Baby Rae is 4 Months Old!

Today 21 April 2012, Baby Rae is 4 months old!
Time flies huh!
One of the tradition to mark this important milestone is to pray to the 床头婆婆，Goddess of the Children (the Chinese believes that there is a fairy godmother who takes care of the young children). When Baby was a month old in Jan, we did the praying too.
The next time to pray will be during the 7 moon, I.e. Hungry ghost festival.
We had a pot of cooked rice and mee sua as the offering for the praying.

Later in the evening, we will get a chicken drumstick for baby to lick to fulfill one of the myth which is to ensure bb has enough to eat as she grows up.

A Breast Feeding Mom's Fear

Baby Rae is a total breast feed baby from birth till now at 3 months old.
I d like to BF her as long as I can, min 6 months.

My worst fear as a BF mom is milk reduction and baby not having enough to eat.
Each visit to the baby's clinic, I will be very anxious to know about her weight as I am afraid that she is not growing due to not eating enough.

I am trying my best to produce more milk.
TMC lactation consultant had advised me to take Fenugreek as supplement to boast my milk supply.
On top of that, need to drink more soup, eat and rest well in order to produce more milk.

I hope I can produce sufficient milk for my baby precious.

Baby Rae is Growing Well!

My baby is growing pretty well!

She is 12 weeks 1 day old, her height is 62cm and weigh 5.3kg.
Last month 8 Feb, she was 53cm and 4.6kg.

Her birth weight was 2.9kg and 49cm tall.
Isn't it amazing!

Vaccination

BB Rae had her first 6 in 1 jab this morning at the Polyclinic.
She also had her pneumomucocal jab and rotavirus vaccine too.

The jabs needle are really long for a baby.
When the nurse jabbed her, she broke into a loud cry instantly.
Poor baby, she was jabbed twice as I told the nurse to give her pneumomucal jab at the same time.

As we left home at 7.40am, we didn't bathe her till we got home after the jab at about 10am.
She had her milk then slept for 2 hours and is now drinking her milk.

According to the nurse, the jabs may cause fever so we need to monitor closely, once the body temp reached 37.5'c or more, panadol to be given.

I shall monitor bb closely.

Belated Full Month Celebration

My precious bb is 12 weeks and 1 day old today!
Last Saturday 17 Mar, we had a belated full moon party for her in KL since we didn't have any in January due to CNY.

We departed SG to Ipoh on 14 Mar Wed morning 6am and arrive Ipoh at about 12 noon.
I breast fed BB Rae during the long drive and she slept most of the time, so was pretty easy.
PIL were really happy to see bb, they prepared diapers, play pan, baby cot for her.

On Thursday 15 Mar morning 8.30am, we brought BB Rae to the MY birth registry to apply her MY citizenship.
BB Rae is born a Singaporean but we think it may be beneficial for her to have dual citizenship now as I may need to leave her with PIL should I decided to start work.
We gotta wait for 6 months to know the outcome of our citizenship application.

On Friday 16 Mar, we departed Ipoh for KL at about 10.30am.
We stayed with BIL.
We brought bath tub, pails, bouncing net to his place as he is a bachelor living alone in a 2 story house.
In the evening, we went to SIL place to ve dinner together.
The 3 girls were very happy to see bb Rae, they spent the whole Saturday morning preparing handmade cards, gift wrapped toys, clothes etc for bb Rae,

BB Rae's belated full moon party was organized in SIL's condo clubhouse.
A luxurious buffet dinner was catered.
We had more then 60 guests.
The party ended at about 10.30pm and BB Rae fell asleep on our way back to BIL's place.

The next day, Sunday, we had dim sum brunch before driving back to Ipoh.
We spent another 2 days in Ipoh before driving home yesterday, Wed 21 Mar.

