Eight weeks

Bambi is eight weeks old today! Jeeeeeeysus time does fly. She is growing so well and I swear, I get a bit teary eyed, just thinking again about how small she was on the day she was born, and how much she has grown since (in eight weeks, that is! haha)

So what has happened since my last post? 

Well, at six weeks, Bambi had her 2nd dose of immunisation. Her 1st dose of immunisation was given on the day she was born. So on a cold and wet Thursday night, Grumpy and I brought her to our GP. I bought a bottle of Panadol for baby the day before, just in case. Immediately when our doctor poked a needle on her first thigh, she screamed at the top of her lungs, my heart dropped. It was too much to bear! And then she got a 2nd needle on the other thigh, another scream! Ahhhhh I had to hold back my tears as well. Hehe we were also worried that she might have a temperature, or experience loss of appetite, become too sleepy, etc etc.. but god bless her, Bambi was fine the next day, which makes me think... ahhh I have myself a little trooper!

From the day we brought Bambi home from the hospital, she has been on a Gina Ford routine. Bambi was adjusting well on this routine, and I was getting my rest too, as she was 'nearly' doing her nights i.e. sleeping through from night time until about 5am/6am. I was quite happy on this routine.. until speaking to some family members and friends, they kept raving about the Tizzie Hall routine instead. I am not sure what came through me, but the next thing I knew, I ordered the 'Save Our Sleep' book online, it arrived the next day.. and BOOM! Bambi was changed to a different routine. My poor baby.. Grumpy was not happy that I changed it, he said to me "Bambi is not a toy!!!", my mum too "But she has been so good on the Gina Ford!" I tell them.. I know I know, both routines are known for the fact that their babies sleep from 7pm to 7am by the age of twelve weeks. So changing Bambi from Gina Ford to Tizzie Hall did cause a bit of confusion to her. But she has been on the new routine now for about nine days and I am so proud that she has learnt the art of 'self-settling'. She has her days though, sometimes she might not settle as easily, which is fine.. its only normal because she is just a little baby, but on a good day, after a feed and a nappy change, I swaddle her up, and leave her in her cot.. she goes to sleep by herself! My darling!

Now at eight weeks, she is also very attentive. She is chatty, this baby loves to talk - not kidding! She can even laugh! My happy baby! 

Happy at 8 weeks!

Full Moon

Last weekend, we celebrated Little Bambi's full moon by having a party at our house with some family members and friends. Initially, I was dreading it.... I was worried how I was going to fit 21 people in my tiny little house, if the food was enough, if I would be too tired, if Little Bambi would be overwhelmed, etc. However, the party turned out really well, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

The day started with Little Bambi getting lots of kisses and cuddles as she is finally one month old!

Everyone tells me she looks like her papa!

Next up, my mum instructed us to snip off a few strands of Little Bambi's hair. First she was pretty calm and had her eyes closed.

So worried her father will accidentally snip off her ear.

But when we were working on the other ear, she went a bit cray cray at us. Haha so cute!

With her strands of hair, my mum stuffed it in an angpao, and asked me to wish what I would like Little Bambi to be when she grows up. I said, a doctor! Of course. 

Then we gave her a bath to soothe and calm her, while I was secretly hoping that she would sleep through her party.. hehe..

I can't stop staring at her tiny little feet!

We put her in a cute little romper suit, which was a present from my ex-boss, Belgian Chocolates. I love how it is peach, and not pink. And we rushed to take some family photos before our guests started to arrive. We hardly took any family portraits before this because I was so camera shy during confinement (with un-washed hair and all).

As for the food, I did a bit of research online. We wanted to go with Malaysian catering at first, nasi kunyit, ang ku kueh etc, but as I have never tried them before, I decided to be safe and chose my favourite Sri Lankan restaurant and served my guests a Sri Lankan dish called Lamprice! Haha

I made two serves of salad, and also some fruit salad. My mum fried some noodles, I cooked chicken nuggets for the little kids.

Grumpy cooked malaysian style curry chicken to go with this home made nasi kunyit, prepared by a family friend.

My mum painted some hard boiled eggs in red - I love how these eggs look in photos!

I ordered a Brownie and Passionfruit Chocolate Gateau cake.. for myself mainly. Haha

As you can see, the food was a bit of a mix of everything, some we bought, some we made, but it was all very yummy!

