I’m going to try to insert as many pics as I can to make this more pictorial but the corresponding photos to Day 3 have already been used so I am not going to repeat them.
9 Dec 2007 (Day 3)
It is the third day and we (Kimberley and I) have been given the go ahead to be discharged from the hospital.
Got to eat free lunch at the hospital since Dr Terence Tan was late. He had so many infants to look at and he was holding up many many patients from their discharge. As expected, the queue at the Business Centre was kinda long as everyone else was also making payment after their babies were examined.
Nurse Joan helped to bring Kim down with us. Didn’t sit her in the child seat but held her instead. Peen drove carefully as we made our way home. Was a little worried that Kim would begin to cry as by that time it was 2 plus pm in the afternoon and she was last fed at 9am plus. Baby was discharged at a weight of 3.255kg. That’s a 0.145kg drop from her 3.39kg birth weight.
It began to pour when we arrived at AMK Ave 5. It was her first car ride and it was raining too. She must have wondered at the pitter pattering of the rain.
We finally made it home and Chyna was not as curious with the new addition as we thought she would be…which is good I guess. Introduced Kim to her new home and her own room. She is so cute.
Confinement lady (hereafter will be known as CL) came by at about 3 plus. She then got Peen to take her shopping for food. And left me alone with Kim!!! Kim started to cry and Chyna went berserk. Chyna wanted to see Kim so she was jumping up against the cot but in the process knocked over the floor lamp and I think it set Kim off. She cried relentlessly.
Feeding times for Kim was rather haphazard. I was also very confused as to whether or not to stick to Babywise and wake baby up for her 3-hourly feeds. I was also anxious about getting the feeding correct. CL says that we need to let her know what brand of milk powder we want to use to supplement. I was a little cross and didn’t know if I was just being stubborn about not wanting to supplement.
That night, even my mum also suggested for us to supplement my milk as she says it would not be enough. I got even more frustrated cos my understanding was that if we supplement, it would affect my milk production?
Baby was quite cranky tonight. I guess it’s also cos we weren’t really sure what to expect. She fed at 4.15am, 7.30am, 10am, 2.45pm, 3.25pm, 7.30pm, 9.15pm. Cried and cried and cried in the middle of the night at about 3.30am and again at 6.45am.
Current weight: 72kg. I thought I was supposed to have lost about 10kg and the rest is mine? Wah lao. I have only lost about 4kg? Sad.
10 Dec (Day 4)
Monday went by quite alright. I was extremely glad that Peen was home with me. I realized that I was getting a little emotional. Got teary eyed very easily. Wonder if this is post natal blues? But it was really good to have him around so there was someone familiar amidst the foreign (CL, dealing with surgical wound, tenderness from nursing, being a new mother, Kim). Having someone whom I know loves me around, that has helped a big deal.
Am learning to deal with the cannot-wash-hands-with-tap-water rule and only bathe with water and wine rule, as well as cannot wash hair rule. I guess I’m ok to try it all lest I regret it in future. But the not being able to wash hair bit has been a little hard. So I sneakily washed the top of my head with the no rinse shampoo. Peen and I then turned on the music to hide the sound of the hair dryer. :p Felt much better after that.
Kim’s feeds got a little more regular today, closer to the 3 hour feeds so I am a little more relieved, except for the 5.15pm feed, followed by another 6.45pm feed! Like what happened there?
During the feeds, Kim sometimes makes a clicking sound with her tongue. Hmm..that’s incorrect isn’t it?
Have verified with Dawn about supplementing breastmilk and she concurs that it shouldn’t be done. She also suggested some upside down feeding hold to ensure that milk ducts all round are clear. Quite hard loh since I can’t even see baby’s mouth, how to feed leh?
I now weigh 71kg.
11 Dec Tue (Day 5)
We decided to bring Kim to see the Polyclinic doctor to take her blood to check for the jaundice condition. CL and Peen both decided that I shall rest at home while the two of them took an adventure with Kim via LRT. I wish I was there on her first LRT ride. Peen took two photos, one showing the little girl smiling. So cute.
I realized really how much it meant to me that Peen was around these couple of days and I told him so. Aiyah. I’m so lousy. I can’t do that in person cos will want to cry. Even typing this also want to cry. Why ah? Have the hormones gone crazy?
Anyway, managed to try out the pump while they were out. Also asked CL to sterilize some stuff the next day so I can try to pump. Am thinking it may be a good idea to have some milk stored at home so that while we go out to see gynae on Friday, there is something for Kim while we are out.
Baby finally poo pooed light brown poo today. Such a relief cos we learned at Antenatal class and the faster the meconium comes out, the slimmer the chance of bad case of jaundice. In any case, Tai Kin said something about Peen and my blood type (both being O+) were the same so it lessened chance of a high risk case. Phew.
