Back to work for a day

Grandma Lee had to visit the dentist to fix her dentures yesterday. So for the first time, I was taking care of Yee Sinn alone at home. Though it was tough managing her on my own, it was kind of fun. Perhaps some may even call it mother and daughter bonding session. Hah hah.

Yee Sinn seems to be enjoying her bath these few days. There were times she even fell asleep in the tub while I was scrubbing her clean! I have been bathing my daughter myself for the last few days. I explained to Grandma Lee that I would like to spend as much time I could with her before I get back to work and the morning bath time would be something I will miss once I start work again.

So today, I left Yee Sinn to deliver cakes to my colleagues at work after I bathe and settled her down. We ordered a few dozen cupcakes and we hope the folks at work liked them. It was nice catching up but unfortunately, I had to rush home for Yee Sinn’s next feed. I did not stock up enough supply to be able to stay out too long. I’m not too sure how it’ll be like being a SAHM but I’m sure I’ll be missing the bonding time with my girl. Sigh…. Don’t think I’m looking forward to going back to work anytime soon. 1 month down… 2 more to go. Must cherish the time I have with my girl now.

One Month Old

According to the Lunar Calendar, Yee Sinn is officially 1 month old. We did not do anything elaborate to celebrate her “Man Yue”. We just had a simple prayer with simple offerings to both Guan Yin and the Ancestors to mark this day. Hubby and I wish Yee Sinn well. May she always be healthy, happy and wise.

Mother-in-law hosted Yee Sinn’s one month old celebration yesterday by inviting hubby’s relatives as well as her long time friends to our place for lunch. As both hubby and I were never a great fan of buffet food, we took quite a while to decide on where to order the lunch from. We eventually catered from this place called Chilli Api Padi Catering. Thank goodness the food we had was quite decent. Apparently, they are the subsidiary of Chilli Padi Noya Resturant along Joo Chiat Road.

"Super- Neh"

Told hubby that I’m no longer his sexy wife but rather an um-glam Super – Neh. What’s Super-Neh? Think of superman… the moment baby crys, I’ll immediately go to her rescue by ripping of my top and give her my “neh”. Hahhaha.

Anyway, Yee Sinn was trying to do a flip yesterday. Unfortunately, she only managed a half flip to her side. She looked kind of cute curling up by her side like a shrimp while asleep. Not too sure when I can introduce the bolster to her.

Birthday

Today has been uneventful- thank goodness cos many things could have gone wrong. Older? Yes. Wiser? Perhaps.

There wasn’t any special celebration as I reached the BIG three but I guess it’s no big deal really. I was joking with my colleague over the phone yesterday on how I have moved up the category from being in my “late twenties” to “early thirties”.

Little surprises sprinkled the day. A little card next to Yee Sinn as I changed her nappy in the morning…. A stalk of flower on the dining table in the afternoon…. An evening stroll with hubby along the shops at Toa Payoh Central… Mundane to some, but a little adventure to me.

It was a Happy Birthday.

Tears

Being a stay at home mother (for now) means a few things. I will be able to witness Yee Sinn’s many firsts. I watched in amazement when Yee Sinn first lifted and turned her head from left to right, and right to left again. (cheap thrill some might say. Hahahah)

Today, Yee Sinn had her first drop of tears. It was so heart breaking….. Yee Sinn always has a problem swallowing her milk. This morning, she cried for her milk, gulped a few mouthful, then wailed loudly because she drank too fast. It was then, I saw a drop of tears from her left eye trickled down her cheeks. The only thing I could do was to burp her immediately as she continued to cry. Other than that, I was helpless.

I am wondering if I should stop latching her on my boobs and start pumping out the milk into bottles instead. Perhaps it will help Yee Sinn in her swallowing… The other advantage is I’ll be able to know how much she’s drinking and perhaps the pumping will be able to simulate more milk production. Also, more people in the household will be able to help out with her feeding. The flip side to this may mean the end to the very personal mother-baby bonding that I have with my baby. Though it may seems like a battle each time she whines and screams her head off when latching on doesn’t seems right, it’s a very fulfilling experience to see her end her feed with a contented and satisfied smile.