Deprived of Sleep

I am very sleepy and constantly lack of sleep!
Why?
Because of my Baby Rae!
I had not slept well since week 37 of my pregnancy due to the backache, pressing tummy, anxiety of child birth.
After baby is born, I have yet to get a continuous sleep greater then 3 hours due to night feeds.
Yes, I had a confinement nanny to have me during the 1st month upon child birth, but as I only gave breast milk via latch on (with no bottle feeding), I gotta wake up to feed baby personally.
Her last feed for the night is 9pm, then next feed at 3am, 6am, 9am, followed by 2 hourly feed till 9pm at night and the same routine the next day!
When she sleeps, I can't sleep as I gotta express milk from my engorged breast.
Now when the confinement nanny is gone, I am caring for her alone, so I gotta be alert and keep a watchful eyes over her in fear of SIDS!

I am sleepy ...... When can I ve a good sleep?

No, don't get me wrong, I don't regret being a Mother as I know all these (baby, sleepless nights, flabby tummy, dark eye circles, puffy eyes, engorged breast, baby cries, no time for doing own leisure reading or other activities, always rushing to finish the meal quick to care for baby, frequent diaper changing, constant worry if baby drinks/ sleeps/ poos& pees enough etc) come in a package calls "Motherhood" but it also gives you a bonus packet known as "happiness with laughters"!

Happy V Day 2012!

I ve been busy caring and feeding Baby Rae and didn't realized it was Valentines Day yesterday until RY gave me a bouquet of roses and wish me Happy V Day!
I was surprised that he still gave me flowers.
I ve heard from friends that their husband stopped giving them flowers with the arrival of babies.
I'm not sure if he will persist but certainly hope that he does .......
Even though I am a mature adult and a mother, deep in my heart there is still the girlish part of me who wants to receive flowers from my man.

Breast Feeding

I have always wanted to do breast feeding to my babies as I am aware of the benefits of Mother's milk to her baby.
As much as I hope to breast feed, I understand that it may not necessary mean that I can produce any or sufficient milk to feed my hungry baby. Also not all baby can latch or suckle successfully.
During my pregnancy, I kept telling my baby "mummy loves you and will breast feed you to give you the best from me. Mummy will produce lots of milk for you so that you will not be hungry".
I guess this self conditioning could have helped in my breast milk productions.

In about week 36, my gynae taught me simple breast massage technique to induce milk production. I started to produce colostrum in the following week.
I think it was a blessing that Baby Rae was able to latch on to suckle well when she was newly born.
I can still remember vividly when the nurse bring Baby Rae to me for feeding, I merely held her to my breast and she opened her mouth wide to start to suckle.
It was a very thrilling moment to see a tiny baby feeding for food!
At that moment, I was the happiest and satisfying mum with my bundle of joy in my arm!
But being a new born, she tend to fall asleep easily as it required a lot of strength to suck
the colostrum/ milk out.
So I had to constantly wake her up by touching her cheek.
I was feeding her 4 hourly and the nurse would bring her to me as I chose exclusive breast feeding.

My milk supply kicks in on the 2nd day after child birth.
I started to have engorged breast on the 3rd night.
Fortunately the lactation consultant came to my rescue on the next day,Saturday morning, before I discharged in the afternoon.
She massaged my breast to relief the engorgement and also applied cold cabbage leaves on my breasts. She also advised me to latch baby on frequently and expressed the milk diligently using a breast pump.
When I came home, I did as instructed and in few days time, no more engorgement!

As at today, I am still breast feeding Baby Rae exclusively for 9 feeds per day and am glad that she is growing well!
I hope to be able to breast feed her for at least 6 months.
Wish me luck!

Pregnancy Journal 5 - Birth Story

Baby Rae EDD was 24 December 2011 and we were looking forward to a Christmas baby.
But her actual delivery date was 3 days earlier on 21 December 2011.

