29 November 2011

All i want to do is sleep

Joy Joy feeds about once every 2 hours for food plus some 7-10 mins feedings in between for comfort. Means I have 1 hour for food and miscellaneous and 1 precious hour for sleeping, sometimes more if there are no miscellaneous.

I really need to rant. Grandma is really not helping me much although I know she does what she can to do confinement for me within her rules, like insisting I don't get any rain / dew on me, making sure I have boiled water to wash up, boiling red date water for me and getting up to make breakfast for me.

Only thing is she is always depriving me of my 1 precious hour of sleep. When I want to sleep in the morning after breakfast, she needs me to help with the bathing and does it in our room, utilizing all the space on our bed, so I can't sleep even if i wanted to. When I want to sleep after that she wants to go marketing and sends Grandpa away separately to do passbook updating, leaving me alone at home instead of getting Grandpa to do all. When i wanted to sleep in the afternoon, she asked me to "help me look after baby for a while" coz she wants to wash the laundry.

Yesterday, as I was sitting on the sofa, with the nursing pillow and a sleeping Joy Joy there, trying to get some rest whilst sitting up and waiting for Joy Joy's next feeding time, it occurred to me that Grandma could have done her laundry when I need to feed Joy Joy rather than do it when I can get some rest.

And I just lost it.

I sobbed at first and then cried uncontrollably. I was so so so tired, why did she have to do laundry then? Why do I have to help with bathing Joy Joy? Why can't she send Grandpa to do the marketing and all in one trip? I thought she said she could do confinement for me? How come I'm like working round the clock with not much rest even when I could have rested? If she couldn't manage, she shouldn't have asked me not to get a confinement lady. And best thing is she's going to work for the next 4 working days. She only quit because she was unhappy with her boss, not because she felt I would be unable to cope.

To add to it, Daddy is sick, very sick. I've never seen him so sick before.

Tonight is going to be rough.


Who are you really pacifying?





I bought 4 of this pacifier before I read up about pacifiers. I chose pacifiers which resemblesq human nipples (the way they look like when baby suckles) and felt really good about it since I bought something that could help baby and me.

But now I know, pacifiers are bad. Personal experience is that they make your baby abuse your nipple (i.e suckle harder. think: chewing toy).

Other cons I read about are:

(1) reduces baby's need to suckle on your breasts which translates to less stimulation and opportunity cost in building up your milk supply

(2) Nipple confusion. The official term is that but my personal term is laziness in getting milk from mummy.

(3) Dental problems

(4) Speech delays

(5) Photos with a plastic thing in your baby's mouth instead of her beautiful smile.

The truth is, all they do is calm your nerves. Not your babies. Pacifiers were invented for babies' caretakers.

Joy Joy rejects pacifiers and only takes it when Grandma forces it on her and Mummy is not responding to her cries. Grandma gets flustered when Joy Joy cries and Joy Joy really cries hard, like this:



I made a decision to hide the pacifier from Grandma this morning. I told her that it causes Joy Joy to take a long time to feed and/or not be able to feed from my breasts.

We just have to find another way to soothe Joy Joy.

26 November 2011

Who do you love more?





I sent Daddy this photo and asked him "Who do you love more?"

Tricky question! But I know his answer exactly.

We subscribe to the "Triangle" theory. If I love Joy Joy and he loves Joy Joy, we will have a common goal which is the tip of the triangle. And the other two base points of the triangle will be him and me respectively. Together, we form a stable triangle with Joy Joy (or each child we may have subsequently). In the process, we love each other more because of our common goal and experiences.

So he loves Joy Joy more. And I love Joy Joy more.

Children will be children




Daddy sitting on a children's chair at Joy Joy's jaundice checkup today.

Coping

I know that Daddy is exhausted. Like almost totally drained. We had the nurses to take care of Joy Joy in the hospital but now, it's just him, me and Grandma.

At first, I was pissed that Grandma asked us not to get a confinement nanny. She said she could help me with confinement but end up she:

(1) Sleeps through the night whilst Daddy and I woke up countless times to attend to Joy Joy.

(2) Doesn't bathe Joy Joy properly. Took off her clothes to wash her hair rather than keep it on, doesn't pay attention to hidden areas like her neck, armpits, in between her thighs or even clean her umbilical cord.

(3) Feels extremely flustered when Joy Joy cry her lungs out. Many times, it incapacitates her help and it's faster for me to do it myself.

(4) may not be able to cope with helping me take care of Joy Joy whilst taking care of me in confinement. We went for just one doctor's visit today and she was unwell due to the sun and exhausted. If I had not catered confinement food, I doubt we could cope.

BUT!

I thought long and hard about it this afternoon as I was Breastfeeding Joy Joy in my utterly exhausted state (about 6hours of sleep in 3 days for someone in confinement with a c section wound). I think we'll manage with strategic planning.

