Brycen's Food Time Table

Brycen's Development Highlights/Milestones

When B is declared a genius, the details below will be embossed  on some plaque in a museum.... :-).
I will continue to update this as he grows.

November, 2011

24^th – He smiled (unintentionally)

25^th- Umbilical Cord stump fell off

30^th – slept comfortably through the night, for the first time

30^th – Took medicine for the first time (colic medicine)

December

1^st- Had a herbal birth- to help ease his peeling skin

10^th – he ‘kubega” ed- this is tightening and pouting the lips just before he begins to cry- its super cute. He also lay down for a while without wanting anything and without crying.

11^th – First evening bath (until now, he was bathing once a day in the mid-morning). Also this was the first time he used baby powder and the first time I saw him sweat.

12^th – First taste of formula ( he hated it and spat it out). Also this is the first time he followed her gaze, he was looking at Grandma and while she walked away, he followed her gaze and turned his head.

15^th- He cooed and made his first baby sounds. (super super adorable- I think I have a recording of this  somewhere)

17^th- His first long journey- we went to Entebbe, about a 25 mile journey.

20^th- starting as if holding on to my clothes while I carried him. It was not a firm grip, but it was kinda strong.

31^st – He smiled and just at the same time the sun came out- Now I see God was smiling on us, coz I think this is when his colic and crying stopped.

January, 2012

1^st- He got named.

10^th – He slept in his pram (he hated the thing at first). He also opened his palms. (These had been tightly closed from birth. He also started to push himself up into a sitting position. He hated being carried like a newborn.

16^th – He begun to suck his fingers (I tried to stop this because of all the germs I imagined he was eating)

26^th – He smiled at me, knowingly.

February

13^th – Held a rattle in his hand. He turned  360 degrees full circle in bed while asleep and faced where is feet were. He also as if began to crawl, by pulling himself on his tummy (with my help)

28^th – He tried to crawl towards me

March

6^th – He rolled over

14^th he crawled on his own, commando style but in reverse…lol

16^th – Sat up on his own

24^th- Got up on all fours (in our bed)

26^th- finally crawled forward- still commando style.

April

18^th- Sat up by himself

-          Ate first solids

May (didn’t record exact dates)

-          He stood up unassisted while supporting himself on the couch.

-          He held his bottle on his own

-          Said first real words – “dada”

June

-          Crawled up 3 steps unassisted

16^th - Walked while supporting himself on the couch

July
Developed 2 lower teeth
Spoke new sounds "Ttt...ttt.."
learned to hold two items at once-one in both hands
tried to stand on his own- like for 3 seconds

August
Crawled up and down three steps, on his own

September
Spoke the word 'hello' and 'juice'
clapped, ever so lightly, his padded palms
called his grandma 'jaja'
laid him down and he slept without me cuddling or feeding him

October
fell in love with Teletubbies
got his first hair cut
Learned to wave goodbye, as if a royal wave
...and here it is... he took his first steps!

November
Walked, like for real real
1st- The highlight of them all, he said "mama"

Brycen's Birth Story

On Sunday 20^th November, 2011, I was scheduled to check into International hospital Kampala at 10pm to be induced. 

My EDD was 12^th November 2011, and considering I was a FTM, my doctor advised that Baby B needed a little nudge to move things along; also, even I, was beyond anxious to see him, so I could not complain. I had learnt to live with the exhaustion and honestly I would have gone another 2 weeks, but I could not wait an extra day. So finally, the day had come….

After 10 months of eagerly waiting (actually 9.1 considering I was 3 weeks when I found out I was pregnant), Baby B was here. I spent the last 2 days (Friday and Saturday) before B’s delivery at my parents’ so that it would be easier for them to take me to hospital. Mom was anxious all throughout my pregnancy so seeing her nervous and almost sick with worry that evening, was nothing new. Dad on the other hand was my rock throughout out my pregnancy. He was so calm and positive and had always supported my decision to have natural delivery 200%. Mom could not understand why I would not opt for a C-section. But I was determined to push my baby- not with all the squatting, walking, stretching, and herbs I had been imbibing to prepare the ‘passage’. I needed to push-I was ready to push!

After dinner, we set off for the Hospital. Irwin, my dearest and oldest friend and my Sister Anna were supposed meet us there. I checked in at 10.12pm and after an ultra sound scan to check that all systems were ‘go’, I was admitted.  Now the scan showed that my baby was very big, and I was told that he would be about 3.8-4 kgs. But I was not afraid; I would push a 6kg baby if I had to.

