A Good Nights Rest

I constantly tell myself I must blog down my thoughts and the happenings that revolves around my life. This is so that when I look back one day, I'll be able to recall many of the happy moments. Not only for me but also for my little to know what he was like when he was growing up as most of us will have no recollection on our own early child hood days.

For those who know me, I am Miss Sleeping Beauty. I require a minimum of at least 8 hours of rest a day. Sometimes I can even go on 12 hours stretches (esp at the beginning of school). Ever since the birth of baby R, I've not slept for more than 4 hours in a row. This is because of the baby's needs to be fed and diapers to be changed once or twice a night. For the past 7 months or so this has been the case thus it has somewhat become a habit to wake. At times I'll wake and just stay awake to wait to hear the baby's cry before picking him up from the cot. Sometimes after he feeds and changes diaper, he decides to want to play with mummy for an hour or two before falling back asleep. With hubby being away on a trip for 7 weeks, it's been just me on night duty every night.

Last night (4th July 2011), I put baby R through his usual routine. 7pm shower, 240ml milk then sleep by about 815pm. I then headed to watch my 9pm show downstairs before having a chit chat with Papa on whatsapp before dropping off to sleep at about 1130pm. I woke a few times in the night to play the music which R is used to listening to sleep but I when I finally really woke to look at the clock it was about 520am and I was quite surprise that R has not made any noise to drink milk. I did hear shuffling here and there from time to time in his cot but he managed to soothe himself back to sleep. For once the managed to sleep for about 10hrs without a feed. I hope this is the start of him sleeping through the night. If so it will be just... PURRRFECT!!! I'm only hoping... though I'm well prepared if it doesn't happen.

On another happy note, 10 days till Hubby comes home!

♥

Mummy of Baby R

Almost 7th Months

I really can't believe how time flies. Little R is almost 7 mths now. I know I've not been blogging lots but once in a while I do think about penning my thoughts down. It will be good not only for me to look back at little R's growing days but also for him to know what he was like as a little baby.

The last four weeks or so were the toughest weeks for me. Well I wouldn't use the word toughest cos it wasn't really that tough but rather the first set of challenges where I had little help in looking after baby R.

27th May 2011 - Mama & GongGong left on a holiday to the US to visit ah gu for about 3 week.

29th May 2011 - Papa left for a mission for a period of 7 weeks.

So who's left at home? Its just me and baby R and 2 helpers. During the 3 weeks, I was only able to take off for about 1.5 weeks. Other times I was thankful that my ah yee (R's YeePo) and other mama was able to come to the house to "gagar" the helpers and play with baby R.

I'm really thankful for Baby R. I may have mentioned this before but he is truly a God sent gift to me and hubby. I look forward to the end of each and every work day so that I can go home to him. His smiles are infectious and it refreshes me no matter how tired I am. Each morning he wakes to greet me with a smile. That's his way of saying good morning. Everday when I come home from work I'm greeted with a smile followed by him wanting a hug / cuddle from mummy. I see the excitement in his movements when mummy gets home. Currently he is able to stand with support. Whenever he gets excited he'll kindda jump up and down with lots of smiles from him.

I always look forward to our evening walks together. To me this important. As a mother I do not get to spend much time with him on weekdays as I have to work. Thankfully the job that I'm in now allows me to get home on most days by 5:30pm. On a daily basis I get to spend about an hour in the morning before I head off to work and only about 2 hours after i get home with baby R. 3 hours a day is not enough but at least I still get to shower him twice a day, spend our mother and child time alone on our walks and most of all I get to cuddle him to put him to bed. I really treasure these 3 hours that I have with him.

The week that I took off was excellent. I realised how nice it was to do nothing, not think of work and just concentrate on baby R's needs. I'm so looking forward to our holiday together in Sept. Hubby has given me the option of not working but after some consideration, I know this is not the time. There will be the time where I will have to give up my job in exchange for time that I will take to nurture little baby R but now's not that time.

Papa and I have a prayer for an opportunity which will allow Baby R and us to have more family time together. If it's in God's will, I really hope that this opportunity will come to us. =)

Baby's R Development Progress:

• He's able to lift either leg and put his toes right into his mouth.
• Able to sit upright supported.
• Able to stand upright supported.
• Able to hear sounds and turn to look in that direction
• Started on solid food - puree carrots / pea / potatoes / apples / bananas
• Started on cereals
• Started on porridge with nghor hee
• Blabbering Baby Language which I take as "Mummy I Love You!"
• Sucking of fingers

Its been ages....

