7 weeks - check-ups

brought n for his first hep B jab and physical exam at the polyclinic yesterday. all was good. he weighs 6.19kg and is 59.5cm long. we have another >97 percentile baby here ... thankfully this time no one was alarmed at the size of his head. i still recall too many visits to the doctor to check on h's big head just because the nurse wasn't prepared to accept that we are a family of big heads ... i guess it's better to be safe than sorry but it did get tiresome after awhile when it was clear there wasn't anything wrong with h.

baby n is getting really responsive now ... he smiles and "talks" to us, he is very alert and wants to check out everything around him especially stuff behind him which makes it very hard to carry him! he loves bathtime and is an angel when it comes to putting on 如意油 after his bath. he will look at you with expectant eyes as you rub your hands together and give a pleased look when you apply the oil on his belly. too cute!

need to find a way to put him down for naps though ... he always senses when we are putting him down and will start crying. it can be quite frustrating when you have other things to do.

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had my 6 week postpartum check up today and all's good. the wound is healing fine (think it felt fully alright since a week ago already) and doc gave the go ahead to exercise etc. doc also started me on a scar cream to help the scar heal nicely .... hopefully there are no unsightly keloids!!

brought baby n along and doc said n looked like the hubby and kept saying that n was a big baby when he carried him. 

really glad that we had our doc on this relatively rougher pregnancy journey ... he is good when it comes to giving no nonsense advice and at the same time being reassuring when there's no cause for worry. we were in good hands. guess it's a trust thing ... plus it's nice that our doc has gone through the ups and downs of this journey to build our family since 2011. 

32 months - birthdays

several of h's friends have been celebrating their birthdays at school, we attended baby m's first birthday party, and there have been several family birthdays as well. so we've been using this chance to get her to learn the months of the year. now she knows march comes before july and that everyone's birthday will come first before hers on the hubby's side of the house.

she's now very familiar with the birthday drill - birthday song, candle blowing and then cake cake cake!

she loves any birthday celebration - doesn't matter whether it's her birthday or not. although she has already made a request for a rainbow birthday cake for her own birthday. will see whether it changes closer to her birthday!

6 weeks - wonder week

baby has been extra fussy these past 2 days and now i realise why after referring to the good old wonder weeks app that served me so well with h - it's probably a mental leap which is counted based on baby's EDD rather than birth date. 

so accordingly, at week 5 (based on EDD) baby is onto his first mental leap. not the most fun of times, considering that i have not been able to put him down to nap in the day for the past 2 days and he has been waking up more/earlier at night when before he has been clocking 6-7 hours in between feeds, but at least there's a reason why.

will just have to weather out the storm just like we did with h. looks like we have another wonder week "textbook" baby on our hands. hurray, because i love predictability!

6 weeks - cow duties

have been less hung up over breastfeeding this time round ... or rather, i have been doing what i can to get as much boob milk to baby but have not been feeling guilty about giving formula milk as well. 

when at home, i usually latch baby for all feeds and then top up with 3-4oz of pumped boob milk and formula from the bottle although it means that i get quite a lot of protesting from n. this also means i have some flexibility on pumping during the day as baby already helps empty my boobs and i see any pumping i do as a bonus. it's less stressful this way. moreover there are times where i can't put baby down long enough to pump or he refuses to be put down for his naps and i land up carrying him the whole time he sleeps ... zzzzz.

when out, we feed baby from the bottle only if it is not convenient to latch - haven't gotten used to breastfeeding in public especially since i don't actually own any breastfeeding tops. where we can get hot water conveniently, baby gets a mixed bottle and if not, he gets a full bottle of formula. 

so chill this time!! in fact, so chill until i have not been taking much domperidone. am trying to see if fenugreek works this time though ... probably took less doses than required to make a difference last round so now am tripling the dosage and crossing my fingers that there's a more natural way of upping milk supply. if it doesn't work for me, so be it. 

in my mind this time round, any extra milk i get arising from external help is a bonus. 

watching: the unique connection

the mum whose kid is being blindfolded will probably feel quite vulnerable, because what if her kid thinks another woman is his mum?! i would probably have my heart in my mouth!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DRoqk_z2Lgg

(back-dated) 31 months - 姑姑 gets married

for the record, h got to be flower girl at her 姑姑's wedding in early march. 

had initially planned for her to wear her flouncy pink dress which she wore to my cousin's wedding but she insisted this time that it was itchy. took a lot of time to convince her to get the dress on but then she insisted an hour before the wedding that she didn't want to wear the dress and so she landed up wearing a lace white dress (because i wisely brought a back up) instead which looked pretty good on her too!

the shoes were a last minute buy from kiddy palace the day before. we were lucky to find a suitable pair that wasn't too OTT or shiny or overly accessorised like what many kids' shoes tend to be.

highlights from the wedding:

- rehearsing the wedding march in and trying to get two toddlers to walk slowly and at the same pace is NOT easy especially if one of them is h

- the actual march in which saw h taking a detour *faints*

- h doing a very lusty yum seng on stage during the yum seng session 

- having fun dressing up while heavily pregnant

- feeling old and wise when being served tea during the tea ceremony

5 weeks - schedule

here's how a typical weekday goes:

0530* - n cries and gets fed a 4.5oz bottle and he goes back to sleep (* is an approximate time, +/- 30 minutes)

0715 - h wanders into our room and we try to steal a few more minutes of shut-eye before she starts asking for her morning bottle of milk

0745 - h is ready for school and whoever drops her off at childcare will also buy breakfast 

0830* - n wakes up and gets another 4.5oz bottle. he spends some time in the bouncer while we have breakfast and i pump.

