I woke up rather early and went out to buy supplies. I bought her these awesome heat sensing spoons by Tommee Tippee which change colour to show you that the food is hot, some freezer tubs, and lots of different foods by Organix. Once back home, I labelled the food fior easy recognition and put ti all away in Morgan's cupboard.
At first, I was finding it all to be way too daunting and was going to postpone the First Weaning Experience til the following day. I changed my mind a few moments later though as I was way too excited to give it a shot and see what happens!
HSS and I sat Morgan down in her highchair, and put on a bib round her neck. I chose the try out this thingy here first.
NOM! [25June2012]
I scooped up a tiny bit of food and fed it to Morgan. I held my breath to see what would happen.
What's this?! [25June2012]
Morgan's reaction seemed to be "What's this thing she's putting in my mouth? Why can't I suck on it? What's this new taste? THIS IS ALL SO STRANGE!! AND STOP TAKING PHOTOS OF ME WHILST I TRY TO FIGURE IT ALL OUT!!!!!!!!!"
"I'm so confused!!" [25June2012]
She was hungry and seemed to like it, but couldn't get how she was meant to do it. Her tongue kept darting in and out, dropping half of the food out of her mouth and down her cute little strawberry-shaped chin.
:D [25June2012]
HSS was taking shitloads of photos in the meanwhile, dancing around us with his phone, enjoying the scene unfolding in front of his gorgeous eyes, and yet being antsy due to wanting to try and feed Morgan himself but not really daring interrupt.
Having noticed his eagerness to give it a try, I handed over the spoon and my seat, and went camera-happy myself.
Hand-over completed! [25June2012]
The first spoonful fed to Morgan by HSS was accompanied by this tune here being hummed. I couldn't stop giggling at the nerdiness of it all. Poor Morgan is doomed! Muahahahaha.
"Why are you making strange sounds? AND WHY ARE YOU NOT FEEDING ME?!" [25June2012]
Morgan grew more and more perplexed but seemed to be enjoying the New Noms.
Omnomnomnomnomnom! [25June2012]
Morgan's tongue kept darting in and out, however she repeatedly lent forward towards the spoon, indicating she wanted more.
Food is fun! [25June2012]
It was really fun watching HSS and Morgan go through the whole process - this was one hell of a First for all three of us!
"Ok, just a little bit more." [25June2012]
After a short while, Morgan started getting frustrated at too many new things to deal with all at once - new flavours, new textures, new feeding method and new feeding equipment, and ultimately, sitting in a highchair instead of being held in our arms whilst being fed. She was clearly hungry, and not in the mood to keep experimenting for much longer.
Is it time for my milk yet?! IS IT?! [25June2012]
When she started showing signs of distress, we stopped the First Meal and gave her her bottle as usual - which she drained happily.
Since then, we're trying the weaning thing twice a day - breakfast and lunch just before giving her her bottle. With every Feeding Session, she eats a little bit more, and is slowly getting the hang of it!
On other news, Morgan's second tooth is breaking through! This one is on the left bottom side - it is either a canine or a molar, I'm not entirely sure. Tiny gums with no teeth make it difficult to say until the tooth emerges completely. Poor girl is in quite a bit of pain lately - however thankfully the Dentinox Teething Gel seems to do the trick in soothing her.
I'm currently trying my best to make the most out of the remaining days before this week is through. Monday is Back To Work for me. Eh, I'm dreading it to be honest - not because I don't like the job - I do. I missed it actually! I'm just not looking forward to spending so little time with Morgan and HSS. Morgan discovers something new every day - at least one thing evolves in her behaviour and in her physical appearance. Her First Word, First Crawl, First Step and a plethora of other Firsts are bound to happen at any given moment - and I'm likely to miss out on those milestones. I wish I could be a Stay-At-Home Mum, however it is in Morgan's best interest that I be a Working Mum.
In Malta we have 2 seasons - Summer [Mid-march - Christmas] and Autumn [Boxing Day - Mid-March]. It gets way too hot for my liking - and before you tell me to quit whinging and to sod off to some place else [like the ever-so-lovely UK] [[mmmmm rain]] - I did, and had to come back unfortunately. Or fortunately, anyway. Had I not returned, I wouldn't have My Family nowadays.
I get migraines after 5 - 10 minutes in direct sunlight. Sucks.
Morgan seems to be affected worse than me though. Which leads me back to the Day From Hell topic.
I ended up giving Morgan 2 baths. The first one was due to her feeling so uncomfortably warm, in spite of being just in her nappy, that she started crying her lungs out to the point where she almost turned purple. This happened over the span of 2 minutes. She was inconsolable, poor baby.
