Now you have the baby - no need for anybody else?

Same lady today told me some things that made me thinking...
...again... it seems she really makes me thinking a lot...

Here is what she said:
- Once the baby is there you love him so much that you don't need anybody else, isn't it?
- Once your baby is born you love him so much that you love your husband less and become more distant to him, isn't it?

No, It isn't!

My family and their advise and support are just as important to me than before and without them Mesut and me would be totally lost.
The relation between me and my husband has become so much stronger because of what we have lived together. He held my hands and made dua for me while I was screaming like crazy trying to push that baby out.
We lived moments together which were so intense we never imagined possible.
We did that together, so we can do anything together!

Thank you for everything ya Usamati.
Alhamdoulilah!!!

We are there for you, there for eachother..

While on my research about the last post I found these wonderful words that I totally had to share:

A Muslim mother is available to her child. A Muslim father is available to his child. We know that with parent-child attachment comes the emotional security that is necessary for developing a healthy inner self-confidence. The message we want to get across to our child is, "If you have a problem, come to me. If you are afraid, tell me about it. If you are lonely, I am here." We are not interested in cultivating independence before the child is ready for it.

http://www.themodernreligion.com/family/bed.html

That is exactly what I want to give our child on his way:
we are your parents and we love you, what ever might happen,
we are there for you whenever you need us,
we are there for you to protect you and guide you and love you.

I don't believe it to be beneficial to push a child away as soon as possible, I don't think that helps a child to become strong and independent.
I believe by being there for a child when he needs us (babies need us all the time) makes them feel loved and secure, secure enough to go out on their own to discover the new world around them, knowing that if something happens they are not alone and if they fall we will be there to catch them.

co-sleeping - the islamic perspective

Well, I started to think and finally research about that after our neighbour came over today. Our neighbour is an old lady who is actually just few years older than my mommy and she comes to visit my mother in law a lot, daily almost. Since Mesut is with us she comes to see him too and never misses to give some comment:
- ah, when ever I see him sleeping you are holding him, he should sleep alone.
- what he sleeps with you in the same bed? you will kill him because you will roll on top of him while sleeping!
- ...
I don't intend to comment on these statements now and when she is talking I just nod and smile...
Usually I will forget what she said after about 5 minutes, but today she kept me busy for quite some time and even made me google!
She said:
- You should not sleep with your baby in the same bed, it is HARAM (forbidden in Islam)!
This sentence turned all my lights on!
once because I could not imagine that this was true and twice because to say something is actually haram is a big thing and comes with the risk of loading a sin on the one who states something haram that is halal (allowed in islam).
I asked her who said that and she said it was written in the holy Quran..
Well, anyway her statement stayed in my head and made me research:
Alltough in Quran or Sunnah there is no statement about co-sleeping as such, children should sleep seperately once they reach "the age of reason" which is according to the Hadith narrated in Abu Dawud about 10 years.
"Order your children to observe Salat when they reach the age of seven and spank them for not observing it when they reach the age of ten, and arrange their beds (for sleeping) separately." (Abu Dawud)
some define the age of reason as the age once the child knows what is his right and what is his left hand.
So there is totally no restriction about having your baby sleep in the same bed as his parents, in fact it is only beneficial for the baby (decreased risk of sudden infant death, less waking in the night and therefor better sleep without crying), for the mother (more sleep) and for the relation between them. Even for the father-baby relation it is very beneficial that both feel the proximity during the night and be greeted by a smile first thing in the morning.

don't think, just listen to the others... really?

Everybody knows whats good for your baby,
and for you...
just you don't know it...
why?
because your a first time mom!
So just stop, or better:
don't even start thinking and just do what they'll tell you to do. And they'll tell you A LOT, unfortunately they tell you all different things that make you so confused that you have no other choice but to start thinking yourself..
and thats only were the whole thing starts!

And because I was loaded with advise, I would feel shy if I couldn't give some advise back:
Don't listen!
At least don't listen to 95% of what they tell you!
Why? Because they don't know anything?
No! Because they advise about THEIR baby, not about YOUR baby. And every baby is different and only YOU know YOUR baby.

My second piece of advise:
Listen to your heart, your mind and your instinct. Believe in yourself and in the mother in you.

There was a time I was going crazy thinking about what I shall do with the baby, was I doing it right, and more importantly, were the OTHERS thinking that I was doing it right?