1000 - i bring n for a walk around the neighbourhood in the baby bjorn. he usually falls asleep but will wake up when we get home.

1130 - n gets another bottle

1200 - i try to put n down to chill by himself as much as possible,and quickly squeeze in a pumping session. failing which i carry him everywhere around the house and do what tidying up i can with one hand

1230 - bathtime!

1300 - various attempts to get n to sleep (usually successful) and to keep him asleep when i put him down (major fail!)

1430 - feeding time! if i didn't get the chance to pump earlier on, i latch him before topping up with pumped milk/formula.

1500 - he usually sleeps immediately after the feed, or quite soon after. i try to pump twice before the next feed.

1730 - feeding time! and he usually falls asleep again immediately. h gets back from school and i get to spend time with her while the MIL preps dinner. we sometimes veg out watching ben & holly on tv especially if n decides to wake up.

1830 - dinner and pump if possible

1900 - give h her bath

1930 - wake n from dreamland and bathe him, then try to get him into his diapers and pajamas without having him kick up a fuss

2000 - feeding time. if i didn't get to pump after dinner, i do the latch + bottle combination. if there's no one to entertain h, i get her to drink her milk in n's room while i feed him. 

2030 - n is asleep and the winding down routine for h begins - some pretend play and a very protracted story time before lights out.

2200 - out of h's room usually after she has fallen asleep, then pump

0000 - pump and feed n when he wakes up 

depending on what time n wakes up for the previous feed (2230 - 0200, depending) at this point, there could be another additional feed at 2/3am followed by the 5/6am feed.

rinse and repeat!

4 weeks - sleep

baby had his last feed at 8.30pm and then slept all the way to 2am. that's a whopping 5.5 hours of peace and quiet. then he woke again for a feed at 5.30am and then 9am. what a feat! i hope it means longer periods of uninterrupted sleep for us soon! baby n, please go the way of your big sister!

满月

celebrated baby n's full month over the weekend with a rather huge gathering at CARC. think we made the right choice for the venue and food catering as the place was big and spacious enough to accommodate the crowd and there was good food aplenty. it was definitely better than holding the celebration at home which was what we did for h's full month.

aside from catering from the CARC cafe which whipped up a really good assam fish curry in addition to their traditionally yummy carbs and deep fried foods, also ordered the mini ang ku kuehs from the same old 146 famous bukit merah ang ku kueh. also got them to pack small boxes of mini ang ku kueh as party favours. also bought and packed fancy gem and mantou biscuits for the kids but they turned out to be popular among the adults as well! :)

the kids who came were probably well entertained at the ball pool and the playground. also, they had some fun with the drum set which was in the room we booked.

was quite touched that the folks at office including some ex-colleagues came and also glad that most of my closer friends attended as well, although i felt like i didn't spend enough time with each group. 

the star of the day was carried the whole time as there were grandaunts and other relatives all waiting for a chance to carry him. what a good life, and so much for bringing the bassinet! 

h was also very well taken care of by various folks and i did very little mother hen-ing. shiok!

it was, all in all, a very enjoyable saturday afternoon!

32 months - like a big sis

suddenly finding that h has grown up in a short span ... not only physically but also in terms of maturity.

1. she is very protective of her little brother. she calls him "my baby", worries about whether loud noises will scare him, is concerned when he is left "aloooon",  talks oh so gently to him, handles him with as much care as you'd expect from a tomboy toddler and makes it a point to look for him immediately after getting back from school. i hope these two grow up to be close and take care of each other!

2. "mummy do you need to pump?" "yes but i will pump later after you sleep." "later is now ah?" "no not now, you sleep first." "i am asleep already you can go and pump." "really?!" "yes i can sleep on my own." - MIRACLE! from a kid who refuses to let me leave her bedroom until she is fast asleep, to one who reassures me that it's fine to let her be a big girl in a span of 3 weeks!

3 weeks - numbers

massage results - 35" to 31"

in 7 sessions. not bad at all ... will need to work on getting rid of the remaining flab on my own but at least the massage give me a headstart.

pumping results - 50ml to 100ml within 2 days! am giving baby 3oz of pumped milk + 1oz formula now given the increased supply instead of half-half. hoping that with more disciplined pumping the boobs will produce enough to meet all of baby's (crazily high) milk needs soon!

55cm birth length isn't long at all! the hubby's cousins measured 56cm and 58cm at birth. what .... and i thought 50cm (me, h) was considered rather long already.

3 weeks - weary

the back has been acting up again since the start of this week and all my energy is being sapped just to deal with the pain and get through the day without crying in pain. it doesn't help that there are minimal pain-free positions and that i am getting interrupted sleep because of the pain. my mum staying over the past two nights has been a great help though, as i didn't have to carry baby that much and risk aggravating the back.

hopefully acupuncture and physio combined will bring about some good results soon!

on the bright side - 1. the doc removed the bandage/plaster that has been covering the c-section wound and some surgical tape holding the wound together yesterday and i don't have to deal with itchy skin at the bandage's edges anymore! the incision site/scar doesn't look too bad or scary although it's longer than i thought. guess it had to be to be able to get baby out!

2. domperidone!

3. h is being a very protective and doting big sister to baby n. she looks for him the moment she is back from school, wants to carry him, kisses him more than i do, is super gentle with him when she talks to him and touches his head/holds his hand. in fact, she refers to him as "my baby". looks like she's taken ownership of her little bro and i hope it means that she will always have his back ... now and when they are older. that's what siblings are for!