Party today!

I am so freaking happy because my day to 'freedom' is fast approaching, yes, 25 days after Russell was born, we are celebrating his first month on planet Earth. Why we can't have it on 5th April (1 month after 5th March) is due to some Chinese saying that we can't have it more than 1 month after the Chinese Lunar month....ya-da-ya-da-ya-da........

Anyways, I had a wonderful shower and we are waiting for the food and guests to arrive. I asked for my confinement food to be stopped for today so i get to enjoy "normal" food.....hee hee.....actually had a bite of my favorite WTM yesterday and some soon kuey for breakfast today, plus a sip of coffee.....mmmm.....yummy!

Renee's cough has been lingering for over a week and last night, she coughed so bad till she vomited all over her bed.....again. She vomited on her bed two nights ago and I insisted that Eugene go get another mattress for her. At $55, it is not an expensive outlay, especially with two kids whom I am sure will take turns to mess themselves up, we can always alternate the mattresses while the "dirty" one dries up.

As for her nightmares, it has not let up. It happens every night around 1 am. MIL says she is "disturbed" and brought her to church for blessings. I hope it works because after she settles down, Russell will cry for his feeds. Sheesh. Did someone say the best age gap between siblings is 2 years? I agree with that statement, only when they are in their TWENTIES! Not when they are 2 and 0.....ai-ya-ya.....

Personally, I think she is just feeling left out and is trying to get our attention. For meals, ILs will lay 4 or 5 different options on the table. When she rejects one, she is offered another. Makes for a fussy and choosy eater, don't you think? I think we should just have 1 option, eat it or lose it. If she is hungry, she will eat it eventually. Yes, that is what the books write, I swear I am not being Mummy Dearest. ILs are worried she will go hungry so hence the different choices. Re-programming needed there. Just this morning at 6 am, she opened her eyes and asked for milk. Ok, Mummy will get it for you. She followed me to the kitchen and after mixing a bottle in the Duck pattern bottle, she said she wanted the milk in the Bear pattern bottle. Yes, at 6am she threw a fit. I said, no option, milk is the same. Should we give a 2 year old so many choices? Am I being harsh? Anyways, I am thinking of bringing her out tonight for some pampering. No harm right? I miss the "old" Renee totally!

Long blog, sorry about that guys. Frustration and a need to vent. Guess being confined for so long does that to you, huh? Must be the lack of Vitamin D.

Will load some photos of our party tomorrow.

Potty training

My darling daughter is 90% potty trained! yeah! Thanks to PIL's patience and also my perseverence. She can go without diapers if she is at home. We have had a few accidents along the way but PILs will wipe up the puddle. I am supposed not to touch water during confinement (ha ha, big joke since I bathe everyday and wash my hands for hygiene) so I just leave it to them. I wonder how much money we can save on diapers. Anybody kept track of how much you have spent on them? I wanted to get Bumwear for Russell, but I think a lot of water (and money) goes into washing the liners since he poos nearly after each feed.

This morning Renee surprised me! I was hanging out the laundry and she called for me in the toilet. Usually she will play peekaboo with me through the toilet window so I thought that was what she was doing. But when I went to see her in the toilet, she was already squatting in the bath area peeing! Amazing! I was so happy!

How many more milestones till she makes her own salary???

In need of sleep

One of Renee's classmate passed a cough and cold to her. I guess that is one of the disadvantages of sending her to school. The phlegm interrupted her sleep for the past two nights and last night was simply challenging. It was causing her ear to ache and she was up and crying till 3am. Even when she finally slept, she was wriggling and sobbing all through the night. Do the math guys: Combine that with Russell's night time feeds and that left MIL and myself with hardly any sleep. MIL says it was due to her eating some of my confinement food which was too heaty and we didn't need to see the doctor. Hmm.... I told her it was the phlegm.

This morning she threw up a lot of phlegm and finally fell asleep at 11.30am. My chance to sleep like a pig, like there was no tomorrow!! MIL was still cleaning the house and washing the clothes while I slept. Hopefully, the phlegm doesn't bother her tonight. The only one who probably had a good sleep was Russell. Check him out, tummy all hanging out in Renee's old pjs. Ha ha

It is almost 6 pm and Renee seems to be feeling better. I doubt she can make it to school tomorrow though. Pon-tang again!

Renee the Terror

Today, Renee finally got to wear her own uniform! She woke up really late as the weather was fantastic and also because she had a terrible nightmare at 4.15am. Took about 45 minutes to calm her down. I swear it is because her grandparents get her so worked up and excited during the day, she is never like that when I am in charge. That makes 3 nightmares in 2 weeks. Luckily I have been having a good nap in the afternoons otherwise waking up to tend to two rascals would be impossible.

