Little Z's BIG First Day

I (Zeena) am going to try to be specific on this blog entry- particularly for those first time moms who intend to go through this process at some point. I will admit it's been quite stressful on many levels. My first thought when we brought her back to our room was "What have we done! We have no idea what we are doing!". I think Azeem has settled into parenthood emotionally faster than myself.


For the first few hours all she did was cry. She wouldn't even look us in the face for fear of realizing she had not idea who we are. Finally after a few hours she latched on to a toy, ate a few bites and relaxed just a bit. In fact we saw a little smiling when we played some music and she moved to the beat. A dancer we think!

Around 9pm last night she took most of her bottle and actually fell asleep and slept for 12 FULL hours! It was crazy. We actually had to wake her up in the morning. Today has been better. The winy crying has reduced, she ate a full day full of meals, pooped twice (I think this is normal??) and smiled a lot more. It's like watching a turtle emerge from a shell. Every once in a while she looks at me and grabs at certain features, like she is learning my face. Other times she grabs on super tight as has no desire to look at who she is grabbing on to. We can literally see her grieving in front of our eyes. We got a good taste of this grief at dinner tonight when she WAILED uncontrollably, while mommy cried with her. I must say we feel quite responsible for her grief- taking her from her home she knows and loves. But then she smiles and we realize that this is part of the bonding process. It's quite amazing.

By the way, there is some wonderful shopping in this area around our hotel (The Kenilworth). Pantaloons is amazing for kids stuff! We got 20 items (clothes/ diapers) for equivalent of $100. So I recommend to any Dillon mom to wait to do major shopping until you get here. We put her in the baby bjorn and it made for a good adventure. Easy 7 min walk away- though it is the streets of India so walk carefully!

We're including as many pics as possible. I need to sign off now as I'm exhausted. I am beginning to understand this whole "tired mother" thing.

PS We got the visa thing done. It was quite easy as the paperwork from Delhi arrived quickly. She is ready to go home! We will wait until Friday though- we feel we all need the adjustment time.