We got a nice cozy room, large enough for my ‘delivery party’. Irwin and Anna arrived a few minutes later and they set up my bed and all the stuff that we brought with us. At 11.30 pm Dad, left to go home (which was 10 minutes away). Mom encouraged us to try and get some sleep. So I lay on my bed and tried to relax my mind enough to sleep a bit. I was anxious, excited, and felt a new sense of responsibility hovering over me. I could not fathom that I would be holding my baby in my arms the next day. Sunrise could not come fast enough.

Irwin lay on the sofa and Mom and Anna, shared the extra bed .My induction was scheduled to start at 2am. So we rested (everyone but me) for a few hours as we waited for the Golden hour- 2am.

At 2am sharp, a midwife came into the room and asked me to go with her to the delivery room to start the induction. I had thought, like many others, that the medicine would be given to me by IV, but as I learnt later, this was going to be different. I tiptoed out of the room careful not to wake the others, as they were all asleep (or so they seemed) and followed her to the delivery room.

In there, there was the delivery bed- a small hard and high narrow bed lined with black leather and covered with the hospital green and white sheets. It was a single bed in a medium-sized room. The room seemed ready and prepped for a delivery and my pressure must have spiked a few notes as I looked at all the sterile equipment. Is this where Baby B was going to be born, I wondered. 

The midwife placed extra disposal tissue upon the sheets and asked me to lie on the bed, facing the ceiling, with my legs spread. My heart should have been racing, but I was calm, confident and excited. I did what I was told and she carefully inserted the medicine. It was one vaginal pessary, which would be inserted every 4 hours until my labour had progressed enough for delivery. It was a tad uncomfortable, as she didn’t use any lubrication, but I was not about to let that affect my already excited self.

After 2 minutes, she was done. I dressed up, and returned to my room. As I got in Mom woke up. She looked startled. She asked me if I was ok, and I told her the induction has begun and I have just been given a pessary. Everyone then woke up and I told them what had happened. As we all didn’t know how soon the contractions were to begin, we all attempted to go back to sleep and store up as much rest as possible.

Time check 3:20 am, I begin to feel weird. Something is tagging at my stomach. Not wanting to wake up my ‘party’, I turn carefully to change my sleeping position. Things calm down. 

Time check 3.25 am. Something tags at my stomach again, I change position again. I am thinking, Baby B is probably having his usual karate sessions.

Time check 3:40 am. It happens again, I get up and go to the bathroom. The tagging stops. But now I know, it’s not just Baby B. I feel different. I feel heavier. So I lie on top of the covers, and just chill. Everyone is sleeping, but I am wide-eyed, intensely alert for any new sensations.

Time check 4:00 am the tagging really intensifies. Mom wakes and asks if I am ok, and I tell her that the contractions have begun. Irwin wakes up as well, and Anna- well Anna, was the comedian for the day. She insists on continuing to sleep, saying this is just the beginning and she will wake when things get hotter. I do not change position or move at all, but I stay still. The tagging increases but it is not painful. Then I feel the need to pee and I get down from the bed and pee. My contractions are now about 6 minutes apart. I am now officially in labour -it is still so surreal. No pain yet.  I actually updated my Facebook status (lol, yes I did).  Now I am feeling a slight discomfort at the start of the contraction, but nothing major. They were lasting about 45 seconds. 

Then I felt and hear something pop! Yeah… the rubber band-snap-sound I had read so many times about; and I know this is it! My water has broken! I stand up to go to the bathroom and wooooossshhhhh!

My water poured like a tap, it was unbelievable!

At 6:00 am a second pessary is inserted and this one brought on the tough contractions. 50 mins later my contractions were 4 minutes apart and lasting about 2 minutes. Generally I could only rest for 2 minutes. At about 6:30am and my body temperature drops instantly. I begin to shiver and it feels like its 18 degrees. At this point Mom’s shoots into panic mode. Ann, and Irwin come to help and mom cannot even dare to look at me. She stays at the far end of the room while Ann holds me and Irwin fumbles to clean up the mess. 10 minutes later, the pains start. Ho ho ho… it was crazy. I felt the tugging more intense now, Ann reminds me to breathe and I breathe. The contractions seem unusually close at this point.

At 8:00 am I have my first internal exam and the midwife says I am 3 cm dilated and that I have a long way to go so I should hang in there. I am ready, almost prepared for the long haul. In the meantime, Julie, my sis has been on the phone with us from like 4am till now. She was up country and could not make it to the hospital but made sure she was there spiritually all the way… ish (we forgot about her when things got more intense).