I’m going to try latching on for maybe 2 or 3 more weeks to see if things will get better… else it’ll be pumping and sterilizing of bottles from then on. Am keeping my fingers crossed. Wish me luck folks!

Likeness

Many people have been asking who does baby look like.. hubby or I? It is such a difficult question to answer because it seems like her features changes every day. My relatives have commented that Yee Sinn looks like me, while hubby relatives insisted that she looks like hubby. Oh well, we’ll see who she takes after when she grows up. One thing I’m sure for now is that her limbs as well as her fingers and toes are identical to hubby’s – and he is so proud of it!

Baby Yee Sinn can now turn lift and her head. Guess it’ll be very soon when she’ll be able to flip over and start to crawl. Yes, babies do grow up very fast and I must learn to enjoy every moment I have with her before I return to work.

E.A.S.Y

It’s never easy being a mother… a GOOD mother that is. There is always something that can be done better if we could do it all over again. I’m still figuring out what makes a good mother actually… everyday it’s a ritual - Me trying to make baby as comfortable as possible as she wails (or yells) her voice away. I’m still trying to get the hang of understanding the different cries – Is she hungry? Did she wet or pooped? Is she having colic? Or she just wants a cuddle?

What made things easier is she’s on the EASY cycle…. Ok…more like we’re trying to put her on the EASY cycle so that she has a predictable routine. E= Eat. That’s her 2 hourly feeding time. A= Activity time. I realized to that her activity time is now longer. It is during this time she seeks attention. She likes people to play or talk to her and give her load of cuddles her during this period of her wakefulness. We’re trying to train her to play on her own by leaving her in her cot as long as she doesn’t scream for attention. It’s really a bad habit to pick up a baby every time she squeaks or squirms. S= Sleep time and Y= Your time a.k.a MY time. I usually take this opportunity to clean up the place, do a quick check on my emails and catch up with friends.

Yee Sinn is now 19 days old. Grandma Chang and I brought her to see Dr Heng again to review her Jaundice. She is perfectly alright now and has put on some weight (4.04kg). We got the doctor to check on her rashes found on her butt, her neck as well as near her eyes. Thank goodness everything is ok, just some mild infection. Haiz, you should see what Yee Sinn does every time after feeds... either she drools out some milk that will flow all the way to her shoulders or she’ll suck her mittens followed by rubbing her face with her “milk wash”. - That explains the rashes all over.

Windy

I got a fright today because Yee Sinn puked. She puked twice last night and once this morning. I was pretty worried that she may be sick, allergic to my breast milk or something, until I called Grandma Chang for advice. She assured me that it is quite normal. The possible reasons could be her tummy was compressed, thus causing the reflux or it could be due to colic i.e. wind in her tummy. Grandma Chang dropped by in the afternoon to check on her and Yee Sinn was happily taking advantage of the comfort of sleeping in her arms.

I fed her with Ridwind that was prescribed by Dr Heng sometime back and she was so well behaved for the rest of the afternoon. Let's just hope that she doesn't get "windy" tummy that often.

A couple of my friends wanted to drop by tonight but I cancelled the meeting because I wanted to monitor Yee Sinn's condition. Sorry folks for the false alarm. Hope we'll be able to arrange another meeting sometime soon. :-)

Happy New Year to All!

Today is a special day because we have a new addition in the family this New Year. Baby Yee Sinn’s New Year with us was uneventful – Thank goodness! She practically slept through the whole day, only to wake up during feeding and pooping time. A couple of relatives popped by to see the baby because I’m still doing my confinement and I can’t visit them. Grandma, Grandpa Chang and Ah Yi will be visiting tomorrow. Yay!