Since pregnancy I have been used to getting my sleep quota in interrupted packets of 1-2 hrs. Joy Joy feeds about every 3hours and it takes me about 30mins each time. So I will grab at least 1 hr is sleep every 3 hours, 1 hour to feed her, check her urine and stools, quickly clear any blocked milk ducts I may have after feeding, go to the toilet and clean up myself where necessary before climbing back to bed to rest. That means I get about 8hours of sleep in total. Even if I miss an hour out of what I planned, I still get about 6-7 hours of sleep. When I am too tried and Daddy is not resting, I can get him to bring Joy Joy to bed for me to breastfeed. By breastfeeding, we save time on the sanitizing but Daddy keeps a stock of breast pump equipment already sterilized in case I need to pump to remove blocked milk ducts I may have. The remaining 1 hour out of the 3 hours, I can take to do whatever I need to.

I want Daddy to get rest at least over this weekend. He needs to be in tip top shape next week so that I can count on him to help when needed.

My meals are taken care of by catering. Food is good, I have no complains.

Strangely, so far, I've had no need to use much water for cleaning. I clean my face with Bioderma followed by Hada Labo and eye cream, very low maintenance but effective. I clean my body with Tena wipes. Discovered it in the hospital when they cleaned me up. Damn good.

And I just learnt how to burp Joy Joy. It's an achievement to me coz it means I don't have to ask grandma or daddy to burp her in the middle if feeds. And she won't scream at the top of her lungs for milk.

I need to learn to keep Joy Joy cleaner tho. Means getting things ready at strategic places and knowing exactly what I need and where they are.

25 November 2011

Joy Joy's birth story (Part 1)

I had a traumatic delivery. More than 23 hours without any kind of pain relief because the gas equipment was spoiled and I didn't know until, by luck, I had to change delivery ward and the one there was working.

I needed to be on drip but one nurse and one doctor failed to get the needle in my vein and I was poked 4 times in total, the only successful time being the fourth. After which tubes of my blood had to be drawn immediately for the cord blood donation and some tests they the doctor on duty had to do.

On top of that, I need to be pricked every 4 hours to monitor my blood sugar.

And then another 21 hours of pain and suffering out which about 8-10 hours was relieved by thigh injection (meaning i could finally sleep after more than a day) escalated to a last 4-5 hours of pure pure pain and suffering. Induced by 2 different types of medication, 3 epidural injections because the first and second ones were not working, dosage of another type of pain relief because which was increased thrice over the course of about 1-2 hours (I had neck pain by the 2nd dose and it was potentially life threatening) and an emergency c-section during which I could not opt for full body pain relief because it would endanger Joy Joy and my life. The 3rd epidural was a risk as well.

One of the nurses didn't believe that my water had broken. It was only confirmed 7hours later by a doctor. 7 hours of possible infection to JoyJoy.

By the end of 44 hours, the doctors said we cant wait anymore, i need to have a c-seection.

Daddy had a bad toothache throughout my 44hours of labour. And he had to bear with it whilst taking care of me. We had help from bear bear to bring ration (food and necessities) to the delivery ward for Daddy.

When I heard that we need to do an emergency c-section and was told of the higher risks we could encounter because I had a history of asthma etc. I cried out loud. All the frustrations, all the pain, everything I tolerated until that moment, my escalated fear of pain by that time, my worries for Joy Joy's safety and my own life, Daddy's suffering with his bad toothache and long hours without sleep. It was overwhelming. At least for me.

In the OT, I was put on a bed with my arms spread out in a T-shaped and a tent set up in front after my 3rd epidural which was quick, swift and professional. I was shivering to the extent that my body was beating against the bed and I had breathing difficulties. I was extremely intoxicated with medication and I could feel them cutting me, tugging and pulling.

When Joy Joy was out, they put her face by my face. I turned to call her name and wanted to kiss her. She turned her head at the same time and pouted. So happened, we kissed each other. They put her cheeks by mine for a while and I could feel her softness. It was the best feeling ever.They asked me if they could now bring her to Daddy. I said yes. I know Daddy would love to see his daughter.

I could feel them stitching me up without the pain. They took a long long long time.

When they were done, I was first sent to a recovery room where they monitor me then transferred to a post ops ward. When I was being transferred I heard them saying that they would call Daddy. Then another nurse said that there is a guy waiting outside, maybe he is my husband.

I was glad to see him when they wheeled me out. He told
me that Joy Joy was very cute and that he took pictures and videos. I asked him if Joy Joy was healthy and said I wanted to see the pictures and videos right away but he asked me to rest first, he would send them to my phone.

The whole time we were talking whilst I was being transferred to the post ops ward and Daddy was following us. He went with me to the ward and sent me photos and videos then told me he would wait till they transferred me to my ordinary ward so that he could settle me down before he leaves and he did.




20 November 2011

Again unable to sleep properly and I was awake by 6.18am on 19 November. Rested in the dark to wait for 6.30am so that I can wake Daddy up for his IPPT.

Had breakfast and chatted with Grandma and Grandpa after Daddy left home before doing the filing, random surfing and settling paperwork we need to do before my admission:




By the time Daddy came back at 8 plus, i was exhausted and had to take a nap. I Slept till 11plus and rested till 12 plus before we had lunch and after resting for some time, Daddy started spring cleaning the room, changing our bed sheet and setting up Joy Joy's playpen:



We had a quick dinner at 6plus pm before going out to buy a float, disposable underwear, head support and I got some cure mittens for Joy Joy whilst Daddy cut hair and buy bread for us to have in the delivery ward.

