The birth story之早生贵子

21 Jul 2009. It was a Tuesday morning.

Didn't really sleep well the night before, the op was set at the last minute and I did not have time to hand over my work. Was all stressed up with work and the upcoming audit, just had to do a quick handover through email. Worked till late night until DC flared up and ordered me to sleep.

In the morning I was still checking the emails and preparing the audit documents. Then, my colleagues sent messages to inform me that my project was taken out from the audit list. *Instant Relief* Now I can finally get over my work and set my mind to prepare myself for delivery! :P

10:00am - Mum delivered food to my place and I had to finish them up by 1130am cos beyond 1130am, no intake of food was allowed prior the op which was scheduled at 730pm.

02:00pm - Packed baby's mittens and booties into the hospital bag and checked that all the essential things for the hospital stay are all packed.

03:00pm - I went for a long bath and made sure the hair is washed thoroughly because I'm not allowed to wash my hair during confinement - instructed by dearest Mum.

04:00pm - Sis and mum came to send DC and me to the hospital.

04:45pm - Admission done. No deluxe room, no single room. They assigned a double room to us and charged the single room rate. This might even be better because there's an extra bed for DC, the companion, to sleep on.

05:00pm - Brought to the ward for registration. Spent another 30 mins for the registration...

05:30pm - Sent to my room to rest and wait for further instructions.

06:00pm - Dinner was served... to DC only, I don't get it. Just look at how happy he was!


07:00pm - Dressed in the gown and was pushed to the op room.


07:15pm - In the operating room. The anesthetist informed that he will be late for 10 mins. We waited for him for 20 mins. DC saw him running into the ot. My gynae was on time.


07:35pm - Anesthetist administered the epidural into my spine. I was told to bend like a prawn. He tried for a few times but could not inject it in, think it was only successful after the 3rd or 4th time!! Blame it on my reflexes, ha! After the injection, the numbness did not take effect immediately. Left leg felt a little numb but right leg was not numb at all. The anesthetist kept asking if I felt numb but I kept telling him no. It seems as if the dosage was enough for me and that he was expecting a yes from me, so after a while, I gave a casual remark "I don't know how the numbness should feel like but maybe i did feel a little more numb now"... That was the worst reply that I could have given. He took that as a yes and gave the gynae the nod to kick start the op and alas! when the gynae glided the knife on me, I could feel the sharpness of the knife... and the pain!!!

I shouted out my discomfort and the op was stopped. The anesthetist increased the dosage (still not numb yet!) and got the gynae to try again. Ouch! The sharpness of the knife could still be felt! So, he tried to turn me head down for the drug to take effect faster. This time it felt like a pinch, no more sharpness but still it was uncomfortable. Another try and the pinch became less obvious. Guess the anesthetist was losing patience and told the team to proceed with the op. I WAS NOT READY YET!!!

I felt terribly uncomfortable during the procedure, I could feel every single thing! There was a point where the gynae was tugging and pulling my stomach quite violently and the feeling was unbearable. At this time, DC was brought into the ot and he sat beside me. I felt like grabbing his hands tight or even biting him to relieve my agony but he was out of reach even though he was just beside! The gynae told DC to sing a song to me to make me more relaxed but DC didn't loh! The anesthetist saw that I was uncomfortable and suggested to give me gas to breathe which I gladly accepted it! That was a good one, I kept talking to God to help me get over this fast. After a few breaths, I was oblivious to the pain.

08:07pm - It didn't take very long when I heard the cries of my baby. The effect of the laughing gas was slowly wearing and I could hear the distant voices of the gynae and DC. The gynae demanded DC to shout out loud "I'm a father". Our gynae got him to repeat for a few times because it was unsatisfactory (too bad, he didn’t record this down). He let DC off at the fourth shoutz "I'm a daddy!" and graded him a E-, ha!


