It's been 4 months already?!

Happy 4 Months Bb e.!!

Weight: 6.3kg (Doctor was pleased with his weight increment... at last!)  

Height: 67cm

Drinks:240ml!Most properly the reason for his weight increment. 

At 4 months, he has become very  responsive, especially to people whom he is familiar with (basically mok, myself and my parents). He would greet us with an endearing and sweet smile when he wakes from his morning nap! So sweet that you just wanna squash him, hug and kiss him!

1st swimming experience at Livia.
He was really cool abt it..well done son!

Fav time=bathing time!

Loving his expressions!

HUH.. why is my bumbo seat pink?!

How do we get babies off their fingers?

Precious father & son moments ;)

He can hold his head up really well too but he is still hating tummy time.

Another new trick up his sleeve at 4 months, the art of blowing saliva... 1 fine day, he just started doing it! Darn cute and also real messy. Makes a really cute sound when he blows too.

More sounds other than coo and towards end of 4th month, he discovered a new ability, the power of 'scream'. Grrrr... So he has been talking in high pitch voice since, would scream out loud when he is angry and would shriek real bad when he is hungry! He is such an angel most of the time.. but oh man.. watch him scream and rant when he is hungry.. no kidding!

Bb e. has been on total bm till coming the end of 4 months. Had to introduce fm to him as I had to go for a tooth extraction thanks to a tooth infection that caused my gum to swell real bad. This ordeal deserves a post of its own. So in short, he has been on 1 fm a day since then. Which is good too as it lightens my load since I have started work.

Trip to port dickson!
Bb E. made his debut holiday trip to Port Dickson from 8th -10th June. We were in Port Dickson for SY & LC's wedding. It was held at Thistle resort and the place was beautiful! The car ride there went rather smoothly. He did not fussed much and managed to nap a little throughout the journey. The driver that we engaged was pro, felt that we reached Port Dickson rather fast, We were a little concerned about Bb E's sleeping pattern in a foreign place but the worries were unfounded as he napped and slept really well! I guess it was a treat for him to be able to sleep with daddy and mummy as the resort could not provide us with a cot.
We brought him for a swim and he loved it! (I think) He was actually rather straight faced and stoned most of the time. Think the water was a little too cold... it was fun though! =)
Had quite a tough time feeding him on the way back. We were all napping happily when driver stopped for us to take our lunch. It was half and hour away from his next feed and I had planned to nurse him in the car.. grrrr. Any case, for some dumb reason, we did not bring down the formula milk. Guess I was too confident that I could find a good spot to nurse him and ... I was so wrong. The fast food chains were all crowded and rather stuffy. We settled for KFC and my dearest son became cranky soon after. The guys were all off to buy food and the gals were mostly carrying one bb of their own. I gave up trying to find a obscure corner to nurse and decided to do it where we were seated. Bb E. was already going berserk with hunger, screaming REAL loud and he was too upset to latch. I was struggling to get him to latch and also to keep myself from being overly exposed ... and by this time, almost all of those sitting near were all staring at us. Mok must have heard the shrieks as he rushed over soon after. I was perspiring, he was perspiring and crying frantically. OMG!! DISASTER!! And we have no freaking idea where the driver went for lunch and thus, no formula milk! After a couple of tries, he finally latched but was only willing to drink a little before licking up a huge fuss again. But the little was enough to last till we made it back to the vehicle. S.T.R.E.S.S!!

Father & son naptime... sweet.. ;) 

Love ya baby!

Our 1st family trip... definitely not the last! 

Guess who's fine product! -_- 

Swimming fun! 

1st time on a float.. as usual, all cool abt it 

Simply love Jadon's swim suit! Zai! 

Where's Ian?  

Mummies with their 3 stoned babes 

Oops.. ;p

Us and the newly wed! Congrats SY and LC! U guys make a great couple! 

Happy 4 months old Elijah! What an eventful month for u!

Month 2 month 2 Month 2!!

Month 2 happenings:

Bb was still sleeping most of the time though he would stare more and is slightly more responsive. We can also spot more eye contact and expressions from him towards the end of month 2.
When awake, he gets really active with his limbs. His hands are practically in the air most of the time, and he would be doing prolonged leg lifts frequently. We often joke that he is doing traffic control, especially when he is wearing white mittens. 

Grandpa and grandma from Hong Kong were over for his 1st month party. Could really see their proud face when they carry him.