I had planned to sleep at 3pm but it was 9pm when we got home. I took a long bath before packing my bag a little then climbed into our comfy bed to rest. I couldn't sleep at all. Daddy turned on the air-con for me joined me later after bathing. It was the last time we were going to have the room / bed to ourselves with Joy Joy in my tummy. The next time we go back, our little girl would have arrived. We chatted in bed and rested with Daddy hand on my tummy. What a cozy feeling.

We were to wake up at 12.30am for our appointment at 1.30am. In between I kept on waking up to go to the toilet. At 11.18pm, I discharged jelly like mucus plug after Joy Joy kept on pushing down several times.Sharp pain each time!

19 November 2011

I can see you

Daddy is not too well today. Went for IPPT in the morning and possibly sprained his neck.

I want to give him salonpas but he is a smelly boy who hasn't bathed since he came home this morning says he'll have it later.

So for the time being, when I talk to him, he can only look at me like this:

Toy in my tummy




© babycaredaily.com

Joy Joy likes to tug at her umbilical cord. I got a shock when she does it whilst I was asleep just now. Occasionally, I'll even feel like she's CHEWING on the cord.

From what I read, seems like its common to feel that and she's just playing with the only toy she has in my tummy.

Tomorrow


This time tomorrow, I will be at the delivery suite to begin the most painful and the most joyful experience of my life.

A little girl grew in me


30 March 2011
On the day of our anniversary, I had a strong feeling and so I tested... it was a positive!
6 April 2011: First glimpse of the little girl
Hello little girl!

Estimated to be 6 weeks old, so so tiny (3mm), she was barely the size of a cursor on screen.

We also heard her heartbeat for the first time. Strong, steady and wonderful. When I stole a peep at the Daddy and saw him grinning from ear to ear. His eyes lit up when we were informed that the little girl's EDD would be 30 November 2011. Hold on in there 2 more days and he would have the best birthday present ever!



24 days later, it was obvious our little girl had grow. So proud of her!

Still can't make out the shape of a baby. Also, the fact that a baby was living inside me had not sunk in yet. I felt and behave like i did before but reality was slowly kicking in each time we catch a glimpse of the little girl.

14 May 2011
You can make out the outline of her head and her hands although her legs are not yet developed. I felt incredibly happy just looking at this scan. EDD was brought forward to 25 November 2011 to Daddy's dismay!
20 June 211
By about this time, my bump became obvious to the eye and I could feel her. The first time I felt it, I was in a train, holding my bag on my lap. It was like a tickle at first but soon I realised it was my baby moving. Incredible feeling.

9 September 2011
It wasn't a 3D scan but the sonographer caught the image of her face by a stroke of luck. I took one look and immediately had a feeling she would resemble Daddy. Huge eyes, button nose and fishball cheeks!

When we were doing the scan, the little girl's left hand was resting on her left cheek. During the scan she moved both her hands to touch her cheeks and yawned a few times.. looked so comfortable and cozy in there!

At this visit, we were told that the little girl had already shifted into the correct position for natural birth.. What a good girl! Also, 1.34kg of what I carry around everyday is our precious little girl!

18 November 2011: Last glimpse of the little girl in my uterus

I suffered from withdrawl symptoms from not seeing the little girl for so long. At this scan, I was told that amniotic fluid was low (API 4-6cm) and advised to be induced to avoid complications.

So the plan was to be induced on 20 November 2011.  20.11.2011 what a nice date for a birthday.
She was 3.1kg and together, we were 56.5kg. At the last scan, the little girl Joy Joy was 2.2 kg and I was 55.6kg. So the 900g weight increase since then all went to her?

The poodle




Daddy and I often refer to this lady at the payment counter as "the poodle". We don't mean it in the demeaning way, we mean it affectionately.

Her hair makes every visit complete.

Took this photo for remembrance sake, since it will be my last routine appointment.

18 November 2011

Not cool, KKH!

I read about the necessity to have regular scans close to EDD to monitor baby's position, water level, weight etc. I worried about the umbilical cord more than anything else, getting paranoid because of all that tossing and turning I do when I sleep.

I checked with friends who goes to gynaes at the same hospital and they confirmed that they were scanned to monitor the baby close to their due date. It was deemed necessary close to due date for a safe delivery.

I called the hospital on Monday and was told that they do not do scans close to EDD. I was asked what scan I had intended to get, the nurse even asked me if it was my first pregnancy. I struck me that they thought I was over anxious about it.  The nurse told me that, maybe, at private doctor in the hospital have scanning machines in their offices and so they just do it for the patient as a matter of course. At subsidized clinics, they do not do further tests after the detailed scan at week 32 unless they suspect a problem.

I wanted to do it anyway and after being on the phone with the nurse for some time, clearly and specifically asking for scans to monitor my baby for the purposes of delivery (particularly the umbilical cord and water level) I gave up explaining and just said "ok, I'm now insisting to be scanned, just schedule an appointment for me."

She said "I need to check with the doctor which scan we can give you, I will call you back".

Yesterday afternoon, I received a call from KKH and the same nurse told me "I've checked with the doctor and the only scan we can think of to give you is a 4 in 1 scan for checking fluid level, baby position, weight and (something I forgot) because there's really no other scan to give you". I couldn't be bothered to say more to her. I just agreed and said "ok, I'll go for that scan."

