F is for Fantastic Feeling of Firsts of the Firstborn!

Too many F’s? But these are the most glorious ones in life.

The first time she cried as she came out of me! It took some 30 seconds for her to cry and I literally was so scared for those 30 odd seconds. Even though the doctors told me that crying is not really required, it was after all a cliché.

The first time I got to know what an Apgar score was! APGAR is basically Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity and Respiration. So from here is where we start rating our kids: P

The first time she fed from me! Aah! It took time and patience (which I didn’t have after 19 hours of labor). Nothing is more satisfying than knowing that you can feed your own baby.

The first time she pooped! Oh everything is a miracle when it comes to your own creation. What we are told that even though it is disgusting looking black, it is normal and it means the baby is healthy and perfect!

The first time she came home! It was such a proud moment for us. I guess this is the point where everything sunk in for us too… We were now parents and this was a huge deal and the baby was coming back to us with no doctors or nurses for help! Thank God for Grandma!
The first time she smiled. Oh maybe it was gas as they say infants under 3 months don’t smile. But who cares, we called the paparazzi out to click many pictures
The first time she got her shots for immunization. She didn’t cry as we were expecting her to. Brave little girl.
The first time she got on an aeroplane. 3 months is too young to be at such altitudes. But she did it and her paranoid parents with tonnes and tonnes of baggage (Unrequired Essentials for the baby) also made it through!
The first time she turned over. We almost pushed her over I think. Over eager as I was to get this milestone ticked because she was in her 4^th month. It’s debatable whether her first was her first or the second was her first here: D
The first time she said something in a language other than baby talk. It was ‘Thatha’ which stands for ‘Grandpa’ in Telugu  Now here is the milestone we bragged about. She is an utter chatterbox from even way before she turned 1. Though it does create some minor headaches sometimes, but let mommy not be mean here.
The first time she ate solid food. The expression on her face was telling us, ‘Hey Mommy, you are going in the wrong direction with that spoon, shouldn’t it go in your mouth!’ Oh! There is a whole story for foods and first foods. That is for another day another time.
The first time she started crawling. Oh that ringed a bell in the parents minds, where is your childproofing? We looked around the house and everything looked reachable, sharp, poisonous or hot!
Sigh!
The first time she started walking. That took time. She would hold things and walk. But independent walking came a little later. So the panic-at-everything-baby-related mommy started panicking. But walk she did at 14 months. Not too late as I would think in retrospection! And as soon as she started walking, she also started running! Now I could see light at the end of my weight-reduction tunnel!



I could go on and on about the firsts and the magical feelings we had as first time parents. It’s a roller coaster ride the first year, each milestone hit is an achievement for us and the baby. Now these firsts will never return. After all, we are only going to be first time parents just once in life. Aah! So precious.

Obviously all babies go through these milestones and after a certain time, I know it doesn’t matter in the long run. Obviously, as a first time parent, I fretted before the milestones were achieved, as each milestone came with a time period within which they needed to be achieved. Some took time and some came way early. Some kids rolled over early or walked early or talked early but that doesn’t mean anything after a certain age.
But to me these were personal achievements. Thank God, for all the cameras and handy-cams which have stored these memories for us, forever.

(This is from my article in Parentous.com and I just had to have this for the letter F)