They brought the baby to me after taking some measurements and simple tests on him. I was still semi-drowsy and couldn't really be bothered with the noises in the background until DC happily came to me and told me that the baby was very healthy. That was all it matters. I felt like I suddenly woke up from a dream. We took some pictures after that when I’m more sober and DC went off with the pediatrician to the ICU/nursery for further tests on the baby. I was left in the ot for the gynae to continue with the cleaning and stitching. It was then that the effect of the gas totally worn off and I felt fully conscious, shivering but hey, painless! It dawned to me then that the effect of the epidural has finally taken effect and I don't feel a thing when the gynae stitched me. Other than feeling cold, I was alert and looked around the ot to see who else was there. When I looked up, I realised I could see the reflections of the "work in progress" on the operating lights. I could see the full bloody view, could not really stomach it but luckily one of the nurses pushed the lights away and I tried to shake the horrific images off my mind.


09:00pm - I was pushed to my room where I rest till the next day. Baby was put under observation in the ICU. Actually there was not much rest, the nurses came into the room every 1 hourly to take my pressure and I couldn't sleep well at all.


01:00am and 04:30am - I vomitted. This was probably the side effect of the epidural and I couldn't take any liquid at all (tried red date tea and milo) until the next day late afternoon. After that, I was all well again. ☺


08:00am - The pediatrician came visiting to update us the status of the baby. Baby was out of the ICU after a few hours of observation and was all healthy. :)

09:00am - The gynae came to check me up. I must say that although he is quite a weird character, his skill was really good. Heard that most of the staff nurses went to him when they were pregnant! The incision wound did not give me any pain or trouble during the hospital stay. I sometimes wonder why he prescribed painkillers...


That’s it, that’s how the baby was born, 3 weeks before the expected delivery date. He had to stay for an additional day for his jaundice as his bilirubin level was 14.5 - high. I stayed over with DC too. Luckily the next day, his level went down to 9 and can go back with us... Although the delivery was brought forward (早生) and it cost more for a c-sect delivery than a natural delivery (贵子), it was well worth it to bring the baby out so early. He’s so cute and healthy!


However, the whole ordeal of delivery did frighten me - the scare, the pain, the bloody scene, the vomiting and the scar. I wonder if I still dare to try for a second child...


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Thank You

A big thanks to all who:

- pass us the hand-me-downs

- came visit us at the hospital

- congratulate us via sms, msn and fb

- came visit us at our home

- bless us with your gifts and contributions

- render help to us from pregnancy to delivery and even post delivery!

THANK YOU! :D

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Baby Update

He is capable of opening one eye leaving the other closed and sticking out his tongue since born. 9 days old Today, we spotted a new skill - he can smile! Love the smile and dimples, it's so sweet! :)

Was monitoring his bowel movements - his stools had changed from meconium (thick tar-like) to the transitional dark green ones. I was waiting for the regular stooling to begin and to get rid of the meconium and transitional stool as it can help make jaundice leave more quickly. Heard that FM can also help hasten this.

After feeding formula milk, he seems more alert and hungrier than ever! In fact, he was wide awake when my colleagues came for a visit as compared to the cousins' visit on Sat where he slept through... Guess, allowing him to go on FM is a correct choice, now the thing to do is to make sure he had his fill each feed and to increase his weight fast, he's so very tiny!


Have also started pumping breast milk and feeding him on bottles every 3-hrly. He's alternating between FM and BM. I'm starting to miss nursing the baby and his suckles... I'm also missing his new born hair! Now, ever since we shampooed his hair, it became spread out, a little standing and spiky, unlike during the hospital stay where the hair sticks to his head (neater i think!). :P


Daddy took him to the pediatrician for follow up on Mon, 2 days after his discharge and his jaundice level went down - no cause for worry now. :)

Overall, it has been an amazing 9 days, still feel unreal but I'm blissful and loving this experience!


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It's not that easy after all

My 8th day into parenthood - I felt so demoralised and sad today.



Long before the delivery when I was still expecting, I had planned for my ideal type of delivery and feeding method for my baby. Everything just didn't seem to go according to plan. I thought that even if I did not have a choice and had to do a c-sect, I was confident that I could still stick to my plan to latch him on for 4-6 weeks and hence, we did not buy any breastpump and milk formula and nearly didn't want to get the milk bottles but exclusive breastfeeding unexpectedly proves to be a challenge!

