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March 30, 2006

I knew there was a reason why I kept a journal!


Update:
People are getting turned off by kids and all reading this post. Now, I can't allow that, can I? So read this previous post of mine after this one so that you ll only be confused and not turned off! :) Why baby?

I found my breast feeding journal today. Yes, I had a journal. Not because it was fancy or anything, I just needed to remember when I fed Ashu, which breast and for how long. And the note book I wrote on was a ordinary spiral book which we had used to keep scores of card games. The remaining pages contained my breast feeding rituals. Anyway, I found this entry dated 1st May 2005, four days after Ashu was born. I was still in the hospital and ALONE!

1.30 am (yes! like in the middle of the night!)
5 to 6 mins straight from the right breast without the nipple shield. Then she did nt drink. Breasts are swollen and are very hard. The nurse asked me to pump and I pumped around 20 ml from both the breasts.

2.00 am
10 mins from the left breast with the nipple shield.

2.15 am
The nurse wrapped both my breasts in cold sheets which is like yogurt/cream. She called it Quarck, should find out what it is! I have to keep it for 20 mins. Hope it helps.

3.00 am
Going to sleep. I am bleeding very badly and its not only from the vagina. I ll check in the morning. I am sleepy.

6.15 am
After struggling for 15 mins, Ashu drank from the right breast for 5 mins. She has started crying a lot while feeding unlike earlier when she just went to sleep. May be shes getting hungry.

Man, this is one tough food business. Just one customer to feed and Im already thinking of closing the restaurant!

There were many more entries like these. This was just the beginning! I cant believe I survived all this. It just made me realize two things:
Second baby? Are you kidding me?
And HD better read this post. Because if he wakes me up tomorrow morning, hes a dead man! I still have nt compensated the lack of sleep!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used my 10 days annual holidays to make my first daughter forget mother feed

"Second baby? Are you kidding me?"
I just can't resist remembering Bagyaraj dialogue :)))

B o o said...

Which Bagyaraj dialogue?
Plz free feel to enlighten me! If its something in the lines of "Prasava vairaagyam", well, sue me! :)

ammani said...

Wow!

Incredible.

Premalatha said...

you are scaring me.

(not that I have any intention to do that yet. :-) any excuse..:-) )

incredible is the word. indeed. post the rest as well please.

Premalatha said...

http://gilli.wordpress.com/2006/03/30/second-baby-are-you-kidding-me/

Anonymous said...

athe athe :))))

parunga gilli la pottutanga...no going back hereafter :P

Premalatha said...

enakku mattum "Prasava vairaagyam" puriyavee illa. maramanda naanu.

Anonymous said...

thernjukka vENam.. nalla poNNa appadiyE irunga :-)

Anonymous said...

Scary!!!!

Tharini said...

Hey Boo....a friend directed me to your blog, and I have enjoyed reading your psost from last year in your initial throes of motherhood. A lot of it rang true with my own experiences of 3 odd years ago.

This nursing journal struck a strong chord cos I had one too and now I use it for jotting down recipes. he he.

How important it was at the time to write down all those things. Still, I wonder if I will do this if I have a second child....hard to imagine at this point....

Looking forward to reading more from you.

B o o said...

Dubukku - Nalla velai! Ushaaraa naane disclaimer pottuten before being Gillied! ("well, sue me" appadinu!) :)

Premalatha & S - it IS scary! yaan petra "inbam" peruga ivvaiyagam! :)

Tharini - Welcome to Boo's! You being senior and all, looking fwd to hear more from you!

Premalatha - "Prasava vairaagyam" is something like pregnancy vows when you decide at the heat of the moment not to have another baby and of course break it at a totally different heat of the moment(!) So any false promise is akin to "prasava vairaagyam". :) Hope I did nt confuse u more!

Prakash - Nalla ponna solli kuduthuten! Ippa enna pannuveenga? Ippa enna pannuveenga? ")))

Anonymous said...

Boo,
Your comment to prakash reminded me of the guru sishyan movie dialogue
'Ippo enna seiveenga Ippo enna seiveenga' :-D

B o o said...

ferrari - Egjactly! :)

Tharini said...

Senior huh! Will have to try and live up to that. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh Mrs Boo!
I can SO relate to you...!

Here's what I wrote in "The Hindu" (where I was working up until 12 days before I delivered Anand).
**


Notes from a new mom's diary
Thoughts on Day One and Day 100

~ Entry on Day One

Maybe we should call her Madhulika, after my best friend. Or Meera, because it's so musical. Or Malavika, that has sparkle,glitter and a tinkle to it.