Its been ages since I last had an entry all thanks to the convenience of an iPad and iPhone. Unfortunately, i'm unable to access blogger from these devices. =)

Baby R is coming along just fine. He's almost 12 weeks now. Oh how time flies. Another 4 weeks and its back to work for me. Soooo not looking forward to it.

Let me just record some of little R's development so far.

• He has started licking his right fist everytime he's bored/hungry.
• Sleeping longer / fuller 3 hours in between feeds in the night.
• Established a bed time
• Lifting of his legs
• Having a conversation with mummy using baby language.
• Spoken his first word "hey" which mummy captured on video.

Baby R has grown quite a bit. At his 2nd month check up with Dr Tan he weighed 5.6kg at a length of 63cm. By now he's over 6kg I'm sure. He's such a cutie pie and I love him to bits. The only thing is when he's very tired, only mummy can comfort him. That means that mummy has to carry him to sleep. I'm loving how he's sticky with me but this can't carry on for long as I'll be heading back to work soon. I'm hoping for a miracle that he'll learn to fall asleep on his own soon.

One of the hottest topics currently is about providing dad's with more paternity leave than the meger 3 days. Seriously I totally agree that dad's should be given at least 2 weeks. Coping with the fact that you have a new addition to the family, being a new parent, having a wife that is currently recuperating from a major "operation" of some sort, 3 days is definately not enough. 3 days is the no. of days i spent staying at the hospital before coming home and being overwhelmed with coping with the baby on my own. Often I needed help but hubby had to be at work. Over that one month confinement period I must have loosen lots of joints and broken lots of rules which I know will come back to haunt me in old age (e.g. rheumatism). Not that I had a choice.

Giving dad's more leave also allows them to bond better with the child. I've seen how hubby looks at baby R. Often wishing he didn't have to leave for work and could stay behind to play with the lovely kiddo. Dads miss out but I do try to tell hubby updates on baby's progress. Something I'm going to miss when I head back to work to... =(

A Very Happy Day

26th January 2011 marks a Happy Day for my little family

Firstly it is our 3rd Wedding Anniversary and its our baby's 2nd month old birthday.

Baby has been growing very well. His feeding timings are constantly about 2.5 to 3 hrs apart. He now spends more hours awake then sleeping and I think he has sort of gotten used to the day and night routine. He's such a cutie pie.

Private PD vs Polyclinic for Vaccinations
This question has been on our minds for the longest time. What's the difference between both?
From what I have found out with a Private PD you see your requested doctor and the doctor administers the Jabs. At a Polyclinic you see which ever doctor that is available and jabs are adminstered by the nurses.

I called up NHG Polyclinc this morning to check out the charges. Here goes
5 in 1 Jab (4 doses required) - $320/ 4 dose
Hep B (3 doses required) - $22 /dose
Rotarix (2 doses required) - $90/ dose
Prevenar (Pneumococcal 3 dose) - $160/dose
Hep A (2 dose required) - $116/ 2 doses
MMR - $FOC

Difference from my PD's package is about $460. This package is for 2 years of Jab. Some jabs are not found in the booklet. So.... still deciding.

Its been a while...

Its been a while since i last blogged. As much as i wanted to have an entry, it was difficult as I was often tired and thus chose to get some rest over blogging. I told myself today, i must try to write my experiences down as much as possible so that I can also read back one day on the growing stages of Baby R. Perhaps apply it to no. 2?

The journey so far has been incredible. Motherhood can be learnt in theory from books but the experience itself is far from what most books tell you. Its a learning journey everyday with Baby Ryan. He is unique in his own way and thus has his own whims and fancies.

