My Lady of the Lantern

This is about a boy I haven't met. An ex-colleague/friend of my hubby got married a couple of years back. We could not attend the wedding. His wife had a son about a week off from their first wedding anniversary. He phoned us to tell about his new son, but there wasn't much communication between us after that. That boy, their only child, is now a little over two years old. And he has been diagnosed with a disease, where the doctors are talking of 'quality of life' rather than recovery. Simply put, there is no known cure to that dy.strophy. I am at a complete loss of words. That fellow mailed me his son's reports to see if I can get any references from SuperPed of good doctors, anybody...but so far, it is all in a discussion stage. What do you say? What thoughts you offer to a child who can't be saved? - - - - - - If you remember CBub's birth (and death story) , I added a tiny detail of someone who lost their son in-utero about a week before I gave b...

The Last Update was here ... - Figlia has umbil.ical hernia - not painful, harmless and likely to correct itself out. - She has started holding her head more steady. - On her back, she turns her neck to either directions. On her belly, she is able to lift, turn and position her head. - Figlia turns on her belly while sleeping (if I have laid her on one of her sides), and I realized that she naps longer on her belly - momma gene? - She turns clockwise and anti-clockwise while sleeping. - We are now sucking the back of our palms, putting fingers inside our mouth - she has been doing that anyways. - She has a stronger afternoon naptime schedule. She wakes up for feeds in between, but that's her call. I do not have to wake her up for feeds. - She fidgets a lot while sleeping. I can sense her stirring, and sometimes she makes noises like she is awake, but she will promptly go back to sleep after that. - She calls out if she thinks she is alone in the room. She loves someone ta...

Yeah, it must be warming you to read that post title. It warms me, for sure. I did report a sleep-related incident that happened recently, where my patience gave in. But I have been observant for another trend that seems to be now gaining strength, and I did not want to say it till it actually looked like a solid trend. Nadine told me that Figlia would either learn to sleep, or I would learn to live with the sleep-deprivation. Well, it seems both of us are making inroads into that territory. As I have previously mentioned, Figlia does nap after her massage and bath....earlier, it could be a couple of hours....now it lasts for four hours! The difference now though is that she takes two feeds, on an average, while this afternoon naptime is on...but I am glad that she shuts her eyes and goes back to sleeping once the feed is done. As far as the main woe of nighttime sleeping is considered, Figlia's first stretch of sleep at night is the longest, and then she would be singing lark...

She was still a little groggy from sleep, a little hungry, and stripped down to her diaper. I wanted to dress her, but decided to take care of the little grumpiness by feeding her first. I lay her on my lap, she fed a bit, and then stopped. She just lay there...I wrapped her fleece blanket a little closer to her, and slipped her in my blanket. I gently rubbed her skin a bit, and she seemed so content. She wrapped her right hand tightly around my left thumb. She watched me - expressionless. She moved her gaze away. It was a powerful moment that just came to be. It was a moment of love. I was swelling with the need to protect her and keep her warm, to love this little being and just revelling at the idea of her being mine. We stayed close for quite a while....it was a long moment. Mothers are fierce. Mothers are gentle. For more perfect moments, please visit Lori .

Currently traveling with Figlia seems to be a tremendous task. Going out for a walk is one thing, but going out for social dos is another thing. There seems to be giant appendages of diaper bags and such things travelling with her. But the luggage is not my sad thing. One thing I am fiercely protective of is, her sleep. If I am out in the afternoon with her, consider the post-bath afternoon nap curtailed. If I go out in the evening, the car trip is where she covers on her sleep, and the first night nap can be counted out of question, unless I am lucky. I am very uncomfortable taking her anywhere. Till there is some pattern (there is a new one emergent, will talk of it in another post) that solidly forms, I feel better to keep her where both she and I are comfortable. I am still living night to night - wondering what tonight will bring in terms of sleep. And I swaddle. And my host for lunch today decided to open Figlia's swaddle (I had gone to her kitchen for a glass of water) ...

We had been in touch with SuperPed much before I gave birth. The entire history of what had happened last time was clear to him, and we wanted to be prepared. SuperPed, the OT staff, and the NICU staff are the reasons behind my daughter's well-being post-birth. Figlia was born a week and a day later (in gestational age vis-a-vis her sister), and that's why we escaped the fruit of prematurity that CBub had to endure - P.DA (which is not fatal in itself but it complicated stuff)... but she had aspirated the amniotic fluid, just like her elder sister...( why does that phrase somehow take me to Gone With the Wind....just like Papa? ) Anyways, as soon as Figlia was out, SuperPed was all 'go go go'....making sure no time was lost in taking care of the neonate. He came to see me everyday, even when Figlia was in NICU. He updated me on what was up with her. The fact that I had been physically able to meet my daughter the day post-C section kept me sane. The evening he came ...

Much of the baby stuff especially clothes that Figlia has is either a hand-me-down or a gift. In fact, she has received the whole lot of former to suit her current needs, and she has a lot of the latter in sizes beyond her current age. And then one lady gave me stuff...in tiny lots, again. Then again. And another tiny lot - again. Ugh! I should just leave City X for the fact that if I continue to be here, Figlia would receive and keep receiving stuff from her cousins who are obviously going to get older year after year and turn out clothes they no longer fit in. Also, this too much stuff means that I don't want to purchase any more clothes, which I actually want to...but can see enough of it in the room already... 98 percent of the hand-me-downs that came my way were in good condition. The ones that seemed a little off? I have already disposed of them. And I look at the incredible amount of baby stuff that is now housed in my room. I came to UsualCity with very limited luggage...