Birth story no.2

At week 34, 6th june, thursday i went for my review in the morning in the hospital (prior to this all my prenatal check ups were done in Klinik Kesihatan Ibu dan Anak KKIA).

we decided not to be fussy, we'll see whoever (doctor) that the nurse has arranged for us.

i was referred to the Hospital because my baby was suspected to be IUGR. (intra uterine growth retardation)

that thursday, was a shocking day in my entire life, which i will not forget.

we saw Dr Dianie and she suggested that i go for an operation immediately. after getting a mandatory dexamethasone jab.
i totally lost it.
i wasn't expecting a cesarean at all!
tears blinded my eyes and thankgod hubs knew what ive wanted in this pregnancy. this birth.
ive been hoping for a gentle birth. a fuss free birth. with the least intervention possible.

that is also why we rejected offers to see the HOD of O&G and the Fetal medicine specialist.
sigh.
which we regretted.
we have learned our lesson.
if in future i get pregnant again, i will make sure i fuss about every single sh*t.
Dr.VJ says it is pertinent to get a detailed scan done.

i kept quiet in front of Dr.Dianie. i was staring at her wide windows behind her.
hubs then broke the ice.
what other choice do we have? he enquired.
what happens if we don't do the cesarean?

well, it seems there are no other choice.
1:go for op
2:baby might not make it

i dont want 1 or 2!!
no choice no3?

i dont want to be butchered!!!!!!!

sigh

i pleaded so she called dr.christine and the verdict is to be warded for a week for observation.

A week!!! gah!

i was in my work clothes.
so i went up to the ward. in general ward because first class room was full.
to be precise, i have to sit/rest on a bed in the hallway temporarily before moving in to a general room of 8 beds.
if u think that makes me happier, i get to choose my bed on the hallway. -______-

when i was transferred to the general room, i was not in the mood to socialize or to speak to anyone so i lied down quietly at the corner of the room. thank god for that bed.

after dinner was served (i had none), the nurse came and escorted me to the first class room of 2 beds. my bed was the one facing the window. phew.

hubs brought me dinner.

baby was :
breeched
IUGR
oligohydramnios - low AFI (amniotic fluid)
prematured (small at that age)

i was a bunch of mess.

question mark - no leakage but low AFI.

the nurses have to record if i wet my panty liner throughout the hospital stay.
adui, i have to repeated tell them no, no, no.
i might sound exasperated here but of course i was all sweet to them :)

i have to order hubs to buy a packet of panty liner just for this purpose.
he bought one with scent. eekk!
i would prefer them without. :(

warded thursday, friday i wanted to go mad.

i was crying and sobbing till i have to do it in the bathroom.

friday night when hubs brought kj to visit me, i was all tears.
hubs then contacted the Fetal & maternal specialist dr.VJ and he was really kind.
he visited me the next morning and discharged me.
that was a saturday.
it wasnt my intention to be discharged.
i wanted to seek for his opinion.
but i suppose he knew no one likes to stay in the hospital.
so it was a bonus for me.

eagerly i went home, ensured i was on bed all the time and drank lots of fluid and coconut water.
some people say AFI can increase by increasing hydration, although Dianie says nothing can help.

staying positive is also essential.

hubs was worried.

in turn i was the one consoling him, that we will be well. let nature runs its course.
whatever that is meant to be.

on sunday, i tried to talk to my baby when no one was looking. because i dont have the habit of talking to my pre-born baby.

i also began to question myself and wonder where to draw the line.
the line of wether to trust my maternal instinct or to give in to the medical world.

despite all the fear, i had to constantly check on the movements of the baby.

hubs did fetal heart every 3 hours, manually with a stethoscope.

on monday, we went back to clinic to see Dr.VJ.
he scanned and suggested the same treatment, that is for cesarean on the same day.
elective lscs (Lower segment cesarian section)

it was an emergency of some sort.

they will put me in the list and i will be called to OT when all scheduled procedures were done.

hence again i had to be warded.

hubs have to go home and fetch my belongings to the hospital.

i have prepared the neccessities at home over the weekend.

waited from morning to night, i was not called yet.

the anxiety and agony of waiting was horrendous.

i was having migraine by then. -_____-

dr.dianie promised to be the butcher. hehe

we were breathing down the HO's and MO's neck in our ward, pressuring them to check for the availability in the OT as we didnt want our procedure to be conducted in the middle of the night, not for our own convenience but we felt bad for disturbing our gynae.

true enough,

11th june 2013, tuesday

this little cutie joined us in this world at 12.02am.

