Our baby daughter Natasha entered the world on September 18, 2006 at 8:33am. Her journey from the womb into the outside world was quite long, dragging from the evening of Sept. 15th and all the way to the point of delivery. But a more detailed account of Natasha’s birth story will be posted in a whole separate section in the near future. This blog, however, will focus mainly on the baby’s every-day life events and how her parents (a.k.a Matthew and Julia) are dealing with this new addition to their little family.
With that said, it’s been 9 whole days since Natasha’s birth at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and an entire week since she has been home with us. I must admit (although, not to anyone’s surprise) that having a baby changes your life overnight. Especially with a first baby, as in our case, definitely makes you realize how many unimportant things occupied your free time before. And now that free time is given to the care of this brand new, tiny person whose entire survival in this big scary world completely depends on you. Take that!
So it’s been, and still is, a huge challenge. For me at least, having zero past experience with neither babies, nor infants, nor toddlers, it’s always somewhat uneasy to figure out what the baby needs each time she cries, whines, or is simply being fussy or cranky. Is she hungry? Is she wet? Does she want to be held and cuddled? Or maybe she’s just gassy? Matthew, on the other hand, seems to be able to distinguish the baby’s cries and insists they are different depending on the baby’s needs. I definitely agree with him, having heard the different cries myself, but I still find it difficult to match the cry with the need. We are obviously still in the early-learning phase, but we are getting way better with each passing day.
As for Natasha herself, she is a very content baby. When she is in a rather good mood, she would lie on the bed, or in your arms, and watch you with her big thoughtful eyes. Sometimes she simply wants to be close to either Matthew or myself and simply be held, feeling all cozy and comfortable in our arms. Other times, she would suddenly burst into a hiccupping session that can last anywhere from five to thirty minutes; these (unexpected) sessions make her entire little body shake with each hiccup and a very confused expression appears on her face. And then there are times when a tiny, yet noticeable smile appears on her face for a few brief seconds, and although “baby-experts” indicate babies of this age don’t smile due to ‘happiness or joy’, we know better than that!
To conclude, the past week has been quite hectic. A lot of change has occurred and although we are constantly tired and under-slept, we are also very happy with our little daughter. She is a lot of work, but she is ours and we love her very much.
More updates and site developments to follow…