Wonderful Journey

It had been a wonderful 5 months being a stay-at-home mum. Recounting and dating back to the start of pregnancy, I'm extremely thankful for smooth sailing journey although there were some issues that caught us off our guard along the way! Well, I was pregnant for 9 months and a homemaker for 5 months which worked out to be more than a year of not being who and what I used to be. Adjustments are for sure but with these wonderful memories imprinted, they served as motivations in future when things get bleak.

I recalled finding out my pregnancy one day before my birthday in 2010.

First checkup at the obstetrics when Ean was 6 weeks old, measuring only 3.5mm ! Almost microscopic!

At 36 weeks, he was at an astonishing weight of 2.77kg!

At 39 weeks, he was born weighing 3.05kg.


And now, my little darling is 8.4kg at almost 5 months.

Many personal lessons learnt during this journey and one thing I finally I come to appreciate is the love of my parents for me. Perhaps this is why we never had memory of what happened to us during our infant days, God just wanted us to experience it ourselves to fully appreciate the measure of it all!

Last week of NPL (21-27 Mar)

Alas, the last full week as a stay-home mummy before I go back to work. To maximize the time, I planned in advanced what to do for the week. Mon to Tue was spent fully at home doing chores, packing baby's stuff, allowing Ean to catch up on his nap and simply bonding with him. Just when I thought Wednesday would be a short shopping trip for us two, I had to fall prey to gastrointestinal infection! It was horrid! I was feverish and terribly weak! There was a moment which I almost drop Ean. Thankfully, hubby came back in the late afternoon to babysit so that I could make a trip to doc.

By Thurs, I was much better so I continued with the plan - to Ade's place! Her place is so far away, tucked in Mandai area. And so, Ean took his longest train ride ever to Khabit. From there, we took a cab into her house. Just when I thought we were reaching, the cab had to break down at the main road junction! Good grief, I had to trod into the small alleys from the main road carrying Ean under the sun. The contrast between the 2 babies at one month and four months old!

We managed to do a little long run (14km) on Fri evening. Slight relief for the guilt of exercising so little these days.

On Sat, it was shopping at Marina square. Our trip there was mainly to get items to prepare Ean for weaning.

A frivolous shot of the little mafia trying on shades. The tag was in the way!

We then had the highly recommended Thai food at Shaw building!

Then it was off to grandpapa and grandmama's place for Ean to play with them.

Sunday after service was extremely eventful. We first bought items from Ikea before joining a huge group of >15pax for lunch at Alexandra food village.

Then it was off to swimming! Big pool swim for Ean while his good friend, Kait decided to nap instead.

Then we were stuck in Starbucks for quite some time playing monopoly deal with Gladys, Mao, Josh, Janice, Jonathan, VK, Tina & Kait. We had a hilarious time laughing and snatching properties!
We parted with the group and headed for family dinner thereafter. What a week! :)

Preparation for Weaning

The standard for introducing solids is at 6 months when baby is able to sit upright on his or her own and tongue thrush reflex much minimized. Preparation for weaning was an exciting 2+weeks which involved preparing ingredients for use after baby turns 6 months(tad advanced planning as I won't have much free time when I start work); shopping for storage and feeding utensils to that of high chairs. It was definitely an enjoyable and fun-filled process.

For a start, I began with preparing ikan bilis powder from scratch. This meant decapitating 0.5kg of ikan bilis, washing, drying and toasting and then grinding them. I wished my mom had gotten me the headless ones but well, since she said those with heads are better. She's the guru after all.

I spent a good 3 hours removing the heads of these little silvery creatures. The sheer amount of ikan bilis compared to the 1 litre water bottle.

Finally, wash them to remove tons of salt,i.e sodium; dry and toast them before grinding them into powder form!

Next on the agenda was finding a good brand of cereal. Those commonly found in supermarket contains milk powder and after asking around, the reviews were just not ideal. I spent a good few hours researching online on the type and brand of baby cereals. My conclusion was that Healthy Times seems to be the better brand amongst others. Reason being, it's organic, i.e. pesticide free. It is the only brand which carries a series of different grain cereal- brown rice, barley, oatmeal and multi-grains. I hardly come across other brands carrying brown rice cereal, whats more barley! However, the full range is hard to come by in supermarkets, and boy was I happy when I saw those boxes at lot1 fairprice! I swept them off the shelves instantly! I also bought an organic rice cereal from cold storage and rusks for baby to munch on later.