1:24am

Post surgery.

mommy's drowsy

1:26am

the black bag at the bottom of my feet is the placenta.

2kg at birth, 35 weeks. 1:52am

postulated to be 1.8kg on week 34.

on week 35 he was scanned to be 2.2kg.

4:17am

he went to the ward with me upon hubs insistence that he was doing well.

we struggled a wee bit on breastfeeding.

my body was dead so i was banking on hubs to carry and position the bub.

he pooed.

then hubs found him to be purplish so he was sent out straightaway.

4:57am

4:59am

transported to NICU

sepet eyes here make him resembles his brother

10:12am

on C-pap for 2 days

2 antibiotics given : gentamicin and cloxacillin. covering for pneumonia.
off after 3 days.
treated as RDS

12 june 6:48am

12 june 1:43pm

specialist came for rounds and gave an earful to the staffs for attaching the cuties (soft toys) on the tubes.

they are a source of infection...something like that.

13 june 9:35am

13 june 9:35am

14 june 11:35am

14 june 11:35am

14 june 11:35am

14 june 9:04pm

15 june 5:03pm

1.97kg

his father can easily lift him with one hand.

Discharge procedure SUCKS.

i waited for so freaking long that i had hemorrhage.

i could feel it because my inner thigh starts to throb and feels sore!

all thanks to the nurse.

taking her time to discharge me and for her convenience, she asked me to wait for another lady so that she can escort us down together.

yes, the nurse needs to escort us and our baby down to the ground floor and pass some forms to the guard.

we have to sign too.

and show them our baby's tag (strap around their feet).

all these security made me boil with anger!

by the time we were down at the security guard's station, i was fuming.

i sternly said Tidak perlu check tag sudah. and stomped off!

we were not prepared for all these.

it wasnt like that during kj's time.

i left home in the morning at 10 to the hospital and got stranded there till 5pm?

can u imagine?

i was in Day 5 of confinement!

dehydrated and hungry!

they wanted to make sure my baby can latch on properly.

im not a new mother but perhaps i was clumsy so they thought i was one? 

hehe

shame.

anyway, i said i know how to bf! but they still insisted that i stay there for a couple of hours to establish breastfeeding before leaving.

wtf

no thanks to my baby.

we struggled.

he does not want to feed so i just stayed there cradling him and waited for time to pass.

-________-

i suppose he needs time to gain his suckling motion?

since he was away from me so he did not latch on directly.

he drank from cup.

he is a pro by now if you are wondering :)

he could play with my nipples after a month.

pull, stretch and release and quickly suck back.

Chrysanthemum tea

brew your own chrysanthemum tea.

look at my face you'll know i dont drink those boxed chrysanthemum tea. :p

Chrysanthemum tea acts as a natural coolant and has been talked about in the ancient Chinese medicinal science.  A person will benefit a lot by having Chrysanthemum tea every day.

From Bewell

Cool anger, anxiety, stress and more with chrysanthemum tea. Source

arent they beautiful?

get a big pot, fill with water and boil.

meanwhile, soak and rinse the flower a couple of times to get rid of sand and dirt.

i managed to fish out one BEE amongst them.

when the water is boiling, drop the flowers into the pot.
simmer for a few minutes , until the water turns yellow and fragrant.
stir in some rock sugar.
i omit the sugar.

KJ prefers it with some sugar of course.

adding too much flowers will make the tea bitter.

i prefer to make the drink thick, and dilute with water later on.

i prepared this drink when i was pregnant earlier on.

so i did not drink, although the smell was really tempting.

the fragrance of the flower and the tea. mmmmhhh

the benefits are aplenty, really.

i wouldnt know if i did not google.

can be used for heat rash, aid digestion, blood pressure, improved visions and etc.

　Incidentally, do not think white chrysanthemum flowers and great talent for the top grade, the truth is the opposite, the original flowers smaller, more ugly appearance, color and pan-old yellow is the top grade. Source

seriously, I'm not a pro. and i dont have a regular Herb shop so i'll just trust them.

each time i walk in, i'll ask for the top grades no doubt.