Didn't manage to get a good shot of her in her uniform, as she saw the camera and she insisted on using it herself. Will try to get another shot and load it on Monday. Anyways, she was so delighted to see the uniform, maybe because she thinks she is part of the "in" crowd now......hee hee.....

Not so yesterday, when she bit two of her classmates. One on the finger, one on the arm. MIL said the bite mark on the boy's hand (hence Renee the Terror) was pretty bad - BIG some more!!

I suspect it is because the boy was playing with a toy and she wanted in on the action. Her favoritest phrase now is "I do, I do", she insists on doing EVERYTHING herself. From feeding herself to bathing herself to wearing her own clothes. We let her do these tasks herself as I suppose this is the way kids learn? But when her classmate didn't let her "I do", she must have gotten mad at him and hence THE BITE. How how how?

Yesterday, my Auntie Rosie came to visit me. She is over 70 years old, uses a walking stick and is hard of hearing. It really humbles me to think that she went out of her way to take a bus in her condition to come and visit little old me. Plus it was RAINING! When we were living in Punggol, she also took 3 buses and 2 hours to come and visit me when Renee was born. Wow......

Massage

Wow! Today I had my first massage session with a lady named Kwek from Rustic Nirvana. I thoroughly enjoyed it although I am going to have to endure not bathing tonight. Why? Cos I was allowed a bath to wash off the oils after the massage, which was DAMN SHIOK! The oils leave a hot hot hot feeling after being worked into the body and the smell from the herbs are really soothing. She asked me whether I want to slim down or to be healthy.....errr....can I have both please? Hee hee.......it is obvious that I won't slim down in 5 sessions so i have ditched that hope completely. I was so afraid she would press me to sign another package after this one finishes and I am a sucker for these gimmicks. Trust me, I will try to be strong and say no when she comes for the last session.

The most painful part of the massage is where the epidural was administered and all through my spine, woah, had to tell her to lessen the pressure. Anyways Russell enjoyed a short massage while I was rinsing off and now he is sleeping soundly. Yeah!

Post Natal

Went to see Dr. Chen for my post natal check up yesterday. Among one of the questions she brought up was whether we will be having number 3. Err....not anytime soon man! Me thinks our family is just perfect as it is now. I don't think I have the energy for another, already I see the disappointment in Renee's eyes when I have to feed Russell. Luckily her grandparents are around to distract her when that happens. I suppose all will fall in place when I stop breast feeding him, around 6 months.

Monday I will start my post natal massage but I have already packed up all my maternity clothes and taken out my normal clothes. I have divided them into the:

- "no way can I ever fit into them again" pile (these went through the same sorting after my first pregnancy, due to wishful thinking that I would slim down drastically);

- "KIV after massage" pile (will try them on next week after I finish the massages);

- "I can already fit into these even though I have not started my massage" pile.

Yesterday I stood on the weighing scale and it showed 67.4 kgs, about 3 kgs more than before I became pregnant with Russell, must be due to running after Renee all these months! She was my free exercise machine, that rascal. See pictures below.....isn't that the most Rascal face?

Here's Renee in a set of clothing and hat sent by Auntie Julie and Uncle Tony.

Here she is with her Um-ber-ella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh-eh

.....and coconut bag from Auntie Janice....super mah-nek-nek, yes?

Here is Renee with a great toy, Junior Engineer from Growing Fun that I bought during Christmas. But that was before I decided she needs to be a pediatrician instead.

With my in-laws staying with me, she has put on quite a bit of weight these few days. They went out last week and it seems like they bought a year's supply of food for her! Cheese, Cocoa Pops, milk bolos, yakult, fish ball keropok, my goodness. When we sit at the table, she can eat and eat and eat. Just two days ago, when she was running around naked after her bath (did I mention Rascal?) I saw her tummy potruding out proudly. Oh my.......Her Drpers XL seems a bit small now, we have some trouble trying to put the sticky tape in place. Honestly, she has to go through re-programming when my in-laws leave after my confinement!

New words from Renee:

- I dun wan - longer version of "no"

- birthday to you - yes, "happy" is missing from the phrase

- schwimming now - means swimming

- one more piece - means one more piece of cheese, or when we are playing with her toys and there is a similar piece somewhere, she will refer to it as "one more piece"

Tonight we can sleep better

Thank goodness! We can send that horrible cold machine back to where it belongs - anywhere but here! The last two nights have been really challenging. MIL and I were waking up at odd hours to check on Russell and his eye cover. I really felt so tired by this morning. The clinic called with the good news (of the blood test results) and MIL was finally convinced that the machine was effective. Phew! Good timing also, today it rained non-stop so it will be a chilly night. Russell can put on his pjs tonight.


