Changing the baby? The Baby Changes You.

Warning to my single, childless, not-expecting-babies friends:
The following excerpt of Mediha and Nadia’s IM’ing may result in inducing extreme boredom and incomprehension among you. If you find your eyes glazing over and drool trickling down your chin, please click on the ‘Back’ button and continue surfing for whatever it is you Happening Singles surf for.

diha_mahmood: babies are expensive, kan
nadiazaabar: no kidding
diha_mahmood: and we're not even thinking of the kindergarten tuition fees, school costs, university fees bla bla bla yet
nadiazaabar: we calculated how much we spent on baby's stuff....wow it was a lot - considering we got lots of hand me downs!
diha_mahmood: i know what you meannnn!!!! i bet you, credit card companies LOVE it when we get pregnant...
nadiazaabar: no kidding!!! justin and i even went to check prices at discount places like fajar, etc
diha_mahmood: hah! we did that toooo
nadiazaabar: pehhhh, difference pun berapa sen je.... serupa tak payah ...we even went to warehouse sales, that helped us a lot. oh have u stocked up on diapers yet?
diha_mahmood: heheheh.... (sheepish) no ... just bought SOME.
nadiazaabar: for newborns, on top of mamy poko which can get too mahal for frequent usage, hazel suggests anakku or pureen diapers S size. Omar is going through an average of 13 diapers a day and raiyan abt 12. so yikesssss!
diha_mahmood: whatttttttttttttttttt???????????? how often do these babies poop la weii??
nadiazaabar: pretty much after each feeding laaa weiii .. kan breastmilk easily digested. u gotta change after every pee and poop. even if its the size of a 5 cent coin
diha_mahmood: and how come diapers costs more than sanitary pads.... AND adult diapers? giler la... so mahal
nadiazaabar: buy the economy sized ones....and make sure they dont cost more than 45 cents a piece. if not might as well buy small sized mamay poko.... hehehehe courtesy of my hubby
diha_mahmood: hehehehe lucky you, o’wife of accountant! he does the research! so, mamy poko, pureen or anakku eh? what did you stock up on?
nadiazaabar: for 1st 1 week - while unbilical cord still on, mamy poko
diha_mahmood: okay.... got that. though from what u just told me, i think we stocked up on newborn mamy poko for the duration of exactly 4 days only... nadiazaabar: then after that anakku & pureen diapers...for frequent usage. the front says Basic Pureen / Basic Anakku. hazel has been using those and nat too and they said minimal leakage
diha_mahmood: fabulous! great to have mommy-friends. all this valuable information
nadiazaabar: and then as time goes by see lah what suits baby's needs.... like hazel she uses different diapers for day, night and going out
diha_mahmood: Wow... really?
nadiazaabar: i think we will all resort to that pun
diha_mahmood: No wonder they make diaper bags so darn HUGE and no wonder some of my friends have a trunkload of diapers in their car! ....learn something new every day...
nadiazaabar: u know now ...... :))
diha_mahmood: Can u belive Nadia Zaabar and Mediha Mahmood are having a lengthy conversation on diapers??? :)) I'd never have foreseen this a couple of years ago :D
nadiazaabar: heheheeheh it's interesting lahh weiii
diha_mahmood: yeahhh... interesting NOW! This time last year, we'd have balked at such a topic! Heheheh
nadiazaabar: that is so true. well last year we were talking abt marriage
diha_mahmood: We've happily slipped into married life nicely, haven't we? :D InsyaAllah, we'll slip into motherhood just as easily

Honestly, I still find it amusing how being pregnant has changed my relationship with my friends. Especially those who are my fellow travelers on this ‘mommyhood journey’.

We used to spend time IM’ing about work grouses like how bosses should NOT be female and menopausal, how colleagues should be banned from humming Pussycat Dolls ‘Don’t Cha’ while working, how disgusting it is to have to work on Sundays etc.

We spent some of our chat time on gossiping about mutual friends and keeping up with who got married to whom.

We chat about our beloved husbands and how interesting married life can be.
We even find time to chat about current issues and exchange brilliant opinions and ideas about how to Change The World.

Then we peed on a stick and saw the blue line appear and everything changed.

Now, 99.99% of our time is spent chatting about The Baby.
And topics or issues that we would have found gruesomely dull just 10 months ago, are now sooooo extremely fascinating. I find myself Googling search terms like ‘labor signs’, ‘breastfeeding in public’ and ‘newborn poo’.

My friends who already have children are mercilessly drilled by me with questions ranging from ‘How has your relationship with your husband changed since the baby came?’ and ‘Are Enid Blyton books still recommendable for children these days?’

My friends who are pregnant find each other excitedly sharing information that would make our swinging bachelor friends cringe and roll their eyes.

The babies aren’t even born yet and they’re already the centre of our universe!

I can’t imagine the kind of conversations Nadia & I will have next year.
We’ll just go with the flow…

Everything passes. Everything changes. Just do what you think you should do.
Bob Dylan (1941 - ), "To Ramona"