Sunday, July 31, 2011

Another 31 more days...

...then I will be back to work. :(

I don't understand why my days are always packed. There are so many things that I need to do...
1 - I haven't complete my massage sessions yet.
2 - Need to tell mom how to prepare the papaya fish-head soup for me.
3 - I have not prepare & send out the gift intended for Jonna.
4 - I need to sort out my wardrobe and do some personal shopping (for clothes, shoes and facial care).

Am gonna schedule a day or two to sort out my wardrobe and do some personal shopping, in preparation for my return to work.

Speaking about shopping, we went to the Isetan Baby Fair and Taka Baby Fair today. The items sold at the Taka Baby Fair is almost the same as the one held earlier this year.
At the Isetan Fair, the most worth-for-money purchase we made was the pigeon brand tops for huat zai. You know what, most of his clothes we bought for him are outsizing him; some of which he haven't even worn it once. :x
I don't know why but the bill from both purchases at Isetan & Taka totalled up to $180+ too.. just like the first time I went to the Taka Fair.
Basically for this shopping trip, we bought him some clothes for home wear, wet wipes with hard-cover, Avent size 3 teats, nursing cover, HUGGIES pampers, plastic sheets for baby, breast pads and cotton wool.

Friday, July 29, 2011

my milk supply.

My blocked ducts finally cleared with the completion of the antibiotics prescribed by the GP. However, I do notice a decrease in my milk supply especially the boob that was previously blocked. :x

In the first 2 weeks when huat zai was born, I will need to express my BM once every 1.5-2hours. Later, I got lazy and kept to the 3hourly pump schedule. Recently, due to running some errands, gatherings, outings and catching up on my sleep, I started pumping like 4-6hours interval. I guess another factor affecting my milk supply is due to this inconsistent pump schedule.

Maybe it's because I am not latching huat zai on like previously. Now, he's mostly on bottle-feeding with one breast-feed per day. Latching the baby does help to stimulate milk supply as the experts say demand = supply. No latch = no demand?

Or perhaps I am not taking in enough fluid. Now I am forcing myself to drink more water.

Hopefully the supply will come back soon. I really hope to keep him on breast milk for as long as I can. :)
Am getting used to the routine of pump - wash - sterilise - pump - wash - sterilise.

Each day, I just love him a little bit more than the day before. <3

Thursday, July 28, 2011

little pleasures.

Feeding baby and holding him to sleep. Smelling him. Sayang-ing him.
He smiled at me when I said I was going to carry him to sleep.

All these little pleasures warms my heart. :)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

over the days.

Well, I don't know if I had the so-called "mastitis" but I do know that I have lumpy breast due to poor drainage of milk. This whole episode is really draining my energy away but I'm enduring because I really wished to BF huat zai for as long as I can.

Still breaking out in cold sweat these few nights but feeling slightly better after taking the anitbiotics and painkillers though the lumps didn't go away... :(

I am hoping it can clear away on it's own and meanwhile, I am advised to keep a cheerful outlook on things as my mood will affect the supply and condition of the infection. :x

Other than that, I managed to make 2 trips out, once to kiddy palace to stock up baby's supplies and another, to a movie date with Hubby Lubby & family.

We caught Donnie Yen's latest movie "Wu Xia" earlier at Vivo Gold Class. I would say the movie is slow in getting to the climax and just as I was expecting more (of Donnie's gungfu action), the whole show just spiraled downwards. :(

Today I broke down again in front of Hubby Lubby due to all the situations that we are facing but I'm glad that he took it in stride and calmed me down instead. I just loved the way he pampers me. I also told him that I know he's concern about me but right now, I really need him to be supportive of my decisions and actions, and to which, he did. I know it's really hard on him that we can't go for long hours date without a pump session in between or a good long sleep at night but hubby lubby, just hang on for a while more, once we pass the crucial period, everything will be alright k! :)

Loves!

Monday, July 18, 2011

the plan.

So we still didn't fetch huat zai home today though we did visit him before our TMC visit.

Managed to settle a few stuff today; like calling the Medela Service Centre to enquire yet at the same time, see if they can offer any advice to the situation of weak suction. I'm glad that I called before sending the pump down to their service centre at Toh Guan. The lady in charge of servicing told me it might be due to a broken membrane and true enough, the membrane of my pump gave way 2days back and it miracously "revived" after I changed the membrane with the spare ones that came together with the set. After having this lesson learnt, I quickly log on-line (cheaper to get it online) and got myself more spare membranes just in case it breaks down again. Weak suction of the pump can also cause blocked ducts cos the pumps are not able to "empty" the BM so it is really important to have a working pump for BF-ing moms, or at least, for me. :)

Then I called Lilian again, telling her about my fever and blocked ducts; and we arranged for a meeting at Parentcraft in the afternoon. I always like going to Parentcraft cos that would mean getting a quick fix for my breast. :x She managed to clear most of the blocked ones except for one that's really stubborn. It did soften a bit but still require constant massaging and because she had other cases to attend to and I, too, have other errands to run, we just leave it to me to massage & monitor.

