Gosh, my last post was back in December. It's really been 5 months??!! Time has flown by and I'm now une maman...yup, motherhood beckoned and I welcomed it with open arms:)...our little bundle of joy arrived on April 1st..hahahaha...I tried to cross my legs but it didn't work since he was born by emergency c section ...we named our son 'Ayaan' which in Arabic means 'gift from God' and he truly is a wonderful gift..the last few weeks have been to be honest a bit of a blur. I came home 2 days after Ayaan was born and to the noted disapproval of our midwife. She wanted me in an extra day and I was adamant that I wanted to take my baby home.
Tired? who me?
The following hours, days and weeks after the birth have been a constant series of feeding, nappy changes, sleepless nights, crying (both Ayaan and myself), more feeding, more nappy changes, lots of visitors etc etc..you get the idea. I must admit that even though I have been brought up amongst lots of children and my mother was a nursery teacher, nothing prepared me for having a baby of my own.
Breast is best- but boy does it hurt!
I didn't have the easiest of pregnancies, lots of scares and visits to the hospital, regular appointments with our consultant and scans every month..I kept thinking throughout the 9 months that once the baby was in my arms I would be ok. Ha! I sometimes find myself checking up on Ayaan to see if he's still breathing, I worry that he isn't being fed enough, although that's pretty much down to people saying he's hungry whenever he even so much as whimpers...I just want to say that breastfed babies tend to feed more often than totally formula fed babies as the breast milk digests quicker thus the baby gets hungry. I've just had to bite my tongue sometimes when everyone profers their opinions even if it's been upsetting.
Breastfeeding is tough; especially if you're a total anti Gina Ford (like moi) and feed on demand. I'm lucky that I have words of encouragement from other mothers who have chosen to breast feed, but I found it hard sitting there for hours on end, especially at night staring at the four walls. I've now chosen to use formula for 2 of Ayaan's feeds which helps him settle down for a bit longer than he would. Have I felt guilty about this? Hell yes..I was adamant I wanted to exclusively breastfeed as this is what is best. The addition of formula was more for my sake than for Ayaan's. I've realised though, that instead of heaping expectations upon myself, I just need to find the right balance and approach. I'm trying to make this my mantra...
Anyway, Ayaan is nearly 7 weeks old and is a real character. He smiles lots, cries lots, feeds lots and poos lots..:)..I never know where the day goes and I really look forward to Atif coming home so I get a bit of adult conversation, even if that conversation is centred around all things baby:)
Baby changing rooms
We've taken Ayaan out quite a bit as I don't want him to get too used to being home alone with me. I even managed to take him on public transport to do a bit of shopping...yay, what an achievement! The real test will be this Friday when I take him into London to visit daddy's office..hmmmmmmmmm...this is probably the only time I wish I had an iphone as there's a cool little app that shows where all the decent baby changing facilities are. Trust me, when you have a screaming hungry baby and you're out and about, it's one of the most stressful things ever...it's been enough to reduce me to tears and wish I hadn't gone out.
I'm now on a mission to name and shame bad baby changing facilities and I'll start off with Hounslow Treaty shopping centre. What idiot thought is was a good idea to have music blasting into a baby room where mothers may want to feed and soothe their babies? I took Ayaan and the place stank of urine, had loud music and had these awful plastic chairs that wouldn't be amiss in a prison. We lasted about 10 minutes in there, enough for me to calm him down and then ended up in starbucks to calm me down!!! Anyway, if anyone out there comes across a very good, or very bad baby changing room, please feel free to let me know and I'll add it to my list.
Anyway, Ayaan is just about to get up and so I'd better wrap this up pdq...just a quick nod to Tamreez for kickstarting my blogging again.http://blog.asimandtamreez.co.uk
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
haha @ starbucks to calm you down!
ReplyDeleteHere are a few baby changing rooms/ nursing rooms to add to your list:
Ikea- didn't check out the baby changing room, but really nice nursing corner with sofas, lamps and picture frames
Harrods- big disappointment. In Urdu I'd say "oonchi dukaan, pheeka pakwaan". You would think that if their pet spa is super luxurious, they would at least have a decent space for mothers to breastfeed their babies. Nope, really not on their list of priorities. They had uncomfortable tiled cubicles which were so narrow and tight, I had to leave the pram outside and make sure my elbows weren't bumping into the cold tiled walls!
While their bathroom was all plush and carpeted and had Prada perfume for you to spritz on yourself...the baby changing room was a really tiny space (albeit carpeted) just enough for Asim and me to fit in together and had to maneuver the pram a bit to get out.
Westfield- the have large baby changing and feeding facilities which seemed clean enough, although pretty busy. I peeked in just to see and the breastfeeding room seemed comfortable...but would have to try it out to really say ;)
Oh and Tesco Wembley's baby changing/feeding room was pretty bad...smelt of urine, had a plastic chair and it was absolutely claustrophobic in there...I don't know if the aircon was off or what...but my mother-in-law was actually worried leaving me in there thinking I'll suffocate! :P But then I didn't expect much from Tesco...was grateful that at least they had a feeding room.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tamreez...I feel very strongly about this and am hoping to not only name and shame but write to the proprieters of these places to highlight how good or bad their baby changing and feeding facilities are...
ReplyDeletegreat! mum on a mission ;)
ReplyDelete