9:00 am and I think I am loosing my mind. My contractions are so close and so intense I could not rest for 3 minutes. Some nurses, a doctor and another midwife come to check on me, my blood pressure, timing of contractions and other things. I am asked to lay on my back and it is impossible! I just could not get onto the bed and lay down. It is too hard in between the contractions and the bed now seemed as high as a building. The doctor says he cannot examine me if I am not in that position. So they had to wait about 10 mins for me to ‘arrange’ myself and boy was it hard. The pains are so much more intense when laying on the back. Anyway, he does his exam and says all is good and I am progressing quite well, though he refuses to tell me how well for fear of putting my hopes up in case the progress is slow. Then I realize that this may take all day. So I mentally tell myself to be stronger, stop panting so hard and be brave…and it works.

I sit on the edge of the couch and labor all the while. More calmly this time. The next 50 minutes seem like 5 hours. Ann tries to give me whole wheat bread and eating bread has never been so hard. Its tasteless and she has conjured up little bite-size balls and has arranged them in order according to size for me to eat, and all I want to do was throw them through the window!

In between contractions, Ann is making fun, talking to Julie on the phone, singing songs from Rio the cartoon and in spite of everything I am forced to smile. In hindsight, that was much needed comic relief, if not for me, for Mom.

Mom is in another place all together, her emotions are at an all-time high and Ann realizes that she needed to get Mom out of the room lest she ends up in the emergency room. So she takes mom to the car to rest and get away from all the drama- best idea ever!

Now its just me, Ann and Irwin. Ann is as if a General now. Commanding me to breathe and talking me through each and every contraction commando style. Irwin, is an emotional heap and she starts crying every time I felt a contraction- the thing is, each time the contraction intensified I would breath as if panting, through my mouth, and as it rose to its peak I would groan louder while squeezing Irwin’s hand or Anna’s leg to near paralysis. At the peak, Irwin was crying, I was groaning, and Anna was commanding “Breathe,…breathe…breathe”. Quite a spectacle!

I am trying to finish Anna’s little balls of bread. She threatens to take me outside to walk through the contractions and quicken the dilation. In my mind, I know that I cannot do it. I could not even move from the edge of the bed, and she wanted me to walk! Now that was just mean!

The second last ball of bread was the last straw; I refused to take any more. Thankfully midwife Sherry came in to examine me. Again I had to lie on my back and this time the pain was worse than before. After the exam to sherry tells Ann that I need to go to the delivery room… and I am like “say what!!!!”- She says it is time, the baby was here. We are all so surprised! I was relieved, because I think would have maimed Ann had she made me walk those corridors.

Its 10:15am when we begin the slow long-short walk from my room to the delivery room.  Irwin dashes off to tell my dear Mom, who has been in the car all this time, on bended knee praying to God. 

My contractions are now so intense and I am 8cm dilated. Walking is extremely difficult but Sherry and Anna are patient with me as I needed to pause every 2 minutes at the peak of each contraction.

We finally get to the room 10 minutes later and sherry asks me to get on the bed and wait about 5 mins, but when I look at that high, hard delivery bed i know that I do not want to sit on thing. I ask for a medicine ball instead and sherry asks another midwife to go get it as she examines me for the last time. So I am forced to get onto the bed anyway, As soon as I spread my legs she realizes we do not have time for the ball.

At this point put I feel the need to push, and the contractions are so strong they are literally lifting my torso off the bed. Lying on my back is so painful so I turn and lie on my side. Sherry tells me to wait 5 more contractions before I push. I am now 9 cm and I can feel the baby coming down. I scream so loud I think Mom heard me from outside. Sherry is right there and still insists I should not push. 

I am holding onto Ann’s waist and digging my nails into her lower back. I am still lying on my side with one leg lifted up. Sherry leaves the room and Ann and I count down the last 5 contractions. 10 mins later, sherry comes in and she says now its time to push.

I am helped to lie on my back and push my legs close to my butt and while still holding onto Ann, I push with the very next contraction- I feel hot stuff inside and I know it’s the ring of fire. Ann and Sherry say they can see the head and I wait for the next contraction. I gather up all the energy from the disgusting bu balls of bread and puuuuusssshhhhh. In what seemed like an instant, Brycen pops out on the second push - even to my surprise!

At exactly 10:45 am, on Monday 21^st November, 2011 Brycen is born and I was so elated by how fast the pushing stage was, and so excited to see Brycen. Everything is still blurry as they carry Brycen to the little bed to weigh and clean him up. It was a few minutes before he cried and I must have panicked like crazy but he later whimpered ever so slightly- Sherry said everything was A-ok. 

Brycen actually did not cry instantly, he waited about 1 hour to give a full boy-like cry, but he passed his APGAR with flying colors.

