Cute max...

Perhaps its a second child's cuteness - learning things from the elder sibling...

M is now talking, mostly in bits and pieces or jus babbling some incoherant phrases... Recently (@ 21 mths) fwe noticed that instead of expressing herself in words, she will use sounds or actions: 

When something is nice to eat... She will shake her backside and go "mmmmmmm.....".

When something goes wrong or she "spoilt" something or we go "horrrrr...", she will say "ohhhhh oooohhhh".

When we ask her something and the answer should have been a "yes" (eg did you drop your pacifier?), she would go "mmmm hmmm".

When she is duly impressed with something, she goes "wowwwww" or "wahhhhh". 

Cute max ain't it - learnt all these from non other than sister dearest. Am savoring every moment of this for as long as it lasts and while its still cute...

Didi's first swim! :)

This time round hubby was the one who kept asking me if L was reading for the "swim" at BabySpa. He had signed M up for 20 sessions and we used up about 10 sessions so far.

Luckily, we could pay to extend membership and add L in to use up the sessions. Last week, L had his first "spa" experience at 14 weeks old. His first session was a full "non-stop" 10 minutes worth of kicking session, pausing occassionally for a rest. 

Actually, it's quite difficult to get him full and well rested for the "swim", his naps are so short and sometimes I do wonder if he drinks enough! Looking a little unsure about what is happening...

Apparently he is also very much in love with this chinese staff who would speak to him and he smiles readily in return. 

And yes the big friendly smile... 

This week we return for a second not so successful session... About 5 minutes into the swim, the boy is tired and wants to sleep... The same lady attends to him and guess what! He fell asleep! That's a first! 

Quite impressive and back breaking to bend over to keep rocking this boy in the water so he won't cry... Sheeezzz... 

Hopefully the next session would be a better one! ;) 

I am learning to talk...

For some strange reason, I do not recall N's learning journey for speaking. I can only remember her first word being "bird" and that was after she figured out how to address papa, mama, nai nai and yeh yeh... 

At 19 months old, M is finally able to address all of us - "mama" being an early word she used as compared to N. Uh... The wonders of our bonding through latching. Sometimes in her excitement she would call hubby "mama" too. 

Recently, she decided to join her sister in calling hubby "daddy" - her way of pronoucing? "Da-yeeee"... Lolz

Mother in law has also thought her a few chinese words "饱饱” (meaning she is full after a meal), "我要" or "我也要” (meaning yes I want or I also want and nodding her head), "不要” (don't want), "喝水” (drink water). The other word which she can consistently recognise and name is "ball". She can also say  "要 tu-tu", for someone who can't live without her pacifier... 

Just this evening, we also taught her to say "please"... Well, its kinda wrong because of the mixture of chinese with english - but courtesy right? So M went "喝水”, then I went say "please?". So she said "pi-sssssseeee". Oh well better than nothing right? 

She is at such a fun age now. Must start teaching her more words... ;) 

Ending the post with a picture of my two lovely girls... ;) 

Mama its sooo painful...

I know teething pains are part and parcel of growing up. These little beings (even myself) don't remember much of this traumatic experience after that. 

During the wee hours of today and yesterday, hubby and I watched helplessly as my usually gung ho toddler woke up to cry. The little girl pushed all her fingers into her mouth against the gums and cry. The misery apparent with saliva (loads and loads of it) and tears smeared all over her face. There were several occassions this week where she sticks her fingers into her mouth and then cry as though she had her fingers in between cupboard doors. 

Today's misery is made worse by a rather empty tummy since she refused her milk feed before her sleep.

Having had N go through this before, a lot of people would say it would be a walk in the park for me. Rightfully, I would have lots of tricks up my sleeve! Well... Right but wrong at the same time. 

Dentinox and ice cold towels DID NOT work. Rubbing dentinox and using ice cold towels to rub against the gums worked for N but not for this little gal. 

Today, I told hubby to go to sleep since he needed to go to work later. Took over the crying girl. Went to the kitchen and offered her an ice cube. Ok ok I am sensing frowns - which freaking parent would give an ice cube to a young child at 2am in the morning. That's me in desperation to soothe her. If she was miserable, I was not going to be any easier on me. She sucked it, pushed the ice out and swirled the ice cold water in her mouth. As the ice got smaller, could see her pushing it at the molar areas in her mouth. 

Being more calm, she also nodded when I offered her cold milk. She rejected the hot milk early remember? She happily/hungrily drank and finished what was left in the fridge. Then requested for another ice cube (pointed to the top part of the fridge). Gave it to her and she happily took it. For some unknown reason she ran out to the living room but started crying and refused to eat the ice cube. Uh well, nevermind - the earlier ice cube had already done a good job. 

