Tag Archives: newborn

Paying it forward

When I gave birth to my son, it was a sure thing I will be delivering my baby via c-section. I had the best support because my twin sister flew in with her entire family, so did my mom and my brother.

Gino, my brother did the sweetest thing for me. He donated his blood (and it was his very first blood extraction). In case I needed blood for my operation I needed a standby with the same blood type. Monique also did the sweetest thing for Josh… She gave her breast milk to my son when my milk was still not yet flowing. My mom was a super blessing… She bathed me, dressed my operation wound, and assisted me like a professional care giver. Steve took care of all admin details and stood by me all the way. I had the love and support of family.
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I also understand the difficulties a first time mom has on her first month. Thus, I have a desire to help my friends who are first time moms. Its sort of a “pay it forward ministry” because I received so much blessing, love, and support on my first time.

My friend Jade is a first time mommy and gave birth to her first baby this September. Her natural birth plan turned out to be an emergency CS. Though it seemed frustrating that plans changed, but God meant it for good. Her son is a healthy good looking 6 lbs little boy!

Jade calls me that she was stressed and needed support on how to care for her little one. So, we made arrangements with a midwife to teach her the basics of caring for a newborn baby. I also made myself available to encourage her to breast feed.

Like any new mom, you don’t get much sleep. Jade, her mom, and her baby had been pretty much awake all night. Our first project was to swaddle her baby, then for him to latch, get him some good morning sun, bathe and latch again.

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I was so excited to witness and assist her baby’s first successful latch! Jade is blessed because she has milk and even if she is inverted, we were able to find a way for her baby to latch! It encouraged her so much. Also it means she can say good bye to the formula milk that made her baby’s poo hard for a 3 day old baby.

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It just proved to me that nothing is impossible if you really want to breast feed. Unlike Jade, I had no milk. But I did not give up. In a matter of days, Joshua’s latch stimulated the production of my milk. By God’s grace, Im still breastfeeding for the past 9 months!

Jade’s baby first bath at home was also a joy to watch and assist. My son’s newborn clothes were also loaned to them. What a blessed Sunday the day was for all of us.

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I’m blessed because Jayden is a miracle baby. He was delivered via emergency CS because his fetal heartbeat was dropping due to delivery distress. But today he is looking more like a good looking bundle of joy and getting a lot of nourishment from his very dedicated mommy. Congratulations Mommy Jade!

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Red, Black, and White

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When I was younger, I loved Arts and Crafts. I liked to paint, use pastel colors, and imagine art work. But as you get older, you usually don’t work on those projects anymore, and you certainly get rusty. In fact, it kindda blinds your artistic eyes.

When I was preparing the baby room, it was my friend Amanda, who asked if I had made a crib mobile (hanging moving toys) for Joshua. I told her, “no”. It was because I was too lazy to make those hanging toys and it would again require for me to work with my hands and conceptualize what to make. Newborns are fascinated with red, black, and white colors since their eyesight are still developing. Amanda, suggested that I try making a mobile with those colors. What I did instead was buy a mobile with colors that were dominant on red, white and black. Like I said, I was too lazy make one, so I bought.

Just a week ago, another girlfriend of mine, Jill, came to see me and I showed her the baby room. She told me again that Joshua’s brain stimulation is increased if I put red, black, and white designs on the ceiling. She told me, it is easy because all I needed to do was buy cartolina paper and cut out designs and stick it on the ceiling. She was the second person who insisted I get into the red, black and white brain stimulation thingy.

This time around, I did not have an excuse… I now need to get my hands dirty and work on something artistic. So, I went to National Bookstore and bought the cartolina paper, paste, and double sided tape. When I got home I looked at the ceiling, and boy did the ceiling above his crib suddenly feel so long and wide. I felt overwhelmed with the project.

I began cutting circles, triangles, squares, rectangles. It was an exercise that was unlocking my childhood artistic eyes. Once you start, you can really get glued to it. The most difficult part was sticking the design on the ceiling. It made me wonder the geniuses of Michaelangelo and his counterparts when they were painting ceilings. I was getting disoriented a lot when I was putting the design on the ceiling.

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Finally, I stuck the design up on the ceiling. Its not perfect, alright… but it is worth the shot. The most priceless scene I enjoy is seeing my little one staring interestingly on the artwork I have made. This makes me feel like an accomplished mommy artist. That is what matters most to me now… I can now say that it is true that mothers would go out of their comfort zone and do things that are good for their babe.
The stimulating ceiling