The scan today reveals that I have low amniotic fluid and it is necessary for me to deliver Joy Joy soon by inducing (!!). The doctor checked my cervix and said it is very soft and thin although not dilated yet. Considering that I am due in a week in any case, I was advised to go for induced birth within the next few days.

This and various bad experiences with the medical at the hospital is sufficient for me to never go back to the subsidized class again. Not if I can help it.

Everytime i see a gynae there, they ask me if I have any questions rather than provide me with medical information likely to pertain to that point in my pregnancy. If one is not the kind to read up when they feel that something is amiss, their condition would have been left untreated. I am given to think that the hospital treats subsidized patients in a production line manner and simply apply a set of fixed procedures coupled with a "you're overreacting" attitude because they have "seen it all". In situations like this, too much experience (with pregnant patients) is not a good thing.

Before I left the gynae's room today I asked her about epidural and birth plans but she said that I can ask the asthestist about epidural instead when I go into the delivery room. I am not sure if she didn't have the information, didn't want to tell me about the information or it's not her job to do it so I'm not getting the information.

I think the hospital neglects to take due care of their subsidized class patients. Customer service leaves much to be desired as well. Save for the exception of a few, most of the staff do not read my notes or any paper passed to them, they just asked me what I was there here for instead. Perhaps it is faster for them to ask but its not very pleasant for a patient to repeat a story at every department they go to.

17 November 2011

Labour Drill

I have been training Daddy on what to do in the labour ward. For ages its been:

(1) NO medical students pls.
(2) Full breastfeeding, NO formula pls
(3) I want Joy Joy to latch on immediately after birth, definately within 15 minutes. Weighing, cleaning etc can wait.
(4) Tell the nurses / doctors I MIGHT want epidural
(5) Check with me at around 3cm & again at around 6cm on whether I want epidural
(6) No C-Section unless absolutely, life-threateningly necessary
(7) Daddy to cut Joy Joy's cord

Now, I want to add the following:

(8) Daddy to video Joy Joy's birth moment
(9) After baby has latched on, we take a family photo then Daddy is to FOLLOW THE BABY and take photos (we had a short photography session so that Daddy know how to use the cam / video cam)
(10) I want Joy Joy to sleep with me. Beside me in her baby bed / with me in bed so that I am not far away when she needs Mummy.

And change (4) and (5) to:

I want to have a natural birth without epidural. TRY!

Poor Daddy haha.. so many things to remember.. but i've written it down here, just in case... hahaha

Good read


Went to the library today to re-loan this book but they can't locate it for some warped reason. I later received a call from them, asking me to go collect after 3PM today (another trip out is sooooo tiring at this stage of my pregnancy). 

So far, the most comprehensive, easy to read breastfeeding book i've read.
Maybe, I should just buy it la!

Epidural or no Epidural

These are the responses I get from FB on Epidural or no Epidural. Isn't it just amazing.

Thing is, I think my uterus is contracting (i.e. when Joy Joy is not moving but my uterus tightens and wraps around her and I can see her bump clearly and my whole tummy area is like a hard basketball) once in a while, but I don't feel contraction pain! So when do I go to the hospital? When the water bag bursts? When I have bloody show?

I also have a funny and secret worry that my water bag will burst when I'm on the bed. Whats gonna happen to the bed...

16 November 2011

Drought relief


True story.

Pregnancy makes my skin ultra ultra ultra dry (like a very severe skin drought) . So dry that it cracked and bleed. Scratching my skin and causing pain to myself is more relief than feeling the itch (I did a blood test, cleared for liver problems) but it resulted in a multitude of scratch marks on my body rather than stretch marks. Daddy said its painful for him to see me scratch myself, the wounds are really bad.

I have been going to dermatologists at the national skin centre for years and at one of my appointments I asked the doctor how i could relief the itch also particularly since I am pregnant and should avoid certain ingredients in skincare. Usually, the dermatologists are spot on with their medication but this time, nothing they prescribed could help me at all. I also tried other moisturisers  ( cetaphil, physio gel, QV etc etc etc) and no matter how potent they claim to be, they didn't give me any relief at all.

By accident, I found that the calendula from California Baby which we got for Joy Joy for nappy rash helped tremendously. But it is (very) expensive and I can't bear to use it on myself. I discovered the first sustainable itch relief from calamine lotion, which a doctor at KKH finally prescribed to me but it helped only with relieving itch for a few hours (after which I needed to re-apply to get relief) and caused me to have uber  dry skin.
And this is the only complete relief I found, after MANY MONTHS of suffering. The Gynae says it safe for use in pregnancy. Even on my thighs and tummy.
I bought this once many months ago and left it unused (at my own home) after two applications because it felt horrible on my then oily skin. In a moment of desperate need for relief whilst I was out, I bought it again when I saw that it was on promotion and really cheap and I'm so glad I did buy it.

I use it everywhere. On my face, neck and wherever needs moisturiser / itch relief and it makes my skin velvety soft (true story!) and very smooth to the touch, solved the dry skin, provided me TOTAL relief from the itch and my wounds are clearing up so quickly, I'm surprised.