Brought her to room, changed her out (romper was wet with saliva, tears and what not), applied her fav Baby Vicks on her chest and moved her back to her bed. Hopefully she sleeps till the next morning... 

DG, I hope you will allow the molars to emerge soon and return the fiesty but cheery little girl to me. It breaks my heart to see her cry like this. Hubby commented that she has lost her cute little tummy for eating so little this past week. Hopefully her appetite would also come back when those big molars are out. 

The "milk milk" journey so far...

3 August 2014... 22 days to the day I go back to work. Took all 16 weeks of maternity leave and truth is with my mil at home to watch the other two kids, life is so great! I don't feel like returning to work... *ooops* 

Baby L is coming to three months old next week. I have latched him since day 1, an hour after his arrival. As with each baby, the breastfeeding journey is different yet equally fulfiling. 

My fear is still in relation to latching. Baby M had a better latch/suction, while baby L's latch was percieved (by me) as shallow and gentler (didn't need nipple cream this round!). For the record, he made lots of grunts, clicking sounds and pulling back of his head during the early days of latching. The above (based on internet research) were considered bad latch! Knowing my "flow", L was just unhappy about the forceful let downs - he would pull back and a proper latch will become shallow (just so he could control the milk volume). And of course, instead of gulping down the milk, he would let them flow out of his mouth (messy!!!). 

Baby L also presented a new set of challenge - milk spitting which suddenly started at 2 weeks old... The amount of milk that comes out can be quite unnerving (since my first two babies didn't have this problem. M's milk spits were due to over feeding during cluster latches and at 3 months old). After some  internet research (such as kellymom), baby L was held upright for 15 mins after feeds, burped whenever he unlatched during the feed and he slept in an elevated (at the bed head) baby cot... Oh yes, the best tip I learnt from the internet - burping him by rubbing in a circular motion on his left area below the shoulder (instead of patting). This brings up a burp quicker and more effectively. The other thing I learnt, never go anywhere without a burping cloth. 

As I was saying, the days where I can latch him in the day is dwindling... Am already thinking how I will miss latching him while lying down (yes, I will doze off too) and of course how I really hate to pump (after pumping 11 months straight on a daily basis for N)... Mother in law and hubby have (over the past 2-3 days) asked me when I would start pumping so baby L can practise bottle feeding. 

Well, I am going back to work so I better start... Keeping fingers crossed that he would take to the bottles just like baby M. ;) 

3 Aug 2014, the day I turn 33 years old is also the day I finally took out and sterilised his glass bottle (looks so nice right?) and my pump parts. 

Here's wishing myself a successful moo-moo career ahead! And a photo of the super relaxed boy sleeping on my bf-ing pillow (for some reason M also enjoyed her time as a baby on this pillow).

 

Caterpillar to pretty butterfly...

Remember my recent fixation? My sister got me another batch of caterpillars - apparently her father in law's lime plant was "home sweet home" to quite a large number of eggs laid by the lime butterfly(s?). 

She recently inspected the plant and caught me another fresh batch of 5 more "babes"... And in this picture you will see them all at different stages of growth... The young doesn't look too appetising isnt it? Looking like bird poop would save them from birds. As they grow bigger they turn green and gets hidden when they hide among the leaves. I noticed after they turn green, they "balloon" in size very quickly. The large green one was about the size of the small green one less than 2 days ago...

Back to the original two caterpillars, the one that landed up on the bottom of the bowl finally turned into a pretty butterfly! Initially, I thought it was dead - despite observing what look like the outline of wings on the surface of the pupa (can you spot it?) 

On 24 July, nine days after it became a pupa , it emerged as a pretty butterfly! The aftermath of its emergence is mmm pretty disgusting (can't tell from the photo right? It was actually wet)...

Here are pictures of the butterfly. N was so excited that she camped next to the "habitat". When hubby returned from work, she loudly exclaimed "daddy daddy look at my butterfly!". 

We decided to release the butterfly on the same day. We headed to Hort park only to realise there wasn't much vegetation. Hubby then drove to Labrador Park - much better and we saw other butterflies there as well. We let N release the butterfly after I opened the paper covering the habitat...

N slowly peels the paper away (initally I was worried that the butterfly will fly into her face). 

It didn't... Instead it stayed on the paper and flapped its wings - like it was saying thank you and good bye. 

