Sunday, September 30, 2007
Venturing out with Kaelyn
David was on leave 2 days last week and we had some plans on how to spend those days. We wanted to bring Kaelyn out to the Botanic gardens on one of the days but it was raining. So we made a trip down to Plaza Singapura instead. I would say it was a successful attempt in bringing the little one out. I was initially afraid she would wail throughout but surprisingly she didnt! However, we spent quite some time locating the nursing room and feeding her. We also had people coming up to comment on how cute she is and asking whether she's Japanese! I think it was the cap she wore that made her look like one. We even managed to have lunch and dinner out, and did some shopping.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
A day in Kaelyn's life.. and mine as well
It has been 8.5 weeks since I delivered Kaelyn. Time really flies. When I look back at how I have spent my last 2 months, I realised I have only been bathing, feeding, changing nappies for our little princess. Whatever spare time in between will be spent bathing and feeding myself and sleeping. Occasionally I do have the luxury of checking my emails and posting blogs. Also, the only times I step out of the house is to go for my checkups, bring Kaelyn to the clinic, go to parents' homes...
It sounds very boring here, but time just whizzed by before I could really feel it. This is how we spend our day:
This routine is really far from ideal. I'm still trying out variations of Gina Ford's routine in her book 'The new contented little baby book'. Hopefully I can get something to work for Kaelyn, even if we bring her out.
It sounds very boring here, but time just whizzed by before I could really feel it. This is how we spend our day:
- Between 6 and 8 am: Awaken by Kaelyn's cries. She's either hungry (which is the most likely reason), really wet and wanting a change of nappies, or just calling someone over to talk to her.
- By 9am: She would have been fed. Plays for around half to one hour. This is the best time to bring out the flash cards and teach her whatever I want.
- Bathes between 9 - 10am. Offer her gripe water and some warm water.
- 10 - 11 am: She may nap for a short while. This is when I can catch up on my sleep - but usually not long.
- 10.30 - 11.30am: 2nd feed 3 hours after the first. After which is lunch time for me.
- By 12 noon: Kaelyn is supposed to have her lunchtime nap of 2 hours but she always cannot get past an hour. My maid and I would have to take turns either talking to her or carrying her around the house.
- 1.30 - 2.30pm: 3rd feed.
- 2.30 - 4.30pm: I try to put her to sleep again since she didnt have enough of her lunchtime nap. Sometimes she can sleep for as long as 2.5 hours, but most times, she just managed half an hour at most. So will have to either play with her, talk to her or carry her around to appease the princess.
- By 5pm: 4th feed.
- By 6pm: Clean her and change her clothes.
- By 8pm: 5th feed. This and the subsequent feeds are the most difficult as she would struggle and bawl at the feedings. She'll have lots of wind in her stomach. So most of the nights are spent struggling to calm her down.
- By 11pm: The last feed of the daytime.
- In the night between 12 and 6am: She'll wake up once for a feed, no fixed timing.
- The time she wakes up for the midnight feed will determine her wake up time in the morning.
This routine is really far from ideal. I'm still trying out variations of Gina Ford's routine in her book 'The new contented little baby book'. Hopefully I can get something to work for Kaelyn, even if we bring her out.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Kaelyn's developments
Kaelyn is growing so fast each day and I really have to keep track of her growth in case I miss out on anything. So far, I have noticed the following changes when she moved from month 1 to month 2:
- She no longer wants to be swaddled. In the initial weeks, swaddling is very comforting to her but now, she finds it too restrictive as she likes to swing her arms and legs.
- Her cries are different. I almost can differentiate the hunger cry, calling for attention cry and uncomfortable cry. In the first month, all the cries sounded similar - actually they were all screams.
- She likes to look towards her left.
- She smiles and laughs when you play with her. Sometimes she even makes noises other than crying, like 'ahh', 'eh' etc.
- She swings her arms and legs when playing. Sometimes she'll move her limbs and whole body as she laughs. Shows that she's really happy!
- Her hands found their way into her mouth. Initially I thought that was a signal for hunger, but realised she would also do that as and when she feels like it.
- She seems to know when you scolds her. She'll quieten down and look at you for a while. But then continue her screaming again!