On the day when baby A was born, he was too small and needed nutrients to be fed immediately - his first exposure to formula milk even though it was cup-fed. We were told on the next day by the pediatrician that baby could not suck very well - *Alert bell ringing*. My milk had not come in when we were at the hospital plus baby couldn't latch on well, the night shift nurses kept persuading me to feed formula. I eventually gave in after hearing that baby's weight dropped to 1.9kg, more than the acceptable range of 5% wt drop. How could I still bear to insist on exclusive breastfeeding under such situation? So, baby was fed with formula milk at night while in the day, I trained him to latch him on and practised the way to feed him with the help of the lactation consultant. This was difficult as the lactation consultants were not there all the time and most of the times the nurses on duty were the ones assisting me with the feeding and all of them used different methods! By the time we were out of the hospital, baby was still not latching on well and I was still had not got the hang of breast feeding.

At home, things became worse when CL always tells me that the baby is small and has not enough to drink because I have no milk. Even when milk comes in on the 5th day, they still have the impression that I am still not producing milk and baby is not getting enough from me and kept pressurising me to feed him with formula milk. I gave in, like during the hospital stay I got the CL to feed him formula milk at night and I feed in the morning. As the days go by, it became increasingly difficult for me to latch A on now that milk bottles had been introduced to him. I suspect that he is nipple confused. Of course he would prefer the bottle teats with fast-flowing and never-ending milk to his mummy's! For the past two days, he takes up to 30 mins for DC and me to coax him to latch on and as long as 1 hr to feed! Our patience was constantly being tested!

Maybe it's the hormones at work: I remembered spilling the unexpected first milk that flowed out from the breast pump because of my incorrect siting position and felt very angry with myself. The next milk that was collected was deemed to be too little and was poured away by the CL. What a waste, I was really depressed that night! I became very fearful if he stuck out his tongue after every feed and became very irritated and emotional whenever I heard them mentioning about formula milk or use the term "I don't have milk". It's as though I'm at fault that he's not growing well... I seem to hear voices accusing me of not drinking enough water during my pregnancy and this caused the amniotic fluid to run low, that made me depressed - I do not want to bother to explain, they won't understand...I had tried to convince them that there is milk supply and insisted on doing my way but I guess the limited volume of milk pumped faulted my defence!

No wonder so many people didn't succeed at breastfeeding. One really needs encouragement from their close ones! I'm blessed to have DC who understands and supports me... I'm so glad that I have him and my sisters on my side.

I'm slowly coming to terms and coping more positively with the fact that I am not producing enough to meet my baby's needs. I'm also learning how to close one eye and not to be so particular about how the CL take care of my baby. I guess on my part, I can only learn to take it easy and apply the following tips to increase the milk supply.

1. Pray for ample supple of breast milk.
2. Apply a warm compress to breasts before feedings to improve the let down reflex.
3. Feed baby frequently, every 1.5 - 3 hours. It is more important to breastfeed often, rather than having long feedings. The more baby breastfeeds, the more breastmilk the body will be stimulated to produce.
   
4. Don't go more than 4-5 hours between feedings. This includes night feedings. It is usually safe to stop waking the infant for feedings once he is gaining weight well. Since the newborn is supposed to be nursing about 8-12 times a day, even 4-5 hours is a little long and may only happen once a day.
   
5. Pump breasts for five to ten minutes after each feeding. This can stimulate more milk production.
   
6. Make sure that baby is latching-on and sucking well. This is important because if he isn't latching-on and emptying breast during a feeding, then this can lead to a low milk supply.
   
7. Take herbal supplements that might increase the breastmilk supply, like fenugreek (2-4 capsules 3 times a day) or blessed thistle.
   
8. Take food that are said to be able to increase the breastmilk supply, like papaya soup or katuk.
   
9. Massage the breasts during feedings.
   
10. Review any medications with doc to see if they could be interfering with the milk supply. Birth control pills are especially notorious for lowering the milk supply for some breastfeeding mothers.
    