Finally it took off into the hot evening... Landed on some greens for hubby to take some last photos before it took off and we never saw it again... Can you spot it in the photos? 

The other caterpillar (from batch 1) is still in the pupa stage. Hubby said that the bowl doesn't make a good container for photos. He bought a tall glass bottle for it... So I transferred the pupa by pasting the branch on a longer stem... 

I wonder when it will emerge and surprise the children... I would think soon? The pupa seems to be getting more "chao dar" (brown/burnt) - as dark areas appear - on the top part of the pupa (which I think is the butterfly's wings). Since this one became a pupa about 2-3 days after the first, it should be emerging soon! Excited! 

Caterpillars!

I have always wanted to get my hands on caterpillars. Since N is old enough to appreciate and since she loves science. 

I was super excited when my sis posted on facebook that her FIL's lime tree was infested with caterpillars. I immediately told her i wanted to adopt 2! 

I thought i could wait till the next day for photos but it was too late! One was on its way to be a pupae, while the other was chomping its way through another leaf... 

This is the one that was hanging from the top of the bowl cover... 

Horrors of horrors! It fell off the top! :( and it's at the bottom of the bowl... 

Am praying it doesn't die... Consulted a few friends who told me to leave it alone. Like some first time parent, i took out the bowl to look at the "fallen" caterpillar and noticed it was turning lighter - a process called crystallis... Hopefully it will continue to grow into a beautiful butterfly... 

Anyway I did some research and with confirmation from my friend Sylvia, it is concluded that this is a lime butterfly offspring at its very late final stages of being a caterpillar. The lifecycle is being chronicled in this blog I found online. 

http://butterflycircle.blogspot.sg/2011/11/life-history-of-lime-butterfly-v20.html?m=1

The best June holidays...

Having my maternity leave through the June holidays is perhaps the best thing that ever happen... Hubby is home most days and we get to go out together (thankfully L latches so going out is considered a breeze). The June holidays is ending and how I wish it will not end!

I see lots of friends bringing their kids to museums but (ooops) I bring mine to shopping centre (bleah). 

Late evening Mac dinner at Ridout Gardens - good thing is both kids already had their dinner so they didnt need to eat junk. Then I took a nice shot of hubby and the kids (back).

Anyway today, we had an enjoyable day out at Singapore's most suay shopping mall - JEM - yup the one plaugued with calamities even before it open. We survived the trip without any fire, water sprinkler going off or ceiling falling off. For a mall so fraught with "negative news", it was pretty busy and the car park was full lor! 

Our main objective was actually to go to Robinsons which is a major anchor tenant- occupying level 1 to 4. The baby/kid section is still smaller (sharing floor space with kitchen and electrical appliance) than the one that closed at Centrepoint (which had one floor on its own). 

After making our purchases, L fussed for milk. Saw diaper changing rooms on almost ever floor at two corners of the mall. It was really nice actually - a family toilet of sorts - with diaper changing station, toodler baby chair, child sized toilet bowls and sink! Importantly, the toilet is big enough for a baby pram. They have a seperate toilet for the hanicap shoppers. ;) 

The parent room on Level 5 was really nice n spacious! 3 seperate breastfeeding rooms with doors that you can lock (comes with electrical points and can fit your pram), one family toilet (like the one above). The parent room also has three open diaper changing station and hot water dispenser! Totally love the clean and cool enviornment (i have been to stuffy nursing rooms!)

Hubby brought the kids to play while I fed L. The kids play area was also on level 5 with the food court.

Eventually, we had dinner at the food court which is part of the Koufu chain with Food Republic prices! Food was not exceptional - was ok only. Hubby was shocked the drinks stall did not offer coke or pepsi. Hubby rejected the "Sarsi" proposal... 

So off we went for ice cream - a promise I made to N if she was good to share a Jap bento (she wanted Pastamania initially) with M and finish her share. She finished half a bowl of rice with fish and almost the whole cup of steamed egg (all by herself!). 

Sometimes the best in life is not about going to expensive places, it is about savouring the company and the little things in life.

The TMC Birth Experience

This is a recap of my experience of delivering at TMC. Being a supporter of TMC since my first delivery also means that I have no other hospital experience to compare against.

Regardless, i am impressed by the professionalism of the nurses who took care of me the moment I stepped into the delivery ward. They were not expecting me to be an urgent case (visually I looked calm enough). Once they straighten out that I was 9cm dilated, the nurses gave me my anti-b via iv, pushed me to the delivery and called for my gynae to come down immediately. The Indian nurse on duty in particular reminded me that I should not take pethedine since i was delivering soon. The nurses were all encouraging me to take deep breaths when I cringed at the contractions. In the end, I am super grateful that I manage to survive just on laughing gas. 

