Sleeping angel

I am tired out from shopping. Please don't disturb ok?

I do like watching Jo Ern sleep. Firstly, that's when she doesn't require any attention. And she does look adorable all KO-ed out!

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Sleeping routine: Wake up around 8am, morning nap around 11. Wake up for food and then afternoon nap. Sometimes evening nap too if environment not too noisy otherwise she will kaypohchee look around and we can forget about getting her to sleep. She can nap for 3-4 hours straight when at home, though at my parents' place naps are much shorter. Bedtime is when I sleep, around 10.30 or 11pm, which is actually rather late for a baby. Next year I resolve to sleep earlier and wake up earlier, and not be forever late for work. :)

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I oi-oi and don't disturb mummy

Xmas present

What a fantastic toy! Thank you Ah Koo and Ah Kim

Taste and see if yummy or not

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Hubby and I don't celebrate Christmas but my sis-in-law does. So Jo Ern got her very first Xmas present. I love it! It's so colourful and there are lots of things you can do with the components. Jo Ern... well she does prefer the box at the moment!

Legs work, check

What's in here? Maybe some toys for me

Long stringy things are always lots of fun

At long last, Jo Ern has finally gotten the hang of crawling. It's been about a month since she discovered she could MOVE. and this week she started moving decently fast. She's going places! Well, normally places she's NOT supposed to be. Heh. She gets this happy look on her face when she spots a target... why is that so often the remote control, a handphone, electrical wires, my book etc??

Well already

Yellow is my colour, maybe? What do you think?

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Finally this bout of sickness seems to be over (fingers crossed). After finishing the Augmentin antibiotic, she was fine for two days and then started having high fevers of 40C. Took her to the paedi again, who said we'd better do a blood test rather than keep stuffing her with antibiotics. To my horror, paedi later called to say Jo Ern must be admitted to a hospital. Apparently her white blood count and platelet levels were way above normal and further tests were urgently needed to find out what was wrong. Paedi suspected Kawasaki disease if not just a severe bacterial infection. Oh my poor baby!

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Went to the nearest hospital which happened to be a government one. They did another blood test and an x-ray. The blood test showed levels that weren't as high. Doc said those was fine for a baby and sent us back with another round of Augmentin. I was just happy to be able to take Jo Ern home! A private hospital would have admitted her already! But I was apprehensive - wondered if a government doc is good (definitely much cheaper than paedi). I was concerned that the fevers would return after THIS round of Augmentin.

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A week later... Augmentin finished... mummy anxiously checking forehead ALL the time...

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And now, ANOTHER week later, I think ok la, Jo Ern is all well again!

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Went out to 1U today after weeks of staying home. Good times are back. :)

The birth story

A cutie-pie to brighten up my days

Pre-op
Exited the Damansara toll smack into the morning jam. That made us late to the hospital, for such an important appointment too.

Day 1

Had the c-section. 2 needles, one for the drip and a spinal one for the local anaesthetic. I was scared of the spinal one as I thought it would be a huge needle (confused with the ones used for epidurals). Turned out it was less painful than the one for the drip. Had some nausea right after. Hubby came in all togged out in blue plastic gown and shower cap. I was happy to see him - however much I get annoyed with him, he is my rock during hard times.

Gynae had said the surgery would be 'a walk in the park'. It actually was! Shortly after, Jo Ern was delivered and whisked away for a quick clean. Then pedi brought her to us - I only had a glimpse of damp hair still matted with some blood. Gynae finished up - took a bit longer as he saw something at my ovary and did a biopsy. I was shivering violently from the cold towards the end.

Then it was back to the room. The nurse brought cleaned-up Jo Ern and I was quite at a loss how to hold this tiny baby! Tried to breastfeed, not sure how successfully.

Couldn't sleep well that night with a drip and catheter in place. Hubby slept on the sofa in the room.

Day 2

Drip and catheter were removed. When I stood up to walk to the toilet OMG... the PAIN! Nurse said it was the stitches stretching. If doc hadn't advised me to walk more for faster healing, I'd have immediately lay down for fear of injuring something! Pain was only there when I stood up though, and it got better as the day wore on.

Day 3

Pedi said Jo Ern had jaundice and had to stay at least another 2 days. I decided to stay on as well. In a way, that was a good thing as my abdominal muscles was still sore and the motorised bed was very useful when getting up.

Suspected my boobs were harder than normal that night.

Day 4

Milk supply definitely in and I was in discomfort from the engorgement. I'd been quite worried if I'd been at home! At the hospital it was easy to get advice from gynae/midwife/nurses. Another plus from extending my stay.
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Day 5

Discharged. Bill was quite scary... Went to my parents' house for my one-month confinement. Jo Ern pooped and I had to call for my mum. Hehe. I had no idea how to operate a diaper!