I was a happy mum to be during the pregnancy and my health condition was good.
Few days before the delivery date, I suddenly felt anxious and can't sleep at night.
I was wide awake in the middle of the night.
On Monday 19 December, it went to the gynae for a routine check and was surprised to see an exceptionally high blood pressure and doctor informed that my water level in the water bag is getting lower. She suggested that I admitted immediately for delivery.
I was shocked and speechless!
I told her I was not prepared since RY was at a meeting and not reachable.
She sent me to do HCG scanning to monitor heartbeat.
I was strapped up for 45 mins to do the scan and fortunately the result was good, so I was allowed home but gotta be admitted on 21 Dec morning for delivery.
She also told me to monitor baby's movement during the 2 days!

When I got home, I quickly did laundry, house cleaning, prepared baby cot mattresses, checked my hospital bag, admission documents etc.
I had the worst night that Monday night as I was worried about baby and imagined that there was no more movements.
It was an agony to go the another night and RY almost wanna admit me on Tuesday morning.
We received a surprised phone call from my gynae on Tuesday late afternoon.
She told me to get admitted on Tuesday night after 11.30pm so that the hospital can help me monitor the baby's movement and I will be induced on Wed morning.

That night, we had a quick dinner, then went to collect my breast pump which I ordered online.
I tried to calm myself down by watch TV before we left for TMC.

We reached TMC at about 11.40pm.
I went to the delivery suite while RY did the admission registration.
I was given laxative inserts to clear my bowel and was given medication to induce labour at about 2am.
I started feeling the contraction pain 3 hours later, then at 6am I washed up and had my
shower.
The contractions got more intense and the gynae came to check on me at 7am and told me that I ve not dilated and will wait for another hour to monitor if I can go ahead with the natural delivery.
An hour later, when she came, she checked and informed that she would do an emergency c-sec in an hour's time since I was not even a cm dilated.
She told me to choose between GA and epidural.
As I was in anxiety, we decided on GA.

Then the nurses prepared me for the operation.
I was pushed to the operating theatre at about 10am.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital ward and it was 11.30am.
I saw RY and the first question I asked him was " is the baby ok? Is she pretty and normal?"
RY told me that all was well and assured me of a beautiful baby.

The gynae came to my room to check on me and asked if I wanted to breast feed baby. I told her yes and she arranged for the lactation consultant to advice me on the breast feeding techniques.
I get to see baby at about 12.30pm and did my first breast feeding despite the painful wounds.
I only managed to give her very little colostrum as my milk supply had not kicked in yet.
Holding my baby in my arm was wonderful, it was like a dream finally came true!
My Motherhood journey starts instantly!
The lactation consultant helped us take picture of our newborn in my arms, I shall always remember that moment ......

CNY 2012 - Year of the Water Dragon!

Happy CNY!

This CNY is different from prior year as we ve Baby Rae!

As usual, we went back to Ipoh for the CNY celebration.
RY and myself had been contemplating whether we should bring a month old baby on a road trip back to Ipoh since it was a long 6 hours drive.

Initially we had decided not to go back to Ipoh fearing that baby would to too young and fragile to travel, but after checking around with friends, we were told it was safe to travel as many fellow Malaysians had done it before!
But we still can't decide on the exact date to travel as we would like to celebrate Baby Rae's full month before we leave SG.

We had intended to have her full month party on 21 Jan Saturday and to travel on 22 Jan Sunday.
After much discussion with RY, we changed the full month celebration to Thursday 19 Jan and to
depart SG on 20 Jan.

Traveling with a baby is no joke as it entailed lots of preparation work, especially mine is a fully breast feb one!

On 19 Jan, after the full month party, we rushed to pack luggage and clean the house.
I quickly pumped 2 bottles of 120ml volume of milk for the confinement lady (cl) to feed Baby Rae for the night and the mid night feeds so that I can concentrate in preparing the luggage for the trip.

We woke up at 3am to feed baby Rae and left the house at 4am.
We were glad that the custom in both SG and MY were cleared, 2 toilet stops were made and we managed to arrive Ipoh at 10.30am.
We dropped CL at her Ipoh address before we reached PIL's place.