11. Take time to rest and relax throughout the day and night. Try and get extra help from family members or friends if needed.
    
12. Don't smoke. Nicotine enters breastmilk and can also decrease milk supply. Although if you do smoke it is still okay to breastfeed.
    
13. Estimate how much milk is produced by pumping the breasts. If 2-3 ounces of milk can be easily pumped, then you may be reassured that you are producing enough for the average newborn. By two months of age, you should be producing about 5 ounces for each feeding. But keep in mind that just because you are pumping enough, that doesn't mean that your baby is getting it. A poor latch or improper sucking can decrease how much your baby is getting, even if you are producing enough. Also, just because you are not able to pump much doesn't mean that you are not producing enough. It may be that you are just not pumping correctly.
    
14. If it becomes necessary to supplement with formula, you can consider using a lactation aid or finger feeding instead of a bottle if it really bothers you to give your baby formula in a bottle.
    

[ Updated 30 Jul 2009: No longer dead set on breastfeeding, I have finally soften myself and gave in (actually gave up) on latching him on. Started whole day FM feeding with BM to supplement his needs yesterday. After A went on FM, I felt so much more relaxed with one thing off the daily routine list. Now I only need to concentrate on increasing milk supply and resting well... life is more carefree now, I even had to time to sit in front of my iMac and surf net! :P My only fear now is that he would reject the more diluted breast milk after he is used to the thicker formula milk... ]

[ Updated 6 Aug 2009: After a week, today i tried latching him on (as he was crying for milk but CL wanted to give him milk 1 hr later) and surprisingly he took it! :) I felt like i'm on cloud nine, it's so heavenly! :) ]

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Babies Visit - Ultimate Mayhem

My brother and cousins brought their sons and daughter over for a visit. Wow, what a cacophony. They were all crying and fidgeting around. Surprisingly, baby Aaron slept through it all, only waking up when the guests left.




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Sold for 160

Finally someone made an offer. So I wasted no time to get rid of it. Rush rush, rush here and there ... so tired ... after the deal, back to hospital ...



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Ah Boy and his word game

The day before I delivered A, I was at my mum's place and Ah Boy was there too. He told me this cheekily: "Yiyi, Yiyi, you are a horrible horse.". Huh? Then he continued...

"Yi Zhang is a Dirty Dragon,
Mummy is a Coward Chicken,
Daddy is a Rotten Rabbit and so on..."

I got it! So, he was playing a word game where he has to describe and match the first letter of the description to the first letter of our chinese horoscope... but why are his words all so negative? I asked him, "What about you?"

"I am a Super Snake!" he said proudly! His mummy was beside and joked "No, you are a Stinky Stupid Snake!" Haha, we had a good laugh about it...

When he visited me at the hospital today, we played the game again. This time, he had different descriptions for all...

I declared myself a "Happy Horse",
DC named himself a "Dynamic Dragon",
His Mummy, my sis is a "Clever Chicken",
My other sis is a "Magic Monkey",
My bro is a "Mickey Mouse",
My Dad is a "Minnie Mouse"!

All positive but the 2 mice are funny!

Then, he decided to have a super band and enrolled the following members in the band:
"Rockstar Rabbit",
"Clapping Chicken",
"Singing Snake",
"Hymning Horse" and
"Dancing Dragon"!

He is such a genius to have thought of that only in an instant!

Haha... I don't want to laugh for fear of tearing the wound but it was so funny. I had to chase them home before I burst out laughing non-stop! Haha...


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Baby Aaron - God's Gift to Us

Finally, baby Aaron has arrived at 20:07 hrs and weighing 2.23 kg. He's heavier than what the scan showed yesterday, which was about 1.9 kg. God has indeed blessed him and provided him with the necessary growth and nutrients. The tests done on him at the ICU showed that he is reading normal on all counts. Amen!