Following the guidebook which was written in an Asian context that I have in hand , I decided to experiment with the preparation for weaning 4-6 months stage before the early stage of weaning in 6-7months. At the preparation stage, babies are encouraged to try juices and broth to expose them to a myriad of flavours. Referring to the 'What to Expect in the First Year', parents are advised to give single grain cereals to their child in the bracket of 4-6 months to minimize risks of allergic reactions. And so, I've decided to combine these 2 sources and introduce my little darling to both juices and cereal!

For starter, baby can only take in very little, probably like only 1-2 teaspoons of food. Most of the food is spitted out due to the tongue thrush reflex. The bumbo seat which we bought to train him to sit upright came in handy when we have yet to purchase the high chair.

Other than introducing him to cereal, I also made diluted fruit juices like orange and starfruit for him to try. On the menu list is also tomato juice, barley water and vegetable broth (pumpkin and carrot). As baby takes very little, it is wasteful to dump away bulk of the remaining. I got this rubber ice tray from Ikea which is easy to press the cubes out when frozen. And so, with a small quantity of each type of juice made, they were frozen, prop them out and store in zip lock bag. This way, the liquid can be stored for a month or more without deteriorating. Even so, I won't be keeping them for more than 2 weeks since I can make new ones every weekend.

A sample of the vegetable broth cubes!

With all the food set and prepared, what is now left is where the prince is seated! We rationalized that buying those expensive high chair which offers reclining option is not necessary if we were to just use it for feeding. In that case, just a normal high chair would do the job! We bought 2 highchairs from Ikea swiftly on a Sunday afternoon. I was shopping at their online store the night before to generate a shopping list. Armed with that, it was merely grabbing the items on the afternoon itself! Well, we needed 2 because little Ean would be shuffling between 2 places and we didn't want to lug so much barang each time we come back home with him!

Look at the smirk on the little fella! He seemed to be saying "What's up? It's my highchair!"

My little baby

After a long break from blogging, here I am, back again to update on my little baby. He's not so little anymore. My baby, no longer a newborn, is now 3 months and 3 weeks old. On my birthday this year, he will turn 4 months. At the 3rd month medical checkup and vaccination, he weighed 7.1kg, being 75th percentile of all babies of the same age. Physique is still slightly bigger than average, like how he was in my tummy.

Time passes so quickly each day having to care for him. There are bad days where he proved to challenging, crying for the slightest or even no reason; refusing to nap and zapping all energies from me. On other occasions, he will be such a dear - cooing when we talked to him and showcasing his mega wide smile. His most potent weapon? His contagious loud laughter! I often tell hubby that he can even get away with murdering us with his innocent smile and how he crack us up. It is extremely rewarding to see progression of him gugling away, batting at the toys on his bouncer, propping himself up and supporting some of his weight on his legs.

There's only one more month left for me to spend time with him at home before I return to the battleground. How I wish time can freeze and I can stay home with him longer... But well, having his future in mind, I shall work harder! :)

surviving motherhood with heaven sent help

The confinement nanny fell sick after two weeks on the job and went away leaving us without any help. Exasperating it may be, we came to terms that eventually she will leave and we will still have to face taking care of Ean all on our own, just that now our escapism is cut short. Unknowingly, we have already survived parenthood all on our own for more than a week, 9 days to be exact. Ean will be turning one month old very soon! :)

I remembered at some point when I was feeling miserable being cooped up at home, someone dropped me an sms saying,"The fulfillment of being a mum comes from total responsibility of taking care of him with experiences of joy and tears. Press on!" How apt and wise was that! At that point in time, I was sleep deprived and my day was basically governed by feeding, nappies changing, pumping milk, not to mention having to cope with a colicky baby who was constantly crying. Besides these, in the week that the nanny left, I was down with high fever the second time in one month alone.

Nevertheless, the difficult period having to adjust our sleep patterns to that of baby's is over and we are both now more confident parents! For more than a week this is how a typical day for me is like and probably will stay so till I return to work?

The day begins at 4am or earlier depending on baby's feeding. Thereafter it will be to pump milk for feeding in the later part of the day. If it is extremely early, I will catch a short nap before I start the chores going at 6 or 7am. Laundry; boiling water; preparing water for bath; heating up milk for feed; thawing ingredients for making double boiled soup all concurrently till baby's prompt crying to trigger off the events to fall in place - feeding, bathing and then playtime till 10.30am.