Very often, when she wakes up in the late afternoon, she’ll wail loudly and I am unable to pacify her with just cuddling. Everyone else could carry her and she’ll stop. Once I pick her up, her rooting instinct will set in and she’ll just want to suckle my boobs. *Sigh*. Perhaps she doesn’t know that I’m her mama, but rather, her food machine.

Oh yes, Hubby and I had some fun time with Yee Sinn this morning too while she was wide awake. We managed to snap some photos of her with both her eyes wide open. Think it'll only get more fun when she learns to response to us. Looking forward to that day.

Taking it Easy

Just yesterday, baby Yee Sinn was smiling in her sleep a couple of time. Only managed to get 1 or 2 pictures of her today though. Hopfully she'll be a smiley kid as she grows up.

Baby Yee Sinn is looking healthier each day. Her skin colour is clearing up... hopefully will be like Fann Wong's fair complexion, without the daily dose of bird's nest. Her Jaundice level on Monday evening after Dr Heng took a blood test was 5.9. We were asked to continue monitoring her level, which means another visit to her clinic next Tuesday morning. Good news is, Dr Heng assured us that most probably she’ll outgrow it by then. She didn’t recommend sunning her at home but she did say that if we want, we could do so for a maximum of 15 mins.

A couple of my colleagues came by for a short visit yesterday. Really appreciated this nice gesture of theirs as it was a refreshing break from baby-sitting, nappy changing etc. One good advice that a parent colleague gave me was to take things easy and I will very soon get the hang on things in no time. I have to remind myself that I won't be an anxious parent that will eventually pressure my kid to meet my own expectations in time to come.

Yes, I hope to enjoy this parenting process as Yee Sinn will grow up very soon and things will pass in a flash.

One Week Old

YAY! Yee Sinn was back home yesterday. Her Jaundice level dropped further from 8.6 to 5.2 so Dr Heng said she could go home.

She was very well behaved for the last 2 days. Let’s hope she sticks to her routine. Strangely enough, she got a bit cranky during the night. Hubby and I are not too sure what was causing it. We’re wondering if it could be the “white noises” that’s making her uncomfortable ie, it’s too quiet at night. Let’s hope she’ll get use to the “night life” which, is meant for sleeping.

We’ll be going to see Dr Heng tomorrow morning to review her Jaundice. Let’s hope there’s no rebound. Dr Heng mentioned that Yee Sinn has to be well hydrated and she’ll need to pee at least 7-8 times a day. So in order to monitor her pee, we have decided to use cloth nappies instead. This is because nowadays we get those “super diapers” that are so extra dry, it’s becomes difficult to find out if the baby has pee-ed. Poor Grandma Lee has to do extra laundry these few days. Also, to be well hydrated, baby Yee Sinn has to drink more milk then usual. I just hope my milk production will increase soon to meet her demand… else we’ll have to supplement with formula milk, which I am quite reluctant to do so.

The entire Lee household has been kept on our toes since the arrival of Yee Sinn one week ago. Lets just hope we’ll be able to settle down soon. And of course, more SANE time to take pictures of baby in her growing up phase.

Light Relief

Baby Yee Sinn was admitted to hospital on Thursday morning for Jaundice. Good thing was Grandma Chang took a day off to be with baby so I could handle all the other admin stuff. Yes, I must say that family support is really important at times like these.

It was kind of painful seeing Yee Sinn all alone in her cot for her photo therapy. Everytime when I visited her, she’ll let out a weak cry when I call out her name and that really broke my heart.

I went to the hospital twice today so that she could latch on my boobs. Also, I’ve been diligently expressing my milk every 3 hours so that the hospital can feed her with mummy’s milk before supplementing with formula when she needed more. Hubby missed her too. He talked to her and cuddled her at every opportunity while at the ward.

On a positive note, her Jaundice level dropped from 12.9 to 8.6 today. She’ll be able to come back home tomorrow morning if all goes well. Meanwhile, daddy and mummy are all trying to catch up on our much needed sleep these 2 days. Not too sure when I’ll be able to post again.