It was an added icing on the cake when Hubby told me about the 龙马精神 promotion which I was eligible for - having gave birth to a dragon and then a horse at TMC... There was a $288 one time discount and my doting husband decided to upgrade me to a single bedded this time.

The single bedded experience was way better. With hubby's company, I also felt "safe" to go ahead and sleep. The space was much bigger and I could accommodate my guests better. 

I am not sure if its the same for the double bedded rooms but the bidet actually dispense warm water - which is more comfortable for washing the wound down south... The inner knob has a temperature control... Cool right? 

The nurses at the delivery suite also gave hubby a letter to redeem a free 2D Acrylic baby footprint. Cool! Baby L had his footprint taken before discharge. 

And for being such a loyal mummy, I was presented w a lovely hamper from the management of TMC. That really suprised me as I never thought the hospital would send me a hamper and a card. 

The nurses on level 5 were also very friendly. In fact I am delighted to have the company of the nurses for my three "staycations" there. Food wise, I really love the papaya fish soup that comes in the mid morning. Thick white and yummy, i wonder if its also the reason why my milk flow came in early! I had three servings during this staycation! 

And to top it all off, on the day of discharge, the nurse brought me milo and sandwich while we waited for the bill. It was already lunch time (on day of discharge, lunch is not provided) and I was feeling hungry already. The sweet voluntary offer made me feel so touched! 

The "paiseh" part is when I actually "over-stayed... Baby L decided to latch for almost 45 mins after settling our bill. The cleaner lady was tasked to clean the room but baby L was suckling away enthusiastically... 

And check out the diaper bag! Its the nicest bag I have gotten from the hospital! One in 2008, 2013 & 2014... I must say the bag's quality is improving! And in it are essentials such as the leftover baby diapers, baby wipes, hand sanitiser, TMC's very own brand of baby lotion, nipple cream, baby wash, feminine wash, etc. During check in, we were also given a bag of Baby Care goodies - got kodomo and j&j goodies inside... ;)

One week later at home, I recieved a follow up call from TMC to check on my progress with the newborn. How I was feeling, my progress regarding breast feeding, etc. 

In all, the end to end hospital experience has been a great one and I must say this experience has dug a deep impression on me (for me to even write this post). If and its a BIG MEGA IF I have a #4, I will surely choose TMC again. 

#3- Birth Story ;)

This birth story is ultra short because it all happened within 1.5 hours- from the time I woke up to get ready to the time baby was born. This time I listened carefully to my gynae- pain level -7/10, contractions last 30 secs, 8 mins apart. 

I started feeling contractions after making THE Facebook post but it was not painful- so mild that I thought they were braxton hicks. The contractions were then 4-5mins apart but pain level was only 2-3/10. So fulfils only 2 out of 3 criteria. 

Tried to get some sleep and sleep I did at about 1.20am - too excited about the possibility of meeting him. Baby M was asleep but started tossing around quite madly in her play pen at about 3.15am... Then she finally cried at 3.20am. Hug her to bed and went to toilet. While lying down, contractions came strongly. Was still struggling if I should head to the hospital and after three contractions which were abt 3-4 mins apart, I decided it was time to get to hospital. Woke hubby up and went to wash up. 

Moved quickly, reached hospital at 3.40am. By which I could barely move/talk when I had the contraction. Went to toilet to change to the blue gown... Couldn't pee to get urine sample because it was just too painful - by which I also noticed that my panty liners were fully stained. 

Nurse did a check and found me to be 9cm dilated *all gasped!*. They moved very quickly to give me my anti-biotic for the GBS... I was begging for my pethedine. The very nice Indian nurse told me its too late for pethedine since I was soooo close to labour. *sobs*

And so after agonizing through countless contractions in the delivery suite and hubby away trying to get paperwork done, all I could do is hold on to the gas mask for dear life. The nurses were all saying breathe-breathe deeply but all I could think of "what if Dr Tseng cannot come in time?". 

Less than an hour after walking into the delivery suite, Dr Tseng made, broke the waterbag/ membrane and with 2 pushes... Presenting Baby Tey... 

速战速决！

After thought: Was really happy that I managed to survive through those contractions without invasive pain killers. The gas mask was not as stinky as before and actually deep breathing does help - even though I must say it's really really damn difficult for me to breathe when the pain essentially "took my breathe away". Thanks hubby for allowing me to squeeze yr fingers when the contractions came... ;) 

Numero Tres

While being pregnant this round, a typical conversation with the random public would go like this:

P: "Your second?" 

