One month

We have crossed the 1 month mark and the confinement lady (CL) is gone!! YES! Hahaha. Don't get me wrong. The CL is a great help to me during this period of time. When we got home from the hospital she went direct into cooking, sterilising and getting things ready for baby and me without hesitation. Both hubby and me were all tired when we got home from the hospital and were grateful for her help. She even asked me to express out the milk and told me to sleep while she feeds Janelle in her night feeds. Maybe I just cannot accept things that are not being done in a certain way. Conclusion! I can never hire a maid.

Days without the nanny is a little tough. I have to clean the house, cook and care for the baby on my own. Its a little more work then before but I am enjoying it. She can get really cranky at times when she does not want to sleep and wants to be carried all the time. Frustrating! But, when she just smiles or make a funny face at you when you talk or scold her, you will forget everything that you were angry about. Is that motherhood?


Sticking out her tongue


Her crossed eye look.

When she crosses the one month mark, we decided to shave her head botak. It was either we shave her during her first month or fourth month. During her fourth month is going to be CNY. We did not want her to be botak then so it was now.


One last photo before we bring her to the barber.



Botak!

She looks like a little boy boy now. When I bring her out, people will always ask me, is it a boy or a girl. Hahhaa. Will update more with more photos soon!

Breast Feeding

When I was pregnant, everyone was telling me that I should breastfeed after Janelle is born. This was encouraged by my gynae and friends alike. One month before bb was born, I was already leaking on one side. I felt confident that I will be able to breastfeed my child when she is born and I have sufficient milk to fulfill her needs.

I did not try breastfeeding the moment Janelle was born as I felt nausea and was puking. Only when I was transferred to the normal ward, I tried to breastfeed her. However, Janelle was too sleepy and young to suckle the colostrum. We got the lactation consultant to assist the next day and was informed that baby does not know how to suckle yet and has to be taught. I was asked to express out the colostrum into a small cup.

The Lactation Consultant, Jenny, fed bb by wetting the bb's lips and tongue with colostrum. Bb starts to lick and swallow the food. It was then Janelle learnt how to suckle when she was lached on. Jenny then taught me the various methods to feed Janelle.

At home, I fed baby by latching on however Janelle was crying after every one and the half hours. The Confinement Lady (CL) insisted that I do not have sufficient milk for the baby and insisted feeding formula milk. We allowed her to do that while I expressed out the milk. When I was able to express out sufficient milk, the CL just kept quiet. However she insisted that I have sufficient rest at night and told me to express out the milk for her to feed at night. I got up early in the morning to express out the milk which I had. I did not require any alarm clocks or anyone to wake me up. The pain from the engorgement of the breast was sufficient to wake me up at 3am in the morning.

I had sufficient milk since day one but recently I realised that I could not express out as much milk as I am able to. It could be due that I had reduced the frequency of feeding as I had arranged for the massaging session. Upon reading up more on the Internet, I found that the amount which I was able to pump out initially was excess milk in the early weeks but this will change and the amount of milk will be regulated either gradually or suddenly. The amount that I am able to pump out and the amount which the baby will get when she is latched on is also different. When baby is latched on, she will be able to get more compared to when I pump the milk out. For more information, here is the website which I got the information from.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/pumping_decrease.html

Now I can can just diligently pump out the milk and try to latch her on in the day as much as I can. Hopefully the supply does not decrease further.

Days with Baby

Life has never been the same with Bb Janelle around. After the initial check up at the PD, we were told that Janelle's jaundice level was a little too high. We were asked to go back for another blood test on Saturday. Test showed that her levels were down to 11 and we were asked to continue the phototherapy. However we did not even use that stupid bed. We just continued to sun her in the morning when its not so warm and feed her accordingly to pass out the excess bilrubin in her body.

The following blood test on Monday showed that her levels were down and we just need to monitor her skin colour ourselves. We heave a sign of relive upon hearing that.

