Away from baby

Tonight, Chris and I have been invited to attend a dinner function organised by rotary club. This is the first evening which mummy had been away from Natalie for close to 4 hours. Even though Mum had been activated to babysit, and I definitely trust her to be a good caregiver, I long to be back with baby as soon as possible. What surprised me most was, during the midst of the event I could somehow know when Natalie starts to get hungry. I called home to check and indeed she was crying for milk. Weird huh? Not a believer in ESP etc and neither was it her usual feeding time, but there seems to some sort of telepathy between baby and me.

Vital stats

At one month and 1 week old, Natalie has grown quite a fair bit. Though not Michelin looking yet, she has definitely grown in height and soon she'll out grow mummy! Check out her vital stats.

First month's checkup

Brought Natalie to visit Dr Toh for her first month checkup yesterday.

Her weight is now 3.95kg. Total weight gained since birth would be 1kg, which according to Dr Toh is within expectations. She is 55cm tall, and this is considered tall for a baby in her category (75th percentile) proving Dr Watt's initial estimation based on bone growth rate.

She had taken her 2nd dose of Hyp B injection with tears and screams, and Dr Toh had to remediate with loads of cajoling in order for her to be forgiven.

Hi Natalie, you've passed your first health assessment with flying colours, but the doctor did mention that you are an assertive baby who verbalises your likes and dislikes. I fully agree with her observations. You are definitely an attention seeker and may be impatient at times. Daddy and I will need to think about how to refine that temper of yours =).

Ps: Whilst writing this.. you are screaming atop your lungs insisting to be cuddled.

Nappy or Diaper?

Nappies or Diapers?

At some point in time, most parents would need to decide between using Nappies or Diapers for their baby. For those who are not familiar with the Baby’s stuff, let me do a quick intro.
Nappies are the “older” version of modern day Diapers. They are essentially a piece of white cloth with high cotton content. You will need to fold it into a triangle before wrapping it around baby’s bottom. Its advantages include,

1) Comfort; babies appear to like nappies more than diapers. The hypothesis is nappies have better ventilation than diapers.

2) Cheaper; nappies are re-usable and is cheaper in the long run... considering that our littleone can Poo or PeePee 20 times in 24 hours!

3) Granny’s Choice; Not universally true but the older folks appear to connect better with nappies as they have being using nappies during their time.

What is a diaper? In case you are really detached from Baby’s world, diapers are disposable pads that babies wear for their toilet business. Popular brands include Pampers, Huggies, Drypers and Mummy Poko pants. Their advantages include,

1) Convenient; use and throw! No washing required!

2) No safety pin issue. Nappies would require a safety pin and parents who are not good with their fine motor skills will find it difficult to handle a safety pin in the presence of a crying baby!

3) Minimise leakage risk; Diapers have a waterproof exterior. This however, appears to reduce the comfort level for babies.

So after trying out both the nappies and the diapers, Sharon and I have decided to experiment with a “Combination System”. We call it the Nap-pers! Nappy on the inside and Diapers on the outside! We wrap baby with the conventional Nappy and secured it with the waterproofing layer of Diaper. This way, we get to combine the merits of both systems while minimising the demerits!

We have now entered phase 3 of our clinical trial. 6000 babies were randomly selected from the Sg population; 2000 worn the conventional nappy, 2000 worn diapers while 2000 worn our new Nap-pers. Investigators were masked from from what the baby is wearing. Preliminary results is highly encouraging; 85% of parents reported better comfort and usability with Nap-pers. We will be uploading pics of Nap-pers shortly, so stay tuned.

Problem with helper

Now that I am out of confinement with ample energy to supervise, I've come to discover that there are loads of chores either undone or done in a slipshod manner. Instructions were not followed fully, and she simply does things her way! Today, I merely checked the toilets after she has cleaned it and found her cutting corners in multiple areas ie washed one tap and left the other uncleaned (excuses were 'I used the cream cleanser for one of it therefore it's shiny') ; seams between the walls not washed ( she retorted saying ' oh I just used the sponge to wash the surface.'); window panes were washed on the inside but exterior untouched. Told her to re-clean the panes, she simply did a touch and go as she wasn't tall enough. Worse still, she even dare to retort saying she has cleaned it when things are obviously not cleaned. Lied without having bat an eyelid! Am up to my limit of niceness! She wasted my time, her time and water as she had to redo all the above! No wonder my mum was always upset and irritated with her.

Am gonna leave it to the agent to tell her off again this evening!