Me: "Nope" 

P: "Oh your first! How is it?" 

Me: "It's my third actually..." 

P: (look of shock on the face) "wow!!!" Or "The SG government will be so thankful!" 

Lol! I have had many "flattering" remarks about how young I am to have three kids already... How brave, etc and some even asking me if I will venture for another. 

This pregnancy had caught hubby and I by surprise. Sometime when baby M was 8 months old (ie September 13), my breast milk supply dipped. Originally I attributed the drop to my flu... After recovering, the supply did not return and instead dipped further. I was absolutely puzzled and upset, since I was 3 months away from my aim of 11 months- N was TBF for 11 mths. The supply had dipped so much that the combined yield from 4 expression sessions and adding another before I went to sleep was simply not enough for a feed. After one week and getting bitten by M three times during one latch session, I gave up breast feeding... 

In the same month, I started having smell sensitivities especially fishy smells. I remember returning home one day and exclaiming to MIL that the fishy smell in the house was making me nauseous. That dinner I did not touch the plate of prawns (the culprit) and MIL wondered aloud if I was pregnant. 

MIL's comment triggered me to do home tests. Well, who would expect 3 negative results to be false negatives? I tested a total of 3 times over a month - twice using home test kits (w first morning pee) and once at Raffles Medical Group before the pre-employment x-ray... 

So how and when did I know I was pregnant? Fast forward to December, I was not feeling well - bad headache and aching body. The company GP looked at me and then my tummy... Part of the conversation:

D: when was your last menses?

Me: (suprised) June? 

D: So long ago? You have irregular menses? 

Me: I am breastfeeding so irregular menses is kinda "normal"? I am intending to go back to my gynae to make sure I am ok. 

D: Hmmm... Did you do pregnancy test after missing your menses? 

Me: yes, three times in Sep! All three times negative so I don't think I will be pregnant. 

D: That's like 3 months ago... Do you want to re-test? 

Me: mmmmmm.... Ok lor... 

D: The urine test will be $15, not included in your company insurance. Is that ok? 

Me: Ok (since i didn't know when I could get an appointment with my gynae)

After doing the pee test, I went to inform hb - that doc suggested a pregnancy test. I remember saying to him: "aiyah can't be one la... Test 3 times negative..." The nurses called us in (they were smiling widely at me) - I sat down, hb stood next to me. The doc pushed the strip across the table. On it, two dark lines. Oh yes, I know what it meant... But the doctor said it anyway "As you can see. Two lines. You are pregnant.".

Disbelief! I was happy yet in serious doubt... How was I going to face my boss (being in the new job for only 3 months)? Hb's reaction was "So how many weeks is she?". (Yah, funny question from an experienced father. Which test kit tells you the number of weeks?)

After the discovery, I made the appointment with gynae. Hubby was of course elated and I told him I might be more than 16 weeks because I felt movements in my tummy (which at that time, hubby brushed off as "stomach wind- you are hungry"). During the appt, gynae proded my abdomen and annouced "already quite big!". And indeed, the scan indicated that baby was already 18 wks! 

The first ultrasound picture: 

Hubby was of course shocked beyond words. Pregnant the wife is but 18 weeks is beyond the 1st trimster. All he could say was I watched too much "I didn't know I was pregnant...". 

Esentially I had spent the 1st trimster doing things which pregnant mummies would never do: 

- eating sashimi however much I liked

- having beer (one count) with my colleagues (one and a half pint) 

- taking an x-ray for my pre employment (shld have been 6-8 wks then) 

- taking flu vaccination (shld have been 10-13 wks then) 

- running 7km SCB Ekiden Run (I can't really run but you know i pushed myself a little more than usual) 

- having more than a cup of tea or coffee daily

- wearing a tummy clincher for 4 weeks until one night while lying down in the clincher i felt some movements in my abdomen (the tummy started to stick out and a male colleague actually pointed to my tummy then signaled a pregnant tummy and mouthed "are you pregnant?". I remember laughing out and telling him "NO lah! i am just fat!")

Luckily, the detailed scan at week 23 was  normal and that was when I broke the news to most of my friends. Here's an ultrasound of baby's side profile during late 2nd trimster.

Time flies and I am already week 37 plus. Like the first two, I am excited to meet this little one. Maybe because its number three, still feeling cool and "relac one corner". 

Even the sign up for the cord blood donation was just completed. Really put it in late this round! But better late than never! ;)