Confinement
It was a very difficult time for me and my hubby. Although we talked about how we will handle Ryan when he was born it really isn't that easy. Firstly I chose not to have a confinement lady. Reason being I was going to do a full month of latching on thus I will have to wake for the baby so what was the purpose of the confinement lady? I stayed at mom's thus food and washing was settled. The biggest factor was than Ryan. Being new parents, it was difficult. Listening to shrilling cries and panicking at the same time was what mostly happened. Being constantly tired and having to care for a newborn was difficult but I persevered. I always reminded myself that this newborn was my son, even if no one else wanted to care for him when he was crying, I had to do it because I'm his mother. If I too abandoned him, what will he have for food? I will always have to be there for him. Hubby had his own set of stress during this period as well but we managed in the end and survived the confinement month.

Christmas 2010
This day also marks my son's 1 month old. He was born on Thanksgiving day. A mini celebration was done with family. Headed to Long Beach for a meal and we had some cake. Mummy also went to the salon for a hair cut and treatment. Being able to shower and wash hair again was the best christmas present ever!

NYE 2010
One week from christmas. Hubby and I decided to have a little date. Brought R along. It was a cute family outing. Headed to Raffles Shopping Centre. Had sushi tei for dinner! Sashimi taste GOOD after not having it for almost 9 months!!!! Little R was the cutest sweetie around. He slept throughout our entire outing waking for only 2 feeds then back to sleep. We wanted to drive to see fireworks but reckon that baby will be tired and should head home. Thus our little family slept through our first countdown to start the new year well rested.

New Year 2011
My parents had a little party at home. How it turned into a one month old celebration for Ryan I don't know. We received many gifts for him. Thanks!!

We also had dinner appointment. Was suppose to head to Ying's hse warming but as Ryan was cranky in the evening we decided to not go. Hubby went ahead with the 2nd appt with his friends while mummy stayed home with Ryan. Sacrifices of a mummy.

All About Ryan
I've really learnt alot about my son. When he cries, I've also learnt to wait and listen to his cues before reacting. He's been a good boy. Usually his cries mean hunger, a diaper change or overtireness and needs to be cuddled to sleep. We are halfway through week 6 and we've managed to get him to feed on a 3 hrly routine rather than on demand. He's asleep 80% or more of the time but is simply adorable to play with when awake. This will slowly change and he'll probably have more awake time soon. At night we give a bottle of formula as this provides mummy with about a four hour rest time. Formula keeps him fuller thus able to sleep longer. Gone are the days mummy gets to sleep 12 hours a day.

I've noticed that he has been able to focus his sight recently and looks at me when I'm talking with him. At times he does make coo coo noises to try to respond to mummy as well. He's been progessing well. Can't wait for the day my son is able to call me with his lovely voice. =)

Am I a Bad Mummy?

Its just over 3 weeks now that Baby Ryan has entered our lives. Things have changed a lot. My whole life now only has one focus and its Ryan and his needs. A little helpless baby who depends on his cries to communicate with the adults around him. At times its hard to tell what he needs or wants, but I try my best.

My first instinct is that he is always hungry. I mean what more can babies want besides milk, sleep and a diaper change. Since he wakes from his sleep that probably means it could be either of the two. Hunger beats a diaper change I reckon thus I often put him to feed first. The past few days have been difficult. He wakes very often every hour or so even at night. At times I wonder if I'm over feeding him causing him a tummy ache. He suckles very well as though he's hungry but i realised that that may not be the case as he suckles then somewhat cringes and stretches which is not normal. I thought at first perhaps its a growing stage where he really needs to stretch.. at times he lets out a short cry as well. Being a first time mummy, i didn't really know what was going on. Soon he started to spit milk out. It didn't concern me that much as spitting is a normal syndrome of some babies. As he doesn't cry incessantly i did rule out colic or trap wind. I started burping him but i rarely hear a burp even after 10 mins. It was till last night that I saw a projectile vomit that I got scared. What was wrong with baby? Am i over feeding him, but he shows signs of hunger everytime I carry him from his cot... so if I don't feed him what can it be? Am i a bad mummy who cause this discomfort to my precious baby? I'm not rushing off to the PD once again. Gonna start monitoring him first.

I'm really thankful for my mum. Though she's often over excited and kan cheong over the baby. Her presence makes me calmer when dealing with the baby. She helps in my thought processes especially in the middle of the night when I'm alone with baby and such problems occur. She has suggested that I start burping baby on my shoulder instead of the sitting up right position and continue to monitor... So far it has worked. Baby has been asleep since 8+ this morning till now 11+ without a wake to feed yet. Must have been the overfed milk that is still in his tummy keeping him comfortable. Longest time he has every slept.

