Momsicles 203

Many helpful hints came our way, but the most helpful of those helpful hints was the Sleepy Sounds App.

We realized Thea fell asleep quicker when we shhhhhhhhhed her to sleep. So instead of shhhhhhhhing ourselves hoarse every night, we downloaded the app and selected white noise as our favourite sound. We use it when putting Thea to bed or at night in the car so that she doesn’t cry for the whole journey home.

BTW, other options on this app were nature sounds, lullabies and your own tunes. We liked white noise the best and by the time the app upgraded to variations of white noise like tumble dryer versus vacuum cleaner, it was too late. Thea was stuck on the sound of rain lulling her to sleep. Rain is not a bad sound to sleep to – it reinforces the image of a grown up Thea, snuggling under the blankets on a rainy day with hot chocolate and a good book.

Momsicles 202

I am not one of those mothers who became a baby whisperer the moment baby popped out. My general cluelessness was one reason and I reckon the other reason is because some family members descended on us and butted into our (hubby and my) baby bonding time.

It took me at least three months to understand Thea’s cries and even longer to figure out how to comfort her. I remember taking her to an osteo in the beginning and she cried there. I did not know what to do, how to reassure her. I just wanted to run away with Thea because I didn’t want the osteo to realize that I had no idea how to comfort my baby. The osteo picked her up and cradled her to himself (his hand was the size of her body) and gentle rocked and bounced her saying, “there, there. Its ok.” I was very (almost pathetically) grateful when he handed a calm baby back to me.

I took a long time to gain my confidence with Thea. I began to understand why she cried, whether she wanted milk, was tired or wanted to be held. I learnt to shrug off other people’s advice that a crying baby is a hungry baby. I accepted that she could cry in public for any reason and instead of feeling self conscious about a crying baby, I felt powerful knowing my touch was an instant balm for her.

Momsicles 201

Pre Thea I spent a lot of time reading up on babies – they sleep habits, their routines, their cries, they wants and needs. People told me to do this and that and I would soon have an easy going, well adjusted baby. “Bring on the baby!” I thought, because in theory I was a baby expert and I knew what was going on.

When Thea arrived, the reading stopped. Now things got practical. Thea cried, pooped, slept and fed whenever she wanted to. I could not control her – in fact, I was HER slave, attending to her every whim. Thea wanted a feed at 3 in the morning  - dutiful me scrambled to satisfy her. Thea pooped and peed whenever she wanted to, even into my hands. She puked on me, over her going-out clothes and occasionally into a burp cloth.

Thea has an easy going nature and this is definitely not because of any routine or crap theories I tried out on her. She just is a lovely baby and I am so lucky.

Momsicles 103

Immediately after Thea was born, my mind did not do the normal thing of “job well done. Now rest.” Instead, it became a smartarse. My body was coming down from the epidural and I began to shiver uncontrollably. I asked the recovery nurse, “Is this normal? I am so co-ooo-oooo-oooo—old!” And when one of the midwives came to ask the recovery nurse for the names of everyone involved in Thea’s delivery, I listened carefully because I thought, “these are important people for Thea.” My anesthetic friend, the one who saved me from painful contractions and made me high for my daughter’s birth, his name is Hardcock. When I heard this, I laughed out loud, “Haha! That’s an unfortunate name!”

Eleven months down the line, Dr Hardcock is the only name I remember from Thea’s VIP concierge.