A Summary of a Mothers’s Newborn Baby
Twana PSY 210 Mrs. Stone March 7, 2013 On March 9, 2010 I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She weighed six pounds, eleven ounces and was 21 inches long. Her beauty took my breath away. Once the doctor pked her bottom and I heard her cry it was like music to my ears. As they placed her in my arms all of the pain I felt from my 14 hour delivery vanished. I felt as if I had just won an Olympic race and I came in 1st place. My trophy was this beautiful bundle of joy. My husband and I decided to name her Adrianna Renee. The emotional bond or attachment that I felt for my daughter had me speechless.
Then the nurse told me they had to take her briefly to do some type of test on her called Apgar score. She explained to me that the test was a standard scoring system that allows the doctor to evaluate Adrianna’s condition quickly and objectively. At first I was skeptical because my daughter looked perfect in my eyes. So the nurse takes her from me to go have the test done and while they are gone the other nurses tend to my needs. It seemed like forever but it only took 10 minutes and they were done with the Apgar score. Adrianna had done great scoring a 10 the highest an infant can get meaning she was perfect like I knew she would be.
Our stay in the hospital was short and before I knew it my husband was taking us home. Once we arrived home Adrianna surprised me how well she adapted to her new surroundings. She acted as if she was home and that was where she was supposed to be. Since I was a new mother I wanted to breastfeed my baby. The nurses told me that my milk was healthier for her, so that’s what I wanted. Unfortunately Adrianna was not having my big ole floppy boob in her face and she screamed bloody murder. So my husband had to go out and purchase a breast pump.
Personally I have to say that the rejection hurt my feelings at first, but I found other ways to bond with my daughter, such as skin to skin contact. She absolutely loved skin to skin contact. I guess it soothed her and she knew she was safe. Once my husband returned from Wal-Mart with the breast pump I immediately began to pump. Adrianna was hungry because she was trying to eat her little fingers and suck her thumb. The dr. told me those were survival reflexes and they had swung into action when we were at the hospital. Well Adrianna sucked that breast milk down and wanted more.
I burped her after three ounces and then my husband wanted to feed her. So since she was still hungry, I let her daddy feed her another two ounces. I told my husband don’t forget to burp her, because if he didn’t he was going to wear some regurgitated breast milk. Ha I love picking with him. Since I had about 10 minutes to spare, I took this time to pump more milk and store it in the fridge and freezer. Adrianna burped again and was now sound asleep. I took advantage of this time to shower and nap with her while her father did the laundry and cooked dinner. Adrianna was a wonderful infant.
She only cried when she was hungry or when her diaper needed changing, other than that she just slept. At night she would only wake once approximately about 3 a. m. for a bottle and to be changed. She would stay awake till 4 a. m. looking around and looking at me as I talked to her. Adrianna would slowly drift back to sleep in my arms, then I would lay her down in her crib. I stood over her crib and watch as she made the cutest little faces. She would smile huge smiles while sleeping. My mother always told me when a baby smiles like that in their sleep the angels are playing with them.
I would silently go back to my room to get more sleep before my hubby came home from work. It seemed like once he got here he’d wake us both up. He had to have daddy time with the baby. So for the first three months of Adrianna’s life this was our routine schedule. By the time Adrianna was four months old she was more alert throughout the day and was sleeping through the night waking at 6 a. m. , just in time for her daddy to get home. She had discovered her hands and feet. She would put her foot in her mouth and drool all over the place because she was teething.
She was always in a good mood smiling and making cooing sounds. Adrianna was now 14 pounds and 9 ounces. She had more than doubled her weight and her body was a ? inch longer. 5 to 8 Months During the 5 to 8 months she felt like she could do things without support. If I sat her down she would sit without falling over. When I put her on tummy for tummy time she would get up on her hands and knees and go back and forth. It was the cutest little movement I had ever seen. So by the time she was 6 months she was crawling. She would babble on and on dada dada. Her first word was dada.
I really don’t understand how her first word could be dada, when I’m here with her more than dada, but oh well that’s just how it goes I guess. Everything that she picked up off of the floor went into her mouth. So one day as usual she saw something on the floor and picked it up and to her mouth it went. I stick my finger in there to fish whatever it was out and low and behold she clamped down and I felt it. There was a tooth at the bottom of her mouth. I found Adrianna’s first tooth on September 18, 2010. I was so excited. I called her father when he was at work to tell him the good news, then I called my mother.
At 8 months Adrianna was pulling herself up and taking few steps holding on to the coffee table. Finally she said mama, but I don’t think that she knew what she was saying, but I was sure glad to hear it. She could also say baba and she knew what that meant because she would pick up her bottle and say baba. Another tooth had come in at the bottom and one was coming in at the top. She loved playing peek a boo with her daddy. When we played together our game was patty cake and she had good coordination because she would clap her hands and feet at the same time.
We made a video for my in laws because they were in another state. They were amazed just like we were because her coordination was so great. 9 to 12 Months On December 9 Adrianna was now 9 months old and had tripled her weight since birth. She now weighed 18 ? pounds and she was 23 inches long. She would still pull herself up and walk around the coffee table holding on for dear life. When she was 10 months old she would stand alone and be very hesitant about taking her first step. When she would stand by herself she would clap her hands and I would say “Yay”!