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After a week, took Jo Ern to the pedi for a check-up. I actually enjoyed going out for that trip. Until pedi said her jaundice levels were bad and she had to be admitted. It was heart-wrenching leaving my tiny baby at the hospital. And worse to reach home to see her baby things and not have her there.

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Eventually all the jaundice was tested to be merely breastmilk jaundice. And she's been with me every single night since. :)

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OK what else... oh, I was back to normal weight at the end of my 2-month maternity leave. :) To sum up, the c-section was easy and healing was fast. BUT... I didn't expect the scar to be this thick and in an inconvenient location. I can feel it when I lie on my tummy. If I had known, maybe I'd have tried natural delivery. Still, in hindsight that's easy to say!

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A good friend of mine asked if having a baby was worth it. I will say, oh definitely YES.

My pregnancy story

A month before the arrival of little Jo Ern!

Because I want to remember. Heh.

I'd conceived about 2 years before but that one didn't end well. So this time I was very cautious about letting anyone outside family know. Later it was difficult to bring up the subject (can't be saying 'BTW I'm pregnant' out of the blue!). I went for a 2-week business trip when 3 months pregnant - nobody knew, so I didn't get any special treatment regarding seats, toilets etc. Luckily my colleague was gentleman enough to help hoist my luggage around. I vomitted once after too much orange juice, and luckily again it was after work so the client wasn't alarmed.

Pregnancy... was comparatively good. I only started wearing maternity clothes after 5 months. A colleague asked me how many months I was and was so surprised when I said SIX. The discomforts of pregnancy also only started around then.

What bothered me most was being hot. The aircon in the room was always on, and I'd drag a chair to sit right in front of it. Sometimes without a shirt on, to hubby's consternation. :) Second would be carpal tunnel syndrome. The tingling in my fingers was so bad it sometimes kept me up at night. I had to forcefully make my hands do what I wanted them to, and dropped things all the time. Third would be the metallic taste in my mouth. I'd be eating all the time trying to cover the taste. *blekk*

Best thing was... no stretchmarks! I have bad skin and I only applied cream occasionally (since I read they don't really help), but somehow... none!

Birth plan

A large fibroid was right on the baby exit route. Gynae said I could try a natural birth, though there was a high chance baby would get stuck at the fibroid. Then a c-section would have to be done. I decided to dispense with the maybes and jump straight for a c-section.

So, c-sect scheduled 2 weeks before due date. A fortnight less of being pregnant? Great! And I loved planning towards a specific date rather than having to wait and wonder. I went to the dentist, banks and whatnot. And lots of nice meals with hubby. :)

Next... the birth story.

'Toys'

I see kiddie toys priced at well over 3 digits which I suppose I will buy one day. For now, she's perfectly happy with these 'toys'. And my parents' place has some real hand-me-down toys, of course.

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I like this blue cover toy

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And this white sauceplate toy. The black one beside me is also not bad
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Mummy's bag always has toys inside
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One of my favourites... plastic bag toy! This one has chestnuts inside
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Caution: Baby must always be supervised when playing with plastic bag toy. Chestnuts are no-nos, supervise very closely and remove all once baby puts one into mouth. If must snap photo first, QUICKLY snap.

Bathing Jo Ern

Presenting.... a bedraggled wet rat

I finally bathed Jo Ern by myself! At 7 months... heh. And I still wouldn't have if hubby hadn't gone to Nepal for a week. Anyway it's a lot easier now that she can sit. I was obviously too 'kancheong' to take photos the first time. But the poor little one looked so bedraggled and sad I had to take some pictures subsequent times!

STILL sick, and mummy's down

Aiya the baby had fever again last night. This bout of illness stubbornly refuses to end, sigh. Oh neglected to mention that I've been sick myself for two weeks now. Hubby is coughing too, luckily not as badly.

I reached the end of my previous assignment so had to prepare handover, and get ready for the new assignment. So far so bad... sigh again. The client site is in the heart of busy KL and traffic is horrendous. The carpark is quite a distance away. There is no fridge in the office and I worry that the milk I'm pumping isn't cold enough by the time I get it home. The client blocks lots of internet sites like email and facebook. Blogspot isn't blocked, but whatever I do is on a big screen which is basically on display to anyone with the cramped seating there. It's only been 2 days and I haven't even gotten to speed with the work yet, and here I am with a litany of complaints. Arggh. Maybe things will improve. Somehow.

Anyway, thinking of little Jo Ern always cheers me up! Here's a video of her just doing her thing.