- She loves to bathe. In the first few weeks, she yelled throughout her bath. But now she enjoys kicking and splashing around such that it is getting difficult to hold her down.
- She is getting quite strong. When you hold her in an uncomfortable position, she'll struggle and kick so hard you are almost wrestling with her!
Breastfeeding
This is no exactly my favourite topic but I really have to write about it. Mainly because I am still struggling with it, after 8 weeks... But I have to say I have improved tremendously since day 1.
Breastfeeding is the most difficult part of motherhood for me so far. The nurses in the hospital taught me how to position the baby and to let her suckle for 15 mins on each breast and burp her. It seemed rather ok at that time. A nurse would push her in for me to breastfeed - more to suckle and get the colostrum and when she continued crying, they would feed her with glucose water.
The real problems started on the day we brought Kaelyn home. She was screaming herself hoarse all of the journey back. As my milk had only started to trickle in, it's not sufficient to appease her. And I had no glucose water! Resorted to feeding her formula as a desperate attempt to silence her. For the first few weeks, I would let her suckle and if she's still not satisfied, we would give her some formula. I think my milk wasnt coming in fast enough and to make things worse, there was an excruciating pain on my right nipple each time Kaelyn suckled on it and it even bled. I had to stop her from feeding on this breast for almost a week.
I subsequently read that to increase milk supply, you have to let your baby feed from you as often as possible and try not to resort to supplement to match up the shortfall as this will lead to decrease in supply. Hence I tried to reduce the number of supplements and breast feed her as often as possible. It was a big struggle as I could be feeding as often as every 1.5 to 2 hours. It's really very tiring.
But I guess the effort really paid off, as now Kaelyn is on total breast milk. My supply is just enough to meet her demands. I still have a few issues to tackle right now:
(a) Increasing my supply to meet her growing demands
- I've been eating fish every lunch and dinner, drinking lots of fluids and taking Fenugreek and Longan & red dates tea.
(b) Re-stimulate my right breast as it has become close to defunct after I stopped for a week
- In every direct feed session, I would start feeding from this breast first and would pump out excess if any. Havent seen any improvements yet so far.
(c) Kaelyn is a really slow drinker. She can take up to half an hour to empty the first breast, and another 10 - 15 mins to fill her stomach on another breast. It's so tiring that at certain times of day, I just express and bottle feed her - it's much faster. Hope she can improve on this in time to come!
Breastfeeding is very tough and tiring for me, but I keep telling myself I should persevere, since breast milk is supposed to be good for the baby, and also I have 5 months of maternity leave to get it right!
Lastly, I would have to thank Sandy, Theresa and Huiyan for their encouragement and sharing their experiences with me. At least I know that I am not the only one facing all these problems with breastfeeding, and motivated me to perservere till now (Week 9).
Breastfeeding is the most difficult part of motherhood for me so far. The nurses in the hospital taught me how to position the baby and to let her suckle for 15 mins on each breast and burp her. It seemed rather ok at that time. A nurse would push her in for me to breastfeed - more to suckle and get the colostrum and when she continued crying, they would feed her with glucose water.
The real problems started on the day we brought Kaelyn home. She was screaming herself hoarse all of the journey back. As my milk had only started to trickle in, it's not sufficient to appease her. And I had no glucose water! Resorted to feeding her formula as a desperate attempt to silence her. For the first few weeks, I would let her suckle and if she's still not satisfied, we would give her some formula. I think my milk wasnt coming in fast enough and to make things worse, there was an excruciating pain on my right nipple each time Kaelyn suckled on it and it even bled. I had to stop her from feeding on this breast for almost a week.
I subsequently read that to increase milk supply, you have to let your baby feed from you as often as possible and try not to resort to supplement to match up the shortfall as this will lead to decrease in supply. Hence I tried to reduce the number of supplements and breast feed her as often as possible. It was a big struggle as I could be feeding as often as every 1.5 to 2 hours. It's really very tiring.
But I guess the effort really paid off, as now Kaelyn is on total breast milk. My supply is just enough to meet her demands. I still have a few issues to tackle right now:
(a) Increasing my supply to meet her growing demands
- I've been eating fish every lunch and dinner, drinking lots of fluids and taking Fenugreek and Longan & red dates tea.
