I am 3 months old! Whatever happened before this..

Nur Insyirah Balqis is now 3 months 1 week old. Life in this world is beginning to make some sense to her. and she is also giving her mom (ME) some respite. She is settling into some kind of routine and is beginning to sleep better (ie not waking up every 10 min).

BB (Baby Balqis) was conceived in July 2008. Her presence in mommy's womb was much celebrated by her immediate family members. An additional family member. A blessing from Allah. A precious gift.

Morning sickness was horrible. Her mom was barely living for like 3 months. She lost 4kgs thruout the 3 months, but BB was growing well despite her mom throwing everything up. Alhamdulillah. Her mom was always anxious and looked forward to every fortnightly scan and felt relieved everytime the gynae said 'Ok very good!'.

The rest of the pregnancy was normal, alhamdulillah. BB started gaining weight at an exponential rate when her mom reached 3rd trimester. From 1.5kg, she reached a whopping 2.2kg in 3wks time, and maintained that rate for the rest of the pregnancy, despite her mom not eating that much.

One day, when she was 39 wks old in gestation, her mom came down with diarrhoea, and that prompted irregular contractions. BB was detected to be in some distress, so her mom was induced. Her mom went through 23 hours of labour pains before the gynae decided that BB wasn't going to go down the birth canal. BB was delivered by Caeserian section with general anaesthesia on 24th Mar at 5pm. She weighed a whooping 3.925kg, quite a bulky figure as her height was only 49cm.

Because of the general anaesthesia, her mom did not get to see BB lifted out of the womb. Her mom did not get to hear her first cry too. BB was ushered into the NICU because of her low oxygen level. When her mom gained consciousness soon after the surgery, she didn't get to see BB until 20 hrs later. Her mother saw BB the first time through a picture taken with a camera phone.

Fastforward three months later.

BB got her passport done. BB now weighs 6.1kg, an acceptable weight. What can BB do now?

When BB is placed on a mattress with half her body inclined on a pillow, she can pull her body up using her stomach muscles up to a few cm off the pillow.

When grasping on someone's finger, she can lift herself up to a sitting position, and then to a standing position. But not very long.

BB loves talking. Loves it when people look at her straight in the eye and talk to her.

BB is happiest when she wakes up in the morning. She smiles a lot even when people don't talk to her.

BB can grasp a few toys now. BB is beginning to explore the sense of touch by touching things around her.

BB has not much memory of places. When she goes into a room, she will have a good look around the place like she has never been there. Even though she may have left the room like an hour ago.

BB doesn't have stranger anxiety yet. She clearly prefers those she is familiar with, but doesn't mind anyone holding her, which is a good break for her parents.