waking up only at the contraction time to note down the time. Also, from the child birth class I knew that it would be better to be moving in the labor phase (4cm -7cm), so I tried to rest before that.

After 2am, the contractions started getting 4-5 min apart. I knew it was time. But there were some contractions that would be only 2-3 min apart. And a few back to  8-9 min range. I was confused if I should start counting again. I gave it some more time during which I made calls to the 'on call' doctor who was unreachable then and before.

We started out at around 3.30 am. In the child birth class we were asked to wait for the 511 to happen for our own convenience. I didnt want to be sent back for less dilation. I was all prepared to follow the different positions to reduce labor pain.

At the hospital, when the lady  at Triage with British accent (she is from S Africa) asked if I was in for labor. I said yes. She wondered how could I be so sure. After filling all the forms, she checked my cervix and found it to be at 7cm. When asked to rate the pain, I said 4.

Husband and I were both overjoyed for skipping the labor phase.

Yippee, I am going into the delivery room.

The nurse asked me if I could walk to the room. I tried and I did. She asked me if I needed epidural then. I told her that I was not there yet with pain. Her shift was about to end in one and half hour. She told me that the next course of action contained breaking the 'bag of water' and that could get really uncomfortable. I was convinced to take the epidural then as it would take 2 bags of IV into he body before they could give the epidural. The anaesthesiologist did a good job of explaining how I would feel pressure at the back when he was inserting the catheter, and how I would feel a weird sensation of something hitting the elbow, once the medicine kicked in. During this time, the nurse held me to comfort. After a while, I felt no pain but just pressure during contractions. The nurse had hooked the fetal monitor and other stuff which showed the contractions and baby's heart beat on the monitor. Just before the nurse was leaving, I asked her about the pushing. I had read enough only to know the oncoming labour but nothing about delivery itself. She said that its nothing but bringing out the biggest poop.

The next nurse checked the cervix and hadnt reported that it was already 9cm. When we were expecting the Dr around 8 am, I was fully dilated to 10cm. When the nurse was checking this, she surmised that the bag of water would break accidentally as any of the contractions happening then (2 min apart) could be big enough to do that. And break it did, a warm gush. So now I know what it feels like should that happen first before contractions. By this time, she had been usin catheter to empty the bladder. We want all the space out there for the baby to emerge.

We were just waiting for contractions to do their bit so that I would have to do litttle pushing. we thought we would be done by 11 or so. The nurse did another cervical exam where she realised that she could feel the cervix agin. She said that this does happen in some cases where the cervix contracts.

She put a peanut ball between my legs putting me to a side, so that things would fall in place. We tried this way and that. The nurse thought I needed extra contractions. In came Pitocin and some more epidural. At this point when asked to rate pain, I couldnt quantise as what I was feeling was pressure which I couldnt call pain but couldnt bear it too. The cervical exam would pain for around 15-20 min as the nurse had to reach far back.

The nurse noticed that the baby's heart beat was reaching 180. She realised that my contractions coupled with close pitocin induced contractions where acting on the baby vigorously. Out goes pitocin. Baby's heart beat stabilises.

Its time to push she said around 1pm.

I started pushing when my husband and the nurse spotted an oncoming  contraction on the screen, not knowing if what I was doing was helping or not. With no visible improvement, I was reaching a point where I thought it might be C-section. But the nurse never gave up. I started feeling pain in the left side of my back. The nurse wanted me to have some pain sensation so I would feel the contractions and push then. By now, I reached for the sides of the bed, to put all my energy into it. The nurse and my husband kept encouraging me and told me when they saw the head. When the nurse realised my pain was bad, she called for more epidural. When I told the nurse of the pain, she said that without epidural, the actual pain would be even more. I couldnt have delivered without the epidural, as the pain would not let me push effectively. I wasnt getting the respite between contactions when there is no need to push. The first nurse told me that the epidural works by gravity. During the peanut ball phase, I might have laid only on the left side, not numbing my right. Once the epidural was in, I got the rest in between contractions. I was ready to push and then some more. By then I had even got the urge to poop. I just followed that. Some more gut wrenching pushes and the baby crowned. The nurse made me touch the baby's head so I would still be in the ring with all energy. She even got a mirror if I liked to get the view down there. the baby's head was soft. The Dr was in the room in some time and baby Maanya was born at 2.54pm. I thought the baby is very cute but couldnt believe her to be my daughter. After the cleanup, baby was put on me for skin to skin contact. I wanted to take a look at the placenta. My mom said that in villages they bury it in the earth. Baby and dad went for Apgar score and more. And here dad was taught a secret about how to hold the baby snug in his elbows so that the baby gets body heat and feels comforted.

I was hungry and thirsty.I had chicken salad sandwich which I enjoyed with mayonnaise in it. I was off it during pregnancy. The nurse recalled what she had after each of her pregnancies.

I was glad that during the whole deal I was allowed to take water as I do not like ice. And thats the only choice on the menu druing labor and delivery.