The moment we arrived, we quickly bathed Baby Rae and then I breast fed her before putting her to bed.
PIl was looking forward to our return, they prepared a baby cot in our room and another one in the living hall.
We also set up the baby monitor so that while she is sleeping upstairs, we are able to monitor her cries remotely in a floor below!
FIL cooked confinement dishes for my lunch.

With PIL's help, RY and myself managed to do some shopping in Ipoh. They helped to look after Baby Rae so that we can shop in peace.
We took opportunity to stock up cheap diapers, tissues, baby wipes, baby wash etc.

As Baby Rae's full month was too close to CNY, we were not able to hold any celebration party in Ipoh, instead we visited the relatives to introduce the new family member to them.
Being the first grand child of PIL, Baby Rae received generous gifts from many people.
The money gifts would be placed in her bank account.

We stayed in Ipoh for a week and left on Thursday!
Last time, when it was just RY and me, we would leave after a 3 to 4 days stay, but with a baby, we need the additional days to get ready for a long driving journey.
On Thursday morning, we set off at 7.30am and arrived SG at about 2pm.

This CNY was really fun with Baby Rae!
I look forward to the next CNY!

Pregnancy Journal - 4

Gynae Searching

In total, I had seen 4 gynaes, 1 in KL and Ipoh respective and 2 in SG.

The gynae in KL was recommended by RY's friend and the one in Ipoh was recommended by MIL's friend.
The KL gynae was very assuring, he knew about my 3 previous miscarriages history and kept assuring me that this pregnancy would be a smooth and successful one.
I was with him till my 22 weeks detailed scan to ensure the baby is normal and viable before I return to SG.

Initially we had wanted to deliver our baby in KL but due to accommodation constrain during the confinement, we changed to Ipoh.
The gynae in Ipoh was very caring, despite the detailed scan done in KL, she did another round of detailed scanning to check on the organ development and took picture of baby Rae to show us how beautiful she was. It was a relief to know at the early stage that there is no cleft lips.

During my stay in Ipoh, I was having a second thought of delivering Baby Rae in Ipoh. I had wanted a natural delivery so was uncertain about the actual delivery date. I fear that RY may not make it in time in Ipoh to accompany me through out the delivery.
So we decided that we should have our baby in SG.

While in Ipoh, I researched on the various hospital and decided on Thomason Medical Centre to deliver my baby but haven't confirm the gynae. I also enrolled us to the Antenatal Class conducted by TMC commencing in September 2011.

So in mid August, I returned to SG and went to Bintan with RY.
We had shortlisted 2 gynae in SG, the first was Dr AW, we chose him because his clinic is pretty near to our house, but we were not comfortable with him since his consultation was really fast, we had no chance to ask much question.

The second one was Dr WK Tan of TMC.
She is very motherly and patient with our question.
During the first consultation, we immediately decided on her as our gynae to deliver Baby Rae and signed on to her package.
She is a very experienced doctor! Each visit was very assuring!

Pregnancy Journal - 3

Pregnancy Woes

In this chapter, I'd like to talk about the pregnancy woes which I had experienced.

Morning Sickness
No, I had no morning sickness just like my previous 3 pregnancy.
I was worried that this could imply bad omen with no morning sickness.
My KL gynae, assured me that it's normal not to have any.

Hunger
But I did feel hungry all the time during first trimester.
I ate almost 2 hourly and just loved carbohydrates, which added about 7 kg to my weight during the initial pregnancy phase.

Carpel Tunnel Syndrome
I had carpel tunnel syndrome starting week 18 and the gynae was puzzled since usually this only started in the later part of the pregnancy due to water retention.
It started with a numbed right palm, then it spread my shoulder and neck in about week 20.
In week 32, my left hand also became numbed.
Up till after 1 month of child birth, my both hands are still numbed.