10.30am - nap time for baby, pumping time for mommy
12noon - feeding, changing nappy
2pm - nap time for baby, pumping time for mommy
4pm - feeding, changing nappy

The periodic feeding, changing nappies, pumping milk repeats itself throughout the day and if I'm fortunate enough, I might be able to catch an hour of luxurious nap.

The miserable period would have been worse if not for the heaven sent angels! Thank God for mom, Ade, Pris and of course, my amazing hubby!

On weekday afternoons, mom would pop by to make dinner and a double boiled soup for me.

Ade, upon knowing how I'm left hanging without any help, immediately turned up at my place a couple of days later with a whole bag of individually packed herbs for me to brew soup. How thoughtful! Fearing that I would be bored, she got me books to read too. She visited whenever she could despite being 6 months pregnant herself.

Pris kept my sanity by visiting twice, once alone after her exam and the second time with Josh.

Hubby has been helping out a great deal especially for the 10pm and 1am feed when i would have knocked out by then. He's really good at disturbing baby to keep him awake and to amuse him when I'm too tired to do anything.

Although we do not have the help of the nanny for 2 weeks, I have found help which is even more precious and heartwarming! :)

struggle as a first time mom

My one and only concern during pregnancy and postpartum is that I might not produce sufficient milk to feed baby. I was fortunate as I started lactating soon after delivery. However, I didn't master the art of breastfeeding immediately and ended up with engorgement along with much frustrations. The situation was made worse with a hungry and wailing baby who was just impatient to suckle slowly. After wrestling with him at each feeding session, not only was I tired but also wounded with sore nipples and blebs. The well intentions of parents and in-laws who advocated formula feeding also sabotaged and dampened the exclusive breastfeeding plan.

To be honest, I was truly discouraged, frustrated and in pain with the blisters and engorgement. I wished baby could miraculously just fall asleep after feeding and cooperate fully when he wakes up.

Being me, I just refused to give in to 100% formula feeding straight away even when my own mother kept saying that I wasn't producing milk for feeding. Then I thought of using breast pump to alleviate the engorgement and also to let the blisters heal before I go back to nursing again.

And here's my first proud achievement to shut all critics-

After a few days of diligent frequent pumping, here's my personal best-


At least for now, there's always milk ready in the fridge ready for little hungry Ean!

While exclusive breastfeeding is always on my agenda, I wanted to be realistic and practical. Baby is breastfed 5 to 6 times in the daytime and supplemented with formula twice at night. Reasons for supplementing with formula is that the confinement lady can help with the night feeding so that I can catch up on my sleep. Besides, formula milk is more filling thus allowing baby to sleep through longer. Well, this is the survival plan which has worked well for the past 2 weeks and till the confinement lady goes away.

Week 39

Gestational week 39, 2 Nov- the day that Ean will be checking out of Hotel Uterus and meeting us after such a long 10 months. The entire induction and delivery process took place on Mon (1 Nov) & Tue (2 Nov) respectively. Thanks to Dr Chua who thought of the smallest detail that things fell into place so nicely. Till now, I still can't believe that I've gone through labour the natural way and how well paced each of the stage was. Thank God for his mercy and grace!

On 1 Nov 12 noon, I was at the gynae's clinic to kick start the induction process. A pill called prostin is inserted into the vagina to start the dilation of the cervix. Prostin is a synthetic form of prostagladin which helps to dilate and efface the cervix. This new method of dilating the cervix first highly increase the success rate of induction. Besides, this method of induction can be carried out as an outpatient procedure, making one strapped to the hospital unnecessary.

Then at 6pm, I returned again to the clinic to check the dilation. Doc said it was still early and another pill was required. After the insertion of the second pill, contractions of the uterus was almost immediate and strong. The contractions were picked up by a detector which also a monitored baby's heartbeat at the same time.

The instruction from doc was to admit at 12 midnight. Doc chose the particular timing so that I can maximize the hospital stay and also that the traffic would be a breeze for her.

After the second pill, we tried to spend our last twosome time together by grabbing a quick dinner at Crystal Jade @ JP. By the time it was 10pm, the contraction pain and pressure of baby's head on the pelvic region was unbearable. I endured till 1130pm and we made our way to Mt A Hospital. Just walking from our house to the car already made me crouch in pain and I was in tears already.

We reached Mt A at 12midnight and I had to be wheeled to the labour ward as I could no longer walk. Then I was led to the delivery ward and waited to be examined. The nurse checked the dilation and found it to be 3-4cm. Gosh! And I was in such pain already.