At 11 months she finally trusted herself and her surroundings and took her first steps. Unfortunately her daddy was at work so he missed this event. When he got home Adrianna walked 4 steps to him. My husband was so surprised and happy his little girl was now taking steps. On March 9, 2011 Adrianna turned a year old. My goodness it doesn’t seem like it has been a year already. It feels like yesterday I was bringing her home form the hospital. Adrianna was now walking with ease as if it came natural to her. She had a new perspective of her world. Learning how to walk had given her a new freedom.
She was more active and exploring everything. Also she was feeding herself little finger foods from Gerber graduates and Cheerios. She absolutely loved drinking from her sippy cup. At first I thought she was going to reject the cup because she was so attached to her bottle, but she surprised me. She transitioned from the bottle to cup with no problems. We had her birthday party at the park in Bay Minette and the weather was wonderful. We sang Happy Birthday to her and put the cake in front so she could dig in. Oh my Lord what a mess! Adrianna got cake everywhere. She even had cake in her diaper.
We let her have her way after all it was her day. I stood back taking pictures and watching her cute facial expressions. I started thinking about all of her milestones she had accomplished since birth and I just could not believe that my baby girl was 1year old already. 13 to 18 months During this time the things she already learned had improved a great deal. When she would feed herself she acted as if it was easier and she no longer had to concentrate on picking up the cheerios and putting them in her mouth. She really enjoyed being a big girl. Her vocabulary had increased tremendously.
She now spoke eight to ten words and her favorite was hello. Everywhere we went she told everyone hello. She was my little social butterfly. She was not shy at all. I could tell that her personality was out going just by the way she interacted with people. I thought it was so cute watching her interact with other people. She just never met a stranger unless they were creepy looking and that scared me too. My favorite was when she would imitate me, my mother, or her daddy. I talked to my mother on a daily basis even though we live 10 minutes away from each other.
Well mom and I would talk on the phone and I noticed that Adrianna would get out her play phone and talk to whomever and when I would laugh at my mom Adrianna would do the same. When she reached 18 months old she weighed 24 pounds and she could maneuver her body so she could climb out of her play pen. So I’m in the kitchen preparing dinner and I look up and I see Adrianna standing on her toy jack in the box. She then throws her leg over the rail, balancing herself perfectly. All of a sudden her little feet hit the floor and she was gone.
Watching her perform that task totally blew my mind. She was right on schedule with normal toddler activity. She was stacking three blocks on top of each other and scribbling with a crayon. Instead of scribbling on paper Adrianna preferred the walls or table. I was so happy the crayons were not permanent and could be washed off with soapy water. Adrianna did not like wearing clothes, so instead of dressing herself she would undress. She loved taking her clothes off so keeping clothes on her was a chore. Every chance that I got I would video her doing her strip tease of the day.
She was a normal toddler in every aspect and she was enjoying every minute of it. 19 to 24 Months I know now what my mother meant when she told me to cherish the days when Adrianna was a baby. I no longer had an infant anymore, she was my big girl. Her second birthday was approaching fast and I wanted to turn back the hands of time. Adrianna weighed 27 pounds and she carried her weight well. She was into everything so we toddler proofed the house. I always heard people talk about “The Terrible Twos” I know what they were talking about now and she wasn’t even two yet.
She could jump in place with both feet and go up and down the stairs without assistance. I could not stand to watch her go up and down the stairs because it scared me so bad. All I could think about was her falling and hurting herself. I knew that I had to let her explore her physical world so she could enhance her developmental skills, but it was a very hard thing to do. She showed high interest in her surroundings. On the day of her second birthday we had her party at McDonalds with about six other toddlers her age. Oh my God talk about nerves wrecked.
I think the staff at McDonalds was happy to see us leave. After that we went to the park with her playmate Chloe. Adrianna and Chloe were born 2 weeks apart so they always played together on play dates. As we played ball I noticed Adrianna could throw the ball further than Chloe, but Chloe could kick the ball really better than Adrianna. I guess all kids are different and some do things better than others. Well as time continued its rapid pace. Adrianna continued her rapid pace of exploring and learning. Now that she was two she could do a lot of tasks. So ow when I gave her crayons and paper she would scribble and be amazed at what she did. In her little mind I guess she thought it was a master piece of art. Every master piece she scribbled we would put it on the refrigerator or hang it in her room. She was much better at stacking blocks too. She could stack seven blocks without them falling over. She could even match shapes now. She could put the square block through the square hole and vice versa with the circle and triangle. Wow she was really smart and in my eyes she was the smartest toddler ever. Adrianna’s language seemed to advance overnight.
She woke up one morning and said “Mommy I want cereal” and I said “Oh you do”. She had made her first complete sentence with no babbling. She was actually making sense to me. I was one proud mama that day. Adrianna was such a joy to be around and I wanted her to be around children her age so she could learn social skills. So we decided to put her in in daycare part time. The first 2 weeks it was hard because she was not use to sharing, but she adjusted. She did surprisingly well with daycare and before I knew it she was ready to be potty trained. She came home from daycare and told me she wanted to be a big girl.
So we got started using the potty and within a month she was potty trained. Yay! No more pull ups! It was just before her third birthday too. Today is March 6, 2013 and Adrianna birthday is in three days. She is so excited about her birthday because we are having a pizza party this time. My baby girl is a thriving toddler and she is healthy as a horse. I thank God for her every day, because she is truly a blessing. I look forward to the bright future she will have growing up and I pray that I live to see her all grown up and independent with a family of her own.