Oh I just jinxed it.. he's crying. Off for a feed. Till next week.

A mummy of TWO weeks and counting.....

Has it already been two weeks, I ask myself. It seemed only like yesterday that I had baby wee inside my tummy showing off his Kungfu moves.



Having him in my arms in a real joy. His angelic face melts my heart each time I look at him. No matter how tough being a mom is. I will try my very best to be his best mum.



The past 2 weeks has been topsy turvy for me. It seem like I had to learn so suddenly. It wasn't easy for me or my hubby. There's a saying that no matter how much prep you do, there is nothing in this world that can prepare you for parenthood. All my months of reading the books to understand babies and what to expect from little baby Ryan seemed to have been flushed out my system when i PUSHED him out. My mind now is a mental blank on what I read. I learnt to be a mom through hands on experience over the past 2 weeks plus.



Things that have happened so far:

1) Gush of blood on day 4/5- Lochia which gave me a scare when I went to the toilet cos I've never seen so much blood in my life before. At that very moment, I thought I was going to bleed to death. I was still hurting from my sore wound then. Went to the toilet thinking I had constipation and decided to give a little push and GUSH came out lots of blood. I got so scared I was crying and had to go to the hospital at 4am in the morning.



2) Breastfeeding: I'm one of the lucky mummies who have a supply of milk for my baby. I was often worried about not being able to supply Baby Ryan with milk. Afterall breast milk is the best for babies at least for the first year. Whether I'm able to do it for the year I don't know but I'll try as long as possible at least till i start working next April. Before birth, I already noticed colostrum. To mummies out there, I was adviced by nurse at my gynae to start massaging since week 37. On day 3 after birth, while i was still in hospital (luckily we made the decision to stay an additional night to get me to recover better before heading home) I experience some slight engorgement. Thankfully the nurse at TMC was able to help me and asked me to pump to release the milk. On day 3 I was already pumping 30ml. That's good supply said the nurse and the docs to me. So far supply has been sufficient for his demands, lets hopes it continues.



3) Heat Rash & Nasal Congestion: After a particular someone visited, Ryan had heat rash the very next day and nasal congestion the day after. WHY? All because the particular someone who was inconsiderate enough to come visit even though she was sick and brought her kids who were also sick direct from childcare to visit Ryan. HOW inconsiderate can someone get? Heat Rash was not her fault but the sight of the rash scared me into thinking it could be HFMD. Luckily not. I noticed then that Ryan had difficulty breathing as though nose was slightly blocked on a Friday night. Brought him to the PD to get a check and he had some nasal congestion. Being only 15 days old, there was no medicine that could be prescribed to him. Thus had to use saline and apparatus to suck out the mucus. After 2 days of diligence in monitoring him, THANK GOD he's much better. It was horendous having to go through those two days.



4) Baby's First Month Party : I planned this sooo long ago but having Ryan fallen sick with the nasal congestion, hubby and I have decided to scrape this plan. Having a party for 160+ people is really not worth the risk for my baby's health. Deep inside I really want to have a party for him... but how can I cut down the numbers... Relatives, Friends... who to invite who not to invite. Is this really a ALL or Nothing case... so damn vexed over this. The decision now is to scrape the whole event but I'm really longing for a party to show off my handsome prince.



5)Confinement: Generally I'm okay with it but I think its not healthy for my mental state of mind. Why so? I have little help and I'm the only care giver to Ryan at home. My duties started the day I came home from hospital and its still on going. Though I'm staying at my mum's place. Mum has no experience in caring for infants/kids. Thus she can only carry him for a short while or watch over him as he sleeps while i rest for a little while. Food wise normal nutritious food but nothing really confinement like as i expected it to be. Mum bought a book to follow but I've not really seen any of the dishes yet.



6) Post Natal Blue: Admittedly I have it. I know i do and I shan't deny it. Even the PD mentioned that I looked really tired and need a lot of rest. Thanks Dr Nancy Tan for your care and concern.



I'm still learning how to be a mum. I hope I can be a good mum to baby ryan.



Till I have time for my next post.

♥ Mummy of Baby R