First 6 weeks

It has been 6 weeks since the arrival of baby L. Today marks a new beginning as the confinement aunty finishes her engagement. She has been a great help, 100% much better than our first.  Hence I’m somewhat anxious of her departure…

The past 6 weeks seemed like a life time ago (technically baby L's lifetime) with so much memories and celebrations (Christmas, New Year, first month)…The hormones rage this round did not turn me into a vampire like the last but a cry baby. Any little thing could send my mood spirally downward. I was pretty down for the first 3 weeks with wild mood swings that ended up in tears.
The strict confinement practices implemented by my mom (eg. no vegetables for whatever reason, no water etc), coping with rusty breastfeeding and engorgement plus the attention demanded by S were the key factors that drove me up the wall.

I need to pen this journey down as it is moving faster than I can remember…

At 6 weeks, baby L is 4kg. We are super contented that her weight is “normal” as we were so used to being told that our baby (S) was always at the lowest percentile.   She needs to be burped and elevated after each feed or she may end up being the Singapore merlion (major regurgitation).

Although apprehensive that we are now on our own (well, still with the help of our domestic help) I pray that that all will be well and we get to enjoy/cherish every single bit of this new chapter. 

The birth story no. 2

On 9/12/13, I started to dilate - 2.5cm with random contraction. As my gynae was going away on 13/13/12, we had no choice but to schedule to induce the baby on 11/12/13. 

10am - induced with a tablet. Just like the first time, we were whisked off to walk around and have our lunch. We ended up in Ippudo Ramen.  Somehow the ramen tasted better with contractions and anxiety. 

1pm - checked into the hospital. As the midwife was about to administer a bottle of Fleet into my rear-end, I got a call from daddy M from the registration counter telling me that there was no single ward (not even the suite) available because 11/12/13 was an auspicious date!! I was not prepared to share a room with a stranger and not having daddy M to spend the nights with me. No way Jose!  "I don't know, do something about it!" was what I could say before the effects of Fleet took over.  

2pm- Delivery room. Midwives: "What's your pain score upon 10?", SK:"1.5, but I would like to request for epidural. You know, just in case..."

2.30pm- there was a suite available and we immediately snatched it! Think of the $$ later... Apparently there were 42 babies born on 11/12/13 with 18 scheduled c-section! 

3pm- happy-dural'ed and numbness came.

From 3-6pm I just rested, whatsapp my progress to friends and watched a weird show on channel 5 about speed dating!

6pm - fully dilated! But baby's heart beat started to drop and I was given an oxygen mask to breath in/out. Everyone in the room looked stressed- the midwife, the gynae, daddy M but nobody said anything much but "Just breath..."

6.30pm- Pushing started but I couldn't really do it right because of the effects of epidural. I was shivering too (another side effect of epidural). Gynae tried foreceps but baby refused to come out! So she tried vacuum. The room's atmosphere got a liitle more tensed ( I was still on the oxygen machine)...  And at 7.02pm, she finally arrived!! 2.595kg and 47cm. No tears of joy though but sighs of relief that she came safely without the need for emergency c-section...

It took us 2 days to decide on calling her Lauren which means victory of wisdom. Other contenders were Maxine (the greatest) and Rebekah (the captivating one).  So now we have 3 wise men at home including daddy M :)

It was a painless delivery according to Isaiah 66:7 - Before she was in labour she gave birth; before her pain came, she gave birth....

Thank you Jesus!

Major milestone

We were never really bothered that S was still wearing diaper to sleep at night. Someone once told me that when a child is ready, we'll know.

Two nights ago S insisted that she did not want to put on a diaper to sleep. I was not convinced (or prepared), so I proposed to her that if she kept her diaper dry the next morning, we could go diaper-free the next night.

1.40am: "Mommy, I want to pee,". Alright.

5.40am: "I didn't pee in my diaper!". Very determined. 

Last night I kept my diaper-free promise and voila! It's dry in the morning!

A big sister in the making... Not fully yet till she kicks her milk-bottle habit! 

I am glad anyways :) 

Family train

A couple of years back, I had a dream shot of our family- me hugging on to daddy M from behind and S behind me, like a train. Finally the day came that we took this shot, well, somewhat like how I have imagined... Thank you Chris!!

Super gear

It's been awhile since daddy M had to travel for work. So the moment he left for London, I was transformed into a bimbo (again). It's a BIG adjustment, especially logistics arrangement - who to send S to school, my commute to/fro work etc.

He has left a big hole in my daily life.

Today is the second day out of the two week period of me playing single-parent and I need to attend a church event after work. After much contemplation, I decided to drive to work in view of the potential difficulties to get / call cabs because of F1 road closure. 

Roadblock #1:  Where do I park? How do I get to MBFC tower 2 car park where daddy M has a seasoned parking? - CLEARED. I did it by leaving the house at 6.30am to buffer for lost of direction!

Roadblck #2: Isn't it too far for a pregger to walk from MBFC to my office? - CLEARED. I put on my super gear- running shoes with work attire. I wouldn't say the walk was a breeze but definitely much better than if I was in my working shoes! My personal shopper would have violently objected if she saw me but it was 7.15am when I reached Raffles Place and I was pretty certain that I was not going to bump into anyone familiar faces!

Moral of the story: I can do all things through Christ and pay attention when daddy M drives!!

Call it forth

There is power in our spoken word (or name being called). Her name means wisdom. And indeed we are seeing this being manifested every day, bit by bit.

Last night, in her usual nightly bargain-not-to-go-to-sleep talk, she asked why some of her friends don’t attend full-day school everyday?

S: “Why is Gabriella (her best friend in school) on half-day everyday? I want to be on half-day and not full-day…Her mommy picks her up everyday…”

Me: “Because Gabriella’s mommy doesn’t work.” (And I was prepared for her to ask me not to work and  be like Gabriella’s mom)

S:…. (pause) “Sometimes you also don’t work right. Sometimes we go holiday together right?” (with her eyes all lit up).

I was touched. Thanks babe. For understanding that mommy has to work. And I will spend every moment that I can with you when I’m not…

I’ve got the power

I’m not a techno geek. I don’t have the constant need to be equipped with the latest gadget in town. BUT the recent addition of an ipad mini 2 (to replace my hand-me-down gen 1 ipad from daddy M) is life changing! I feel POWERFUL. Technically, I can take pictures, I can check emails, I can blog with this all-in-one handy gadget! More importantly, gone are also the days of s.l.o.w-m.o.t.i.o.n downloading of Cantonese/Chinese/Korean drama from the net – maybe this is THE ONLY life changing experience !

Thanks daddy M!

Now… I can survive the upcoming confinement month better (I hope)!