Then there was some point when I said to myself:
you will get 1000 advises about the same subject telling you 1000 different things to do. Listen to them all, smile and nod. Then go, ask Allah to guide you and just follow your heart and your mind.

It took me three months to come to this conclusion and even now it is very hard to apply, very hard to not feel evaluated by others.
"Oh, she does it differently than I did, that cannot be right!"

What helped me:
knowing that my husband thinks I am a good mom and believes in me,
having my mom sharing the same opinion,
and once I figuered out what parenting style was close to mine, find mothers with similar ideas to support you.
(I found mine at kellymom.com)

as time is passing, live is changing...

Well, I've had a baby... three months ago actually..
But I didn't only have had a baby, I've had a whole new beginning, a whole new start into a new live..

 There is so much to tell, so much to say that I don't even know were to start... thats maybe why I had been silent for so long...
Mesut was born on the 15th of July, on a sunday ten minutes before midnight while it was raining outside, like it had been raining all week.
It was hard, crazy hard even but my husband was there with me so together we were strong enough.
People say the moment you see your baby, all the pain is forgotten, well for me that didn't happen! But the love and the joy that comes after the pain (or after the first 6 weeks) is unbelievable, unexplainable.
Maybe later Ill talk more about how I felt back then and how I feel now...

Pregnancy - coming to an end

Our baby boy is on his way inshallah, only 3 days until his due day..

To keep the past 9 months better in memory I decided to kinda summarize my pregnancy:
All in all I would say that my pregnancy has beed surprisingly easy and pretty much free of any uncomfortable sympthoms.
The first three months have been probably the most uncomfortable, I was very sensitive to smells, could eat only certain food (like spaghetti with tomatoes or apple with yogurt) and felt quite tired and exhausted.
The second trimester has been lovely, I stayed at home and had enough time to exercise, take a rest and just enjoy feeling babys movements becoming stronger and stronger.
In the beginning of the third trimester my doctor diagnosed me with gestational diabetes and put me on a very strict diet. I had gained 12 kg only within the 5th and 6th month of pregnancy, so thanks to my new diet my weight gain slowed down again.
Since my 31th week of pregnancy I am in germany which has not been very beneficial for my diet, but about 4 weeks ago my doctor rechecked on my gestational diabetes and said all my results were totally fine, so it seems the gestational diabestes is gone, al hamdoulilah! I am still watching what I eat but by far not as strict as when I was on my diet.
Although in the third trimester I started to feel more uncomfortable (back and hip pain, reflux etc.) I really enjoyed my pregnancy a lot and don't feel I had to suffer or work to hard for our baby boy. Alhamdoulilah!
Here in germany I took quite some classes on birth preparation, first aid, taking care of a new born and alternative/natural medication for children. Twice a week I had an appointment with my midwifes to check on me and the baby.
At 37 weeks of pregnancy the baby still had not turned so I went to an specialized hospital and some after checkups, the doctor recommended an external version of the baby, which was successful and totally painless, alhamdoulilah again!
During this whole pregnancy I have gained 23 Kg, which I feel totally comfortable with and hope to loose again soon after our baby boy has arrived.

Now at the very end of this pregnancy I am just totally ready to have this baby! I am having a lot of contractions and babys head is already deep in my pelvis, just waiting for his daddy to come out :)

I have been very blessed with having an amazing husband and father for my child who supported me all through my pregnancy and raised my spirit when I felt fat and stressed, who enabled me to relax and stay home focusing on me and the baby,
and with having had a very easy and wonderful pregnancy.
Alhamdoulilah!

My pregnancy so far..

How far along? 31 weeks and 4 days
Total weight gain: 25 pounds/11,4 Kg
Maternity clothes? pants only maternity, tops mixed
Stretch marks? none
Sleep: great
Best moment this week: first birth preparation class
Miss anything? my husband :)
Movement: a lot
Food cravings: none
Anything making you queasy or sick: grilled/fried/cooked salmon
Gender: boy
Labor signs: few braxton hicks contractions
Symptoms: sometimes hip pain
Belly button in or out? out
Wedding rings on or off? on
Happy or moody most of the time: mostly happy
Looking forward to: so many things, all the classes i am going to take, feeling the baby, my husband.. and I am really excited for the baby to be born, but hopefully not very soon..