A time once travelled

Last night I was watching a French documentary show about women giving birth. It was an excellent documentary as it covered a lot of different situations. There was a woman in the middle of her labour who kept on laughing every time the midwife said push, push! Geez, she was practically laughing all through the labour process. The midwife even said she was the queen of “giving birth”. There was also a woman who was howling of pain, there was another who just had a blank look on her face you wouldn’t realize she was pushing. There were babies who were born premature, had respiratory problems, etc. My heart went to a baby boy who was born really healthy but the mother didn’t want him, she didn’t even look at him. The midwives took the baby away and put him on the list for adoption.

The saddest part was when there was a woman who gave birth (induced) to a dead baby. The camera wasn’t allowed inside the delivery room but you could hear the sobbing of the mother when the baby came out. I was overwhelmed with sadness when behind the closed doors of the delivery room you could hear the midwife saying, “Push madame, push, I could see the baby’s head now….ok, good work madame…” There was a short and intense silence. I was hoping to hear a baby’s cry, but there was none, just the sobbing of the mother. Apparently, it was a healthy pregnancy from the start, but at eight months and a half, the mother discovered that there was no movement in her belly and when she went to have a check-up it was too late… the foetus just stopped breathing. The doctors don’t know the reason. There was also a woman who wasn’t allowed to get pregnant because of her heart problem and did otherwise. By six months she was into daily monitoring and by seven they opened her up. The baby was really tiny, just over a kilo, but managed to stay alive through medical interventions.
I have never realized that pregnancy could be that hard or life-threatening for that matter. Maybe because my own personal experience proved otherwise, except of course of the pain. My mother has given birth seven times, three times at the hospital, four times at home. And with all the scientific and technological advancement, pregnancy and birthing should somehow come with minimal complications, if there is any. It is a natural process. After watching the show, I realized there is never guaranty in life… or giving life. 
I went to see David who at this time was sleeping tight and snoring like a pig. A few hours ago, we presented him his ninth month old cake. I watched him for a long time and found myself saying words of gratitude to the powers in heaven. I feel so lucky to have him and hope that one day he’ll feel the same for us as his parents.
Anyway, this is not supposed to be the main subject of this journal. I actually want to write something about his developments.
So, David is nine months old. He’s got four teeth. He has experienced his first Halloween and first Christmas. The past month we’ve encountered a lot of challenges and witnessed a lot of milestones. The last two weeks of November and the first two weeks of December were dominated by running nose, ear infection, teething, crying and sleepless nights. David has experienced a lot of falls, bumps and thuds as he turns himself around while sitting down, or when he tries to grab objects far from his reach or when runs around with his walker. He knows how to refuse by pushing away things he doesn’t like or not opening his mouth when he doesn’t want food anymore. He gets so frustrated and mad when he can’t reach his toys.
He has his few favourites: Barney music, the météo (weather channel), Tibère et la maison bleu (a children’s show), yoghurt, toilet (we call it the magic room), playing in the bath, pulling things out of cabinets and drawers. Every time I let him play in our bedroom, just a little minute over, the room looks like tsunamis have passed over. He likes banging things, the louder the better.
He screams when he is furious, still cries like a beaten puppy when scared and gives a deadly look when he is not contented with you. He sleeps all night without interruption but still wakes up so early, 5:30 in the morning, grrrr, grrrrr and grrrrrrrr!!!
He is like a real person now, you know when he is awake even if you don’t see him and you somehow miss him when he is asleep because the house just seems so quiet. If he is hungry and he happens to be in his walker, he goes to the kitchen crying. Or he gives a loud “dede, dede, dede”; meaning milk. 
He knows where to find things. He goes to corners in the house expecting that the things he saw yesterday would still be there today. After learning things through conditioning, unfortunately via accidents, he knows what not to touch. We have this thing in the kitchen to hang up our laundry, several times he was playing with it and it fell on him. Every time he approaches it now, he gives it a curious look, touches it gently and when it moves, he backs out. He understands my “no”. It was fascinating when it happened for the first time. I was boiling water and he tried to pull the cord out of the socket. I got so scared I screamed “noooooo!” I kneeled in front of him looked at him in the eyes and delivered my firm “no” several times accompanied by hand gestures. He was so surprised and I’m not sure shocked, that he stepped back and looked at me hard. I touched the cord, wiggled my index finger, shook my head and said no! I’m sure he understood. He ignores it now. I’m just waiting when he starts walking, I’m sure it’s another story. 
He drinks four bottles a day, eats breakfast, lunch and dinner. But feeding time is a terrible time. David doesn’t eat much. He nibbles his food and it takes him a long time to finish half of what’s on his plate. We have tried several ways to make him eat his food; the only way that works a little bit is the “airplane” technique. You know, you fly the spoon around with all the airplane sounds and land it in his mouth. He opens his mouth at every “landing sound”. Still he hardly finishes what’s on his plate. The only food he actually devours without much fuss is yoghurt. He could finish a pot, with matching piggy noises. And at the end gives a big burp. 
I have promised myself not to compare David to other babies, but I would prefer jotting it down here for remembrance sakes. David hasn’t done some things that other babies do such as rolling over his stomach back and forth and then eventually sit up. My brother’s son, Seth who is just six months old apparently can do that. Seth weighs nine kilos and very active. He rolls over his stomach and manages to sit up on his own. David on the other hand doesn’t do this. When he was less than five months old, he tried rolling over few times. But every time he was on his stomach he screamed. He hated it. By six months he could sit, but that’s only when we put him on that position. If we won’t he would actually just lie down turning side to side until he gets bored. Now he moves few inches here and there using his bottom, that is, while turning and turning. Time to time we make him practice crawling; a week ago he managed to crawl a bit but going backwards. 
However, I’m not in the least concern if he doesn’t do things other babies his age do, as long as I see he is ok. As they said, each child is different. As long as we see David developing normally in his own ways, I guess that’s ok.