Little Bambi was quite good, she slept through most of her party. Hehe which made it easy for the rest of us to move around and spend some time catching up with our guests.

We also squeezed in a family portrait with my parents, my brother, his girlfriend and my loyal dog!

When all our guests left, my parents spent the night at my brother's house, leaving Grumpy, Little Bambi and myself some alone time. It was really nice to have some quality time, just the three of us. It has been a bit crowded at the house lately, so we took the quiet time to relax at home, sitting by the sofa and cuddling our little baby. 

Happy one-month my lovely Bambi!

Four Weeks

Little Bambi is exactly four weeks old today! She is very cute and she never ceases to amaze me! Here is a recent picture of her. I sent it to Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and she said "Oh my, gravity is pulling her cheeks down" hehe yes, my daughter has incredibly chubby cheeks.

Apart from Little Bambi being four weeks old, I was quite excited myself as it marks the end of my confinement period. I cannot wait to eat normal food and resume back to being a normal sane person! But much to my disappointment, my mum said the confinement does not end today, it ends on Saturday, which is Little Bambi's full moon celebration. My immediate reaction to that? AH PUTAIN!!!

If you are wondering how the confinement period went, let me tell you it is bloody awful. God only knows how all the chinese women in Malaysia did it, and especially for those who have many children! The hardest thing for me.. and for most people I know, is that I was not allowed to wash my hair for FOURTEEN DAYS! As I knew this was the case, immediately after Little Bambi was born, I kept my hair tied up high in a bun, even in the hospital. I slept with my hair tied as well, to keep my hair clean as possible. Also, as it is right in the middle of winter now in Melbourne, and considering how dry it is here, I guess my hair and scalp did not feel too bad the first couple of days. I bought four cans of dry shampoo, but I only used it on weekends when visitors were around. I found that dry shampoo causes the scalp to get a bit itchy after a few days. 

The first two weeks, my mum did not allow me showers as well. Instead, she gave me a bucket of boiled herbal water, and that was all I got. How miserable I was...cleaning myself in murky water. Considering how cold it is in Melbourne, I kept reminding her that using a bucket of water to clean myself is a million times colder than taking a hot shower with running water. After I would pour some hot water on my body, I would stand in the shower, freezing my arse off. I told her, this might work in Malaysia where it is 33 degrees Celcius every day, but it is now 6 degrees here, Mum! Finally she gave in, and I won the rights to taking a nice hot shower, like how people normally do in today's day and age. 

The food during confinement is not as bad as I expected, however, I was so conscious of my weight because my mum fed me six meals a day. Somehow I do not quite agree with the confinement diet as I did not find it very well balanced. The first week, I only ate pork, pork and more pork. No vegetables or fruits. The second week, I got a mix of chicken, and minimal vegetables. By week 3 and 4, I was able to start eating apples and kiwifruit, but no oranges. My taste buds have changed a bit, considering how much ginger and chinese rice wine I consume in the food. 

Drinks? I was not allowed to drink plain water. Instead, my mum boils me herbal tea every single day and I drink this most of the time. This tea is nice, it is not too bad. How about DOM? Ahhh, many people have told me that they refuse to take any DOM at all because of breastfeeding. I did not want to either, but my mum insist I drink a tablespoon each night before I go to bed. I resisted at first, but after a couple of days, I found that I actually liked it. DOM makes me feel warm, especially during winter. After that, I increased the amount to a bit over 2 tablespoons each night. Some people have told me they drank four bottles of DOM during their confinement and they were breastfeeding at the same time. Their children are fine. Apparently, DOM, like Redbull, gives you wings strength.

Going out? The house arrest part did not bother me much at all. This is where my mum was a bit more lenient. If I had some errands to do, I would quickly sneak out after her feed, while my mum watches her. The weather is cold and wet here, and as Little Bambi feeds every couple of hours, I preferred to stay home during the first couple of weeks. We did go out together at Week 2, to visit the Maternal Child and Health Nurse.