We spent about 10 minutes or so bathing. By the end of it she was giggling and gurgling happily.
Her second bath happened at the same time as her daily bath and helped her cool down enough to bear wearing clothes. I always ensure she's clothed at night since she wriggles, tosses and turns so much that she always ends up kicking the bedsheets off her.
Morgan attempting to blow raspberries -[15th June 2012]
So - we've got one warm-as-hell baby.... who is also teething... and is easily bored. Meaning I spent all day trying to keep her cool, amused and soothe her teething pains.
When she finally fell asleep, I was so tired and irritable that I unleashed my bitchiness on an unknowing victim.
I had mentioned quite a long time ago that I was irked by the lack of Nappy Changing Facilities in the shopping centre-cum-cinema that is just a few streets away from my home. Well... I managed to find an e-mail address, and sent an e-mail, asking whether there is a minimum age requirement for a child to go watch a movie that is marked as "U" by the censorship board. "U" stands for Universal - meaning it is appropriate for all ages.
I also asked why there are no nappy changing facilities in the entire shopping complex, considering that they have shops selling baby clothes and accessories and also have a play area.
To my surprise, I received an e-mail back today with an apology for any inconvenience I may have encountered. I was told that there's a nappy changer installed in the Play Area Toilets [which I was unaware of their existence merely because Morgan is still too young to access this Play Area] and that there's one due to be installed in the Cafeteria area. In the reply I received, I was assured that these facilities will be marked in a more clear manner [since clearly they aren't, otherwise I'd have noticed them!]. The person who replied to my e-mail also agreed with me regarding the Cinema needing to cater for all ages since "U"-rated movies can be watched by people of all ages. He asked whether I've experienced any inconveniences.
I sent an e-mail back thanking the guy for his reply and for acknowledging the issues I raised and for being willing to rectify them. I explained I haven't encountered any inconveniences as of yet - but that is entirely due to my planning ahead and timing my outings in a manner that helps me avoid having to change nappies whilst out and about. I pointed out that Potty Training can take a long time and it is not uncommon for 4 year olds not to be fully potty trained - and that I have every intention of taking my daughter to the cinema before she is fully potty trained. I mentioned that my not having encountered issues doesn't mean other parents haven't - but that it is likely that most of them aren't bothered with taking any action due to being used to encountering obstacles of the sort everywhere they go.
I'm hoping that this matter is rectified sooner rather than later. It would be nice to be able to hang out in this shopping centre without having to worry about the lack of Nappy Changing facilities.
Oh - and before I forget - Thursday was a good day. HSS and I bought a high-chair for Morgan and then took her out for coffee in Bugibba. This was her first time there. We are having people stop us in the street to ask how old she is and to make remarks about how beautiful she is. I find it amusing when they tell HSS congrats on having such a beautiful baby. To me, that means that his street cred is ruined for life. Jokes aside - it is always pleasant in a warm-fuzzy-feeling-kind-of-way for a random stranger to recognise the love between a parent and a child - regardless of whether there are bio-links or not.
Motherhood, in the early years, involves mainly of trying not to get baby spew in your hair and all over your clothes, whilst soothing a colicky/gassy/bored/hurting/hungry/tired/overall cranky baby by carrying him/her on one hip/seating him/her on one leg and holding him/her with one arm whilst you attempt to do whatever needs to be done with the other hand. All on very low levels of energy following sleepless nights.
Come sunshine or rain, health, sickness, pain - you name it - that is what the daily routine consists of for the vast majority of the time whilst Baby is awake.
There are awesome moments when Baby is in a good mood - you then get to hear gurgles, cooing, giggles, and you can enjoy playtimes.
Needless to say the ongoing threat of baby spew, amongst other things, can affect a New Mum's self confidence and her self esteem. This tends to drive a lot of New Mums into a so-called self imposed Dry Spell. Combine the changes in one's body with being over tired and always smelling of spoilt milk and acid - et voila!
Which is why, in my humble opinion, there is nothing sexier than a Man covered in baby spew.
Does it make sense? Undoubtedly, other mothers will understand where I'm coming from - especially those whose man refrains from holding a crying baby or from changing nappies out of fear of "breaking Baby" or some silly excuse along those lines.
The day before yesterday was one of them days where Morgan's bellyache meant she needed to be held all day long. There were a couple of times when I had to put her in her seat or rocker. That resulted in her crying her eyes out.
