Goodbye 2007 and Hello 2008

Today is new year's eve and we have spent this night no different from any other nights. As Ethan is still so young @ 2 months old, we are not able to bring him out for any countdown party or fireworks show. This is definitely a roller coaster year for us, with Mummy pregnant with Ethan and Ethan joining us in the family. With Caden attending playgroup and PaPa training his patience with the children. Both Mummy and PaPa also had quite a hectic schedule at work which makes both of us constantly tired. My confinement and after birth periods are nightmarish, needless to mention those ugly rashes scars are still lingering around my body.

With 2008 approaching in just an hour's time, we hope that it will be a better year for us, with fat bonuses, good increment, better work-life balances, etc. Our new year's resolution is to discipline Caden well this coming year and spend time with Ethan so that we will not miss any important milestones of this first year.

Breastfeeding notes

Although we decided to "close production" after Ethan's birth, I thought documenting down this for further reference if my friends were to seek my advice (as I couldn't help much when my friends asked me abt the experience previously since I suffer from short-term memory all the time).

For breastfeeding to be successful, I have done the following:

1) Opting for total BF in hospital to stimulate production, if baby is not peeing often-he's not getting enough fluids from you, ask nurse to feed glucose through cup

2) milk will come in Day4 after brith, engorgement will be experienced, it is advisable to express out the milk to relieve and stimulate more production. Subsequently few days will also experience engorgement, so need to express out after every feed.

3) Latching- very impt know-how, so make sure you learn as much as possible from the nurses in the hospital, they are able to guide you the correct way. With correct latching, milk comes on faster and baby won't be frustrated with drinking.

4) Try to express approx 10mins after every feed, to stimulate more production

5) Drink lots and lots of water,and have plenty of rest = more milk. Fish soup helps too.

6) Try to direct feed in the first month in the middle of the night feeds, as baby is more alert this time and his suction is more powerful.

7) Don't be stressed over insufficient milk, its ok to supplement in the beginning if baby cries for milk, but I dilute the formula so that baby won't be hooked on that (formula milk is sweeter).

8) I take GNC's Fenugreek, it helps in better milk production, so if your supply is low, can try this, will continue to take this as long as I'm BF. I think it will be very helpful when I return to work soon. For nutrition, drink Anmum and Neurogain pills for good brain development for the child.

Enjoy the process, it is lots of hard work and perseverence but I am sure you will be happy that you have come through this far once you get the milk coming..

My storage of milk from these 2 months.. hopefully can last till Ethan is 6 months old on exclusive Breast milk..

The Cane

We finally bought 2 canes to place at home to discipline Caden. Caden has been very demanding and rebellious lately, we were not certain if he feels neglected because our attention is now divided between him and Ethan. He's also down with cough and running nose lately and we didn't want to carry out the punishment on him too harshly as we knew that he would vomit his food out after much crying..

Today at Grandma's place in Hougang, PaPa decided to get the canes from the market to place them at home as a threat to Caden should he not listen to us next time.. let's see when will he be caned for the first time!

Sleeping through the night

Ethan did not wake up for feed last night, although he started fussing abit from 330am. Mummy stuffed the pacificer into his mouth and he was satisfied. Subsequently, he fussed again at 430 and 530 am, and pacificer worked for these time-slots, then he started fussing again at 6am, and Mummy thought it is time for him to drink since the last feed at 11pm..

Hopefully, he continues to be so obedient and not demand for any milk in the next few days..

Our 2 month old Ethan

Ethan turns 2 months old last Sat. He still wakes up for night feed, unfortunately for Mummy at this point as she is due to return to work for some gruesome reporting deadlines.. Mummy realise today that she will miss Ethan's company in about a week's time when 2008 arrives. Ethan will be taken care by his grandma as Mummy is needed back at work. Some of Ethan's many wonderful expressions taken today at his awake time for both Mummy and PaPa to see to take them off any unhappy moments at work..

Caden's first movie

We brought Caden to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks on Wednesday evening at Tampines Mall GV. This is his first trip to the cinema and we thought we should try to spend more time with him as mummy is always so pre-occupied with Ethan at home. Caden was so terrified when the lights dimmed in the cinema as the trailers started rolling. He got his PaPa to cover his eyes with PaPa's hands as he was too afraid with the surroundings - big screen, loud sounds, dark room. Once the movie started, I encouraged Caden to let go of PaPa's hands to watch the show. He was alright as the chipmunks started appearing in the very first scene. However, abt an hour later, he kept asking me if the show is finishing..

After the movie ended, I asked Caden if he wants to come back to the cinema for more.. he said no.. Sigh, my son is so timid..

