Talk talk

Jo Ern's talking these days! She does struggle to put together sentences sometimes, but that's ok, she's only two. :) Some words are very clear...

• Angry bird
• Ipad... haha

Some have been revised...

• Water from a-ter (water)
• Bi-kert from a-kert (biscuit)
• Ji-jerd from a-jerd (lizard)

Lots of words start with the letter 'A'...

• a-kert - pocket
• a-fer - flower
• a-fai - butterfly
• a-ter - bolster
• ay-jig - music
• ay-jin - raisin

Also the letter 'O'...

• Otobike - motorbike
• Otobite - mosquito bite, and yes I have to think whether she's talking about insects or vehicles
• Ocodile - crocodile
• Otowhile - little while (as in, "I play otowhile")

And all words starting with the letter 'L' gets transformed to start with 'Y' instead.

Mummy yookk! Got moo-TASH

Eek eek ekk ekk

No idea who taught her 'moustache'!

Sleepyhead

Is it nap-time yet?

Su Ern still sleeps a lot. She is typically fast asleep the whole morning and afternoon, sometimes evening too.  I try to get her awake in the evening/night but sometimes that's impossible. Then we will have to contend with an active baby who poos, cries and demands milk throughout the early part of the night! Luckily it's only this period so far.

What about now? Is it nap-time yet?

I was initially rather worried about this sleepy baby, but now she does wake by herself for milk. Otherwise I feed her after about 3 hours. Even if awake at the beginning, she often falls asleep halfway. Then it's a whole rigmarole of jiggling the bottle, tickling her, shifting positions etc until she finishes. Sometimes her eyes would be closed throughout the whole 2oz of milk! With this pattern, I haven't tried to breastfeed again. The routine is to feed her then pump. Takes double the time, sigh. At night hubby feeds her while I pump.

The photos here are the very few with her eyes open!

Eek eek eck eck

One of Jo Ern's first words, learnt at my parents, is 'eck eck' for 'dirty'. But hubby kept saying it as 'eek eek'. I kept correcting him and he'd go 'eek eek eck eck' instead.  So now Jo Ern sometimes says 'eek eek eck eck' for 'dirty'!  Aiyo, that is so many syllables that it might be easier to just say 'dirty'!

Me eat fruit

Hand eek eek eck eck

Papa, pao-pao-you! 

(should be 'pao-pao ME', she always says YOU)

Hormones talking

One more post to wrap up baby Su Ern's arrival. I'd like to place all the blame on postnatal hormone levels. :)

Before delivery, hubby commented that I didn't seem too excited about welcoming the new baby.  I suppose it's only logical that having a second baby cannot compare to having the first, VERY long-awaited one?

The first few days post-delivery were emotionally stressful for me. I begrudged the loss of time with Jo Ern and missed her a lot, more than the new baby in the hospital nursery.

Maybe since it was only 2 years since Jo Ern, I remembered that time only too well and unrealistically expected a repeat. Cradling and feeding Su Ern seemed odd. Talking to her and using the same phrases I used to Jo Ern didn't feel right. It was as though this wasn't my baby. My baby is Jo Ern. This baby looks different, whose baby was this? It didn't help that I was struggling to feed her. My irritation and stress rose while she squirmed away and cried.

The feelings caught me by surprise. From what I'd read, others resented the older child for demanding extra attention while they had to deal with the newborn. It was the opposite for me.

As the days passed though, it got better. This small, soft little baby is a dream to care for. She sleeps a lot and only cries when her diaper is dirty. I even have to wake her up for milk. After that I can usually put her down and attend to my own needs. Confinement was definitely not this easy with baby Jo Ern!

I am thinking now that things will be good. And that my world will definitely expand to include little Su Ern. :)

Mummy, look... I'm very cute too

The details - Part 2

Day 3 - continuation
Oh what a night!
Decided to have Jo Ern sleep with the maid so I could take care of baby. As Jo Ern was being readied for bed, she said 'I want oi-oi time!' as usual. But it was followed by, 'Bye-bye Mummy'.  Oh what was THIS??  "Oi-oi time" belongs to ME! Bar a night at the hospital for jaundice, Jo Ern has slept with ME every single night.  *sobs*

As I was trying to feed baby later that night, heard prolonged crying from downstairs and wondered if it was Jo Ern. Hubby then came back after going back home for supplies. Turned out it WAS Jo Ern crying and hubby brought her to sleep with us.  She was so happy, and so was I.