So I am writing this down to remember it for the next time I am pregnant (we want two!) or in case anyone else suffers from the same problem.
This is, obviously, not an advert.

The Tooth Monster

The China Girl is now back for her once (or twice) yearly visit and I was out with them yesterday. I had a called with Daddy to see if he wanted to join us after work and he told me he was experiencing bad Bad BAD toothache on two of his teeth and can't make it although he really wanted to.

Shortly after, Daddy called me again and asked me where I left the painkiller his dentist prescribed for him. I told him where and know that he must be in great pain because usually, Daddy avoids medication until he is desperate for relief.

Daddy heard me unlocking the gate / door when I got home and quickly came out from our room to come to me. He rested his head on my shoulder and said "Mummy, its so painful", looking for comfort from me. I said "Poor thing.." and gave him a hug. "I tried many ways including brushing my teeth, gargling the mouth wash but it all didnt help" he continued to sulk "so painful that I can't take it and my saliva keep flowing down by itself until my whole mouth is full". And then he gave me a major sulk face and wanted me to comfort him.

Whilst I was sayang-ing Daddy, I caught the scent of our shampoo and body wash and I knew that he had bathed. Somehow it was endearing. Daddy bathing on his own without me nagging at him. But i also know that he must have been really tired and disturbed from the pain.

For the rest of the night, he "talked" to me in mumbles or just made sounds for me to guess what he intended to say. When we decided to call it a night, I passed 臭臭to him so that he could sleep better but he was in agonising pain throughout and we woke up in the middle of the night to give him panadol for the pain since he couldn't take painkillers again. He looked so miserable it was heartbreaking. Poor Daddy..

Sleep




© sleepzine.com

At about 6plus this morning, Daddy told me half asleep that he thinks Joy Joy will be born soon. Last night, he had continuous dreams of different scenarios in which we rushed to the labour ward. After telling me about his dream, he kept on rubbing my tummy whilst he went back to sleep with a smile on his face. I tried to sleep but all I really want to do is to sit quietly and rest for some time.

Yesterday morning, I dreamt that Joy Joy had already been born. I was groggy when I saw her being fed formula milk, got so furious and I took her away to an unknown place where there was only the two of us. I started to latch her on and I remember distinctively, that the feeling of breastfeeding was nice. Was woken up by the sound of my phone beeping from text messages but the feeling stayed with me for a good while.

Not extremely tired today and for the past few weeks since I've been on hospitalization leave, my best bedtime is actually between 9plus - 12pm. After breakfast and after Daddy goes off to work, I have to struggle to keep awake and all it takes is seconds in bed for me to be sleeping and lost to the world until someone texts / calls me.

I better enjoy my naps as much as I can. When Joy Joy is born, uninterrupted sleep will be such a luxury.

15 November 2011

Daddy's Girl

Joy Joy is VERY strong and her kicks and movements often cause me pain although not always. We've been wanting to record videos of her moments but she seems to be camera shy, whenever the recording is on, she keeps to herself and go quiet.

This possibly the clearest video we have on how Joy Joy likes to stick her butt out ever so often:

And finally, we managed to capture this other one that shows her other common movements. Not quite the strongest movements she makes but good enough to illustrate.  I think Daddy is especially happy about this video because it show just now Joy Joy responds to her Daddy particularl. In fact, as I was editing this video, Joy Joy stuck her butt out and moved a lot whenever Daddy's voice is on. I think she's a Daddy's girl hehehe:


 

F.O.D.

I didn't get much sleep over the weekend because Joy Joy moved and kicked so much plus I had menstrual like cramps, backache and needed to pee frequently (like once an hour at least) throughout the night.

I must have disrupted Daddy's sleep as well when I got up in the night to either walk around the room to relieve my ache, talk to Joy Joy or go to the toilet. By the next morning I was beyond exhausted. But I felt my hunger pangs on time at 8-830am in the morning because thats the time i wake up every weekday to make breakfast and have breakfast with Daddy before he goes to work. Both days i could only muster the strength to tell Daddy i was hungry and viola he woke up both days at 8plus in the morning to make breakfast for me, clean up before collapsing back into bed again.

Last Sunday, after lunch, I did filing and paperwork for us whilst an exhausted Daddy slept. After which i used Daddy's laptop on our bed. Gradually Daddy moved to snuggle up beside me. Very manja. When he seemed more awake and was lazing in bed resting but not sleeping, I stroked his hair and told him I was craving for something.

"what does mummy want to have?" he asked with one eye open. "Curry puff" "not the one from Ang Mo Kio but the one from Thompson Road" I said.

To my surprise, Daddy said "ok mummy, I drive out to buy for you!" I was gloating at being able to get food on demand (F.O.D) when Daddy added happily "Just right, I feel like driving". (*O*)

Today I have a craving for Wanton Mee. Not just any Wanton Mee but specifically the one at my place. Something I've had since a child. I texted Daddy to whine about it and he replied:


So ok Daddy! I forgive you for diminishing my happiness over the weekend haha.

14 November 2011

Nesting instinct




Daddy displays more nesting instinct than I do. Dusting, wiping, sorting out / rearranging the things in our room as well as vacuum and sweeps our floor once every week. So proud of him!