The classical BB

Natalie is now a month old. In order to stimulate her sensory development, we've tuned in to Symphony 92.4 since birth. The jamu calls her a classical bb! As she reaches the 4th week she becomes more active in the day, and so we've switched to Class 95 in the morning. She'll coo and jiggle to the medley of pop music in the companion of Glenn and the flying dutchman. By noon, she'll amuse herself to her favourite nursery rhymes. And transform into a classical baby by night fall. If she is edgy, we'll tune in to Gold 90.5 where she wiggles to the oldies.

Grouchy Natalie

Shot of baby on her new found haven! The fisherprice bouncer purchased by my colleagues certainly came in handy when she is in one of her 'hard to please' mood. Click on the enlarged version of the photo and you could tell how grouchy she was.

Judging from our observations, there seems to be a similarity between Natalie and Junior ( my chihuahua who guards the baby whilst she sleeps). They mark territories! Natalie was so comfy in her element that she poo'd so much in the bouncer that it overflowed onto her seat! Fortunately the seatcovers are removable and it wasn't me who had to cleanup =) .

Natalie is 1 month old today!

Natalie has reached a significant milestone today!

It's been a fulfilling and exhaustive first month, as we've been grappling with the new found status of parenthood. Transition to dad and mum is definitely a fulltime job that requires 100% TLC = Time, Love and Commitment.

So what are our greatest achievements thus far? We are proud to say that we have graduated with the degree in nappy changing. Chris has learnt how to fold and change nappies in record time of less than a minute (cleaning and application of desitin included). In his own words, "Anyone who likes to challenge me to a nappy changing session? Bring it on!"

As for me, my biggest discovery about myself is the possibility of requiring little sleep and still remaining functional the next day. This would not be possible esp on weekends prior to having natalie around. Theory about beauty sleep or ample rest has been erased since I started demand feeding. It's a tiring affair, but yet one which derives the most satisfaction when she gives you the cutest smile after 0.5 hour of suckling at 2am, 4am, 6am....( every 2 hours interval).

So what do we look forward to most in the upcoming months? Baby saying her first words - " I love mummy and daddy!".

BB photos!

Been having problem with my viewcam software, which is why it took me ages to upload BB's photos! Check out her modelling skills! Does she look more like daddy or mummy?

Afternoon Saga

Baby is awake for longer periods during the day. She has been asking for attention every 1hour since 1pm. It's either she poo'd or pee'd; wants to be fed; wants to play or demands to be cuddled. I am totally exhausted by dinner as I have no time for naps anymore.

Jaundice - Part 2

The test results are back... both blood and urine tests were negative, ruling out the other organic and functional causes such as infections etc.

What Natalie has gotten is breastmilk jaundice, a type of neonatal jaundice associated with breastfeeding. It is characterized by indirect hyperbilirubinemia in a breastfed newborn that develops after the first 4-7 days of life and bilirubin level increases to more than 10 mg/dl in the third week of life. Her jaundice is likely to persist for 1-2months, but meanwhile I could resume my ginger intake.

We are ill!

The flu bug has caught up with us again!

This time round it started with Chris, who had quarantined himself in the study for almost a week now. But that didn't quite work as I was next to be contracted.

I had to wear a facemask whilst breastfeeding, but the close proximity made it easy for the virus to hit baby. She was so edgy yesterday and I've heard her coughing slightly in her sleep. Hopefully hers is just a mild cough and would get better over the next few days.

Mummy is so sorry for spreading the virus to you. Should have heeded Gong Gong's advice and quarantined myself from you as well. Please quickly recover.

Jaundice!!

Natalie was born without jaundice but during her 1st week routine check, the bilirubin concerntration has gone up to 15.4mg! Pediatrician advised me to cut down on ginger intake and feed her with 90ml of water and return for bilicheck the next day.

Fortunately her bilirubin conc. has dropped to 14.5mg. I went cold turkey - w/o ginger in my diet for the whole week.

That didn't help. her bilirubin conc. had gone back to 15.6mg! Does it mean she has to be hospitalised? Is her immature liver finding it difficult to process the bilirubin which could be a result of lack of oxygen, poor feeding, thyroid deficiency, enzyme deficiency, or her liver is dealing with an infection? I prayed that it's none of the above.

We met Dr. Toh shortly and she suggested for a blood and urine test to be conducted to rule out the possibilities of an immature liver. As they took 2 tubes of blood from her little hand, we could hear Natalie screaming atop her lungs from Dr. Toh's office. Our hearts nearly broke.

We'll be getting the results some time today. Hopefully there is no cause for concern and it might just be the result of breast-feeding jaundice or breast milk jaundice.