Apart from that, there are some little 'luxuries' (as I call it). I was not allowed to do any dishes, or any house work at all. My parents would do most of it. Once Little Bambi is asleep, I would get sent off to my bedroom to catch up on sleep as well. I really do appreciate my mum's help and support on this, as it was all very overwhelming during the start. My mum would also take care of all the washing and cleaning of Little Bambi's clothes, towel, bibs, mittens, baths, etc. She has also taken charge of food shopping in the house, cooking all the meals for Grumpy, my dad and Dopey. Sometimes I really wonder how the average Australian mum copes, as many of them have minimal or no help at all. I am really blessed, considering how caring my mum is. She drives me insane most of the time, but regardless, she is very good with Little Bambi, and she settles the baby so easily. 

The Dairy Queen

Little Bambi is now three weeks old, and growing so very fast.

One of the most important things for me, which I have been prepping for the past 4-5 months before the birth of Little Bambi, was that I wanted to breastfeed my baby. Women in my side of the family somehow do not breastfeed, saying that they have hardly any milk. My mum did not breastfeed me either, choosing formula instead. Some friends warned me, saying that breastfeeding is extremely difficult and if it does not happen, I should not be so hard on myself. It works so easy for some, but not for others. Our last antenatal class was about breastfeeding, and they explained to us about what oxytocin (love hormone) and prolactin (stimulates breast milk) was. We were taught how to latch the baby on properly, how they need to have their mouths wide open... I never knew this. I always thought breastfeeding was as simple as put the baby on the breast and they start sucking.. VOILA! Haha I was wrong. 

Part of my preparations during the pregnancy was drinking boiled green papaya soup with fish (a recipe from my cousin in Hong Kong). It was quite gross, Grumpy used to boil this for me once a week. I would just force it down my throat. UGH! 

Anyway, fast forward to now, when Little Bambi was born, by day two in the hospital, my nipples were already very sore and bruised as she probably was not latching on correctly, and to make matters worst, Little Bambi was jaundiced on day three. Still at the hospital, Grumpy brought in my electric Medela Swing pump, and I tried to stimulate my boobs by using the pump. Only colostrum was coming out, but that was a good enough sign for me. Due to jaundice, we had to quickly put Little Bambi on formula, to ensure she has enough milk. I really am grateful that I had such amazing team of midwives caring for me at the hospital (two of them were men, and they were incredibly passionate people). They wanted to preserve all my efforts on breastfeeding, that they recommended that we feed Little Bambi formula using a little cup, instead of a bottle. Giving Little Bambi a bottle very early will only confuse her and she may refuse the breast completely after that. This is true - one of my friends has already experienced this. Despite that, feeding a newborn via a cup was quite stressful at the same time. 

When we got home from the hospital, we continued feeding Little Bambi with formula from a cup, I would occasionally let her latch on to my breast still, bearing the pain from my damaged nipples. I was given some Marcalan cream by the hospital for the nipples. Yet, I was determined that my milk will eventually come in. They say that milk comes in on day three. But in my case, not so lucky, I think it only came in on day six!

We had a midwife visit us at home each day, for three days in a row, and also a maternal child and health nurse. I was given a plan, which I had to write down the time of each feed, how long she would suck on each breast, if I had topped up her intake with EBM (express breast milk) or formula, and if she made a wet or a dirty nappy. Now on my third week, I am still noting them down. 

We also found a solution on day five to substitute the feeding with a cup. Grumpy found this Medela Calma teat in my Medela Swing pump box. This was a life saver!! We could now feed her with a bottle, but with this teat, Little Bambi still needs to work her jaw and suck, as if she was feeding from a breast.

At the moment, I can happily say my milk is in..! I am able to breastfeed my Little Bambi! Breastfeeding is still hard though, it requires a lot of patience, half the time she falls asleep while still latched on to my boob. It is very time consuming, and of course, there is only one person that can feed her, and that person is me! The 2-3am feeds, and the 6am feeds are not much fun at all (especially during winter)... Occasionally, if I am tired and sleepy, I will store some EBM in the fridge, and that way, Grumpy or my mum can help feed Little Bambi using the Medela Calma bottle. Having said that, little babies are very smart, Little Bambi will feed on the bottle, and after that, she will still scream for her mama, the Dairy Queen! 

My Little Bambi

I finally gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!!! I will call her my little Bambi on this blog. 