The urge I feel is to get all the things we need for Joy Joy ready, our paperwork / research on baby stuffs including baby bonus, CDA accounts to open, insurance etc and preparation for our Taiwan trip next year done. Alot of surfing the internet and reading everyday. Good since I can't walk about too much but there's still much to be done!

A coconut a day





I have been taking one young coconut everyday since end October. Everyday, either Daddy or Grandma will prepare one for me since I cannot do it myself.

This is supposed to help Joy Joy cool down towards the last month of my pregnancy. Many Mummies (SIL, friends and random strangers on the street) tell me that it makes their babies fair and clean when they arrive.

I don't mind at all, they taste good to me!

13 November 2011

Stretching exercise





This is how Joy Joy likes to stick her butt out! She does it frequently everyday, I think it's her favourite stretching exercise hee hee.

Joy Joy Bathroom





Daddy cleaned the room again today and when he needed to move Joy Joy's bathing things to clean a portion of the room, I overheard him saying "excuse me, Joy Joy bathroom.. I want to clean this place.."

I laughed immediately and asked him "Joy Joy bathroom?" and he told me with his I-am-so-innocent look that "next time Joy Joy will bathe inside, that's why I call it Joy Joy bathroom.."

LOL!

Joy Joy's Chinese Name

© royal19 on flickr

樂 lè   ㄌㄜˋ
  1. 欢喜,快活;快~。~境。~融融。~不可支。其~无穷。~观(精神愉快,对事物的发展充满信心)。~天(安于自己的处境而没有任何忧虑)。
  2. 使人快乐的事情:取~。逗~。
  3. 对某事甘心情愿:~此不疲。~善好(hào )施。
  4. 笑:这事太可~了。

萲、蕿、蘐 xuān〈名〉
  1. (形声。从艸,宣声。本义:萱草 (Daylily or Hemerocallis)。草本植物,艳丽高洁,有“萱草忘忧”之说
  2. 同本义 [tawnty daylily]。如:萱苏(忘忧草);萱草忘忧(传说食萱草能令人忘忧)
  3. 古称母亲居室为萱堂,后因以萱为母亲或母亲居处的代称 [mother’s room]
    1. 北堂有萱兮,何以忘忧?——《红楼梦》
  4. 又如:萱辰(母亲的生日);萱亲(母亲的别称);萱草(借指母亲)

Joy Joy's full chinese name is 黄乐萱.

The word "乐" was a natural choice of course because of her English name (English name came first!) and we both liked the sound of the word "". This name was chosen very shortly after the name "Joy" was chosen but we actually didn't go look up the meaning of "" until today.

Luckily, in combination, Joy Joy's chinese name satisfy what we hope she will grow up to be and we're happy about it! And I like the feeling which Daylilis gives me, particularly the white version of the flower. Strong, clean and elegant. This flower will remind us of our precious baby from now onwards.

In a way, this post was also written for Daddy, so that he can remember how to write Joy Joy's name when he register her birth (hahahahaha).

12 November 2011

Joy Joy moves down


At my routine check yesterday (11.11.11!), the Gynae said that Joy Joy is moving further down the birth canal although my cervix is still closed. After examination, I lost more mucus plug.

Thought she was really gonna arrive when I had contractions timed at about 10 minutes apart initially which reduced to less than a minute apart. Maybe I walked a lot yesterday, when I sat down, the contractions stopped.

Walking also sent bouts of electric-shock like sensations shooting up the inner side of my right thigh, followed by numbness after that.I feel breathless easily, my palms are often swollen and lower thighs too. Sometimes drinking a lot of water solves the swollen palms and thigh problem within an hour or 2 but it didn't help last night and in typing this on my phone with swollen fingers.

I was telling Daddy yesterday that now I can feel the weight of Joy Joy's head resting on my right inner thigh / pelvic bone. I put my fist into the crook of his elbow and pressed down to try and show him how it feels like. Feeling this is incredible IMO, almost like carrying her in my arms.

10 November 2011

A pint of happiness

1-2 weeks ago, Mummy realized that there was a promotion for every 2 pints of Hagen Daz Ice-cream and so I bought it for Daddy in our favorite Rum & Raisin flavor.

Daddy was waiting at home for me and didn't know what I bought and on the way home I was secretly happy and looking forward to seeing his reaction. When I reached home he came to open the door for me and i asked him to guess what I bought.. He said "I dunno Mummy" innocently and I passed him the bags.

His expression was priceless when he took a look at its contents. Something like this but better:


That's how much he love his Rum & Raisin ice-cream.

Daddy had one pint a few days after and one day I asked him when would he like to have the other pint and he said "I will have it the next time I feel sad". LOL.

A few days ago, Daddy had his 2nd pint of happiness:

(photo edited to protect modesty of subject)

After that I asked him if he felt happy and he said "Yes mummy.. I'm happy now!"

09 November 2011

We know a kind soul

We are fortunate to know people who go out of their way to help us.

When Daddy's colleague (also my ex colleague) knew that I was pregnant, she told him not to get a carseat because she had one we could use. Fast forward many months to recently, to save some money, I shamelessly texted her to ask if we could still have the car seat and she was so prompt to reply. She said "Yes, definitely. I planned to call alex...will call him."