"Goo goo to you," said the 2.9 kilo tadpole born on July 23. Resigned. We called him Anand.

I had got used to the nine months of wearing an I-am-so-tired-look. It was a time when auto-drivers didn't haggle. A time when the remote was mine. I could watch Oprah, and the husband would catch the cricket match whenever I deigned fit. A time when I didn't have to wonder whether to eat chocolate ice cream or a chocolate doughnut — I could eat both!

Suddenly life vroomed into fifth gear and I was not in the driver's seat. I peered down at a funny-looking hairy fragile little person with jello like legs and a cord stuck to his belly. He peered back at a blobby, perspiring mom high on oxygen in the labour room and shut his eyes tightly. I mentally spluttered.

Nine months of pregnancy makes you ready. But not prepared. Not yet. Because the gynaecologist told me (s)he would arrive on the scene three weeks later.

Because I haven't bought my copy of Benjamin Spock.

Because I am not ready to stop eating potatoes and my mom insists. Hmpf!

Because I have got used to resembling a helium balloon.

Because I don't mind not seeing what my toes look like.

Because I still love my job.

Because I haven't finished the latest Potter thriller.

But now that he's here, does he look like an Anand?

It's the name I have plopped on him. It's the name that I must go outside my home and yell whenever he plays cricket with his friends in a few years' time and pretends he can't hear.

The name that'll appear on the early rolls in his class, and may be he'll wish he were a far behind Yogesh, Vishwesh or Umesh instead.

The name that he'll sign on his chequebook, passport and credit card with a flourish.

Oh baby is that you? Am I ready?

**

Entry on Day 100


While growing up I thought only mom could put her hand into the kitchen sink and take out the muck in the drain, to let the water out. I couldn't do it. I was too cool.

Now, post-Anand I do these things. Over 100-days into momminess and I now know that there is no such thing as yuck!

I understand that a baby wants to smell like baby powder, scented baby oil and softie baby lotion only for 10 minutes after his bath. After that bodily functions take over.

I find that these 10 commandments apply to all newborns

* Thine bed, bedsheets and mattress will never be fully dry, for a long, long time

* Calling bells, loud sneezers, and firecrackers will be thine sworn enemies — anything that wakens your baby from slumber.

* Cloth nappies shall rule thy abode. Some will hang on the line, some will be waiting to be folded, some to be washed and the rest to embarrass you by lying limply on the sofa.

* If a guest has to find room to sit in thine abode, he will have to do so amidst hundreds of baby clothes in various degrees of wetness, a fat (and well-thumbed) Dr. Spock's guide to parents, rubber sheets and a toy monkey playing a drum.

* Thou cannot type out one email in totem. Even if the baby sleeps, the Internet crashes. (It's a conspiracy)

* Thine every meal shall be interrupted. If it's not the baby, it's the doorbell (It's another conspiracy).

* If thou sing four lullabies, three nursery rhymes and rock him gently for 25 minutes on your (steadily cramping) legs, thine infant will sleep for five

minutes.

* Thou shalt look sheepish in front of paediatrician/guests. Son will prove you wrong by being the world's good as gold baby, while you whine about

his incessant howling.

* There will never be enough dry nappies. If all the nappies are out drying, it WILL rain.

Thou shalt not have time to type the next commandment, Mr. Hungry needs his momma.


** This is the link
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/01/05/stories/2006010500340200.htm ***

(PS I live in Bangalore now)

B o o said...

Tharini - Dont bother! We are mothers-in-crime! We dont judge! :)

B o o said...

Anon aka Dhanya - Welcome! WOW! Thats one cool article. If you ask me, we are better off without Dr.Spock! He judges a lot, does nt he? ;) The commandments are dead right. Whats with the babies when moms are eating? Especially the first few months, its like they want us to diet or something perhaps. and thats when we are starving all the time! Some conspiracy, you are right about that!

Deepti Ravi said...

i am so totally turned off having kids!!! I think i'll stick to being a favourite aunt!!! ;)

The ramblings of a shoe fiend said...

am bleeding very badly and its not only from the vagina.

Ok Now you have seriously freaked me out. where else can a woman bleed from? and no, i don't expect you to answer that. I think all mother's should be given bravery medals.

B o o said...

Deepti - Why re u worried abt babies now? You ve a long, long way to go and other things to worry about first!! The update was for ur sake. :)

Shoefi - Third degree tear, Hemorrhoids, ice pack, stool softeners, .... do u want me to elaborate? ;)

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