Related Tweets:
21 Jul 9:30pm, DC: Baby Aaron arrived into this world at 20:07 hrs. I'm a Dad!
22 Jul 12:57am, CP: Baby Aaron arrived into this world at 20:07 hrs on 21-Jul-2009. I'm a Mummy! :)

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Today is the Day

Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won`t worry about tomorrow
I`m trusting in what You say
Today is the day
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Today is the day
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh

I putting my fears aside
I'm leaving my doubts behind
I'm giving my hopes and dreams to You
Jesus

I'm reaching my hands to Yours
Believing there`s so much more
Knowing that all You have in store for me is good
Is good


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The day before delivery

I went out for supper with my dearest and DC for pre-celebration and to satisfy my cravings once and for all...


It'll be a long long time before I can taste cold drinks and my favorite chocolate desserts again! Oh, Just let me have my fill tonight! :P



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Full Speed Ahead

Did a detailed scan of our baby today. The fluid level is really low. The op has been pushed forward to tomorrow instead. I never thought I would experience this but I'm actually very sad at the thought of our baby not having enough nutrients. That was why I was like in a state of denial last Saturday when the doctor broke the news to us.

We turned ourselves to Psalm 91, that the Lord keep us and deliver baby Aaron and us from any harm.

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It's Time ... And I'm Not Ready!

Waited 4 hours to see our gynae today. The baby's amniotic fluid is even lower than before. He's not growing much as well, so the doctor suggested to do a C-sect this coming Thurs. Anyway, our baby is matured already, so it's alright to deliver anytime from now.

I'm in shock ... even now. It has never crossed my mind that it will be this soon ... I'm in concussion ... so I slept, then I ate ... lots ...


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Afternoon Tea at Pan Pacific Hotel

After the photo shoot, it's time for some snacks. The cakes and tarts are nice! So are the sandwiches, what can I say? They are my favourite ham and cheese!



On seeing that CP is pregnant, they offered her complimentary juice instead of coffee or tea. I thought that was quite a nice touch!






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Maternity Photo Shoot 2

Decided we will have another go at it. I needed the practice as well.




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Piri Piri!

I've been hearing a lot about piri piri chicken these days. I was suprised to find it on the menu of Coffee Club. Not impressive. Non-spicy although it should be. Chicken wasn't too fresh, bland and a funny taste to it, definitely not the sauce ... I think I should make my way down to AJ's Piri Piri Chicken one of these days.

Piri Piri Chicken



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Craving for Mudpie

Not just mudpie but deep fried chicken wings as well ... oops.

Worth mentioning is the mudpie at coffee club. It's still as good after all these years. Too bad they took away the country pie ...






Shepherd's Pie


Piri Piri Chicken


Mudpie



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Blue about pregnancy?

Sometime back, DC took some maternity pictures for me... I thought it's a good idea to display them on our blog header.

Blue is the new theme, not that I'm feeling blue throughout the pregnancy but because blue is the colour for boy. :) Very soon we will be welcoming the new member to the family. I reckon this header will not stay there for long, it will get outdated once A arrives... I'm now thinking of ideas for the next theme - most likely an enhanced version of this one. :)




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How did I get that cut?

This is what it looks like when your foot is very swollen and you had a deep cut. The thing is, you don't feel the cut until much later and you don't even know where you got it from!



Ouch!


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Hype Over Water

The Sunday Times on 12-Jul-2009 ran an article again on the serving of free water in restaurants. Frankly speaking, I seldom go to restaurants that don't serve ice water free. That's why I forgo Bakerzin for more than a year.

What's amazing are the responses from the restaurants representatives, interviewed in the article. Well, I've never been to their establishments before and you can be sure I'll never go there as well.





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35 week checkup

Today's appointment was later than usual, couldn't secure the earlier slots. The nurses didn't return me my appointment card the last time and had a hard time looking for it and it took them quite a while to register me because of that. It's high time they do something to change their inefficient system and to cut short the queue time!

The gynae was telling us that he will give us the admission letter today which got us excited for a while but then he decided not to after the scan. Disappointed but he has a reason, here's why:

The water level was still on the low side. Doc was worried that the baby have not enough nutrients and wants to assess the growth of A to determine whether it's necessary to bring the delivery forward. So, everything depends on next week...

