Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mommy’s out there! This day couldn’t be possible for me if it weren’t for Isabella. So thank you, Bella for coming into the world and making me a mom. Being your mother has been the greatest joy in my life. And of course, a special thanks goes out to Jin for his contribution – albeit small – to the situation. I could never have done it with out you. 
This morning I awoke expecting it to be a regular day. But when I ventured downstairs (Bella was already awake with Daddy), I was warmly greeted with a vase-full of beautiful lilies (my favorite) and two special Mother’s Day cards, signed personally by Bella – with surprisingly legible penmanship, I might add.
Bella surprised me today with a wonderful mother’s day gift by accomplishing yet another new milestone. She finally said, “Mamma!” Sure, the circumstances surrounding this event were strange, but it no less detracted from the sentimental value of the moment:
We noticed that she had been straining throughout the day to have her daily poop. But when we smelled her rear for offensive odor, or checked her diapers, no goodies were to be found. By late afternoon, it became clear that she was constipated. She sat perched on her knees and strained but the grimace in her face told me she was not successful. She began whimpering and softly crying, mumbling under her breath.
When we checked her diaper again, a large fossilized nugget was lodged in her bum. We didn’t know what to do. No one had ever briefed us before on how to coax a hard bowel movement from your baby! Jin suggested using a Q-tip, an idea for which I still do not clearly understand. I quickly nixed his idea and gave her some fluids instead, hoping the extra liquid would help her deed. She stood up and braced herself on my shoulders and arms, pinching my skin by reflex as she strained some more. Her face turned bright red, her nostrils flared from straining and she started crying as little tears of pain rolled down her face. She was still whimpering in pain and mumbling, “Ba, ba, boo, boo, moo, mmoo, mmmaa, mmaammaa, mamma, mmamma, MAMMA!!” She said mamma!
I couldn’t believe my ears! Undeniably, she said mamma! In her moment of pain and suffering, she mumbled MY name – mamma – the one person in this world that she could always count on when she needed help (aside from dadda). I gently hugged her and wiped away her tears. Inside, I silently vowed to myself to do anything in my power to always help her in her time of need. The only problem was, I still had no idea how to help her poop.
In the end, we just waited things out and finally, a few hours later, Bella mustered up enough courage and strength to squeeze that little SOB out of her system. But what lingers in my memory is the sweet sound of her soft, little voice, crying for her MAMMA. Oh, the joys of Motherhood!! To all the wonderful mommies and mommies-to-be, Happy Mother’s Day!
0 comments:
Post a Comment