Renee has been really mischievous lately. I think it has to do with my in-laws staying over this month. She can't keep still and will run from room to room to look for each of us. Today was an exception. My in-laws went to church for confession and she stayed behind with us. So, it was Renee, Russell, Daddy (who was sleeping in preparation for his third shift) and me. I gave Renee her milk around 9pm and she settled down in our bed. If my in-laws were around, she would carry her milk around the house and play with them. The milk will be left unfinished and she would be sweaty from running about and have nightmares. I gave her a bath (yes, I know I am banned from touching water this whole month) and I also gave Russell his bath. Got a pretty good idea of what it is going to be like for the coming months ahead.

The teacher at school said Renee's hair is too long (huh? really?) so she had a hair cut yesterday. She needs to wear pink till it grows out, doesn't she look totally like a boy????





Another picture here shows her naughtiness during dinner,
see all the rice, biscuits, spoon and empty container
on the floor?? Yes, that's another thing.....eating and eating and eating......EVERYTHING!! My litte piglet!

The night's not so long

After setting my alarm every 15 minutes and seeing Russell in an ok position, I extended the alerts to be half hour apart. Before I knew it, Renee woke up and it was only 6.30am. So I have been pretty zombified for the whole day. This jaundice machine thingy had better work. We'll find out tomorrow at the next blood test. My poor darling had to go naked the whole night, save for his diapers. With the heat from the machine, he was sweating by morning. Sweating should be a good sign, I guess.

He looked slightly burnt to me and his skin looks to be peeling a bit, didn't really notice if it was peeling before that. With the machine, he is easily dehydrated and woke up more often for his feed. Guess drinking more milk is also good for him.

Here's a picture of him after a night's light therapy, after a full meal, a powerful poo and a bath. Looks satisfied alright!
I think he looks so much like Renee when she was still a baby. I am racking my files to find the picture to compare. Will load them side by side when I find it.

Jaundice

The weekend's gone and so are the visitors. We brought Russell for his follow up visit to Dr. Vas and he had to take a blood test. On surface we don't think he looks that yellow but the test results proved otherwise. The reading was pretty high and we were advised to do the light therapy. We had a choice of sending him to the hospital and renting the machine at home. Of course we chose to do it at home. When we received the machine and the instructions, it was very easy to understand. Turn on light, put on eye cover, put baby on the Bilibed.

However, when the time came to actually do it, Russell struggled so much when we put on the eye cover and struggled on the bed. I can understand why my friend Karen left the hospital and left it to the nurses to take care of her baby. It is truly upsetting to see your baby in so much discomfort. We were having dinner half way and Renee wanted to see what her brother was up to. My FIL brought her in and she was very upset about his struggling, wanting to "save" him. When my FIL asked whether it was normal that the eye cover covers the nose and mouth, we all shot up and went to see for ourselves. That means Russell's eyes were not fully covered at some point in time. Really scared us all! We didn't put the eye cover on tight enough. All of us couldn't really enjoy our dinner after that. MIL was complaining that doctor just wants to make money out of all of us. On one hand, I want to agree with her and on the other hand I want the best for Russell. The test result cannot be fake right? The only choice is to do the light therapy, and going to the hospital was out of the question. So.....
The next few hours will be spent checking on Russell and his eye cover. I am setting the alarm for every 15 minutes. Just being paranoid.....

My two rascals - indeed

Renee has been such a wonderful big sister. I try not to make her feel left out when all the visitors come and go. I carry her when she asks for it. Thankfully, I feel ok enough to spare her the time, energy and attention that she needs in this time of adjustment.

She wants to carry her little brother but doesn't know her own strength. That can be scary as Russell's still very fragile. She will grab his stomach and pull him towards herself. Oh boy oh boy.......When she first saw her brother, he was all bundled up and she kept asking where were his "hands, hands"? She will pry open the blanket and pull out his mittens and laugh histerically when she sees his "chicken hands"! Ha ha, such a wonderful moment. She will also pull his thighs and grab his "feet feet". Hee hee!

Russell's got a good appetite, he woke up 5 times last night, but less often this afternoon. Luckily, everyone was out of the house so I got some really good shuteye. Feeling refreshed to welcome my daughter home this evening. She went out shopping for groceries with my in-laws while Eugene went to finish some of my work which I didn't manage to complete before going on maternity leave.

