First Valentines Day

Feb-14, 2012 is Megha's first valentines day and she was exactly 1 day short of 2 months. I wanted everything first to be special and she is of course a very loved daughter. The day before I went to Walmart in at attempt to buy some last min gifts to Megu, mom and Anand. I bought a few decorations and decorated her crib.

Megu bought beautiful cards to her grand mom and dad and she in turn got cards from us (Anand and I) and from her grand ma. She also got a teddy bear from her grand mom and we bought a musical mobile to go on top of her changing table. Oh how she loves the mobile! She smiles a lot the moment we place her on the table because she knows that the music would follow next :)
She inturn gave a box of chocolates to her grand ma and trackpants to her dad.

I also dressed her up in red. Isnt she the most gorgeous baby?

2 months as of today!!

It's been exactly 2 months since Megha was born. In a way it feels like I have known her for a very long time; perhaps because I do know her. She was in my tummy after all :)
Today we took her for her second months check up and she also got her very first immunization shot. Megu cried but only for sometime. It was heart breaking to see her cry; she never did cry this much before. No, not even when she got her teeth extracted at 6 weeks.

Usually her temperature is 36.4 but now it has gone up to 37.1; still within the normal range. She is moaning a lot and seems to have a little trouble falling asleep but other wse all is well. She is also feeding well which is good :)

As of today she is exactly 5 kgs and measure 22 inches.

A peep into co-sleeping with Megha

Sleep seems to be the top most thing in my mind off-late. Most parents say that by end of week 6, infants fall into a predictable pattern. I agree and I disagree. I thought that Megha is quite comfortable sleeping on the couch until we  took her to the master bedroom. Last night Anand was watching over Megha while I was sleeping. At 5:15 AM he brought her over to our bedroom. Usually I take her to her room soon after but since she appeared to be in deep sleep, we just let her be with us. That's it! She slept peacefully until 7:00 AM!!
Now I know why co-sleeping mom's sleep better.

Sleep Training- Part 2

As I have mentioned before that I wanted to train Megha to sleep by herself without waking up in under 15 mins, I started consistently keeping her on the couch or in the crib for 30 mins a day. For the past 2 days, she seems to be sleeping really well when I keep her down. Now, I feed her, burp her and rock her to sleep and gently swaddle her and keep her down and she remains asleep until she is hungry again!! Our baby is growing up! I didn't think that she would get used to this in under a week of gentle but persistent approach of keeping her down.

Dont get me wrong, I am in no hurry to see her all grown up. But I really want her to be able to sleep like this when my mom returns to India eventually. I didnt think Megha would get the hang of it this soon. Yesterday she spit a lot of milk when I was burping her. So, I held her close and upright to make things better and she was wiggling a lot. As soon as I put her down, she stretched alot, gave me multiple smiles and fell asleep (of course this is an isolated incident; she still loves being held, just like any baby should/would). My my my...she is growing up.

Now that she is sleeping this way, I am not sure if I am ready for this yet. Its been under 3 days since she started this and I already miss her being on top of me. Of course she still lets me hold her and I am so thankful that I have the privilege to do that :)

First ever walk in the neighborhood

Feb-1-2012 was unusually a warm day. In fact it was 6 degrees C! What a surprise, considering Feb is usually the coldest month in winter. I thought we could take Megha out for a walk. We dressed her warm and set out for a stroll. Even though it was mild, it was still windy. So, we (mom) took her in her stroller until the library (under 5 min walk away) and returned. Since it was her first ever outing outside the comfort of warmth of home/car etc, I was afraid she would catch a cold. I know, I know! People dont catch a cold just like unless they are exposed to the cold virus...but like they say in India, I was afraid she would catch a cold if she remained longer outside. So, we were back in exactly 12 minutes :)

All the while Megha was looking at my face :)

First Dentist Appointment

Like I mentioned yesterday (30Jan), Megha was feeling a little uneasy with her neonatal teeth. Fortunately, her dentist called and advised us that there was a cancellation and if we want we can schedule Megha at 1:30 instead of on 1st Feb. I was relieved because Anand wasn't working that day and it would be good to have him around, specially during Megha's visits to doctors/dentists etc.

In a way I was hoping that the dentist would say that everything is normal and that she can go home right away. But I also knew its not going to happen as I knew for sure her teeth were loose. Since we took her to the pediatric dentist, there were other kids too and I instantly took a liking to that place.

As I had guessed, her teeth were loose. In fact they were so loose that they had to be extracted as soon as possible according to her dentist. Before I knew, tears were rolling down my eyes. The dentist was very emphatic and said that if it were his own child he would be very concerned too.
My next question was what kind of anesthetic she would be given to numb the pain. What brought more tears was the fact that she would not be given a general anesthesia at all since she was so little. Apparently only a proper anesthesiologist can administer a dose on children that small. If we insist on general anesthetic, we have to admit her into the Sick Kids Hospital and she would be treated there. The other option was to freeze her gums which the dentist can do himself. We opted for later.

I could not stay in the same room. Megha started wailing as I was walking out to wait in the reception area. How I wish she didn't have to go through this!! Like the dentist has promised, the extraction was done in under 5 mins and I was called back inside. My poor baby was still weeping :(
For the first time in her life, real tears were rolling down her eyes :( I cry even more.

Again, just like her dentist promised, she stopped crying in under 5 mins. We fed her milk right then and there and to my great relief and surprise, she latched on immediately and she didn't appear to have pain. I was hoping that the pain wouldn't be there even after a few hours.

We took her out for a long drive to Anand's workplace as he had some work. She slept through the whole ride and back home. By then it was close to 4 hours since her teeth were extracted and I was becoming more hopeful that there would be no pain.

Thank God, there was none. She seemed just fine and content. Since the time her teeth are gone, she is feeding well and appears relaxed. I am not sure if its anything to do with this, but she also seems to be sleeping better!!

Certainly a milestone crossed. I had my first tooth extraction when I was 28 and my first ever dentist appointment at 25! Megha had hers when she was less than 6 weeks old. We have her both teeth saved in a little treasure box given by her dentist.

P.S: Long time ago, one of my acquaintance told me that her baby had to go through a spinal tap since the doctors could not identify the source of fever her 4 week old infant had. I shuddered and thought that I understood the pain she must have gone through during the procedure. Honestly, I had no idea the kind of agony a mother would go through seeing her child suffer until I had seen Megha go through this. Of course, this tooth extraction is nothing compared to a spinal tap, but I am just saying.
I have made a mental note NOT to say, "I understand" when someone tells me about their child's suffering, because we dont understand it until our own child goes through pain (of any kind).