Her reading was in the low risk group but doc wants to see her again just to be sure. She is supposed to go back again on Wed. Peen told me how CL tried to be Miss Smarty Pants and telling him what to do based on her previous experience. So funny. He likens her ignorant-but-want-to-take-the-lead attitude to his mum’s. Hmm… He says it helps him to understand his mother a little better. That’s good.
Peen is definitely a lot more chatty with CL so we have decided that all important decisions we want will be conveyed to her firmly by him. I guess I do still need to learn to manage people.
Kim’s weight was measured today at 3.355kg. She has already started gaining weight! Wow. If I remember correctly, babies on average regain their birth weight at about 10 days? Didn’t take her very long, huh? Oh dear. Is she like her parents? Prone to putting on weight quickly? So funny. CL and I were commenting about how much she looks like Peen and CL said, “Yah, it’s but the beginning and she already has started with a double chin!” Hee hee. It’s funny cos it’s cute on a baby but I’m not sure if she would be pleased with that when she begins to grow up to be a teenager. Guess if that’s the case, we will need to work hard on her self esteem and for her to know that her worth is not linked to how slim or fat she is.
Oh yes, was also telling her the story about how Peen and I met as well as what her name meant. Not like she understands, but I read somewhere that we should keep talking to her to get her accustomed to my voice and words?
She was a little more difficult when it came to feeding her today. She has developed a habit of pulling her head away while sucking. Like isn’t the process difficult enough! Naughty girl. Peen read from a book that I need to tell her that’s not the way firmly and she would actually understand even at this age! Hmm… Shall have to do that.
The night feeds were kinda crazy. She fed at 10pm, 1.35am, 4.35am (which I thought were really accurate). Then it went haywire. She wanted to be fed again at 6.20am but the feed lasted till 8.20am and even then it ended cos I gave up rather than she was satisfied!
Was really upset and frustrated. Like what is it that is wrong? I mean the feed before wasn’t even 3 hours ago and then this feed lasted so long? It was hard trying to keep her up and just when you think she’s tired and just wants to sleep, she fusses again so have to feed her.
12 Dec Wed (Day 6)
Peen then took over and handed Kim back to CL and said basically no more feeding. That I need to sleep now and should not be disturbed at all cost. I felt really bad about not feeding Kim anymore but I was going to scream out. So decided to just nap to keep my sanity.
I finally awoke at about 11.10am. I thought I was going crazy and felt guilty so thought I should get out of bed to feed her. But found her sleeping soundly. Apparently according to CL, when she was fussing at 8 plus this morning, she changed her nappy, gave her a bath and she has been asleep ever since. Guess she must be tired too. Poor baby.
I didn’t have my usual bee hoon / mee sua soup cos I was sleeping like a pig. So CL got me essence of chicken and made me a cup of milo and gave me a green apple. Then she was off to cooking lunch for me.
It’s 12.50pm and baby is still asleep. Wonder if I should wake her up?
It’s already 12 Dec. Only 13 more days to Christmas. I hope we do get some kind of order in place before Christmas so we can all enjoy a relatively calm Christmas.
Fed baby for about 50mins at 1pm. Think baby pooed but not much lah. So she didn’t fuss. After that, I used the pump to express some milk in view of our not being around on Fri since I have to go and see Dr Chua Yang in the afternoon. Told CL specifically that the milk was for Friday. Managed 50ml in 10mins. Yay! Hope that the production will continue to be good.
I weighed myself again today. I am now at 69.9kg
13 Dec Thu (Day 7)
Wow. Kim is now one week old. Happy one week old Kim!
But oh sigh. Today has not been a happy feeding day. Kim kept falling asleep. She’d have 20mins on one side, then either 10mins or none on the other and she is off to dreamland.
I have started calling her Miss Jaws because of the ways she attacks. It can be quite scary on the receiving end.
I think she has two dimples. The one on the left is more prominent though. Finally, something that resembles me, aside from funny hard-cartilege ears.
I have finally had a chance to wash my hair legally. The plans of having a sauna before my shower went up in smoke when Miss Jaws had her feed timings all messed up. Thought I could work on losing some of the water today and then have a nice bathe and rest in the air-con room but guess that would have to wait.
I weigh 68.8kg today. Hmm..that’s about losing 1kg a day. Hope the decreasing trend doesn’t begin to taper off too soon. Am hoping to get down to at least 60kg by end of the month. By doing what I also dunno. Feeding, eating healthily and sweating it out? What about the traditional exercise? Well, I dun wish to look like a hippo at Kim’s one month.