Here's a picture I took of Russell's scrawny chicken hands. With his appetite, let's take another one in a week's time...I had to record this down because Renee ballooned really quickly overnight and we didn't reallykeep track of it.

Laughing Gas is GOOOOOD!!

Hi hi,

Barely 48 hours after delivering Russell, here I am at home again, very happy to be out of the hospital and updating my blog. Welcome my second mini-me, who arrived 20 days before he was due.

I went for my 37 week check up on Tuesday and expected to be told that I should admit myself into the hospital on Thursday night to be induced on Friday. However, nothing prepared us for what Dr. Chen said. "Err, you are already 4cm dilated, please go in right after this, I'll meet you there. I'm not joking, I don't want you to deliver at home!"

Hmm.....that could explain the discomfort I was feeling, I thought it was purely Russell's kicks and some Braxton Hicks. Hee hee......well, we grabbed some food at the coffee shop and headed right home to pack our stuff and give my in-laws last minute instructions on what to do for Renee. She was really sticky and cried when we said goodbye to her that night.

When we arrived at the hospital, I went straight to the observation room while Eugene went to get ourselves admitted. An hour later, Dr. Chen arrived and burst my waterbag, started the Oxytocin and shortly after that the anesthetician arrived to administer the epidural. I have to say that this time, the happidural didn't do its magic......I needed to pee really badly and the nurse gave me a bedpan. That must be THE most ridiculous equipment ever! How does one pee when their bladder is against gravity???? After 5 minutes of trying desperately to pee upwards (stupid stupid stupid), I felt a contraction coming. It was so bad and I had to buzz the nurse. She came in and two of them used a catheter to empty my bladder. Then the nurse said, wah, so much ah, no wonder you are feeling so uncomfortable. DUH.

Well, emptying my bladder did the trick. Right after that the contractions became more intense and I had the feeling of wanting to pass motion. I ended up lying sideways and screamed in pain. Eugene, who was snoring for the past hour and a half (any surprise?), finally woke up. The nurse asked me to use the lauging gas. I didn't use it previously and didn't know how to. So in my pain, I just inhaled whatever way I thought was correct. Well, of course it didn't work and tears rolled down my cheeks as I cried NO NO NO!! That finally woke Eugene and when he stood next to me, the nurse asked him to hold the mask for me.

All I can says is LAUGHING GAS IS GOOOOOOOD!!! The best thing in the world - EVER! I was in heaven!! Hee hee......still conscious, I kept indicating to Eugene the "thumbs up" sign......after 10 minutes, Dr. Chen arrived and I started pushing. Second time's the charm, they say. After three easy pushes, Russell arrived! I didn't tear so badly this time but I swear the epidural wasn't effective at all! I could feel the stitching. In out in out! I put the gas mask on again!

Will try to put more pictures later, now is time for some food, I am starving!

No not yet!

Sorry for leaving some of my friends in confusion....I did not reply to an email and they thought I went to deliver Russell.....hee hee......not yet girls! Hope you had a good hen's night, Mel!

Friday, my daughter overate again! I didn't want to ask in-laws what they fed her because I would just get upset about it. But I know there was cheese involved again and some brown rice. And it ended up on our bed. More precisely, on Eugene's pillow and our comforter. So, Friday night was spent without a comforter and Eugene had to be contented with just one pillow. Of course it was really chilly that night. When I saw that Renee had kicked off her blanket at around 2am, I took it and used for myself! But it started to rain and howl soon after that and I thought, poor thing, better give it back to her! So at least one person had a good sleep that night! Towards the morning, I had a terrible leg cramp due to the cold and shot up in bed. My dear husband helped me rub my thigh for like a second and then drifted back to sleep promptly.....very useful to have him around huh? Especially when it was my CALF that pulled a muscle! He didn't even remember that I shook him up in my moment of pain!

(You men should be given a uterus and a chance to carry a baby to term. Then let us know if your back aches and why you need to pee so often....and whether it is worth the money for an epidural when you need to push little one out your pee hole!) Sorry, it's the hormones.....

Anyways, who knew a blanket would make such a difference!? Thank goodness the comforter dried up by Saturday night and I had the BEST SLEEP I had for a long time, save for the 4 or 5 times that I had to visit the loo to pee......

Have a good week guys! I look forward to tomorrow's 37th week check up. Hopefully, Dr Chen gives the thumbs up for Friday's delivery. I need to unload my little watermelon soon.