Nowadays my life is just revolving around feeding her and ensuring that she will sleep. There are times in the day whereby she will just don't want to sleep. Her eyes will be opened wide open. I have tried to leave her in her bed after the confinement lady bath her. She will keep quiet a while but will cry after a while when nobody is attending to her. I tried not to pick her up when she just wimpering but her wimper will escalate into screams. She will scream her lungs out till there is no sound coming out from her. Upon seeing how hard she cries, I just simply ignore the fact that we wanted her to try to sleep on her own and pick her up. We will try to cox her to sleep by singing to her. When she is asleep in our arms and placed her in her cot, she will only sleep for about 15 to 30 mins before she starts wailing again. We tried to feed her more as she seems she is hungry as she is opening her mouth wide and looking for food but after feeding her she still refuses to sleep. I have also tried talking to her as she seems to listen and understand when we talk to her. But she still continue to wail. I just don't know what she wants.

This may carry on for the entire day. However she will sleep at night as she has exhausted her energy in the day and sometimes will refuse to wake up for her feed before the night is over.
But she is so fastinating to observe when she is sleeping. She has so many positions and poses.



I am a super baby position

I am so shy position.

Most of the times she is wrapped up in a cloth to allow her feel more secure (like in the womb) but will we unwrap her at times to allow her to get use to the enviroment.

Jaundice

We brought Janelle to the hospital for her jaundice check up yesterday. The blood test showed that she is has high levels of jaundice and has to undergo phototherapy to prevent the jaundice from increasing to the dangerous levels. Dr Tan (her PD) suggested to us to conduct the phototherapy at home by renting the bed.

We went home feeling a little sad and worried about her jaundice levels. When the bed arrived, we tried placing her in the bed but she was unwilling to allow us to do it. She cried, she screamed almost tore the entire house down. We gave up placing her in the bed when we saw how uncomfortable she was when we placed her in there. Our hearts broke when she cried so hard till she was hoarse.

I searched online and found that jaundice is normal in newborns. The baby's liver was unable to remove the bilirubin in the blood as the liver has yet to start functioning as quickly as it should. High levels of bilirubin in the blood may cause damages to the brain. She has a higher risk as I had jaundice when I was young. Dad had to bring me to the playground to catch some sun. We hope that the level of jaundice does not increase further in the next few days. We will have to bring her for another blood test tomorrow again. Praying for the best.

On a lighter note, Janelle seems to have double eyelids!

Welcoming Ms Janelle Tan

Our family has become a threesome with the arrival of little Ms Janelle Tan on 27 Sept 09, weighing 2.81Kg. The day started at 2am when I experience a slight leakage of water. I wasn't sure whether I was leaking water so I monitored for a while but there was no leakage anymore. So I went back to bed.

At 4am, I felt a few more gushes of water and I was wide awake almost immediately. In the toilet, the water just gushes out periodically. I tried to put on my clothes but the water was leaking continuously. I gave up and sat on the toilet and waited till the water stopped leaking. I woke Dear up and he asked so we should go to the hospital? I told him yes and he jumped up and started to pack the remaining items that we have yet to put into the bag.

I called the doctor and was told to go to the hospital. We dressed and took a cab down to Mt A. During the trip in the taxi, I was so worried that I will be leaking in the cab and dirty the cab. Luckily the leakage stopped when we left the house till I reach the hospital. I was admitted into the delivery ward where the water leakage continued! Contractions started only then and it was still bearable till 8 am where I asked for the laughing gas. At 10 am, the intensity of the contractions increased tremendously. A jab to the thigh was given and instantly I felt relieve. At 11am, the doctor said that the baby should arrive soon and thus I hung on without epidural.

At 2pm, the doctor commented that the cervix was only 6 cm dilated and it may take a while longer. I could not tolerate anymore! I opted for epidural. With the epidural, I felt like a piece of meat on sale in the market. I could not feel anything waist down. The dosage of epidural was decreased from 18 to 3mg/ml as I was trembling a lot that my blood pressure could not be recorded. Even at the lowest amount of 3mg/ml, I was still trembling. at 5 pm, I was asked to pushed! After a few pushes, bb was out!!!

After she was cleaned up in the delivery ward.

Introducing Ms Janelle Tan