(b) Re-stimulate my right breast as it has become close to defunct after I stopped for a week
- In every direct feed session, I would start feeding from this breast first and would pump out excess if any. Havent seen any improvements yet so far.
(c) Kaelyn is a really slow drinker. She can take up to half an hour to empty the first breast, and another 10 - 15 mins to fill her stomach on another breast. It's so tiring that at certain times of day, I just express and bottle feed her - it's much faster. Hope she can improve on this in time to come!
Breastfeeding is very tough and tiring for me, but I keep telling myself I should persevere, since breast milk is supposed to be good for the baby, and also I have 5 months of maternity leave to get it right!
Lastly, I would have to thank Sandy, Theresa and Huiyan for their encouragement and sharing their experiences with me. At least I know that I am not the only one facing all these problems with breastfeeding, and motivated me to perservere till now (Week 9).
The breastfed cherubic at full month
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Memories of the First Month
How time flies! Kaelyn is already 1 month old. I have so many things I want to say about the first month but guess I should just keep them relatively short for now. Will expand on them in subsequent posts as we go along..
(1) Bringing Kaelyn home
I can never forget that day. Kaelyn wailed in the car from the hospital all the way back home. I thought babies are supposed to be lulled in cars.... Back home, tried to breastfeed her but she couldnt seem to be appeased. So I made my very first mistake - I tried to feed her the bottle of Similac milk the hospital gave me.... From then on, I just supplement her with formula when I think she does not have enough of my milk. Also learnt that newborns feel more secure when they are swaddled - my confinement lady did just that and she stopped crying immediately!
(2) Breastfeeding
Whoever says that breastfeeding was easy probably hasnt attempted it before. The idea may sound simple - just latch the baby on when she's hungry... but there are so many problems that come with it. My 3 biggest problems are improper latch on, bleeding nipple and insufficient milk supply. It's really tough!
(3) Baby blues
All that I heard about hormonal changes post pregnancy are true! After giving birth, I felt that I have lost control of my emotions. I get agitated and impatient easily, and I cant seem to stop my tears from flowing under certain circumstances. I cried when I have trouble breastfeeding Kaelyn, cried when I sing "Top of the world" to her, cried when I think of how miserable I was having to endure the episiotomy pain and feeding Kaelyn every 1.5 to 2 hours, cried when Sandy called to encourage me not to give up breastfeeding however tough it may be etc...
(4) Confinement
I've heard friends commenting on how the confinement month was the hardest to bear. I would agree with that - having to endure washing my hair only once every few days, bathing with some funny looking water, perspiring endlessly, eating the same boring food everyday. But the good thing about confinement is that you have someone looking after you and the baby. I felt really lost when the confinement nanny left.
(5) Motherhood
Overall, I would say that motherhood is tough. At the pregnancy stage, you have to put up with nauseousness, fatigue, giving up your favourite sports etc. During delivery, you have to endure the excruciating labour pains and the episiotomy pain thereafter. Then you have to struggle with breastfeeding, cope with baby blues / post natal depression, learn to care for a newborn, decipher her cries, worry when she has blocked nose, phlegm, cant poo etc. And lastly you'll look really tired and 'aunty', and ugly...
(1) Bringing Kaelyn home
I can never forget that day. Kaelyn wailed in the car from the hospital all the way back home. I thought babies are supposed to be lulled in cars.... Back home, tried to breastfeed her but she couldnt seem to be appeased. So I made my very first mistake - I tried to feed her the bottle of Similac milk the hospital gave me.... From then on, I just supplement her with formula when I think she does not have enough of my milk. Also learnt that newborns feel more secure when they are swaddled - my confinement lady did just that and she stopped crying immediately!
A family picture at TMC upon discharge
(2) Breastfeeding
Whoever says that breastfeeding was easy probably hasnt attempted it before. The idea may sound simple - just latch the baby on when she's hungry... but there are so many problems that come with it. My 3 biggest problems are improper latch on, bleeding nipple and insufficient milk supply. It's really tough!