Water Retention
I could feel my feet swelled in around week 19 but it was pretty mild.
The swelling was gradual and by week 35, my legs had turned into "porky legs" and really heavy which made each step a tough one to move.
In fact my body, face and arms were swollen during the last trimester.
By week 38, my feet became so fat and big that I can't fit into my shoes which was bought in week 28 and was already a size bigger then my pre-pregnancy shoes.

Frequent Urination
During trimester 1, due to the pregnancy hormones, I'd go to the toilet frequently and at least twice in the middle of the night.
In my last trimester, with the growing baby pressing on my bladder, I'd go to the toilet every 45 minutes and 2 to 3 times at night during my sleep.

Backache
The backache started around week 32 and got worst in week 36 as the baby grew.
It was so bad that I got to sat on the sofa to sleep since lying down and getting up from bed was a challenge.
It was only in week 38 that I was able to sleep on my bed as baby travelled towards the birth canal.

Is this Real?

My Baby Rae is now sleeping in my right arm while I am busy typing this post on my iPad.

I ve been dreaming about the day of holding the bundle of joy in my arms and here she is now!
Is this real? or am I dreaming?

I am so happy now that tears of joy are rolling down on my cheek .......

Pregnancy Journal - 2

The amazing baby movement inside my tummy was felt at around week 20.
I still remember vividly that it was a Friday night and I was home alone in Ipoh as PIL went to attend a wake in Kuala Kamgsar - refer to my post in Auguest 2011.

Previously I was complaining to RY that I can't feel any baby movement since such movement usually can be felt from week 18 onwards.

I was surfing the net in the room and suddenly I can feel some twitching movemnt around the tummy area.
The feeling was amazing and unforgettable!

When RY arrived Ipoh the next morning, I quickly shared the good news with him!

Due to the previously 3 miscarriages, I am really paranoid over this pregnancy.
Each time at the gynae clinic, I'd pray hard that I can see the flicker of the heartbeat in the monitor.
The gynae knew about my history and he'd purposely turn on the volume to also let me hear the throbbing sound of the heartbeat, he also keep assuring me that the pregnancy is very strong and I need not be worried for nothing.
He said my anxiety could be translated into negative energy which may affect the baby.
I heed his advise and tried my best to remain cheerful throughout this pregnancy.

Pregnancy Journal - 1

After 9 days of delivery of Baby Rae, I finally manage to find some time to sit down to surf the net and reply to some e-mails.
I've been busy caring for my newborn, breast feed her, pumping breast milk and learning to be a mother .......

I shall start on chapter 1 on my Pregnancy Journal now.

It all began with I quit my job in Feb'11 and went to KL for vacation in end Mar'11.
I was happy playing with SIL's 3 daughters and RY would visit me every weekend, those were care free days.
Then in mid April, I realized that my menses didn't come for a few days, I waited for sometime and them discussed with RY what to do and we decided to visit a gynae in KL for a check.
We were delighted that I was tested positive!
But the pregnancy was not stable as I was spotting.

As this was a precious pregnancy, RY didn't want me to risk losing this precious one so we'd decided that I should continue to stay in KL till all is well.
During the 8th week, I had a blood clog bleeding and BIL quickly rushed me to the clinic to check and was glad that the baby was fine.
The doctor informed that the bleeding could be an old blood clog which get pushed out to make space for the growing baby.

I was put on heavy dosage of progesterone to support this pregnancy.
Staying with the children had kept me busy and as I was out of SG, I was not contactable since I hardly turn my mobile on.
As such, I was able to get away from stress and remained happy for a period of time, my office colleagues tried to get me but I didn't answer to their missed call nor SMS text messages etc.

I stayed in KL till the doctor cleared me in week 14, I.e. End of Trimester 1 and I proceeded to stay in Ipoh since RY was still worried about the stability of the pregnancy.