A proud nai nai and my traffic police son 

3 grandparents entertaining 1 grandson... 

Sharon very kindly came over when he was about 4+ weeks old to do some close-up photography. Thank you so much Sharon. The adults had lots of fun and bb e kinda slept through the whole process... the only disappointing thing was that we failed to capture him smiling that day.

Diaper rash:
He had real bad diaper rash, into his 2nd month. The church buddies had came over to celebrate bb's 1st mth and my regained freedom and we ordered crab! Black pepper crab, chilli crab and butter crab.. yumzzz... the man tou with chilli crab. It was heavenly... but my poor baby suffered because of that (or at least i suspect it triggered the rash).

Guess the chilli crab was too power and his butt became really red the next day after his poos. Despite putting desitin cream, the rash persisted. To make things worse, we tried new wet wipes on him (Tollyjoy) and I think it became even worse after we started on it... the rash became so bad that he would scream out in pain whenever he farts or poos. The redness soon look like open sores. We decided to use water to clean instead and brought him to see the doctor.. In summary, bb e had to see the doc 3 times before the diaper rash subsided. It came to a point when I decided that I could only trust in Him for healing. I was so paranoid after this incident that I abstain from chilli and spicy food for 1-2 months!! Can you imagine, me, Me, abstaining from my fav chilli padi and balachan! It has got to be love...!

Sleep habits:
He started sleeping through the night at week 6! It just happened one day... I fed him at 12am and the next moment, it was already 7am when i awoke. I was in shock and kept trying to recall if I actually did wake up to feed him. And since then, it was sleep through from 12am to about 630am, 7am! Well done bb!

Weight: 4.66kg
Weight gain continues to be SSSLOOOWWWWW!!! To the point where I was getting really worried. It is amazing how quick mums can be at blaming themselves. ' Was I eating enough? Is my milk enough? It's all my fault... should I start him on formula instead?...' SIghh.... mums.. lets stop beating ourselves up unnecessarily.
Though he is in the very low percentile for weight, our dearest boy is at the other end of the scale for his height, measuring a whooping 60cm at week 6 or 7! Glad he has his daddy's genes!

Concussed father and son..  

Wonder what was going through his mind... 

Muahahaha... 

LOVING HIS EXPRESSIONS!! 

Mum, can u stop taking picts and give me my nap already!! 

Motherhood has been tough but looking at this precious one makes the hard work all worthwhile.. love u baby! 

Life with our dearest Bb e. (Month 1)

Decided to document down some thoughts, emotions, milestones and stories about our life with bb e. There are so many memories to jot down but words seem so few at times to describe the joy, thankfulness, challenges of parenthood. Can only try so here goes:

Month 1:

Bb e's weight was 3.64kg on the day of our hospital discharge. Bringing this little bundle of joy home for the very first time, nothing can describe our joy and pride. At the same time, there is also there sense of uncertainty... no more nurses to take care of him in the wee hours ... how would we fare as parents?


Jaundice nightmare
Bb e's jaundice level was 16+ when he went for blood test on 5th day. PD gave us a choice to either do phototherapy at home or to ward him for a day or 2. We chose the former as it was more economical and we couldn't bear to leave him in the hospital alone. PD did warn that it will be tough doing it ourselves as bb would cry alot... and true enough.. it was horrible!


We were told to put him under the light for 48 hours, only with diapers on. He also had to put on this eye mask that added on to his insecurity. He seemed really traumatise and would wail for hours. He would cry buckets of tears (oh yah.. forgot to write that BB e's tear ducts were in operation from birth (day 1). Everyone was so amazed to see him tear huge drops of tears as babies supposedly don't tear till much later.)   I felt so useless as I stare at his naked wriggling body...and couldn't help tearing along with my little baby. To make mattes worse, the eye mask given comes out real easily as it loses its elasticity after a few rounds. Poor grandpa & grandma volunteered to take night shift the 1st night as we were afraid it'll drop off when he fidgets. We gave up the overnight therapy on 2nd day, to give both adults n bb a break.

our brave ET boy ;p

Feeding:
Another slightly worrying factor was his weight. Was still 3.6kg after 2 weeks... Didn't help that he wa a sleepyhead during the initial months. We would try all means to wake him up.. Mok even had to use his 'special treatments' on him (ice cube treatment; stretching exercises... etc) - but of no use! When we bottlefeed him, he would drink only about 60ml and this went on to his 2nd month.
He was on 2 hrs schedule but went on to 2.5 soon after. Bfing him has also been relatively smooth as he latches on pretty well! Answered prayers!! =)

Diaper changing: 
Poo poo poo poo! It's amazing how many times bb can poo in a day! Bb e poos about 8-10 times a day... And Bb drank his urine abt twice... haha.. it's so difficult to predict when he is gonna pee.. we managed to develop a strategy of putting a piece of wet wipe on his xxx which would aid to prevent unnecessary shooting of pee onto his face!

our cutie @ 6 days old 

Getting increasingly confident in handling bb e! 