More smiles

Ethan's first month cupcakes

FinallyI have set aside some time to order some cakes for my office colleagues, this is the final product

Mango and Zara sale

For Mummy's future reference:
Mango sale - 13th Dec (thurs) opens at 8am
Zara sale - 27th Dec (thurs) opens at 9.30am

Ethan's first smile

Finally Ethan showed his first smile last weekend

Brotherhood

Caden has been bugging us to take pictures of him and Ethan..

Barney's Christmas Star

PaPa finally can spare the time to bring Caden out to Marina Sq this sat for the Barney live show.. and also, this is one of the rare occasions that Mummy decided to tag along with Lil Ethan. This morning, we went to Caden's school to attend Meet the parents session with his teacher and received positive feedback on Caden's behaviour and progress in class. In fact, the teacher is keen to make Caden the class monitor when the new year starts for him in N1 as she cited that he possesses leadership skills..

We have to take a quick lunch at long john silvers as the time for Barney show is near. Caden was all excited abt meeting Barney and his friends.

After the show, as we didn't have a chance to take picture with Barney, Mumy asked Caden to pose with the posters pinned up in the shopping mall instead for momento.

A cold rainy Wednesday

Today's weather is perfect for anyone to sleep whole day at home.. just like Mummy thought she can have a chance to take a FEW short naps together with Ethan.. however, Ethan's schedule on a daily basis works like this:

2am Milk feed

530am Milk feed

6am pump milk

7am Caden came into the room to disturb both Ethan and Mummy

7.30am, pat Ethan to sleep again

8 am If Ethan doesn't get back to sleep - bath time

830am milk feed

9am Mummy's b'fast plus rocking Ethan to sleep at the same time

10am pump milk and Ethan falls asleep

11am Mummy finishes her shower after milk pumping and Ethan wakes up again

12pm milk feed

1pm Mummy pump milk again

2pm Lunch for Mummy

3pm Milk feed and rocking Ethan to sleep

4pm Mummy pump milk again

430pm Ethan wakes up again

5-6pm rocking Ethan to sleep, otherwise milk feed

7pm Mummy pump milk

8pm Dinner for Mummy and PaPa comes back from work

9pm all reach home.. Ethan still sleeping

9plus, PaPa takes over milk feed while Mummy attend to Caden

10pm Mummy puts Caden to sleep with story telling

11pm Mummy pump milk again

1-2am, Ethan wakes up and cycle continues

On that basis, can there be an opportunity for Mummy to take a good rest????

Ethan in his new long-sleeved romper, asleep

After the shot was taken, he wakes up again

Mothers are so sleep-deprived!!!

Lazy Sunday morning

Caden has learnt to be more independent since Ethan has joined our family.. but only at times.. if he sees anyone of us playing or attending to Lil Ethan, he will want to same treatment to be applied on him, e.g, if mummy carries Didi to drink milk, Caden also wants to be babied the same way..

Today, he was mimicking the advertisement shown on Kidscentral on Alvin and the Chipmunks, where they were dancing to the tune, Shake a boom boom, shake a boom boom, here's a display of his dancing act

He is very glued to the TV on Kidscentral on Sunday, and needless to say, PaPa is also very interested to watch some programmes shown - Power Rangers and the Mystic Force! See how engrossed they are while PaPa is feeding Ethan..

Mummy C-section wound

I went for a follow-up check on my c-section with Dr Cheng today. For the past one week, I felt the pain near the wound area becoming more unbearable, esp when I carry Lil Ethan. And the swell near the wound seems to get bigger.. today, Dr Cheng confirmed that I have got inflammation on the 2nd c-section wound and prescribed 2 antibiotics for me to complete. Hoepfully it will subside the pain and the swell and dissolve the pus in the swell. He said that if pus were to appear, I will have to go back to him for a minor insertion op to remove that! Goodness.. I hope not to go through another op again... can't imagine myself having to go thru another round of op and recovering from it.. let's wish for the best for now..



P/S: to all my friends who are reading this, pls do consider carefully before u opt for voluntary C-section.. it sure has more complications compared to a natural delivery..

More pictures of Lil Ethan

Mummy is still very tired from taking care of Ethan 24/7. Basically his alarm clock is always on the dot, he will want feed every 3 hourly.. and including middle of the night. Last night, we decided to implement the "water method" on Ethan. That is giving him water instead of milk when he cried for feed pass 12 am. Initially he drank a bit, but very soon, he realised that the fluid is something that he has not tasted and awful, so he was screaming and crying at the top of his voice! We had this considered, so we have closed the door and windows in order not to disturb our neighbours.. but subsequently, both PaPa and Mummy were too soft hearted to see him cry so badly and gave in to his demands.. we are trying again tonight. Hoepfully, by the time I return to work in Jan, Ethan would have slept throughout the night..