The 13th week detailed scan really freaked me out as I was worried of the detailed scan result, fortunately, the scanned result showed that the baby was normal.
The doctor had recommended me to do amnio test to further ensure normality of the baby.
After much discussion, RY and myself decided not to do the test as there is a risk of miscarriage.

If you've read about my previous post, you'd see my write up on live in KL and Ipoh.

In week 14, as I was pretty comfortable and assured of the pregnancy, I started to do simple yoga posts and stretch exercise and continued till I was in week 40.

Throughout the pregnancy, I'd put on 14kg and most of the weight was put on during Trimester 1 which was about 7kg and Trimester 3, which was another 5kg.

To be continued .....

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Today 22 Dec is RY's birthday!
This year I didnt buy any birthday gift for him as I knew that he will be getting a bigger and special present, which is our precious baby girl - Rae!

Our precious arrived on 21 Dec which is a day before RY's Bday and he is really happy since from now onwards, he has a darling girl to celebrate his birthday!

As I am still in pain and on fluid diet in the hospital, we can't really celebrate his birthday with a big bash!
We just have a quiet time in the room, just the 3 of us, singing Happy Birthday song to RY!

Isn't it cute that all the 3 of us are December Babies!
Mine is 11 Dec, Baby Rae's 21 Dec and RY's 22 Dec!

Welcome Baby Rae!

Welcome to the world, Baby Rae!

I am proud to announce that I am now officially a SAHM!
I ve just given birth to a Baby Girl - Rae this morning at 10.30am via emergency c-sec!

I didn't post anything about my pregnancy earlier as I wanted to be stress free of having to update. But I ve told myself that once Baby Rae is born, I will pen my pregnancy journey down!

But now am really sleepy/ tired and shall only update the details when I am better.

My precious bb, Baby Rae, I love you and will do my best to be a good mother, and you also must do your best to be a good daughter!

Happy Birthday 2011

How time flies!
Today is my birthday!
What was I doing last year?
Oh I was a busy working career women and celebrated with RY during lunch.

RY has not planned any celebration for me so I guess it'll be another quiet Sunday for us to R&R at home.
He has just given me my birthday present, no surprise to get it right.
Yep, he got me another gold bar which he said it's a more practical gift which will appreciate in value!
I guess I will soon be a gold bar collector if he continues to give me as birthday gift!

As I aged, expensive meals, gifts etc don't seem to be appealing and important anymore.
All I want is to be able to spend time with my loved ones .....

This year is different from prior years as I am looking forward to a new role that I'm assuming soon .........

Updates:
RY brought me to Grand Park Orchard - Open House restaurant for a sumptuous buffet lunch.
This evening, he prepared hot pot fish head dinner single handedly without any help!
I feel loved!

Sad sad day ........

It is really sad to update that the baby born at 26th weeks Last Wed had left us yesterday afternoon due to internal brain bleeding.
My friend is grieving for her loss and I can feel her pain too.
I hope that she will recover soon.

May God bless her with another bb asap .......

I am very sad, feeling really sad for her......

Praying for my friend

While I am typing this post, my friend is dealing with a labour pain in the KKH hospital.
Yap, no big deal of labour pain, but having to deliver your baby at 26 weeks pregnancy is a big deal!

Firstly the baby is still very small and the organs are not fully developed.
Secondly, she has gone thru a lot to have this baby after many attempts of IVF fresh and frozen transfer cycle.
Lastly, she was admitted in emergency by herself while her hubby was away on biz trip, since yesterday, and have been in labour pain for the past 12 hours with 6cm dilation currently and not sure how long it will take for a full dilation to 10cm.

I am praying hard for her and hope that she and her precious baby is fine!
She is a brave mother and I am sure she can cross this hurdle to enjoy the bundle of joy!

Updates:
My dear friend has delivered her bb girl safetly at 1kg and the baby gotta remain in the hospital for 3 months to ensure her organs are matured and developed well!
I am really happy for her!