Sleeping pattern

From the day my grand-daughter was born, she is a light sleeper and also very difficult to fall asleep and the sleep is very short, usually about 1/2 an hour during the day. At night she falls asleep after 11pm and sometimes even after midnight. She gets up for her feed once after that and then sleep until morning.

One afternoon I watched her sleeping and many thoughts transpired. I felt it is the most peaceful time when she is asleep. Occasionally a smile appears momentarily. She looked so beautiful then. The fingers too moved on and off and also her mouth moved as though she is sucking milk. Then I began to realise that she is not in deep sleep as she also turns her head left to right. She is very restless but once she passed this phase she goes into deep sleep. That is when all the movements stopped except her breath. The first part happens between the first half hour. Therefore if she is not attended too during this phase, she will get up. However if she can get to the next phase, then only will she be able to sleep much longer, between one to two hours.

The first month

It was indeed a very trying period for us. For my daughter she needed to recover after a very difficult delivery. She was unable to deliver the baby and the doctor had suggested doing a caeserean. However since my daughter did not respond the doctor decided to try vacuuming. It worked. The baby weighed 3.67kg.

As this is my daughter's first baby, she was inexperienced and hence relied on books and friends to help her to understand the baby's behaviour, her sleeping pattern and feeding requirements. My grand-daughter did not sleep much during the day which is contrary to the norm. We had a difficult time putting her to sleep. She also needed more milk than is recommended for babies of her age. At night she gets up once or twice for feed.

My daughter also employed a "confinement lady" whose duties are to help her to bathe the baby, cook for her and to assist with looking after the baby day and night. However, my wife and I had a difficult time with this lady, especially her speech. On one hand she claims to be a simple person with simple needs and on the other hand she will ask us to buy specific stuffs for her own consumption. As we had to assist in buying the groceries and food, she will call us to tell us what is required. The following is to illustrate what transpired.

1. She eats only chicken wings. Hence once we bought a whole chicken she made adversed comments until my wife could not stand it any longer, told her that the chicken is not meant for you alone but for everyone in the house. A price check at the supermarket indicated that for chicken parts, the most expensive is chicken wings!

2. She wants to drink coffee but it had to be Nescafe with the red label.

3. She tells us not to buy brocolli from China but from Australia. What is the difference we asked her. Brocolli from China is harder than those from Australia.

It was indeed a very difficult month for my wife and me. We came to the point of even avoiding visiting our grand-daughter unless necessary. We went only when we had to deliver the groceries. That was indeed a very long month for us.

For the "confinement lady" her one month does not mean 30-31 days but exactly 4 weeks or 28 days from the day she reported for duty.

On the positive note she did helped my daughter during this first difficult month. Perhaps having an experienced person around to handle the baby extrude confidence.

First view

That is how she appeared before my eyes the first time I saw her through the window. What struck me most was the abundant hair and the rosy cheeks. She was sleeping peacefully

This is my newly born grand-daughter, her first day outside the mother's womb.

Reflecting

I recalled the time when my daughter was about to deliver her baby. I normally switched off my cell-phone at night but left it on during that period. Then late at night on 2 November 2004 I heard the beep on the cell-phone that I had been waiting for. I woke up, read the message and informed my wife that they were on the way to the hospital. At last our first grandchild was about to be born! We were very excited and could hardly sleep.

The next morning the time seems to pass so slowly. I kept waiting for the phone to ring, eagerly waiting for the good news but it was not forthcoming. Many thoughts transpired like was it a difficult delivery, perhaps some problem cropped up or how was my daughter dealing with the delivery of her first child. The wait was agonizing. I could not call them as their cell-phone had to be switched off at the hospital. I felt hopeless. There was nothing I could do but wait. Silently I prayed for both mother and child. I prayed for my daughter's successful delivery. I was eagerly waiting to greet my first grandchild.

Finally my son-in-law called to inform that the baby came out into this world just after 1.30pm. So now I could go to the hospital to visit them. I could not wait. I had to go and so I went with my wife. When we arrived we could not find them in the ward. On making inquiries, we discovered that they were still in the delivery room, resting. In our eagerness we came too early! We were not allowed in the delivery room and had to wait until they were transferred to the room in the ward.

As my daughter needed rest, the baby was kept in the nursery room. My son-in-law took us there but for security reasons, we were not allowed inside. We had to stand outside a glass window and the nurse inside the nursery drew the curtain and there she was bundled with only the face exposed and sleeping peacefully. My first view of my grand-daughter! The joy and happiness flowed through me. At last I became a grandfather.

About Grandchild

Today I read about Jack Nicklaus, the great golf legend, whose grandson drowned in a hot tub last Tuesday. The grandson was named Jake. Jack Nicklaus is intending to compete at the US Masters but he said his chances of playing the Masters are "between slim and none". My deepest condolence to Jack Nicklaus and his family.

Obviously, as a grandpa, he is very sad over the lost of his grandson. I can understand how he feels as I, too, have a grand-daughter. I am sincerely overwhelmed with joy since she was born. From day one I see her grow, play with her, talk to her and attending to her needs. I teached her to smile when I see her in the morning, telling her that is her morning greetings to me, the grandpa. When she smile I am so happy.

She is just over four months now. If only I had started this blog earlier, I could have captured the many joyous occasions we had together. Anyway from now on I will record the memorable moments and when she is able to read I will share with her the memoirs.