First day at home and then on…

Abbas had decorated our bed with streamers and balloons… It was a lovely surprise… And immediately then the timer for me to “stay on my toes” was triggered…. It only stopped when they tuned around three months old… The lower tummy area where the incision had been made kept throbbing. Our nanny Sabita joined only three days of our arrival. Washing their clothes and the kitchen chores fell into Ma’s scope of work. 

I bathed them. 

Changing their clothes, cleaning their bottles, cleaning them after potty and feeding them were “round the clock” job, in IT terms they call it “SUN Support or 24X7 Support’”… Abbas always shared these jobs with me… Ma too pitched in now and then to assist, in case required. We had found a nanny, Sabita, who joined three days after our arrival. But she stayed only during the day. Nights were totally managed by Abbas and I. It was frantic for him as he was working after going through sleepless. (Times like these make me proud of my decision of marrying him in spite of the consequences.) They had to be fed almost every 2-3 hours. But since they were two, we were feeding one of them almost every hour… This sure was the best ‘test of patience’ that could be. The thought that haunted my mind the most at that time was “When will the day come when they will sleep through the night? So will we…”

 Milestones during the first trimester in chronological order:

  

June 14	They came home
June 15	Mannat’s belly cord fell off
	Both had their first bath at home
June 17	Tamanna’s belly cord fell off
June 18	First shampoo at home
	Sabita, their nanny joined to look after them
June 21	Tamanna’s vaccination ·        BCG ·        Hepatitis B – 1st Dose ·        OPV – 1st Dose
	Introduced Cifran eye drops to Tammu as she had fluid discharge from her eyes
June 23	Introduced A2Z drops – 5 drops daily each
June 27	Mannat’s vaccination ·        BCG ·        Hepatitis B – 1st Dose ·        OPV – 1st Dose
June 28	Began applying Johnson’s Baby Powder
July 4	Both learnt to clutch their pillows tightly into a fist
July 5	Ended applying cord drop in the belly
	Began Body massage with Johnson’s Baby Lotion twice daily
July 12	Both’s heads were shaved off as per custom
July 23	Tamanna’s vaccination ·        DPT – 1st Dose ·        Hepatitis B – 2nd Dose ·        OPV – 2nd Dose
	Began applying Johnson’s Baby Hair Oil
July 26	Mannat’s vaccination ·        DPT – 1st Dose ·        Hepatitis B – 2nd Dose ·        OPV – 2nd Dose
August 2	We bought their cribs
	They used to sleep with us on the bed till today
August 3	They began sleeping in their respective cribs at nights
August 8	Ma and I went out with them on a taxi. We were to meet Abbas at P.C.Chandra Jewellers but wandered streets unable to locate it. In the meantime the shop was closed and we picked up Abbas and came back home in the same taxi. Tams enjoyed the ride but Mans slept all through.
August 9	We came out of home again heading for P.C.Chandra Jewellers, this time a little early to rectify the previous day’s mistake. This time it was Tam’s turn to sleep all through the trip and Mans enjoyed the journey. And I loved everybody trying to have a glance at our fairies. (One of those PROUD MOM moments I suppose)
August 12	Mannat began to respond to talks and thus established a conversation by making sounds of vowels like ah, eh, oh (mostly oh)
August 14	Tamanna began responding to talks, but she made less sounds and laughed more in response
August 23	Tamanna’s vaccination ·        DPT – 2nd Dose ·        HIB – 1st Dose ·        OPV – 3rd Dose
Aug 25	Tamanna held her pillow tightly when Ma lifted her out of cradle. She carried along it along with her not letting go of it for atleast 2 minutes

 

Post delivery qualms and the discharge

All the nerve that I had pre-operation had sunk down to great depths. When I was first asked to come out of my bed and walk to the bathroom myself… it was like a nightmare. I had never seen my self-confidence at such a low. The pain made me too nervous to even think about the discharge… I was unsure if I would be able to take care of babies well enough in a condition like that. We had not even found a nanny at that time. Abbas and my in-laws insisted on me staying in the nursing home till I thought I was OK to come home. I got discharged on 14^th June w

hich was a Saturday. I was too excited on that day. 

It was as though I had miraculously become fit all of a sudden that morning. The pain was still there, but the excitement of going back home with our ‘daughters’ took it over. We had to wait for quite some time for the discharge formalities to be completed. Abbas and I were impatient. He was too eager to hold his daughters in his arms, which he was not allowed to do till then. 

We completed the discharge formalities at the nursery and got Mannat and Tamanna. 

Abbas held Mannu and I held Tammu and headed for home in a taxi… Their grand parents were waiting for them there…..