Proud daddy! 

wiggled his way out of the swaddle 

Apprehensive look  

tense tense.. 

hurray!

showing off his feminine side?!! 

=p! (my fav) 

Being burped by daddy... looks like some statue here 

emo emo... 

zzzZZ

more ZZzzzz 

Heehee.. I survived my 1st month confinement at home!
Time to get outta to play! 

Little updates about me postpartum: 

1st month was tough for me.. also felt that I'm one who is able to control my emotions pretty well.. but the raging hormones due to childbirth created havoc in my tear ducts. The sleep deprivation, sore from bf-ing, fatigue and confinement to the 4 walls at home added to my emotional roller coaster rides! Had to fight off the thoughts that kept suggesting post-natal depression. 

Thank God for a supportive husband, parents and good friends.. and of course, the love for my new born.. who aided me to pull through the tough days.  

Lost most of my pregnancy weight after birth... checked myself during gynae check few days after delivery and I was 2kg away from pre-pregnancy weight! Hurray. 

Best enjoyment during confinement had to be my post-natal massage! She was awesome! I can say that she should be one of the more pro ones in Singapore! Best thing: I was able to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans at the end of my confinement... mainly thanks to Zaria! Woots! (Was initially so worried as I still looked like I was 5-6 months old after delivery.. arrghh!) 

Side story about our first adventure out with bb e: 

Had to bring Bb to see the PD when he was 5 days old and verdict: ... it was DARN tough! We were ambitious and decided to spilt into 2 teams. Team 1: Bb e and me will go see the PD.. Team 2: Mok solo will go register for BB e's birth cert (I think). Bb e was sound asleep when we arrived at Glen E and I made sure that I fed him in the car on the way to the hospital. The nurse wanted to weigh him and requested for us to remove the swaddle and that woke him up in shock and tears. Couldn't console him and the crowded clinic didn't help. Occasionally some elderly aunties would glance at me sympathetically and asked me if bb was hungry or.. Saw the PD and he gave the bad news.. suspected rather high jaundice and I had to bring him upstairs for blood test. And he was still crying. Did the blood test and the needle prick made him worse and he was crying even more profusely and the freaking baby bag weighed a ton on my shoulder as I tried my best to console my bb. Finally test was over and I had to wait 30 mins for the results! I rushed to the lobby area where Mok was at, looking really flustered and 'black face' and had to do something that I had never tried before: BF in public!! IT WAS TOUGH but we survived. I was totally exhausted physically and mentally though. Blood test results: BB had jaundice level 16++ ;0

10th Jan 2012: Happy Birthday to me and our little Moklet!

It's been almost a year and where did it go to? Was reading one of my fav blogs and the blogger mentioned about the importance of blogging. To be able to document very precious moments and challenges in life so we can remember them in days, months and years down the road.
I Agree! ... But! (haha.. there's always a BUT hiding somewhere...that's life!)

There are so many precious little memories that I need to jot down and reflect upon yet, time seems so limited.  Everyday, I'm vying with time to have more time (am i making sense?)....and every segment of my life is vying for a piece of me.

2012 marks the year I enter into this world of no return: Motherhood! My dear boy decided to be the best present I can ever receive by choosing to be born on my birthday.. 10th January 2012! Many commented that I can say 'tata' to my birthday celebrations since all attention and energy will be placed on his partieS.. oh well... guess I'm fine with it. (Maybe it can make me forget that I'm turning older???? ;) 

Thought I should document down my 1st birth story....  a little long as it was indeed a looong wait!!

