This article is also available in: 日本語
Hi,
It’s Mizuki.
It has been 100 days since Emma, my daughter, was born. I feel the days went by so fast. I was very surprised when I noticed the drastic change in her face and chubby body, compared with newborn her in the pictures.
In the first month, Jeff and I had sleepless nights and thought, “We will never be able to have enough sleep…” From the second months, thankfully Emma started sleeping longer at nights. Now I do breastfeeding only one time or none at nights. I am getting a lot better with breastfeeding now, and I don’t need to use formula anymore which is another great news.:)
The only difficulty I faced as a mother in wheelchair was that I cannot carry Emma and move around as quickly as I would like by myself. We all need to hold a baby with both arms tightly until the baby can hold her/his head up. However, if I use both arms to hold Emma, I cannot push my wheelchair which means I cannot go anywhere with her.
Of course I cannot go out with Emma, and I cannot move for a short distance inside of house. So I always needed to ask someone to carry Emma if I want to. Now she is able to hold her head up and her body is much stronger. Therefore I can hold her with one arm, and use the other arm to move my wheelchair at home. When I go out with Emma, I use a baby sling to hold her and control my power chair by one hand which let me go to many places where even have uphill and downhill.
You may think those are small things, but to me, the changes are huge. Now I feel so happy and accomplished. I assume more challenges would come when Emma starts moving more and more by herself, though I just need to figure some solutions out one by one.
Here, I would like to look back the last 100 days and share some memorable events with you.
June
The first father’s day. Thank Jeff papa as always!
Emma received her 1 month health checkup and was able to go out. Our first taking a walk in the park.
1st month photography. She wasn’t happy. Hahaha.
July
We decorated and celebrated Tanabata. Emma loved looking at the decoration as it swung by the wind.
Omiyamairi at Kameido shrine. It was the first long distance trip for Emma. She slept well on the way to the shrine, and cried little bit on the way back home. She was a really good girl.
2 month photography. Emma was wearing a lovely dress from our friend in the States.
We were able to take a walk together!
August
Now she is very good at holding her head up. Her smile makes us so happy!
3 months photography. She is a big girl!
Okuizome. She was already interested in food. Let’s eat lots of yummy food together (when she is a little bit older)!
100th day photography. Her weight is 7010g (15.45lbs) and height is 61cm (2ft 0.2in). Thank you, Emma, for growing up healthily.
Emma showed only sleeping face and crying face in the beginning, but started showing smiles and reactions with her voice more and more nowadays. Jeff and I are glad and grateful that Emma has been healthy and growing up every single day.
It’s also 100 days after Jeff and I became father and mother. We will be better parents through a trial and error process.
At last, we appreciate any advice and useful items from parents in wheelchair. Please feel free to leave a comment or send us a message!
