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| Our little china doll at 1 week. Her clothes are still loose on her. Haha! |
Exactly a week ago, our greatest prayer has been answered. We welcomed our little Amina Mariam via a hilarious/stressful drive to the hospital (next entry!) and an eventful normal delivery. Praise be to God, everything was according to God's perfect plan, from the arrival of my parents and my mother-in-law, to the day I gave birth (which fell on a Friday, an auspicious day among Muslims) and the arrival of our healthy bundle of joy.
At 1 week old, my baby Yam:
1.) IS ALWAYS HUNGRY. She wakes up every hour or two to feed! I know that newborns are supposed to feed every 3-4 hours in order to gain weight, but our little one seems insatiable! But I don't restrict her on that, I feed her whenever and how much she wants to. I am presently mixed feeding her because my breastmilk didn't came out until the fourth day. My milk production has increased but still not enough for her almost endless appetite! Thank God, my Mom's here to cook almost everything she knows that would trigger milk let-down. I pray that I may have enough milk so I can exclusively breastfeed her.
2.) LOVES TO CUDDLE. A newborn has only three causes of crying (other than pathological discomfort): wants to feed, wet diaper and wants to cuddle. After feeding and a change of diaper, she won't calm down to sleep until she feels human warmth particularly mine. And I happily succumb to her whims by wrapping her around my arms, close to my chest as she yawns and gently gives in to deep sleep. That's what she loves to do at night, she even wants to hear her Ama (hubby) hum Meranao songs to her while he stands to dance her around. We are not complaining YET of sleepless nights and backaches. Haha!
3.) HAS FLAKING SKIN AND STILL LOOKS PAYAT. At 2.710kg, her birth weight is just few notches above the normal. She's small. Oh well, she has our genes! Hahaha! I wanna cry when I did her first bathe at home and realized how skinny she is! My Mom tries to console me by assuring me that my child is even bigger than I was when I was born and I did thrive! Haha! She's still shedding her old skin so some part of skin on her legs and her hands are still flaky.
4.) SMILES A LOOOT!!! I know she can't see us clearly yet and she's just testing her facial muscles but how smitten I am by her cute smile after every feed! Her dimple on her right cheek makes me want to cuddle her even more! I'm sorry, I'm just a new mom who's full of adoration for her newborn daughter. Haha!
5.) CALMS DOWN WHEN A MERANAO SONG IS HUMMED TO HER. On her fourth day of life, she was still crying after feeding and a new diaper, I carried her and swayed her around to no avail. My Mom got her and hummed a Meranao song (bayok) then she was quietly lulled to sleep. Effective! Humming a tune is a talent I am yet to master for my little one, let alone a bayok. My husband, Jabar, impressed me when he puts her to sleep by singing bayok to her. Haha!
6.) IS SQUIRMY! Oh how she loves to punch the air and kick her tiny legs! That's her way of developing her motor coordination skills so I avoid swaddling her now.
7.) SHE DUPLICATES MY FAVORITE SLEEPING POSITION. One of my most relaxing sleeping position, aside from lying on my stomach, is lying straight on my back with my hands raised straight above my head. "Superwoman" style. And she does exactly that most of the time. Cute! Because everything she does is cute!
8.) SHE LOOKS LIKE MY MOM! That's exactly what I said when I first saw her in the delivery room. Jabar commented on her chinky eyes while I noticed her round, chubby cheeks which she takes from my Mom (also from me!). Pinaglihi ko 'ata sa nanay ko. I remember missing my Mom and her cooking so much during the first trimester of my pregnancy that I always cry whenever I think about her and my father. I pray she does not only inherit my Mom's physical looks but also her generous heart and her charm. In shaa Allah, ameen!
The first week has been a mix of joy and an excruciating pain for me as my body still aches from pregnancy and labor, plus the anxiety of taking care of a newborn. This is more toxic than a 48-hour duty in the hospital! I swear! Walang postduty na nag-aantay e! But I am thriving, as much as I want my little one to thrive. I count myself lucky for having my parents and my mother-in-law around during the first week of adjusting into motherhood. I know so little about this business I had to ask them constantly about their child-rearing practices. I am a doctor by profession but motherhood is another one that is completely new to me. I can only apply so little. But in shaa Allah, with the help of family and friends whom I get to keep in touch with online, I will get the hang of this. I pray that I may have more patience and physical endurance as Jabar and I do everything on our own here in Bangkok.
The first week has been a mix of joy and an excruciating pain for me as my body still aches from pregnancy and labor, plus the anxiety of taking care of a newborn. This is more toxic than a 48-hour duty in the hospital! I swear! Walang postduty na nag-aantay e! But I am thriving, as much as I want my little one to thrive. I count myself lucky for having my parents and my mother-in-law around during the first week of adjusting into motherhood. I know so little about this business I had to ask them constantly about their child-rearing practices. I am a doctor by profession but motherhood is another one that is completely new to me. I can only apply so little. But in shaa Allah, with the help of family and friends whom I get to keep in touch with online, I will get the hang of this. I pray that I may have more patience and physical endurance as Jabar and I do everything on our own here in Bangkok.
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