What to pack for kids when flying

playing with Logico in the airport whilst the father.......... 

pack some books to distract them in the cabin

he loves dinosaurs

he does not like colouring activity which i reckon would be good to bring on plane.

cardigan is the best warmer.

cools when it's warm.

warms when it's cold.

luckily he loves wearing my cardigan.

pulling his own luggage

6 months pregnant

apr 30

End of confinement

Aug 3

making our debut in AEON Ipoh Station 18.

it is a shopping mall.

i find it awkward, naming it Station 18.

sounds more like a cafe?

anyway, this mall is huge, by ipoh standard ;)

matty is only 1.5 months old then.

lucky chap.

gets to go shopping at this age!

i cant begin to describe how glad i am that this big bro falls asleep on the stroller.

this stroller is sort of a white elephant.

as we prefer to baby wear.

since the place that we live in does not have big malls and they are totally not stroller friendly. period.

anyway, i still love this stroller.

the father has been eyeing a lighter stroller - a maclaren but we still havent got to it.

he's holding a can of fish food.

i believe he has smelled the food because one day when we were in a friend's house, he saw a small bottle of dried preserved fruit that looks like rabbits pellet and the friend told him it is fish food.

then he began to doubt and kept smelling the jeruk, right till we were about to leave the place.

poor thing.

he opened the bottle and sniffed and asked me if it is for fish. he repeated the action countless times!

yummy lui cha in Bercham.

hubs ordered this for me.

ive reminded him to tell the aunty to omit cooling veg, since i had just had my confinement.

ive read that mint leaves can reduce breast milk!

oh no.

i didnt know and i even added some home grown mint into my smoothies.

*slaps forehead*

managed to catch the dimple!

he chose Mc Donald's chocolate sundae over a Bob the Builder T-shirt.

-_______-

he went to the mall with his grandaunt and aunt and so the grandaunt gave him a choice between the two.

loves anything chocolate

and he cant quite pronounce chocolate properly.

chRRoo ke let

he wants to 'sayang' di di

giving smooches to the little brother

matty's makeshift bed is a trampoline

=D

Aug 7

KLIA

this marks the end of our long holiday of sort.

my confinement ends here too.

this is also the beginning of our new family of FOUR :)

we had a long break from baby wearing.

the last time was in Taiwan, september 2012.

kj is 3.5 yrs old now so obviously he does not want to be carried.

unless he runs uncontrollably then he has to be carried.

i hope u get the idea that he does not like to be carried.

but in this case, we had a long journey because we need to transit so we have to plan our journey well.

children comes first.

it was kj's nap time when we were in klia so he slept on his father's chest that afternoon.

in situations like this, a stroller would be a blessing.

however, we have decided to leave the stroller back in the west.

the stroller was with us for years here, only to collect dust.

unless if we travel, it will serve its purpose.

uhh, we used it when we were in Singapore.

otherwise, it was ssc (soft structured carrier) everywhere else.

omg!

my flabby arms!

my tummy!

my bag??? unzipped???!!

8 weeks old 

Yoga kids

modelling

Rayban

Mothercare white shirt

gaya street pants

slipper (bought by popo)

this was last weekend.

the father was away.

still, i decided to bring him for a trial class in kid's yoga class,

with Matty along.

the weekend was a challenge for me.

i was all alone, handling 2 kids.

including putting them to bed.

i survived.

we survived.

no, i did not take away food.

yes, i cooked despite all the chaos.

and i loved it. :)

anyway, back to his yoga class.

i totally lost it.

pftt

so no yoga class at the moment.

Granulated Mushroom Bouillon

 granulated mushroom bouillon

100% vegetarian

extracted from 100% wild mushroom.

natural seasoning?

i have no idea.

but yeah, we are using this in our kitchen.

i hardly use this seasoning powder.

i either have the dish bland or i'd use my own chicken/beef/pork stocks.

im those type who is also sceptical in using oyster sauce.

im a minimalist.

i either cook with fresh produce, or none at all.

so sometimes my food might come out unflavourful, but atleast i know they are healthy :p

so yes, chef leong is the one using this.

if u add this to your noodle, my goodness, it tastes exactly like your store bought instant noodle!

-_______-

because one day he served a bowl of mee and i was like...huh?why did u use the instant noodle's flavoring i asked.

he says nope, he did not.

he uses the mushroom powder.

i see...

is this a healthier alternative to ajinamoto?

or to the knorrs or maggi cube stocks?

this is debatable

;)

Activities for 3 years old

March 2013

 cutting using a scissors for children.

it is ultra safe, but i do not like it.

the paper has to be taut to be able to snip off.

perhaps it is good for a newbie nevertheless.

 just turning three.

peeling hard boiled eggs.

 he enjoys it.

 look at the broken pieces of eggs in the pink container ;)

dont sweat about it.

 i should do this more frequent.

it helps in concentration and hands skill.

they also need to know how much pressure to apply on the eggs.

May 2013

 tools kit from Ikea

 knock and screw and unscrew

 vocab: bolt, nuts, hammer, spanner, screw, unscrew, 

i bought this a year back but he starts to show interest at 3.