(3) Baby blues
All that I heard about hormonal changes post pregnancy are true! After giving birth, I felt that I have lost control of my emotions. I get agitated and impatient easily, and I cant seem to stop my tears from flowing under certain circumstances. I cried when I have trouble breastfeeding Kaelyn, cried when I sing "Top of the world" to her, cried when I think of how miserable I was having to endure the episiotomy pain and feeding Kaelyn every 1.5 to 2 hours, cried when Sandy called to encourage me not to give up breastfeeding however tough it may be etc...
(4) Confinement
I've heard friends commenting on how the confinement month was the hardest to bear. I would agree with that - having to endure washing my hair only once every few days, bathing with some funny looking water, perspiring endlessly, eating the same boring food everyday. But the good thing about confinement is that you have someone looking after you and the baby. I felt really lost when the confinement nanny left.
(5) Motherhood
Overall, I would say that motherhood is tough. At the pregnancy stage, you have to put up with nauseousness, fatigue, giving up your favourite sports etc. During delivery, you have to endure the excruciating labour pains and the episiotomy pain thereafter. Then you have to struggle with breastfeeding, cope with baby blues / post natal depression, learn to care for a newborn, decipher her cries, worry when she has blocked nose, phlegm, cant poo etc. And lastly you'll look really tired and 'aunty', and ugly...
Ugly me during confinement
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The Big Day
I have not been writing for more than 2 weeks. Yes, Kaelyn was born on 30 July 2007, at 8.03am. She weighed 3.53kg via natural birth with length of 50cm and head circumference of 33cm. I did not expect her to be 1 week early, though I know there is such a possibility. Here is an account of what happened on that day:
On the early morning of 30 July 2007 (Monday) at 1am, I felt a gush of warm liquid down my legs. I knew my water bag had burst and immediately woke David up. For a moment, both of us didnt know what to do. I quickly went to the bathroom to check and shower (i remembered Mrs Wong BB had said when water bag burst, we still have time for a quick shower but no time for shopping!). Meanwhile David called the labour ward to check what we had to do. After asking several questions, they told us to go down. While showering, I felt myself trembling the whole time, I think I was panicking...
Half an hour later at 1.30am, we were ready to leave for the hospital. I began to feel stomach pains which resembled the type of pain we get when we need to go to the loo. Believe it or not, I didnt know those were contractions (after all, it's my first time!). The pains went on and off throughout our journey to the hospital. When we reached the hospital the pain became more intense and unbearable that I had to be wheeled into the delivery observation room in a wheelchair.
In the observation ward, the nurses took my weight, blood sample and gave me enema. The pain was now so unbearable that I had to hug the sides of the bed to give me some slight comfort. They then wheeled me into the labour ward. The contraction was by now every 2 minutes and dilation at 3cm. While waiting for the doctor to administer my epidural, they gave me a gas mask to breathe in. That didnt help in easing the pain at all - just left me very giddy. I kept demanding for the epidural. It seemed like an eternity when Dr Lee finally arrived to administer the epidural. The pain of the injection entering my spine was nothing compared to the contractions.
After administering a full dosage of epidural, I felt an instant relief. No more pain, but I started to shiver uncontrollably - a side effect of the epidural. I prefer the constant shaking rather then the excruciating contraction pains! My lower half of my body was also totally numb.
So there I laid, with David by my side from 3am plus to 7 am plus, I think. During this time, the nurses kept coming in and out to monitor the contractions but no one updated us on the situation. We kept drifting in and out of sleep. Finally at 7am plus, my gynae Dr WK Tan came in and checked on the dilation. She said i was fully dilated and ready to deliver anytime. I was caught by surprise.
She soon started to prepare the instruments required for the labour. With David to help support my neck and thigh, I listened to Dr Tan's instructions to push. When the machine indicated there was a contraction, she asked me to breathe in deeply and push with all my might even though i could feel nothing down there. Within 3 pushes, the baby was out!
Dr Tan then proceeded to stitch up my wound (episiotomy) while the baby kept crying in the background. I was relief that the ordeal and experience of a lifetime is over! But there are many challenges ahead of us.
