My little bundle of unexpectations
Last time baby Zuri was recovering from a bout of jaundice, a few days after she had been born. Now she is perfectly healthy to go home, with the instructions that she must sun bathe for about an hour every morning between 10am and 11.30am, when the sun is not too hot. The sun bathing is to make sure that not only does the jaundice go away but she receives sufficient vitamin D to avoid rickets. The basking should go on until she’s old enough to receive its benefits while having fun-playing outside with other children.
I pick the little girl dressed in white and wrapped in a white shawl with pink teddy-bear patterns, as my sister finalizes the packing and drags herself to the shower. The sleeping baby looks so peaceful and beautiful. I’m too engrossed studying Zuri’s face to notice my sister is back, dressed and ready to go.
About an hour later, Isaac, Tracy’s hubby, carries the luggage to the driveway. Zuri is wrapped in her blanket and I get aunt’s privilege, of not only carrying her downstairs but all the way to the house. As we walk to the car, I make sure that the sun does not reach Zuri’s eyes. The bandages just came off this morning and her eyes are still adjusting to light. Thus the need to shield them from the bright harshness.
Well, I am officially moving back into my sister’s house to help her with the baby as the house help is new and still learning the ropes.
I’m impressed by the well kept home. The baby’s Moses basket is sitting on coach in the living room. As I carefully place Zuri in it, I get to realize just how tiny and fragile she is. It is such a task. But I manage. That is followed by joyful chit chat, and Isaac soon announcing that he has to go to work and asks to leave. Tracy, on the other hand, confesses that she is tired and shuffles to the bedroom for a nap. That leaves the house help making lunch in the kitchen and Zuri in my care.
I sit there drooling at the sleeping beauty imagining how breezy caring for Zuri would be-until she wakes up, screaming her tiny lungs off. Who would have ever thought babies had such powerful cries? I pick her up, which calms her a bit. Still whimpering, I take her to her mother. I feel a bit guilty waking Tracy up, as she had said she was tired. But for baby’s sake, I have no choice but to cut short her well deserved sleep. ‘Welcome to motherhood: I say as she takes Zuri. She breast-feeds her, which seems to do the magic; because the crying fizzles off. I suppose the hunger pangs had really upset her. At this point, I have already had my diaper-change lesson. So when Tracy eventually asks me to check her diaper and change her if it’s soiled, I am fully armed.
After changing baby, I take her back to the sitting room with me and we have a bonding session of sorts that puts her to sleep fast. Her mother has warned me against carrying her when she is asleep so she can get used to sleeping in the Moses basket-not people’s arms. I obediently put her in the basket and place it next to me. I have been watching one of my favourite series on DVD. I relax, put on the DVD and watch away while baby Zuri enjoys her slumber.
When my sister joins me for lunch, she has a surprise for me. ‘I have been thinking about what to do with Zuri because she has not been sleeping like most babies. She tends to be awake at night. Since Isaac has to wake up early to go to work and when I wake up at night to be with her gets me really tired, you are going to help take care of her: she starts off. Of course I already know this. The shock on me is in her next statement: ‘You will be staying up with Zuri till late at night when she’s wake until around 2am or 3am so that Isaac and I can take over …’
END: BL 33/28-29