The next day, she called Daddy early in the morning and asked if he could meet her up before he went to the office. Daddy was up bright and early that day but still she was too super early and Daddy couldn't make it in time to meet her.

Next thing we knew, she had her hubby drive her to Daddy's office and left it there for Daddy. So touched!

We (more like Daddy) cleaned it up last weekend and it's almost as good as new! ^.^ Now we're really ready for Joy Joy!

Home Sweet Home

Daddy was unusually stressed out yesterday because of work. He called me just as I was about to call him last night to let me know that he would be home late and to keep some food for him. I said "Ok baby! call me before you leave office so I can heat up the food for you and we share some fruits"

I was surfing the net and saw that it was almost 11pm and Daddy hadn't called me yet. I called him and he told me "Mummy, I'm at my wits end.. There's something I need to finish today but I'm still struggling with it". Sounded so tired and miserable, I could visualize his sad puppy face.


He called me shortly after midnight to say that he was leaving office and getting into his car and that the last time he looked at the time on his phone, it was 12:02, his birthdate (LOL).

When we got off the phone, I went to check that the wooden front door was not locked, less he gets emo ("nobody loves me" he would say when he finds the wooden door locked before he gets home at night). Then went to place his furry bedroom slippers by the bedroom door. Next I helped Daddy get the laptop in position for surfing, with comfy pillows and of course our beloved 臭臭 strategically placed with hugging reach. And lastly got ready his bath towel and change of clothes.

When Daddy got home, I was in the bedroom and first thing he said to me was ":( how come I didnt see my mummy welcoming me at the door". Super manja.

I went to heat up the black chicken soup we saved for him and sat down at the table to chat with him whilst he ate the food we saved for him and had his hot soup ("Hot soup is always nice isn't it Daddy" I asked and he said "Yes mummy hot soup is nice..... But I don't like to be in hot soup" -_-'''). He brought back cupcakes and I took out our last bit of soya beancurd to share with him. The poor boy was starving.

Daddy asked if i could clean up whilst he went to get a hot shower so that we could both be back in bed at about the same time to rest, chat and relax together. "I'm not going to surf the net today Mummy, I need rest so that I have enough energy for tomorrow". To me, it translates to "Mummy, I'm stressed at work and it saps my energy". So much so that he voluntarily forgos his surfing to rest.

After bathing, he sprawled himself on the bed beside me and read his favourite online comics whilst waiting for his hair to dry. "I can't sleep with my hair wet mummy" he explained to me with an innocent face.

We chatted and he sayang-ed Joy Joy who seemed to know that Daddy's home and was moving a whole lot, only calming down when Daddy rubbed my tummy and told her "Daddy loooooovvvee you". I asked Daddy if he was ready for Joy Joy's birth and he stopped in his tracks before saying "I need to learn how to write her chinese name". We had the aircorn on and after chatting for some time whilst Daddy read his comics,  he looked happier and more relaxed.. he looked more like this by then:

© Getty Images
I always felt that this is what home should be like. When you're really really exhausted at the end of a day or when you had a really really bad day, you go home and get a good hot meal, a hot shower and recharge in the company of your family.

07 November 2011

Daddy's tanker

The sharp pains, pulled ligament feeling, cramps and fatigue are getting worse. Daddy is spring cleaning the room again and I can help lesser and lesser.

This is something Daddy made when we last spring cleaned the room:





I made him sit down and read all the magazines / papers he had lying around and one of the NS magazines had a "construct a cardboard tanker" thing. Next thing I knew, Daddy had abandoned his magazine and was entirely focused on building his tanker until it was completed... Like a little boy with his toy...

37 Weeks

Joy Joy is FULL TERM now!
Her organ systems should be fully developed by now and she can be born anytime!

04 November 2011

The familiar delivery suite

This morning when I woke up, I felt slightly dizzy before breakfast. Daddy (who read the Essence of Chicken post last night and was indignant about me wondering how long he can keep it up) warmed up 2 bottles of chicken essence and said "Cheers". We both struggled to finish it.



I went back to sleep after having milk and bread whilst he went to work. Woke up feeling a little dizzy but got up to go for my routine gynae check up at KKH.

I intended to take public transport but before leaving the house, i felt pain in the muscles by the side of my abdomen whenever Joy Joy moved. It continued and worsened when I stood by the roadside for about 10mins waiting for a cab. Better when I was sitting down in the cab.

At KKH, after I've done the routine tests, to my surprise, I was asked to go straight to the delivery suite. The nurse who did the routine test noticed that I was having more than the usual kind of pain whenever Joy Joy kicks or when I was walking.

And here I am now, lying in the same familiar bed in the delivery suite for monitoring. They want to know if I've been experiencing contractions.

I'm told I can go off from here if I'm having contractions but labour is not likely to be anytime soon. Cross my fingers and hope not!!!

I can't see the charts properly but from this picture I took, don't think i'm having regular contractions:




Hide & Seek

After Daddy drove home today, he called me from downstairs. So I got up from resting in bed to cut him some fruits whilst Grandma heated up food for Daddy.

Whilst I was cutting I thought I heard the gate / door open. Grandma went out of the kitchen to see if Daddy had come home but returned to the kitchen shortly and said that she didn't see him.