Some of the pictures to share for this week

Mummy's solo times with Ethan

Finally my confinement lady is gone on Thurs. The times with Ethan thereafter was tiring.. he was awake more now, and while he's awake, either he pooed lots or demanded for feeds.. or simply just want to be carried..

We brought Ethan to Dr Sim on Friday for his Hep B jab on Friday. He is now weighing 4.65kg, think its a pretty good size for a month old baby.. was proud that he could gain so much despite on TBF. Hopefully as the days go by, I can get myself adjust to the night feeds better and be less tired. To date, my c-section wound still gives me problems and the pigmentation of the rash is still horrible.. I need to look forward to the year-end sales to get working pants for work come Jan when I return from M-leave!

First day out after turning 1-month old..

Happy Birthday PaPa!

It is PaPa's birthday today. Although Caden is still at home, being quarantined from HFMD, he is as chirpy as before, early in the morning, he sang the birthday song in English and Mandarin for PaPa, who has been moved to tears.. however as the day passed by, Caden started to be cranky, crying for the slightest reasons.

PaPa also believe that someone dear to him or himself will fall sick on his birthday, to no surprise, its caden this year but we are glad that his HFMD did not got worsen and full-blown. Mummy has also been quarantined at home due to confinement so we did not get a chance to blow a birthday cake for PaPa.. it will be compensated next year, nontheless..

Ethan's First month's celebration

Ethan first month celebration has been cancelled due to Caden's HFMD. Today, we had a quiet day at home. PaPa tried to quarantine Caden out of the house by sending him to Grandma's house, but he refused to sleep there for his usual afternoon nap. So he's back home in the afternoon. Ethan has no chance to wear his new romper that we bought for him to showcase to the close friends and relatives whom we have invited for the mini-party.

But my mil said that the usual ritual is to be carried out, so we have prepared the red eggs, bathe with the "hong hua" water and had the Ang Ku Kueh (sharp ones represent boys). Hopefully this joyous day mark the beginning of good things to come - like recovery of my rash, speedy recovery of Caden's HFMD, etc.

Hand, Foot, Mouth disease (HFMD)

Caden has been diagnosed today with HFMD by our GP, to our shock. It all started yesterday morning when he came down with fever and we decided not to bring him to school. Subsequently he started vomiting the fluids out this morning each time he drinks. We didn't suspect theat he has HFMD as he usually has these symptons when he's unwell. Thankfully, the GP told us that this is a confirmed case of HFMD as he found small little ulcers at the back of his throat.

As we have scheduled to hold Ethan's full month baby party tomorrow, we frantically started informing all invited guests that we need to cancel the party as there will be too many children coming and we certainly do not wish to pass on the virus to anyone of them who come to grace the event.

Caden still looks fine today, think its still the preliminary stage of HFMD, for this weekend, we have no choice but to sent him over to my in-laws place to separate him from Ethan. Not sure how Caden got the HFMD virus as we called school and they told us that there is no reported cases. We suspect the HFMD will be full-blown in days to come and he will become more cranky.. hopefully he will recover soon again..

Dozed off on the safa this afternoon when watching tv..

Sigh, what a month!

Ethan @ 3 weeks old

Ethan has by far been fed fully on breast milk for the last 3 weeks and shown signs of growth. As I carried him every 3 hourly for feed, I realised that he's getting heavier as the days pass by.. PaPa also told me last night that Ethan's cheeks has become chubbier.. here's his picture taken today.

And how he looks last week - any difference?

Caden's speech development and drawing skills

Caden has been very vocal since he got enrolled into the playgroup. Definitely a good sign as it shows that he has at least absorbed some teachings from the teachers for the past 2 months. Each night as he returned home, he will be talking non-stop to us, about his toys, asking abt Ethan, asking abt my rash, etc, etc.. He has since be able to form some simple sentences and articulate pretty well. And lately, he has been able to identify all sorts of shapes accurately and able to draw them on the newly bought white-board as well! To my surprise last night, he has shown me his drawing of a face which looks like a face drawn by a lil' child - can see the face, eyes, nose and mouth, and even adding hair!

Now, the next step for me is to teach him to spell the colors in his fav barney book. To date, he is able to spell "red".