It started when my water broke on Wednesday at 1.30am, while we were sleeping. I woke Grumpy up, to tell him that its time. He said "okay" and went back to sleep. Great start! Haha.. Then I waited til about 5-6-ish in the morning before I rang the hospital, each time trying to time my contractions, but there were no REAL contractions as yet. It was weird. We got asked to go in to the hospital, they took some tests and said I will most likely get induced at 1pm that afternoon. That gave us a bit of time to go home, I took a long shower, washed my hair, ate some lunch, went through my checklist of things to pack for the 100th time.

At 1pm, they started getting me ready with the drips. By 2pm, my marathon was about to begin. Two hours later, I started feeling the contractions. Grumpy was doing his best, timing my contractions, helping me count them, holding my hand, keeping me calm. To help cope with the period like pains, I started inhaling the laughing gas. It definitely did not make me laugh, but it did take me to another planet at times.. I felt as though my head was spinning. 5 hours later, around 7pm, the pain was getting worse, and I think I was only 2-4cm dilated, which is very very slow. I asked for painkillers, and they offered me Pethidine. I was not very keen on Pethidine, there are some negative effects but whatever man, just give it to me! Pethidine only lasted for two hours, which was not great. So it did provide some temporary relief, but very mild. By around 11pm, my marathon would have been 9 hours already, I asked the doctor for an epidural! Something I kept saying I was going to avoid, while I was still pregnant. Grumpy agreed that I needed an epidural as well, so immediately an anaesthetist came in, and poked a needle at my back. Soon enough, I could not feel any pain, which was great. It was nearly midnight, the midwives pulled out a mattress for Grumpy to sleep on the floor, next to me. They told us to get some rest. I was able to nap for a few hours, next to my husband, who was snoring away!

The next morning, my dilation was still progressing very very slowly.. my mother was incredibly worried. Labour should not take this long! Finally around 10am, the doctor said I was fully dilated, and I can start pushing. Pushing.. while under epidural, is not fun at all, because I could not feel much from waist down. I pushed for nearly 2 hours, and I think nothing happened. Finally, the doctor suggested instrumental birth. I was quite against forceps or vacuum for birth, but I think because I was already in labour for such an extended period, I gave in. The process was very quick. Jeeeeysus, Grumpy was so nervous. And at 11.55am on Thursday 14 June 2012, my little Bambi was born, and placed on my chest. A little baby girl! Words cannot describe the feeling. Both Grumpy and myself were in tears.

Here is my chubby little girl. Weighing a good 3.7kgs, or 8.2 pounds. We were so surprised by her size, considering how we thought I had a small baby bump. We have already fallen madly in love with her. 

37 weeks

It has been a while since my last post. Currently at 37 weeks.. time has just gone past so quickly. I finally finished up at work last Friday. So that gives me about 3 weeks til my due date. However, now at 37 weeks, my baby is considered at full term, so the baby could arrive anytime now.

So what has been happening the past couple of weeks? I was still going on with Preggi Bellies, very busy with work, celebrated Grumpy's 31st birthday, to sum it all up, it was very full-on. I was so exhausted at 35 weeks, suddenly I was getting a bit of pelvic pain, I had a bit of cramping with the growing belly.. oh my, I did not feel as comfortable as I used to be. it The belly grew quite big in the recent two weeks. Grumpy decided it was time for me to slow down, so I stopped my Preggi Bellies program, and have started seeing an osteopath for the pelvic pain. Apparently, it is very common now as my body is prepping for labour. The baby's kicks and movements are quite strong these days, it took me a while to adjust.

Suddenly going to work in the mornings just required soooo much effort. I would wake up, have a quick brekkie, take a shower, get changed, put on some make up, and by the time I am ready to step out the house, I am already dead tired!! Oh and I was dreading public transport more than ever, the extremely packed trains just made me a bit cray cray. I started taking earlier trains to avoid the crowd, and with going home, I took the train from Flinders Street instead of my usual station Parliament, which added an extra 15-20 mins to my usual journey (going one big round in the city loop) just so I could secure a seat.