Good news is: Baby A is active and doing exercises inside mummy's stomach. He was seen panting on the monitor screen and this means his lungs are functioning well. :) So cute.

Baby, hang in there! A couple of weeks more to go!


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Afternoon Tea

No more high tea buffets for us. Afternoon tea sets suit us fine.

Sheraton Tower Hotel Afternoon Tea Set


Nice scones and sandwich rolls.


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Back to Bakerzin

We heard that Bakerzin have started serving ice water to its customers, free. So we thought we can probably give it another try. We have to admit that it have nice chocolate amer, which they used to supply Starbucks.

Teriyaki Chicken Rice

The rice is supposed to be of a Japanese variety. However, I can't really differentiate the grain. I would have passed it off as normal rice instead. Really doesn't taste like authentic Japanese rice ...

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Nice, slightly hot and not too salty. Nice bratwurst sausages too.

They say pregnant women have cravings. For CP, I think it must be chocolate. Her craving for chocolate seems to have overtaken mine.

Warm Chocolate Cake for CP.

The cake wasn't soft enough and the molten chocolate a bit too thick. I find the raspberry too sour as well, doesn't really go well with the sweetness.

Raspberry Panna Cotta for myself.

This is quite refreshing. However, I find the sauce overly sour too.

However, I think the best panna cotta was from Pierside Kitchen at One Fullerton. Not sure if it's still there though.

Coffee Panna Cotta with Irish Cream ice-cream from Pierside Kitchen.


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When Sleep Tight Does Not Equal Sleep Well

Good Night, Sleep Tight

This common well-used phrase at bedtime does not seem to apply to me especially during this stage of pregnancy.

When I lay on my back, my tummy felt tight with the baby's weight on me, and I had to change my sleeping position to make myself more comfortable.
When I lay on my right side, my right hip bone felt painful after a while, I had to change my sleeping position again.
When I lay on my left side, my left hip bone felt painful after a while, I had to change my sleeping position yet again.

This will go on every few hours in the night until the day break.

When the leg cramps come into play just like today, I was so drained that I knew I just have to take the rest at home today!


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Gone in hours

Finally got down to posting the ad to sell my CK watch at Hardwarezone.com.sg. Within hours, someone offered me at my asking price. Since I got both of them for free and am wearing the other one, any offer is extra cash for me. However, I bet this $150 will be gone in no time.




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Duplicity

Duplicity
Cast: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti
Director: Tony Gilroy
Language: English
Genre: Comedy
Opening: March 20, 2009
Run Time / Rating: 110mins / R (Pervasive Language Including Crude and Sexual References)

Oscar® winner Julia Roberts and Clive Owen reunite for Duplicity, from writer/director Tony Gilroy (seven-time Oscar®-nominated Michael Clayton). In the film, they star as spies-turned-corporate operatives in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they find themselves on either side of an all-out corporate war, they discover the toughest part of the job is deciding how much to trust the one you love.

CIA officer Claire Stenwick (Roberts) and MI6 agent Ray Koval (Owen) have left the world of government intelligence to cash in on the highly profitable cold war raging between two rival multinational corporations. Their mission? Secure the formula for a product that will bring a fortune to the company that patents it first.

For their employers—industry titan Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and buccaneer CEO Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti)—nothing is out of bounds. When the stakes rise, no one knows who is playing whom, and the trickiest secret for Claire and Ray becomes their growing attraction. As they each try to stay one double-cross ahead, two career loners find their schemes endangered by the only thing they can’t cheat their way out of: love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DC wrote this on his Facebook: Duplicity ... You can't trust anyone.

He thought it was quite interesting but doesn't really hold substance towards the end. These two are supposed to be pros ... aren't they supposed to be always second-guessing? What if the truth is in fact, fake? In the end, I think the thought of winning big gets to us all in the end, even the most cunning of minds.

Me on the other hand, had a hard time understanding what the show was trying to say...

Well, the ending wasn't that bad, although duped, at least they gained love.