I managed to de-weed a small part of the back yard, sweep the back yard and the kitchen floor, and prepare her bottles.
Later on in the afternoon my mum came over for a short while - just as Morgan had drifted off to sleep. She obviously woke up the moment she heard the front door close.
Once my mum left, Morgan and I just spent the rest of the evening cuddled up.
Yesterday was a better day for Morgan. This meant I could put her in her seat next to me whilst I did some crafting. I'm working on a couple of teddy bears at the moment. The plan is to make as many toys as possible, and then sell them. It is merely a plan though - not sure if it'll be put into action. I can try.
My mum came over, and this time Morgan was wide awake, so they played and danced a bit. Morgan and I then spent the rest of the evening watching movies and playing.
Smiley morning! [19th April 2012]
Today, Morgan woke up in a better-than-usual mood as she kept smiling without my needing to say a word to her. I fed her at about 5:45am, then again at about 10am, and once more at 2:15pm. In the meanwhile, we napped, played and watched movies. My brother also paid us a brief visit, seeing as he was in the neighbourhood. It was good to catch up with him as nowadays, what's with us having different life schedules, we don't get to see each other that often.
After her 2:15pm bottle, we made our way over to my grandma's house. We stayed for about 3 hours and then headed back home. We made a pitstop at a cafeteria nearby for coffeetimes with my mum, who decided to walk us home.
Once back home, I bathed and fed Morgan, and we watched another snippet from the movie we're currently watching (The Good Witch's Family.. We watched the previous three already). She then crashed soon after, so I've been doing stuff ever since. Now about to change her nappy, feed her, and tuck her in bed.
Oh, almost forgot. We've been "arguing" for the past three days as she keeps spitting out her dummy and sucking on her hand, prompting me to tell her "no", remove her hand, and give her the dummy again. I'm finding it hard to keep a straight face especially since she seems to think it is a game and therefore smiles and chuckles at my reactions. That, of course, makes me giggle in return.
Anyway, off to complete the bedtime routine! It is quite a slow evening, so I might as well join her.
Morgan woke me up with backfists flying in my face this morning. The moment I woke up properly, she went back to sleep. I suppose she is working on becoming a pain in the arse - just like her mum!
Once up, I cleaned her up and fed her, then napped a bit more. Woke up a couple of hours later or so, and started cleaning the bedroom furniture I got her. Man - the layer of dust is impressive on them pieces of furniture! By the time I'm done scrubbing them clean I'll have HUGE biceps! Eventually, Morgan woke up again, and so I fed her and cleaned her up again. When she went back to sleep, I managed to sketch the Green Man's face on the top of the wooden panel in which the dressing table's mirror is set. These guidelines were awesome! I doodled it in white pencil so that once I paint it, I won't have issues rubbing it off.
My mum came over and helped me try to figure out the washing machine - alas, a pro needs to have a look at it. Told the landlady and she said she'll contact the tech dude. Hopefully it won't be long before he comes over to check it out. I pretty much am screwed without it.
Morgan was even more smiley today. There were times when she just looked at me and smiled without me saying a word to her. It is comforting to think that she knows that I love her and that she's happy with what I do with her. That smile can light up even the crappiest and gloomiest of days.
Before she left, my mum and I bathed Morgan and fed her. I managed to clean up the furniture a bit more as well.
Morgan and I then watched Ella Enchanted - which, as cheesy as it may seem, I actually really like. She spent the evening pretty much sleeping in my arms the whole time - except when she woke up to be fed and cleaned up.
When I put her to bed tonight, I read to her a couple of pages out of The Neverending Story again until she slept.
Goodnighty world!
Once asleep, I put away some more of her clothes, grabbed a bite, and tried to find a book of mine with no luck. A book I own two copies of... Ah well. It will turn up, I'm sure.
I'll be leaving you with a video clip of Morgan playing with Emily The Doll.
Everyone is so focused on the bodily changes they go through during their pregnancy, that they don't realise there will be even more changes occurring after you give birth other than the obvious belly-deflation and the need to exercise to get rid of any extra weigh gained.
Your uterus will shrink
By the time Baby is evicted out of your womb, your uterus is about 15 times as heavy as it would've been prior to your getting pregnant. That does not include its contents, mind you! Its capacity will be at least 500 times greater than before you conceived.
That being said, within a few minutes after Baby pops out, there'll be more contractions rocking your uterus that will cause it to shrink. Imagine the contractions as being the reproductive system's equivalent of a fist. This will cause its crisscrossed fibres to tighten in the same way they do during labour. These contractions will allow the placenta to detach itself from your uterine wall and be ejected.