Following the TMC visit, we went to the Alexandra area to take a look at Hubby Lubby's car as he sent in his car for maintenance today before returning to Bt Panjang area for dinner. Also managed to pick up some glass milk bottles to store the EBM from one of the June mommies who stopped BF-ing. :)

Discussed with Hubby Lubby on the plan of taking care of huat zai. We've decided to leave huat zai under my mom's care and bring him back on weekends due to certain issues and I believe it would also be better as both huat zai and my mom can adapt to this lifestyle once I return to work. But the tricky thing is, lunar 7th month is coming and that would mean huat zai would not be able to return home for the entire month and this is worrying out his ah-ma as she will not be able to see him physically for the whole month. :x Need to work out some solutions for this...

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Baby Ethan's ONE Month! :)

To all my dear friends and relatives, thank you for attending baby Ethan's baby shower yesterday! I really appreciate your presence and iIt was great to have you guys celebrate this joyous occasion with us! My apologies if there's any 招待不周的地方 and I really hope we can all catch up again soon (probably this time with baby E in tow). :) And baby E is finally one month old now! :)


So we celebrated Baby E's one month at the Goldkist chalet along East Coast Park yesterday! :)

Because we knew the guests were going to stay til late, I got my mom to bring little Ethan back home first and was supposed to fetch him home today. But (yes, unexpected things always happens) due to the celebration yesterday, I couldn't get a clean place to express my BM, I suffered from engorgement (gotta hand-express to temporary relief the pain) and subsequently a blocked duct which led to fever. So Hubby Lubby advised against bringing the little one back while I take the time to recouperate. The plan is to bring him back tomorrow.

There are 101 things I would like to do... sending my pump for check (the suction seems to get weaker and weaker), returning to TMC - Lilian to help me clear the blocked duct. It's kinda painful and I can't seems to fully empty my breast after each pump. :x But what's more important then having huat zai by my side (though I can't run these errands with him in tow)? :)

p/s: I just realised we forgotten to take a family picture with huat zai on both his birthdays.. :(

Friday, July 15, 2011

my little achievement. :)

Though I still don't know how to bath the little one, I single-handedly changed him today. It's not easy cos he was wearing a romper and it sure takes some effort to change him. :)

Also changed his diapers cos he poo-ed badly but with the help of our domestic helper this time cos he was kicking and crying for cleanliness. :) Still, I'm impressed by myself. :)

I think it is these alone times that I can trained up myself. :)

Happy lunar birth month, Ethan!

Today is baby Ethan's lunar birth-month!
Also marks the day that I can have a proper shower! ;)

For this day, we also cut a tiny tweeny bit of his hair. Going to cut his nails too. Soon he will have to take off his mittens and booties so as to develop his sense of touch and feel! :)

Before that, I'll need to go and buy him a pair of baby nail clippers cos I didn't buy this the last time. :p

After his baby shower on Saturday, we'll then bring him home till I start work then put him under my mom's care. :)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Another two more days!

We'll be celebrating baby Ethan's full month in another 2 more days! I'm elated because my boy is turning one month. Besides that, the underlying implications -- my confinement days are coming to an end soon! I don't have to abide by those stupid rules already! However there are certain things I'll continue to observe till end of days but with less strict adherence. It will be things like normal shower on top of wiping the body with herbal water, eating the sesame oil cooked food if possible and drinking normal plain water in addition to the red dates water.

In preparation for this day, I have actually planned for a few appointments, namely a facial treatment to make up to my never existent facial regime during this confinement period and a good professional hair wash. I know this may gross some of you out but I managed to adhere to the rule of not washing hair since the birth of Ethan till the day before yesterday! Can't stand the oiliness and decided to visit the saloon earlier than planned (planned to visit today).

Speaking of confinement, I feel that it's really impossible to be confined at home for the whole of the month cos I find myself stepping out of the house for gynae checkup, baby checkups, seeing baby's doc for his mucus problem, visiting parentcraft for my blocked ducts problem and going out to stock up some of baby's supplies with Hubby Lubby.

More on my visit to parentcraft: I returned to TMC yesterday (13th July) to see Lilian regarding my blocked ducts. She managed to cleared it for me and told me it's all about massaging it. I admit I have been lazy at massaging cos of the mess created when the breasts leak due to massaging. Other than showing me, yet again, the correct techniques of massaging, she also told me it's time to change baby's teats to a bigger size and I can increase the feed amount for baby Ethan after telling her the problem of baby Ethan waking for milk every 1.5hrs interval. She explains this is because the current one is too small that's why he gets tired from drinking and falls asleep and wakes up more often for feeds.
Back home, I tried to feed baby Ethan with a bigger hole size teats but it seems that he's still unable to finish the recommended feed amount. :( I wonder what's the problem and I think I'll consult Lilian again on this.

p/s: I realized I didn't blogged about huat zai's trip to his PD regarding his mucus problem. Just last week, we find that Ethan has got problem breathing; as if something is blocking his nose. At first we thought he is having runny nose thus the blockage. After a visit to his PD, we found out that it's his dried up mucus aka 'pi sai'. The PD then introduced a liquid spray to me for softening his mucus and taught me how to remove them from the nose. So far, baby Ethan has been quite cooperative when I told him I wanted to help him remove his 虫虫.
To be honest, except for his feeding schedule and impatience for milk, he has been quite a 听话乖巧的孩子. :)

Saturday, July 09, 2011

back home. :)

In view of Hubby Lubby's aunt visitation (she came specially from Thailand), we decided to move home for the weekend. :)

In preparation for this stay, we have to move quite a number of stuff, which includes the pump, steriliser, warmer and bottles; not forgetting the clothes...