Mummy's rash

I just saw my dermatologist on Sat to have a follow-up review on my rash. To my disappointment, Doc told me that my situation is one of the prolong cases that he has encountered as I still have new spots showing. He estimated that these will continue for another 3-4 weeks(for new spots to stop growing) and the pigmentation may take up to months and years to clear.. It was quite sad for me to hear that cos I probably will encounter problems when returning back to work with dark patches on my arms and areas below my knee... which also means, that's no way I can get into shorts again.., as skirts can be very much of a problem too.. no medication can help as these are due to pregnancy hormonal change and it depends very much on how my body reacts to them.. also the only solution is to just bear with the sleepness nites (due to the itch) and ugliness in days/weeks/months to come..

Count your blessings

I have more problems surfaced as the days of my confinement go by. My original confinement lady(CL) had been sick due to her menopause and she got a stand-in friend to help me with confinement temporary for a few days after my hospital discharge. However, she called me recently and said she couldn't come to my service as she was hospitalised. This stand-in CL has another assignment to attend come mid-Nov and couldn't finish off my assignment. Anyway, I wasn't keen to have her service due to her hygiene problem. Luckily, my good friend, LF came to my rescue when she helped me to contact her CL and asked if she is available to continue with my confinement come this week. And to our delight, she happened to be available in Nov and doesn't mind coming to help out for the next 2 weeks before my confinement is over.

My pregnancy hormonal rashes is another persisting problem. I have seen a dermatologist last week and he said I belong to the minority 5% of the pregnant women who has it after the delivery of the baby. At this point, my hands and legs and other parts of the body looked like they have been burned to "x" degree and charred. The Doc said that slowly these will fade, it is just a matter of time depending on my recovery rate which varies from individual to individual.. They have been a cause for my sleepless nights due to the itch. I am also worried that I can't recover on time when I get back to work come Jan next yr. For those who have visited me so far stared at my skin condition in disbelief and commented that its really bad!!!

This is how bad it looks on my lower part of the legs..

My C-section wound is still hurting at this point.. hopefully it will go in another 2 weeks time at most, otherwise, I will have to go back to my gynae to find out if everything is ok.

Despite all these that have happened, despite my tiredness from breastfeeding efforts, I am still coping well mentally in this period. I have not had a smooth-sailing childhood, but I have subsequently been blessed with a doting hubby, 2 wonderful boys and constant luck in getting problems resolved.. hence, no matter how bad any problem is, the most impt thing is to count your blessings so that you will enjoy every single bit of life to the fullest...

Mummy's complications

Mummy has lotsa of problems during this 2nd pregnancy and even after child birth. I've experienced a threatened abortion during the first trimester, weight gain issue throughout the whole pregnancy and even rash during last trimester, let alone the usual morning sickness symptoms. Now, despite Ethan has been delivered safely, Mummy has a very horrible rash attack - due to hormonal change, the C-section wound also didn't recover well.. Hence at this juncture, I am not enjoying the confinement period like how other usual mummies may have by having the mood to enjoy good food and great time shaking legs at home..

As we were discussing Ethan's chinese names last night, I was talking to my ah lou abt my 2nd C-section cut, which is abt 3cm apart from my first C-section cut. Was wondering if we are going for a 3rd child, where else can Dr Cheng cut me? In between the 2 cuts?? I was not able to imagine the same area of skin tissue having undergone 3 cut in a span of 6-7 years.. But my ah lou quickly said, "Its ok, we should stop at 2.." Asked why, said that he doesn't want to see me undergoing the same suffering that I have gone through for the previous 2 pregnancies (as Caden's one wasn't smooth-sailing either).

Melted......

Ethan at 1 week old, Caden as a loving Brother

One week has passed, Ethan has so far been managable except for night time at abt 1-2am, when he will usually be wide awake and requires lotsa of effort to make him sleep.. I have also managed to provide exclusive b-milk for him for the past one week and hopefully this will sustain for the next 6 months as his demands increases.

We went for a-week old medical check up at Mt E on Tuesday to see how Ethan is doing so far. He is now weighing 3.5kg, up from 3.165kg when we discharged from Thomson last Thurs and everything else is fine for him (except for slight jaundice in his eyes..). Least I know that the b-milk is sufficient for him as of now..

Caden has been a very loving big brother as well, each night when he gets home, he will rush into Ethan's room and take a look at DiDi without fail. And each time, when he helps to open the hampers that we have received so far, he will put those accompanying toy on Ethan's cot for him to play (as though Ethan knows how to appreciate these toys now)..And without fail, he will want to stroke DiDi on his head, hands or body to show his love.. which is very heartwarming.. On Sunday when PaPa decided to bring Caden out to McD for afternoon lunch, he asked PaPa if Ethan is coming along with him.. and wanted PaPa to bring Ethan along as well.. such a nice brother Ethan is getting!

3 men of the Koh Family

Ethan's awake time (which is hardly during the day!!)