On the early morning of 30 July 2007 (Monday) at 1am, I felt a gush of warm liquid down my legs. I knew my water bag had burst and immediately woke David up. For a moment, both of us didnt know what to do. I quickly went to the bathroom to check and shower (i remembered Mrs Wong BB had said when water bag burst, we still have time for a quick shower but no time for shopping!). Meanwhile David called the labour ward to check what we had to do. After asking several questions, they told us to go down. While showering, I felt myself trembling the whole time, I think I was panicking...
Half an hour later at 1.30am, we were ready to leave for the hospital. I began to feel stomach pains which resembled the type of pain we get when we need to go to the loo. Believe it or not, I didnt know those were contractions (after all, it's my first time!). The pains went on and off throughout our journey to the hospital. When we reached the hospital the pain became more intense and unbearable that I had to be wheeled into the delivery observation room in a wheelchair.
In the observation ward, the nurses took my weight, blood sample and gave me enema. The pain was now so unbearable that I had to hug the sides of the bed to give me some slight comfort. They then wheeled me into the labour ward. The contraction was by now every 2 minutes and dilation at 3cm. While waiting for the doctor to administer my epidural, they gave me a gas mask to breathe in. That didnt help in easing the pain at all - just left me very giddy. I kept demanding for the epidural. It seemed like an eternity when Dr Lee finally arrived to administer the epidural. The pain of the injection entering my spine was nothing compared to the contractions.
After administering a full dosage of epidural, I felt an instant relief. No more pain, but I started to shiver uncontrollably - a side effect of the epidural. I prefer the constant shaking rather then the excruciating contraction pains! My lower half of my body was also totally numb.
So there I laid, with David by my side from 3am plus to 7 am plus, I think. During this time, the nurses kept coming in and out to monitor the contractions but no one updated us on the situation. We kept drifting in and out of sleep. Finally at 7am plus, my gynae Dr WK Tan came in and checked on the dilation. She said i was fully dilated and ready to deliver anytime. I was caught by surprise.
She soon started to prepare the instruments required for the labour. With David to help support my neck and thigh, I listened to Dr Tan's instructions to push. When the machine indicated there was a contraction, she asked me to breathe in deeply and push with all my might even though i could feel nothing down there. Within 3 pushes, the baby was out!
Dr Tan then proceeded to stitch up my wound (episiotomy) while the baby kept crying in the background. I was relief that the ordeal and experience of a lifetime is over! But there are many challenges ahead of us.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Getting a maid
There were 2 things which we took the longest time to decide on - 1 is the little one's name, and 2nd is whether to get a maid. Well, the first issue as I have mentioned earlier, was partially resolved (now left with Chinese name). The second one was resolved last week as well.
The second decision was not an easy one too. I am quite against the idea of getting a maid, as I dont want to have a stranger staying in my house. You lose a lot of privacy, and there is added cost of paying her salary of $350, and her food and maintenance as well. Most importantly, I have heard so many stories about maids, none of which is pleasant.
However, after our discussions with our parents, it dawned on us that getting a maid is unavoidable as our mums are not able to help take care of the baby full time without a helper, after I go back to work. So the maid shall help out with the housework and help wash baby bottles and clothes etc. She will not, at least for the first year, be fully in charge of taking care of my baby.
After asking around and going to different maid agencies in Hougang Green Mall, we finally selected a Filipino maid to come in on 1 Sept, after my confinement. Well, at least this is one item down from our to do list..
The second decision was not an easy one too. I am quite against the idea of getting a maid, as I dont want to have a stranger staying in my house. You lose a lot of privacy, and there is added cost of paying her salary of $350, and her food and maintenance as well. Most importantly, I have heard so many stories about maids, none of which is pleasant.
However, after our discussions with our parents, it dawned on us that getting a maid is unavoidable as our mums are not able to help take care of the baby full time without a helper, after I go back to work. So the maid shall help out with the housework and help wash baby bottles and clothes etc. She will not, at least for the first year, be fully in charge of taking care of my baby.
After asking around and going to different maid agencies in Hougang Green Mall, we finally selected a Filipino maid to come in on 1 Sept, after my confinement. Well, at least this is one item down from our to do list..
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