!st week

Time sure flies and we are now at the 1st week since Jonathan's birth.

Watching a baby grow is a fantastic experience. From his first yawn, smile, cry, sneeze. I have also tried breast feeding on the fist day itself. But I guess nothing really came out as baby was crying for milk. I didn't sleep well in the hospital as baby was on total breastfeeding. So everytime baby cries, the nurses will wheel him into my room so that I can breastfeed him even at 2am. Jonathan is very naughty in the sense that he will suckle for a while, then dozed off. I will then wake him up continue feeding him. He will open his eyes, smile at me, suckle for a while and dozed off again. Fine! So I placed him back to his crib. He will wake up and cry so loud that I have to pick him up again from the crib to place him near me. He wants to sleep next to me. Damn manja!

Doctor gave us the green light to go home. So we reached home late evening on 23rd November 2009. We had a hard time taking care of baby. He was crying and we had no clues as to why he is crying. His nappy is clean and we have fed him. Hubby was tired and I was grumpy. Then we found out, the little one was afraid of the air cond. He doesn't like to sleep in very cold condition. *Blek* There is so much for us to learn as new parents.

His first poo which was very dark and sticky or what the doctors would call meconium was being cleaned up by hubby.
His second was by me.
His third was by Jennifer.

Jonathan's cord stump should drop off on the 7 - 10 days, however, his drop off on the fifth day. So. the better it is, as extra care need to be taken as not to accidentally pulled onto that delicate area during cleaning up, nappy change and whatsoever.

Next I suffered from breast engorgement. Baby wasn't sucking well, and my nipples were slightly blocked, I guess. So I had hell for three days and two nights. Not sleeping well as I couldn't move about. Every movement will cause sharp pain to my breasts. Ai Li came to help me out, giving me extra tips on how to breasfeed which was just great. She is really an angel.

Finer tips to breastfeeding that you won't get from antenatal classes. First, massage your breasts during shower before childbirth, say during your 7th months of pregnancy, to activate milk production. Two weeks before delivery, clean nipples with baby oil by rubbing the nipples with baby oil, then using cosmetic cotton to wipe the area. If your breasts are slightly clogged up, you will see some dirt on the cotton. Next, use warm water to rinse your nipple. Drink more oats so that your milk will be more solid. To encourage more breastmilk besides having the baby as the stimulus for the demand and supply, we can make raw papaya and pork ribs soup together with slices of ginger and wolfberry.

We could also fry some ginger strips and adding a piece of fish tail. Fry until fragrant and add water enough to cover the fish tail. Boil for a while until the water is almost milky. Stop boiling and you can drink the soup on its own.

Hope this piece of information is useful to you.

Hello all

Hello all. I have finally given birth to Jonathan Lee (3.1kg) on 22nd November 2009 at 10am. Both baby and mother are fine.

Never knew that I could give birth naturally but assisted with vacuum and best of all without epidural. Fantastic isn’t it? I would say the Power of prayers, thank you Lord. I had quite a short labour. 6 hours the nurses told me. I got admitted into the hospital at 3am. I took my time with admission as I didn’t know I could dilate so fast. I even had a slice of cheese bread and a cup of Milo before hubby drove me to the delivery suite.

Once I was in the delivery suite, I was told that I have dilated 3cm and that my contractions are pretty good and regular. By then, I was feeling very nasty pain at the back and I asked nurses to give me. I think they gave me Pethidine. So I slept a little. Soon after, a nurse told me that my doctor is on leave till the evening and that another doctor would be taking over. I didn’t complain that much as the replacement doctor is a very good and an experienced doctor.

A 8:45am, doctor came to check on me and break my water bag. He noted that baby has already passed motion inside and he quickly asked the nurses to put a drip on me. Then, my nightmare started. The contractions were so strong and painful and I couldn’t take it anymore. I asked for epidural and was told by the nurses that I have already fully dilated and it’s too late for epidural and the anaesthetist wouldn’t be able to make it on time. I was the only patient in the delivery room that morning and all the nurses in the delivery room were there with me. So, I had a lot of moral support. Hubby was so smart to stand at the top left hand side of my bed and he didn’t get all those clawing and what not from me. Poor nurses. To compensate for my bad behaviour, I bought them Big apple doughnuts. Teeheehee.