Birth story: 

My gynae decided to induce me on 9th Jan as the water level was rather low and bb E was getting a little too big. Estimate size by her was ard 3.5kg. I began feeling irregular contractions at around evening time. It was so uncomfortable that I skipped dinner that evening [BIG mistake!]. Admitted at 8pm and checked into room 502(I think). Nurse checked me again and was not good so had to be induced a 2nd time. Contractions were ongoing but was informed that I would only be wheeled into the labour ward at 6am the next morning! It was the longest night ever! No posture was comfortable enough... I was practically counting down by the minutes!

6am: AHHH... my long awaited delivery room! I must say that the midwives in Glen E are all really pro and encouraging. I had a change of 3 shifts (tts how long i spent in the delivery room!) of midwives and they were all really sweet.... esp the last one (forgot her name!) whom aided in the actual delivery.

Soon after, I was given the epidural. The process of administering it was rather scary though, especially when everyone was cautioning you not to move AT ALL ... but it turned out pretty ok. There was a portion that felt like electricity going through your body. Other then that, not much pain that I can remember-much better than the contractions! I had dilated 3-4cm by then and midwife shared that my contractions were fluctuating and there were a couple of highs.

Was finally able to get some rest after the epidural took effect but i puked twice due to the epidural. Miserable since I didn;t had much since last dinner. Was mainly acid.
Gynae came in soon after at around 7ish am, did some checks and broke my water bag to quicken the process as it was taking wayyyy toooo slloooowwww! After that was ZZZZZzzzzz all the way... no lunch... no tea break! Mok totally enjoyed his breakfast... lunch prepared by the hospital though and was raving to me all about his meals -_-.

12pm: Gynae did a check and baby's head is still rather high up in my cervix... and dilation was at around 5 i think. She also mentioned that baby's head might be a little too big for me. Told me to rest as much as poss and to push real hard later.
I was like "Big head?! Too big for me?! Will I end up having a C-section?!!" Prayed and then went on to lala-land again!

2pm: Mok checked the contraction meter and my contractions were getting real high! Thank God for epidural for I felt nothing... Had a sudden intense craving for a ice cold coke. Having not drank water for the past 8 hours is killing me! I was perpetually hallucinating of the glass of icy coke in my mind.

Somewhere during the wait-not too sure what time... feeling a little groggy from the naps and long wait. Mok was gaming with his Mac. Suddenly... a loud, sharp scream pierced the tranquility of delivery ward! It was almost as if someone was stabbed and about to die! Then it went all silent again. we looked at each other in shock... then a couple of seconds later.. another sharp shriek followed by an infant's cries. It dawned on me that the woman had just delivered without epidural! OUCH!! Immediately went on to check my epidural drip to ensure that all is in place!!

3pm: My dearest gynae came in to check again... good news! I should be able to deliver in about an hour's time! Hurray! Can finally see my moklet and also be ridden of the huge weight! She reminded me once again to push hard for her later!

345pm: I had a sudden urge to visit the loo (big business)! Highlighted to the midwife that I needed to poo. She did a check and announced that I was ready to push! Baby is coming!!

For the next 1 hour.. I pushed like never before! So hard that I felt as if the veins around my forehead were going to burst. Mok was very encouraging and was shouting 'Push' throughout the entire time i was pushing and even strategize with me on the strength and duration of each push! Gynae finally came in after eternity had passed and she brought along with her another midwife and the 2 sweetest lady started to pressed my belly each time my contraction arrived. Everyone in the room was shouting 'PUSH'... What a scene!

Prayed desperately for strength to carry on pushing as i had absolutely no more strength ...

5pm: Finally at around 5pm, 10th Jan 2012... moklet was born, with the aid of vacuum.

Gynae was super 'excited' that he was a 4kg baby! So was the entire ward of nurses! Apparently he is biggest of the lot in the nursery room. We were famous. Every time there was a change in shift, the new nurse coming in would talk abt my 4 KG baby, my VERY encouraging husband and how Awesome I am to have delivered him naturally!

Haha... Yeah!!! Still can't believe I delivered a 4KG baby!!!

Here's the famous little one! Our precious Elijah Mok! Weight:4.03kg Height: 55cm!!

Hey there, I'm the famous 4kg handsome dude!! Cool yea!! 

Oh yah! One more part.. when gynae was stitching me up post delivery, somehow I could feel the needle pricking me! Another dose of LA had to be administered which resulted in another round of puking. *miserable..
Both Mok and I had sore throat after my delivery. Mine as a result of the stomach acid and his, because of the 1 hour long shouting! My hubby is voted the best cheerleader- in the delivery ward! ;)