Murphy's Law

It's true, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Mum was hospitalised since the first day of my confinement. She had an ongoing fever for almost a week. Suspecting it might be viral as doctors weren't able to advise the diagnosis, we shifted over nite on 25 Feb back to my place. It was a tiring shift, particularly with the newborn and me being too weak to help and I was practicing on demand feeding at that time both baby and I were adjusting to each other's time slots.

Natalie is a demanding baby. She could suckle for at least an hour during the initial feed and wakes up every 2 hours asking for more. I was totally exhausted from the ongoing feeding and nappy changing. Fortunately, my helper had had some experience looking after babies. She assisted with bathing and took over nite duty of nappy changing.

My mother in-law(MIL) took over the preparation and cooking of confinement food. Being a traditional woman who followed the typical confinement practices, I was not allowed to switch on the aircon/fan. Following tradition had been a uphill task and all the perspiration didn't help either. I broke the rules on strictly no bathing a couple of times within the first week and washed my hair on the 2nd week. I tell you no expensive dry shampoo could help after 2 weeks. The extent of how bad I stank? Per my sister's words,' Stay at least 2 seats away from me.'

As for my mum, she was hospitalised for a week. She suffered from acute fever, followed by prolonged arthralgic disease that affects the joints of the extremities. Doctors suspected Chikungunya. The pain would persist for couple of weeks and according to the doctor could last for several months. She had been given antibiotics and require ample rest. This means I would have to survive with mil and maid's help for another week...

19 February - D' DAY!

A chronological order of events

17 Feb 09

1830 - Left office, went over to mum's for dinner.

2000 - Arrived at clinic for checkup.

2100 - Cervice not dilated, bump still high, baby in vertex position but looking at her side. No signs of labour. Gynae advised may not be this week, ok to go away on 19/20 feb.

19 Feb 09

0630 - Hubby went to work, felt slight lower back pain. Difficulty getting out of bed.

0800 - Woke up and got ready for breakfast.

0830 - Felt slight pain in abdominal area, thought it was just stomach upset.

0900 - Cleared bowels the 2nd time.

0915 - Had a crampy premenstrual feeling, suspect to be Braxton Hicks since gynae just confirmed that baby would likely not be arriving this week. Found some slight bleeding, not recognising it's show.

0920 - Called the obstetician, nurse picked up the call. Was reassured, no cause for concern. Could proceed with planned resort trip.

0925- Called the satellite clinic. Found the gynae. Was told to go down for a check.

1000- Arrived at clinic, placed on CTG to monitor baby's heart rate and frequency of contractions.

1100 - Met Dr Watt, cervice dilated by 2cm. CTG results showed contractions were coming every 10minutes. Got to go to the hospital asap.

1115 - Called Chris and mum to let them know.

1200 - Placed order with eu yan seng - 'Seng hua tang' & herbal bath packs.

1210 - Got home. Showered and most importantly washed my hair. Searched for food.

1330 - Chris reached home.

1400 - Picked mum, collected herbs, bought and finished 2 MOS burgers.

1430 - Arrived at hospital

1500 - Checked in at the labour ward, changed and was placed on foetal monitoring CTG machine.

1600 - Water bag was induced.

1730 - Contractions intensified, frequency increased to every 3mins. Requested for epidural.

1800 - Anaesthetist arrived. Interesting name - Pay Lulu. Performed epi surgery. Anxious hubby watching over.

2130 - Fully dilated ie 10cm. Dr Watt explained the procedure again.

2200- Nurses prepared equipments and checked for contractions... "Now take a deep breathe in, hold it there and push... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 ok breathe in again ...."said Chris.

2330- Still pushing but not crowning. Baby was not in the posterior position, pelvis seemed too tight for her head to turn over. 1.5 hours had passed. Dr Watt was concerned. Explained that she would have to assist the delivery using forceps.

2336 - One last push! Baby is out. One loud cry and she was placed on my tummy. Such little hands.. and what big eyes she has.

2338 to 0000 - Medical team standing by to tabulate the Agpar score. Checked for breathing... baby's limps are still bluish, not breathing right. Compressions... "Come on baby, give me a long loud cry" said Dr Watt. More tapping on the little feet. Still not crying. Stronger taps on the feet. Injected Vitamin K still not crying. Cleared the airway again. Daddy having cold sweat...Mummy looking on, wondering what's happening. Finally... she wailed..."Naughty little girl" Dr Watt exclaimed. Medical team then took her weight, height and head circumference. Sigh of relief from daddy who was looking on.