Let’s just say, it wasn’t a nice scene with me pleading with the doctor to knock me flat out for c-sect. The doctor on the other hand was cool as a cucumber and told me, “Yes, my dear.....I am helping you...just another push....just one more...nurses....set the bed higher...ask the husband to hold her head....come on..push....I can see the head...just one more time, and the baby will be out...” which was true. I only push three to four times and baby was out at 10am.

I saw baby looking a wee bit like UFO as he was slightly blue and crying. Then nurses started clearing his airways and asked hubby to go out with them to the observation room for baby. Doctor then stated to stitch me up and talking to me. I thought I heard him humming while stitching me up.

After the stitches, I was given a sponge bath. Nurses told me that I was so lucky that my doctor was on leave. As I would have been scolded by him for requesting for c-sect and doing what I did at the delivery room. *Blek*

The doctor even spoke to my dad and Jennifer as he left the delivery suite. He said, “The baby was very naughty, he was not facing downward, and his hands and legs were facing upward in a position like he didn’t want to leave the stomach. So, I have to use the vacuum to coax his head to move into the right position.”

I was wheeled out to the labour ward at 11:20am. There, dad and Jennifer were waiting for me. Baby was put into a warmer and he was only let out to see me at 1pm.

Baby is so small and he has got my eyes, hubby’s nose and lips.

38 weeks

Baby is getting heavier and I am so tired carrying the extra load. I look like a beached whale and have a tough time breathing yesterday.

Took a walk by the pool and nearly fell asleep at the pool deck chair. *embarassed*

Wondering when Jonathan will make his arrival. Another 2 weeks?? I want him now. *blek*

37 weeks, 5 days

So wanted Jonathan to be born today. Unfortunately, he didn't want to co-operate with me.

Naughty boy.

37 weeks

Baby is in full term now. That means I could literally give birth at any given moment.

Right now, I am not sleeping well. Waking up three times every night on average to pee. It's hard to get back to sleep after that as finding a good position to sleep is difficult. As far as my eating habits go, sometimes ok, sometimes not so good. Can't wait for Jonathan to arrive as I am getting very tired holding the load. :P

Labor

And how's mom doing?

Phase I (Early Labor): If this is your first birth, you’ll finally understand just how fake Braxton-Hick contractions really are. Real labor contractions are going to be notably more intense, more painful, and come in waves of 3-4 every ten minutes--each one lasting up to 60 seconds. For you anxious impatient types, try to avoid the stopwatch tedium of recording every contraction and do something more entertaining like watch AOD reruns said, at the beginning of early labor you’re best bet is to ride the contractions out in the comfort of your home. Realistically speaking, the contractions won’t be so frequent or painful that you won’t be able to putter around the house, watch a movie, or even take a warm bath to relax for the upcoming birth. Early labor can last up to eight hours for a first birth. As we’ve mentioned before, the amniotic sac may naturally break at this point. If this happens, go ahead and get your stuff together and head to the birth center even if your contractions haven’t started. If your water doesn’t break on its own, you can head to the birth center when your contractions are occurring every five minutes for over an hour (at this point they can last up to 90 seconds apiece). You might want to check your rate periodically to see if it’s increased overall, and then get your stuff and head to the hospital.

Phase II (Active Labor): When the cervix is dilated to 10 cm, your baby is usually descended somewhat into your pelvis and may be accompanied by feelings of rectal pressure similar to the feeling you have before a bowel movement. At this point it’s not unusual to feel nauseous (even to the point of vomiting), although many women don’t. On the other hand, there are plenty of cases where the mother is fully dilated but the baby won’t descend until much later in the labor-process. Although the typical course of action is bearing down (when the baby has descended) and pushing through the contractions to move your child through the birth canal, your uterus is also slowly pushing your baby downwards, so take it slowly and don’t strain too much. If it is your first birth, your baby will probably descend more slowly. It is still quite common to coach the mother to push and bear down as much as possible during this time, but there is no reason to believe that this is necessarily a better approach than waiting until you feel the spontaneous urge to bear down, which will happen eventually. Still, keep in mind: if you opt for an epidural, the loss of pelvic sensation will prohibit this option and instead require that you receive explicit coaching during the pushing process.

Phase III (Expelling the placenta): Within a half hour (but usually only a few minutes) after delivery, the placenta (also known as “afterbirth”) will also find its way out of your body. Expelling the entire afterbirth is important because any remaining pieces can cause bleeding and infection later on (early breastfeeding actually promotes complete afterbirth ejection).

36 weeks, 4 days

Baby is now around 18½ inches long and 2.8kg according to Dr. Liew Fah Onn