I requested for epidural as I know I have quite a long way to go in order to reach 10cm. Thankfully the anesthetist was nearby and I had the epidural administered swiftly.

Doc reached shortly at 1.38am to burst my waterbag. After which, strong waves of contraction can be felt as epidural hasn't taken its full effect yet. Thanks to the lifesaver epidural, I could still steal a few hours of disrupted sleep.

Around 5.30am, I could feel the strong pressure of baby's head right at the bottom. An examination revealed that I was 8-9cm dilated, meaning that it was a short while before I can start pushing. At the same time, the epidural had ran out and I feared that I would get the intense pain during labour! However the nurse assured me that the effect would last for 2 more hours at least and there wasn't a need to top up. I trusted her and waited WITHOUT epidural. Although epidural was a life saver, I had to suffer the side effect of non stop trembling and shivering.

At 6.30am, Dr Chua arrived and was getting ready for the process. I started pushing around 7am. The delivery process was really all about pushing with all my might with one single breath each time the contraction sets in. The first few pushes didn't really work and baby's head was moving in and out. Once I got the hang of it, the largest part of the baby's head emerged. Shortly, the whole body was out too! I had a shock when doc said "there you go!" and placed Ean right in front of me. I gasped and was close to tears. I cuddled him for a while before they remove him to clean up.

It all seemed like a dream. 39 weeks of waiting and he's now my baby right before me :)

Bye to the awesome journey of pregnancy and hello to motherhood!

Week 38

This week's checkup seems so surreal. Even doc said "so fast huh". Detector picked up rather regular contractions which were mild (in my opinion) and in normal circumstance, like this morning, I thought they were just baby's brief movements.

Doc went on to check dilation and effacement of cervix which was rather uncomfortable and slightly painful. Baby's head can be felt right at the opening of the cervix. A quick cervical check revealed that I was already 1cm dilated, meaning I'm already in the latent /early phase of labour, where cervix dilates from 0 to 3cm! Golly. First stage!

Once active labour, i.e the second phase begins, regular contractions set in and cervix will continue to dilate from 4 to 7cm. By this stage, most women will already be in hospital , with intuition telling them that baby's checking out really soon.

By the time transistion labour occurs, cervix will dilate from 8 to 10cm. Thereafter it'll be the pushing and delivering of baby, and finally the delivery of placenta.

Right. I'm nearing the finishing point.

At the brink of Week 38

I am starting to experience some symptoms that indicate labor is nearing!

• Lightening - baby has moved lower into the pelvic cavity
• Menstrual cramp feeling in the womb
• Backache
• Warm sensation around the womb, spreading to the thighs
• Braxton contraction
• Mild contraction of the uterus picked up by detector at checkup

Doc has also issued me hospital admission letter in case labour starts before I see her again. However, these could still mean labor can be a few days or weeks away. Still it's a waiting game. So long as baby's alright, I'm perfectly fine with the wait time. You call the shot, baby!

The last lap

20th Oct marks the official start of maternity leave and baby is also full term this week, meaning that he can be born any time from now on. The third trimester seemed to fly past and now it's down to 2-3 weeks before I see baby face to face.

Surely, this third trimester is a roller coaster ride packed with up and downs within such short frame of time.

One of the happiest moment I recalled during the gynae consultations must be that of Week 36. I was describing to doc that I felt a lot of violent turning at the same time on Mon and Tue morning that week. Also, I could feel some discomfort at night as baby was doing some rotation inside me. I think he probably rubbed against some of my organs. True enough, once the probe was placed near my right pelvic bone, doc exclaimed, "Hey, that's the baby's head! Baby turned!" At that moment, I know I was eternally grateful to God for hearing the prayers at night.

One week later (Week 37), I heard the most disturbing thing during the entire pregnancy. As I hadn't gained weight and in fact there was a slight dip for more than a month or so, doc was particularly worried. An ultrasound check revealed that baby hasn't gained weight too over the past one week. I was still expecting to see him chubby and ballooning to 3kg. Whats worse, I had a drastic reduction in amniotic fluid index. Without going into the medical specifics, it suffice to say that the situation warrants close monitoring and in the next one week, should the condition doesn't improve, induction would be the way to go.

Whether it's c-section, induction, vaginal birth or what so ever does not matter now. I just want baby to be safe and healthy.