During the month of May, every Thursday night from 7pm-9pm we attended antenatal classes at the hospital. It was very good, and I highly recommend it to friends who are expecting their first baby. Grumpy was very attentive at classes, and it definitely opened up his eyes a bit more, in terms of playing the role of a support partner. We were warned at the start of the class, that labour is not a sprint, it is a marathon! These classes are usually conducted by midwives, and we were lucky because we had such an amazing team of educators (very experienced midwives) and they taught us about what to expect with labour, drugs, procedures, what happens once the baby is born, breastfeeding etc. At the end of the classes, they make it sound like having a baby is the most rewarding experience ever! I swear, Grumpy always goes home feeling very confident after these antenatal classes (which can be a bit of a worry..? haha)

The hospital bag is nearly done. We have 3 categories to prepare:

(a) Things for me - the mum-to-be, such as clothes, toiletries, camera, etc

(b) Things for baby - romper suits, nappies, wipes, singlets etc

(c) Snacks and drinks for myself and Grumpy (especially if labour is going to be long - need to keep the energy levels up). We were recommended to pack sports drinks, nuts and dried fruit. I delegated this task to Grumpy. I checked the bag this morning, I found some sports drinks.... and..... two cups of instant noodles, one bag of Picnic chocolate and a bag of honey flavoured popcorn. He also left this bag unattended one night, and of course... the dog helped himself to the bag of popcorn, and also took out one cup of instant noodle from the bag. But lucky, the dog did not open the cup of noodles. Or eat the chocolates. Oh dear. These two!

In terms of finishing work, I had mixed feelings. A bit sad, because I will miss going in to the city, I have been enjoying the work I have been doing lately, etc.. but on the flip side, I am quite happy to be able to stay home and get some rest before the bub arrives.

Work was very nice, I will miss the team. I had a nice farewell lunch organised, and I got this OiOi nappy bag as a farewell present.

To finish this post, here is a picture of me at my last day at work for the rest of this year!

Visiting guests

Oh my.. we had such an exhausting weekend. Mentally and physically. It was awful! Last week, we got told at the last minute that we had to accommodate Grumpy's extended family, a group of four old ladies visiting from Malaysia, and they are going to stay at our house for the weekend. I still find it hard to understand why we get imposed such responsibilities and obligation, especially when I am 8 months pregnant. They arrived at some ungodly hour (2am) from the airport at our door step, and it was FIVE ladies that showed up, not the four which we got told. These ladies are not even immediate family members, but you know what? I kept my mouth shut, and played the gracious host. 

Grumpy and I drove two separate cars just to ferry these ladies around.. (we borrowed a friend's car - again, it was something we CLEARLY did not need to do, but went ahead anyways, just to be nice and accommodating). On our way home from dinner that Saturday, I find out that these ladies have decided that because our house is nice and cosy, and they love it so much, they would extend their stay at our place, for the rest of their trip. I was in complete shock when one of the ladies said that to me. After shock, I just wanted to run into my room and burst into tears. But I didn't. And a few minutes later, I felt anger! Haha the wonders of the pregnancy hormones. 

After that, Grumpy and I found ourselves in a bit of a dilemma. I did not want them in my house any longer. I wanted them out. Sneaky, cunning, manipulative, this is how I could only describe the situation. However, Grumpy has a big heart. Sometimes his big heart is the one that wins us situations like these. At our expense. He just could not bear telling a bunch of ladies in their mid-fifties that we were kicking them out. Then came his pregnant wife. I was upfront with them on Sunday morning, and I made up some lie that I had friends coming over during the week. They had to look for another place to stay. Yes, thats right, you are not welcome here. 

To cut the long story short, they are finally out of our house. We drove them to their friend's house last night, which they have rented 2 bedrooms for a small fee. Grumpy and I joke that our house now smell of aunties.. haha.. but it is not funny that we now have to clean 2 bedrooms in my house, the toilet and the bathroom, wash all the linen, bring them to the laundromat to be dried, vacuum the rooms, and wipe, disinfect and sanitise everything... because.. HELLO, we am having a baby very soon! We are currently setting up a nursery! 

The most important lesson from this, is that we have revised our visiting guests policy - Grumpy has promised me that this will not happen again. 

I woke up this morning for work, and I just felt so tired... what a waste of my time, my weekend, my energy... especially now that we are running short of our weekends alone. BASTARDS!

Anyways, time to let my little bub listen to some music.. lets all calm down after such a bad weekend... hehe I have been reading up on the Mozart effect, and so I got this album... which I myself love to listen to. Studies have shown that when you play music for the unborn child, once they are born, and they listen to the music again, they recognise it and settle down very easily.