I was taking the skin off a kiwi when Grandma commented that she removes the skin in a different way then she left the kitchen. For some reason I accidentally cut myself deeply. About 0.5-0.75 cm of the fruit knife went into the tip of my left index finger.

I immediately put down the knife, washed my wound quickly under running water (blood was gushing out), pressed hard on the wound, went to the living room to ask Daddy's sister for a plaster and then into the room for the swabs I use for testing blood to disinfect.

Daddy suddenly appeared with plaster and he helped me put one on. It wasn't enough because the cut was deep and we could see blood beginning to seep out from the top of my finger so he put another on to apply pressure whilst trying not to faint and commenting that I look like I'm about to faint.


I later found out that he's been home since the time I heard the door / gate open and close. But.. He wanted to scare surprise me.

According to Daddy he quickly removed his socks and first decided to hide in the quilt (got caught by Grandpa before he could cover himself entirely and Grandpa laughed at him for trying to disturb me). Then Daddy decided it was not a good place to hide, so he went to hide in the bedroom toilet and waited. He waited and waited but I still didn't come into the room.

He got impatient and decided to hide behind the bedroom door instead. He said the space was so small his stomach touched the door and he had to stand with his two feet facing each other to fit in the space. He waited and still I didn't appear, so he watched a show on chicken rice playing in the living room, through the door hinge crack whilst waiting.

And then he suddenly saw me in his sight.... Asking for a plaster then coming into the bedroom to get my swab and realized that I must have cut myself.

"I know that I must stop playing already because Mummy is hurt, so I came out of hiding" he said.

I really can't help laughing at Daddy, every other day is a new funny day.

03 November 2011

Is she coming?

I've been having these sharp pains since last night. Shooting pains down there, the feeling of having pulled muscles by the sides oft abdomen and the little girl was kicking my ribcage all night long. I think I only clocked about 4-5hrs of interrupted sleep.

Didn't measure the frequency because they were so painful, all I wanted to do was to find a position that would feel better.

Had a dietician appointment today and the minute I started walking the lower back aches and cramps by the side started. Better sometimes when I get to sit down but sometimes it doesn't help. Painful and catches me unexpectedly. I couldn't help going ouch when I was talking to the dietician.

I can't tell if Joy Joy is stretching my uterus or my uterus contractions are squeezing her. My tummy just feels like a hard basketball quite often today.

So scared of labour! Is it coming?

Our paperwork system





Over time, Daddy and I have set up a system for handling incoming mail, working based on each of our strengths. Payments by Daddy, paperwork administration by me.

Basically there are 3 departments in our system. The reading department (top level, beige), payment department (middle level, orange) and the filing department (bottom level, yellow).

I don't get much mail because mine are still directed to my own home so Daddy is HOD of both the reading and payment departments. I on the other hand file all papers, including mails, warranty cards, payment receipts, bills etc. basically all papers in a filing system which I maintain.

So far so good until today.

I saw that there was a pending payment in the filing department and decided to alert the payment department about it. But! HOD of the payment department actually asked if I had raised a payment request form!

Like hello! Tsk Tsk Tsk!

02 November 2011

New trick





Daddy who never ever edits photos and knows nuts about photo editing sent me this picture today whilst i was having dinner with Cazz and JH.

I laughed my head off when i saw it.

Daddy said "To entertain mummy, puppy learn another trick"

New Ride

There was a warehouse sale at one of the baby stuff distributor located at an uber ulu place and Mummy the family shopper alerted Daddy.

On our way there, Mummy kept on reminding herself that our target is a stroller / car seat and we will only look at strollers / car seats when we get there.

Not many stroller brands available, only 2 european brands but they were good enough.

The one I like particularly aesthetically is the Mylo from Mama & Papas:


High seating, choice of front and back facing, zipped up storage under the stroller (weight will stabilize stroller and nobody can see what i put in there) also comes with a bassinet for newborns but a major minus point was that it doesn't fold up compactly. Given Mummy's size, it's not an option, especially if I'm to be out with Joy Joy on my own. The price was also not cheap at 1.3k with 40% off. Over what we discussed we would spend on strollers. So it's out!

The same brand has maclaren-like models which looked reasonably comfortable, comes with a sun guard and folds up easily but minus point is that they look like they're for bigger kids.

In the end we settled for the micralite toro in red:











Good reviews on the Internet, comes with bassinet cot for transporting new borns, can last till Joy Joy is 4 yrs old, has stable wheels, folds up easily / able to fold up with one hand, aesthetically pleasing and we were the first 5 to purchase this stroller on that day, able to get the full set at $429 instead of the original price of $1088.

They only sold expensive Ricardo car seats so we didn't buy, altho they were willing to give us bulk discount if a few of us buys (Daddy happens to have a few friends who had / are having babies this year).

Nothing else to get at the sale since we have just about everything else.

When we got home, Mummy made Daddy open up the boxes and set up the stroller to see if there were any defects. Everything was good except that the bassinet was mouldy on the underside. I checked and the guy said we could return it for a good one but Daddy and I both felt that it might not be worth the trip to exchange the $30 bassinet, we should be able to clean it ourselves and so we haven't gone to exchange... Yet. Hopefully, we're right but with so many things happening recently, we haven't gotten down to cleaning it.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Ads