It’s 2.30pm and Peen is on his way home. Yay! Kim had another bout of sun tanning today. Peen told her this morning that he wanted to get a bikini for her. Hilarious. Think she would look almost ridiculous in it. But it would make a cute picture I guess.
We have only a million people wanting to visit. Well, yah, I guess I’m grateful for the concern but I also prefer to just have time to laze around with my Mr Rim and talk rubbish.
Was suggesting to Peen that he could do some feeds with Kim as well with EBM. But I haven’t the faintest clue when to start. Will it affect her feeding for that few hours? Guess I shall only express after she has had her share.
Kimberley’s feeds are kinda weird today. She has been having only 20-30mins feeds and then she goes to sleep, resulting in an interval time of about 2.5hrs instead of the usual 3 hrs. It also meant that she had more feeds today.
Cheem & Lai Yee, Siew Joo, Joey and Caleb came over to visit today. My parents were also over tonight. Wah, a bit crowded loh. Hmmm… must coordinate visitors definitely. I am glad that Peen is not working tomorrow. I feel more relaxed today knowing that he’ll be around tomorrow and the weekend.
Her poo today was yellowish! Yay! Hope that means that there is no more danger of jaundice.
14 Dec Fri (Day 8)
My weight remains at 68.8kg! Darn. Must be the whole bottle of logan red dates drink and my breakfast.
I only got up at 9am today. Was a very tiring night last night. It started out alright actually. I was quite cheerful during the first two feeds. Then I think fatigue got the better of me. I ended up just letting Kim sleep on my brest friend (nursing pillow) instead of returning her only to have her returned to me in a short time.
Kim was basically screaming her lungs out this morning. Went over to her room (half fearing it was time to feed again) to check what’s up. CL had just bathed her and was dressing her. Think she was super hungry cos the feed before that was 3 hours ago already.
So fed her for a bit. She had 30mins of milk. Was chasing Peen to start getting ready cos had to leave soon as she was done so that could optimize her time without milk and she wouldn’t be crying at the clinic, unstoppably.
Peen just called and said that her reading has dropped to 170 and her weight has gone up to 3.54kg. That’s already more than her birth weight! She’s really growing – fast and furious. Hope she doesn’t end up like a little hippo. Fat and chubby as a baby is cute lah but not as a kid.
Oh, that’s the door. I hope it's not time to bathe. I expressed 100ml. Don’t think there is much left for now. Please God, let her go to sleep for at least an hour so my supply can be replenished.
Carol, her mum, Wei En, Mum came over this afternoon. They were surprisingly on time! They thought Kim is really cute and everyone wanted to carry her. Even Wei En seemed to really like her, which is quite surprising for a boy his age. It’s nice.
Went to see Dr Chua today. Brought baby and CL along cos Peen wanted to take a pic of Dr Chua holding Kim. We told Dr Chua that I’ve nicknamed Kim Miss Jaws and her laughed, commenting I’m mean. Anyway, we wonder why she doesn’t have kids of her own. She seems to like kids. We did have to wait quite a while cos it was rather crowded. On the way to the clinic, it was pouring. It’s Kim’s second car ride and it rained again. Well, like Peen says, it is the month of December. Anyway, was quite surprised and pleased to note that Peen was driving ultra carefully on the way there. I guess it’s cos of the rain cos on the way home, it was almost back to his old self.
We fed Kim the remaining 40ml that night. Peen fed it to her. She gulped it down really quickly. Only when we were going through the notes from antenatal class did we re-read the bit where we are supposed to discard any unfinished milk that has been warmed up for more than an hour. Oops. It was already 4 hrs. But we did check with Dawn and she said as long as it didn’t taste bad and we didn’t heat it up again, it was ok.
15 Dec Sat (Day 9)
I woke up cos baby was crying but it was cos she was dirty. Peen finally had his first bathing baby lesson today. I stood around taking photos of him at it. I thought he did well. In fact, I think that fatherhood seems to have come quite naturally for him. Kim seems to like being carried by him, even more than by CL. I am quite impressed.
Huiling and Phyline came by at 1.30pm. Phyline brought Essence of Chicken, while Huiling gave us our Christmas gifts and a huge red packet! Thank you God for your providence. She said that Kim has a spirit of peace on her. Praise God for that. They hung around and chatted till about 3 plus.
Daddy and mummy came by around 4plus and Peen’s mum was here too. I was too tired so I slept. Peen told me that the mums ganged up on CL and there was a “meeting”. Sigh. Glad I wasn’t there.