It doesn't stop there! Once the placenta is out, more shrinkage occurs as the uterus closes off open blood vessels in the area where the placenta was attached. These cramps are known as afterpains.
Oh, and besides from shrinking, your uterus will also be moving back into its original location since it would have ballooned up and filled in an area in your abdominal cavity where it usually shouldn't be. This whole process is called "involution".
This cramping process starts a few minutes after Baby is out, yes, however it can take six weeks or more to bugger off. Oh joy! More pain! I suppose it is the body's way of reminding us that we have quite a bit of PMSing to catch up on.
The cramps will be quite intense during the first day or two after giving birth, and start lessening on the third day or so and carry on for the following weeks until the involution is complete.
You will still look pregnant for a few weeks even after the involution is over and done with, and your uterus is back in its original place. Your abdominal muscles get stretched out during pregnancy, therefore it will take several stomach crunches and some time to lose the rotund belly.
Boobies!
There is a fair bit to be said about the wonderful bags of delight commonly known as Breasts. I've already touched the subject - ha. touched. - in this previous blog. The focus was mainly on changes occurring throughout the pregnancy itself, with just a brief mention of the aftermath.
Well... the obvious place to start would be Breastfeeding - To Boob or Not to Boob? That is the question! I won't delve into the whole topic as of yet as I am still undecided on how to proceed myself. I tend to like having facts and figures in order to make an informed decision, as you might have guessed by now. Alas, when it comes to Breastfeeding, the facts and figures tend to be tainted heavily by bias - either from a pro, or a con point of view. I don't want other people telling me "This is bad, this is good" purely because they say so. I have brains, thank you very much. I like using them.
One thing to know about Breastfeeding is this - your boobs won't stop increasing in volume until you stop Breastfeeding. When your milk comes in, usually a few days after delivery, your breasts will become swollen, tender, hard, and uncomfortably full. This is called engorgement - and when it comes to finding out how long it will last, you tend to come across a lot of "maybe"s and "should"s. A good way to help ease the pain [yep. MORE FRIGGIN PAIN.] is to refrigerate a couple of cabbage leaves and stick them in your bra. Allowing your Baby to breastfeed regularly and/or pump the milk out can also help - if you're opting for breastfeeding.
To tie in with the previously mentioned Uterine Shrinkage, Breastfeeding can bring on them cramps or make them more intense. This is caused by the oxytocin that is released by Baby's sucking. The release of this hormone causes contractions. The only upside there is to it is that the crampy contractions help reduce postpartum blood loss... which means it is your body's way of preventing you from bleeding excessively.
Weight loss
You will lose quite a bit of weight immediately after giving birth! Let's do the math...
Let us say that Baby is of average weight.... so 3 - 3.7kg [7 to 8 pounds-ish]
Placenta would approximately weight another... 0.5 - 1kg [1 - 2 pounds]
Blood and amniotic fluid would be about another.... 1 kg? [2 pounds]
That brings us to the grand total of 4.5 - 5.7kg [10 - 12 pounds]
To me, that means more than half the weight I have gained so far. Sweet!
It doesn't stop there either! All the extra water that your cells retained during pregnancy, along with fluid from the extra blood you had in your pregnant body, will want to ooze its way out. This means that you'll be peeing more often - if that is even possible - in the days following birth — almost 3 litres of piss a day!!
You might sweat a lot as well. This means that by the end of the first week, you'll lose close to another 2 kilos [4 pounds] of water weight. The amount varies of course depending on how much water retention occurred throughout your pregnancy.
Ladybits!
As to be expected, things down below will be a bit..... eh, how should I put this? It won't be nice, to put it in simple non-graphic terms..
If you go for a vaginal birth, it will cause your vag to remain a little larger than usual. Straight after birthing, it will remain stretched open and may be swollen or bruised. Ouch! It will take a few days for any swelling you may have to start going down... Slowly slowly, your ladybits will start to regain their muscle tone, and within a few weeks, it will mean that your vag will gradually get smaller. Doing Kegel exercises regularly helps restore muscle tone.
*cue mental images of a Body Builder Vag.*
Sorry about that!
If you were unlucky enough to have to have an episiotomy or a tear, your perineum needs time to heal. This means you'll have to wait for the thumbs up to be given by your doctor during your Postnatal Check-up before you can get jiggy with it. Even once you get the go-ahead, you might still be tender and sore, so it is best to wait until you're ready.