Huat zai is adapting well to the change in place and I hope he will adapt well at night too. Hopefully he won't wake up in the middle of the night for feeds, like last night. He actually stayed up from 2am to 5.30am in the morning.

Other than bathing & changing the baby and more training in cleaning his poo-poo (cos he has got strong legs making powerful kicks), I am more or less okie with taking care of him alone. Let's hope my wound gets better and I can quickly learn how to bath and change him soon. :)

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Baby Ethan's milestone: Bottle-feeding

During my last visit to TMC, I met Lilian and she advised me to start introducing bottles to the little one when he's 3.5weeks old.
Wanted very much to follow her advise to start bottle feed from next Monday onwards but the hourly waking to milk at night is driving my mom and I nuts. Thus, after much contemplation, I started bottle feeding yesterday, 6th of July when he's officially 3 weeks old (I reckon a few days don't make much difference), because by bottle feeding then only can I gauge his drinking capacity and manage his feeding schedule.
Anyway, because it was the first time and with him feeding on demand now, it was hard to gauge when he'll be hungry. So he caught us off guard by letting out a cry for milk, it was then I started warming my EBM. Even before the milk's warmed, I found myself breast feeding him instead cos mom says it's not very good to let babies cry for so long. Luckily, I managed to bottle feed him 30ml of milk. The same thing happened subsequently; however this time round I didn't manage to bottle feed him so that bottle of milk went wasted.. Because it was late into the night already so we decided to latch him on during the night feeds and then try bottle feeding again this morning.
Baby Ethan didn't take the bottle readily this morning, it was after a while then he accepted the bottle. Just bottle fed him for the 3rd time today and I think he is taking it pretty well; hopefully he doesn't get nipple confusion and will still latch on.

p/s: now he knows how to make bubbles... :)

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Loss for words...

Am feeling not so right now.
I know the reasons behind yet I just couldn't put it in words.
And this meant that even if I want to talk about it or share with someone, I don't even know how to pour my hearts out. :x

I really hate myself for tearing the wound and slow recovery of it now. The slow progress is really impeding my mobility! Not forgetting the confinement. There's so much to do yet I'm being confined. There are certain errands I can ask my family to help run but it's just frustrating to know you are always troubling them.

In the earlier post, I mentioned that we are facing some issues with huat zai's baby shower venue but now all's settled after making a trip down personally with Hubby Lubby. Couldn't stay out for long to run other errands cos huat zai is crying for milk back home (he'll only start bottle feeding on EBM next Monday). Now with the venue settled, we still have other logistical issues to look into. :x

Felt like crying my heart out now but during these 2+ weeks of confinement I've cried so much. The elders told me that mothers shouldn't cry during the confinement period cos next time eyesight will fail on us when we age but I suspect my eyesight is starting to fail already. :(

Baby Ethan's crying; time for milk again!

Sunday, July 03, 2011

baby woes...

The little one has been keeping me busy these days and I hardly have the time to blog.

Just to update a little on baby Ethan:
- His umbilical cord finally dropped off on the 27th.
- After our attempts to do the "um,um" (pooing) sound when he does his big business, he now also will make sounds when he trying to poo.
- He still cries furiously for milk whenever he is hungry. Now means now; he has no patience to wait. :(

Things ain't going smoothly for me recently.
First is the ripping of my wound. Went back for the post-natal gynae check one week after the birth of baby Ethan and doc said I've been moving around too much and thus causing the wound to not heal properly. And I had my 2nd round of 2 stitches. Because of this, I decided to postpone my post-natal massage sessions. :(
Then wound have been painful on & off till now.

2nd is baby Ethan's admission for jaundice. Glad that he's fine now.

3rd is my milk supply. Baby Ethan is on total breastfeeding now. Just few days ago (on 30th June), I started to feel a lump on my breast. I supposed that's caused by a blocked duct. Tried massaging and doing a warm compression, but it doesn't seem to help. And I started to realise my milk supply is decreasing and the lump getting more painful. :(
Will resume my post-natal massage tomorrow and hopefully the massage lady can do something to help me, otherwise, I will have to return to TMC and ask Lilian for help. :x

Fourthly is the venue for baby Ethan's Full Month celebration. While we thought we have found a suitable venue, made plans and informed all our friends, I was bombed by the news that our booking is tentative and all rooms are fully booked! How great! I don't know what happens next... still waiting for the management's call...
and the cakes & vouchers distribution is also another problem.

I'm going crazy soon!