Aunty Aye Leng and family came by at about 5pm. Leng had a pressie for me which I haven’t opened yet. Aunty Aye Leng and Uncle James gave a red packet. No one would let grandma carry the baby. Elijah came along too and ended up feeding Chyna a quarter of the Japanese butter cookies. I hope Chyna’s skin doesn’t break out. He was then encouraged by everyone to play the piano…like doesn’t anyone care that Kim is sleeping? Hello?
16 Dec Sun (Day 10)
It was a quiet day. No one came by which was good. I could get some rest.
17 Dec Mon (Day 11)
Da Yi came by at about 8.30pm. She gave red packet and Kiok Lin gave a pressie. It’s huge. Think it’s probably a play gym of sorts. Hope we don’t start having millions of duplicates and no room to house the gifts.
I weigh 67.4kg
18 Dec Tue (Day 12)
Peen took the day off again. Yay! Also cos he had Donald’s party to attend in the evening so he decided to spend more time at home.
We didn’t do that much at home. Just spent some time talking about CL and our parents, rested. We also watched quite a bit of TV.
I got a basket of fruits today from Staff Welfare Committee. I like the flowers very much. They are very colourful and pretty. Hmmm. Realised that I like bold colours for a bouquet of flowers.
I weigh 66.7kg.
19 Dec Wed (Day 13)
Am super tired. Peen only came back at 2.30am last night from Donald’s party. Well, I guess it was a good thing that I didn’t go along since my parents actually turned up even though they said they wouldn’t. Somehow I just couldn’t get to sleep when Peen wasn’t home.
I weigh 66.7kg (same as yesterday!). After lunch I was 67.1kg. Oh dear. I can’t be putting on weight! Must cut down on the éclairs. Sigh, such tiny pleasures and yet to be denied of them. Well, no choice since I can’t exactly exercise or anything.
Peen said that he would be home earlier today cos Christmas company lunch has been cancelled as Jing Poi couldn’t manage him client’s timings properly. Sigh. And it’s the second time. It was meant to be yesterday! Shouldn’t the directors make sure it happens, at least for the sake of the staff?
23 Dec Sunday
Peen was super excited about Shrek the Halls which would be showing at 9pm. He really loved it loh. He even got Jen to record it.
24 Dec Mon
It is Christmas Eve. Kimberley’s first Christmas. Our first as a family. The Lims came over and brought food. There was a yummy salad, ribs, fried wantons and I also had my usual confinement food. But I allowed myself to snack on the rest as well. For dessert, we had apple crumble, brownie and the nostalgic raspberry ripple ice-cream.
Oh, apparently Miss Hannah Lim also really loved Shrek the Halls.
Kimberley was "naughty" today. She fed on the hour from 12pm to 3pm and 5pm, for 5 mins each. She has also been fussing, wanting to be carried to sleep instead of being left to sleep in her cot.
25 Dec Tuesday
It’s Christmas. It our first Christmas as a family. I voted against going to church today. I didn’t want to expose Kimberley to others too soon. According to mum, there are a lot of people sick so I guess that helped me decide. Maybe I’m just being paranoid?
Anyway, I guess it wasn’t quite the family Christmas that I imagined. Then again, what was I expecting? With a baby who only eats, sleeps and poops, what can we possibly do? Not much I guess.
Peen at least managed to get a 5km run in this morning.
As I’m typing this, I’m really overdoing it on the Eclairs. I’m at my 6th! But it’s definitely more worthwhile than the Choc Crispy. Yums. I’ll stop after my seventh.
Yay, we are getting broadband tomorrow. I’ll be connected once again!
I’ve been doing some thinking. I’m worried about how we are going to work things out after my maternity. Actually, I haven’t even thought about how I am going to cope DURING my maternity leave after CL leaves. God give me strength!
But how are we going to manage time wise? If baby needs to get to infant care (assuming we can get a place and can afford it), we will need to start getting ready even earlier than my usual 5.15am, won’t we? We will need to feed baby, wash baby, get baby ready, get doggies ready, get ourselves ready and then drive to infant care center and then drive me to school. It really sounds rather ridiculous. We will need to start waking up at 4am?
Should I continue to teach at ACS(P)? Is it ridiculous? Am I being stubborn? I should at least try it out first of course. But it seems really like an uphill task. And what about breastfeeding? I mean with 2 Math classes, I can hardly find time to have lunch, let alone be pumping twice daily? How am I going to manage this? And it seems like everyone is expecting me to be breastfeeding for a while. Sure, it's easy for others to make comments like that.
1 Mar – 5.6kg
21 mar – can make farting noises with her mouth
21 Apr – 6.7kg
- she starts to wake on her own at 7+am and would lie there waiting for me to come
6 June – 7.2kg, sat in high chair