On a side note, it seems like Will Smith's dance moves are more effective than I was aware or.... having the tune play in another tab is still making me pause from typing to dance whenever the chorus kicks in. Sad, I know. It is fun though! I dare you try and resist the urge to do the same!!
So yeah - Use the forced break to figure out what contraception you'd like to go for. I'm told by a good friend of mine that in spite of being happy to have gotten pregnant with her 3rd child only 4 months after giving birth, she's sick and tired of being pregnant - 2 years of more or less constant pregnancy takes its toll!
Once it is time to get your freak on again, take it easy. Things might be somewhat different now. You may find that you are lacking a bit in the vaginal lubrication department in comparison to what it would have been like throughout your pregnancy. This is due to lower levels of oestrogen. Breastfeeding will only make it worse as it tends to keep oestrogen levels down. Invest in a good water-based lubricant. water-based lubricant, particularly Oil-based lubricants can lead to condoms to break or diaphragms to get ruined as they tend to weaken latex.
Taking the piss are we?
Alas, nope! Guess what? Even peeing will be a challenge!
It might come to pass that you won't be able to feel the need to pee for the first few days - especially if you've had a prolonged labour, or a forceps or vacuum-assisted vaginal delivery, - or more commonly, an epidural. All of these scenarios cause your bladder to temporarily become less sensitive.
Recall the constant peeing I mentioned earlier in relation to weight loss? Remind yourself to try and pee whenever you can as you will most likely need to, even though you don't feel the urge. If you don't, you'll end up pissing your pants. Sad, but true.
Besides from wetting yourself, you're likely to face other issues. For example - your bladder might over-distend itself and therefore lead to urinary problems, besides from making it harder for your uterus to contract, leading to more afterpains and bleeding.
If you can't pee within a few hours after giving birth, a catheter will be put in your bladder to drain the urine. (If you deliver by c-section, you'll have a urinary catheter for the surgery and the following 12 hours or so.)
It must be a tough life being a nurse... you get to deal with peeing issues woman might face after giving birth too!
Tell your nurse about any difficulties you may be facing when it comes to peeing - be it an actual difficulty to pee, or merely producing just a tiny amount of pee every time you have to tinkle. If your bladder gets too full, it can actually prevent you from being able to urinate.
Moody McMoody is still in town!
Thing is, once you give birth, your hormones need time to get back to pre-pregnancy mode. This means mood swings will still be around - very much like that irritating house guest who just does not know when it is time to sod off!
Besides from hormonal issues, you'll also be dealing with discomfort you may still be experiencing from labour and birth, sleep deprivation and the other demands of caring for a new baby, as well as the emotional adjustment to motherhood. It is extremely common to feel somewhat down in the dumps, or even overwhelmed. Just make sure to keep an eye on it. If the moodiness lasts longer than a couple of weeks, speak to your doctor as there may be more to it.
Hair loss
Some women experience a spurt of hair growth during pregnancy, only to find it falls out in handfuls once they give birth for the first few months. It's ok though - you won't go bald.
What may have seemed like a hair growth spurt is in fact a delay in hair loss caused by high oestrogen levels. Once the oestrogen levels drop once more, so will your hair.
By your child's first birthday, your hair should return back to its old self.
On the up side, if you became excessively hairy throughout the pregnancy [think hairy nipples, pronounced pleasure trail on your belly, gorilla legs etc] - you'll go back to your old self within 3 - 6 months.
What about the Skin?
Hormonal changes can cause, or get rid of acne. Some pregnant women get all pimply throughout their pregnancy whilst others get that 'glow' everyone keeps going on and on about. The tables might turn once you give birth. Everything will return back to normal in due course though.
If you have chloasma (darkened patches of skin on your lips, nose, cheeks, or forehead), it'll begin to fade in the months after giving birth and probably go away completely, as long as you protect your skin from the sun.
To conclude - you're probably going to encounter the most dreaded post-pregnancy side effects of them all.
Stretchmarks.
Unfortunately there is no way to know how badly you'll be affected by said stretchmarks. There are numerous claims for miracle cures out there. Different people swear by different remedies. To me, your best bet is to eat healthily and drink plenty of water. This will keep your skin hydrated and less likely to encounter really bad stretchmarks. If you're the kind of person who bothers with these things, perhaps massaging the afflicted area whilst using some sort of unscented cream - maybe containing Aloe Vera or Shea Butter - or even just making your own Avocado Pulp may help.
I'm sure there will be more changes you will face that I can't think of right now. I'll keep you updated as to what happens once I'm in that particular situation!