Everyday when I look at him, I thank God. I prayed so much for him and God surpassed my expectations because my little man is a true exception in every way. 

Coincidentally he was born on his father’s birthday so I know, he is extra special.

6 Months Wuuuhuuu!!

Learning Cause and Effect

B is now learning to manipulate situations to benefit him. He drops toys knowing that someone will pick them up; he cries and we come to him; he smiles and we smile back. He now has keen eyesight and can see his pink teether meters away, or his night lamp peeping from under the blanket. Today I bought him a cup. Apparently he feeds easier and more from a cup than from his bottle. I am trying to not feel the pinch of the cost of the now over 15 bottles I bought him. Tsk tsk. But I am impressed at how fast he is developing. He seems like he is taking life by the horns. It is amazing to watch him pick up his toys, drop them, tag at table clothes and see how mobile the dexterity in his limbs has made him; because at 5 and a half, he is now attempting to stand by himself. Oh my little man is growing up to fast, and I am away most of the week working  Yesterday, the working-Mom guilt hit me, and it hit me hard. I could not rationalize why I am away, toiling in the rat race for 10 hours a day while my baby boy stays home and I only get to see him for less than three hours a day before his bedtime. Actually, I had to push back his bedtime one hours so that I could spend more time with him- selfish I know, but I need him too. I was telling my friend Angie, God commanded that Adam would toil the earth for food and Eve would suffer painful childbirth. Me thinks I have already done my part and this toiling is so not for me. My husband should be working, and I should be giving birth- right! Lol. But seriously, sometimes I seriously consider being a stay-at-home Mom.

B trying to stand up

First Solid Food

B having banana- He hated it :-(

So Sunday 22nd may at exactly 5 months B, had his first taste of solid food. I have been anxious and excited to feed him real food and I thought it best to start with something soft and sweet. So I bought a colorful bowl (orange and red) with a lid and matching a soft edged spoon. Clad B in a water proof bib and gave him his first taste of mashed ndizi (small sweet banana)… he hated the stuff! Ok I admit it does not look one bit appetizing, but its sweet banana banange! B, spat and stuck his tongue out in protest. He must have had a total of 3 spoonful before we agreed that he had had enough. I had planned to give him mashed bananas for a 4 days and then maybe some avocado or pawpaw; and skip the whole wheat, oat or rice cereal business. However, my Mama said the giving baby mashed banana too early like at 5 months will make him hate the stuff when he is older. She suggested I start with cereal for about 2 weeks till he is used to solid stuff and maybe pawpaw and avocado. Apparently mashed bananas easily get babies nauseous hence the high chances of disliking them later. And I am forced to agree with her because, first- Mother knows best; secondly, my 9 month nephew (Kayron) cannot stand bananas and I believe it is because he ate them a lot when he was younger. So, nestle first cereal is what we will be having for the next 2 weeks. 1 table spoon in 90 mls for 7 days, and I will go on adding a tablespoonful till he can eat a thicker mixture. Update: I think he hates the cereal :-( Sometimes he takes the whole 120 mls, then other times he pushes the bottle away. I am thinking i should try rice cereal?

Oh How I Love thee!

Rolling Over!

We are technically four months old. I know it has been a while since I updated anything, but am sure it’s understandable.

B is an amazing child. He warms my heart each time I look at him and I can promise you I love him more at the close of each day than I did at the beginning of the same day.

At four months old, he has had a lot of milestones. Right now he sits when supported, does commando style crawling in reverse and grabs at everything he sees.
He also had a really deep and intense stare. He can win a stare contest, I tell you. He looks at people and things intensely and deeply and as if makes it a point to intimidate people me. Yesterday my cousin failed to eat her dinner while sited across from him coz his gaze followed each lift of the fork that she made from the plate to her mouth.

Bedtime has become a game. It was only last week that he was sleeping while I breast fed and sang him one of my concocted lullabies; now I cannot get him to stay in one place. You see I figured it was more strategic for me to nurse him as he lay sideways on the bed and I sang to him. It is a close and intimate time for both of us it worked wonders the whole of last week, he was asleep in less than 15 minutes. However, last night, something new happened- he learnt to roll over from his back to his tummy… and my lullaby and juicy boobs cannot get him to stay still. So last night I let him crawl and roll and coo and giggle for 45 mins before I realized this could go on forever. So I switched of the main lights, switched on our nioght light and turned it so dim he could not see his fingers, I held him close to me and sang my lullaby in a whisper, so lightly he had to keep silent to hear what I was singing- he was out in 10 mins!

3 months!

Precious

I have hands!

First Words