It wasn't a happy ending though. Jo Ern wasn't used to the room. I was busy with baby and couldn't move easily with the post-surgery pain. At one stage, both Jo Ern and baby were screaming at the top of their lungs!  Eventually brought Jo Ern downstairs to sleep with the maid. My heart ached that I couldn't attend to her, the one who'd been my first priority since her birth.

It was a long night...
Feeding baby didn't go well.  Baby couldn't latch on properly and kept crying for milk. Hubby drove out to get formula but it was too late, the shops had closed.
Took some of cousin Erin's formula to fill baby's tummy. Erin is already on the next stage of formula, but I guess it won't harm baby! Fed her 1oz each twice during the night.
For myself,  tried to pump milk a few times and failed. Seriously worried about engorgement.
Somehow... got through the night. Hubby went out very early to buy formula.

Day 4
FINALLY decided on a name for baby. Hello, little Su Ern!
Su Ern slept from 6.30am to noon. Woke up for milk and slept till 6pm. Milk and AGAIN slept.  Err.. this can't be good. With all the sleeping, she'd taken very little milk and hadn't poo-ed. Resolved to wake her up every 3 hours for feeds.
Gave Jo Ern lots of attention and was glad to see hubby doing so too.
For myself... getting frantic that I still couldn't get a let-down from either feeding or pumping. The glands in my armpit were so swollen it's scary!

Day 5
Feeding seems to be going better. Maybe establishing supply takes time? Su Ern is such a sleepy baby and just wouldn't suckle when woken up. I'm giving either formula or EBM - at least she takes in milk when not needing to work for it.

Day 6 and onwards
Confirmed Su Ern hates being breastfed. She makes faces, cries, screams or closes her eyes and goes to sleep. But she'll happily suck away when offered a bottle.  Hmm... after having breastfed Jo Ern for 1.5 years, I'd taken it for granted that I'd know what to do with the next baby! For now this remains a problem.

Me and baby chitter. Baby chitter cannot 'phak' (phak = hit in Hokkien)

The details - Part 1

Left the house on 9 May morning determined not to be late (like we were for Jo Ern's birth, heh). Headed first to my parents' place to drop off Jo Ern. Arrived at the hospital nice and early. I remarked to hubby that ALL surgeries aren't pleasant, but at least with a C-sec there is something good at the end. I was actually dreading the next few hours!

D#1 = my first delivery.  Labelling since I was comparing this delivery with D#1 all the way. :)

The procedures I remembered as painful during D#1 weren't so bad this time, but it was vice versa as well. Post-surgery there was definitely more pain. The wound was painful, the wind in my tummy was painful and I was feeling super-warm even with the aircon on. I had to ask for additional painkiller, this from someone who didn't take all of those prescribed during D#1.

Day 1
Baby was brought halfway through surgery, partially-cleaned.  Hello, baby!
Post-surgery, baby was brought for breastfeeding. During D#1 milk didn't come in until Day3, so was happy to just let her suckle a while.
I'd initially thought of having baby sleep with me. But the pain was bad and I didn't. 
Thought of Jo Ern and missed her.

Day 2
Still struggling with pain, still couldn't focus on baby much.
Tried to breastfeed but failed. Got antsy as I remembered well the engorgement after D#1.
My family came to the hospital bringing Jo Ern. It was good to see her, my baby for 2 years.

Day 3
Still failing at breastfeeding. At least engorgement hadn't happened yet.
Baby certified ready to go home. :)  This was good news. Jo Ern was diagnosed with high jaundice levels at 3days-old and had to stay on.
Discharged and got to my parents' place. Managed to feed baby twice and asked hubby not to buy any formula after all.
It was a bad decision.

Concluded a c-sec is tougher than some surgeries coz you have to deal with:

1.  The usual pain from the surgery

2.  Bleeding from a different area --> From uterine contractions

3.  Pain at yet another area --> Engorgement

4.  Final area of concern --> BABY!

Lemme post these photos that hubby wants to delete.. heheheee.

Hubby with Su Ern, May 2012

Hubby with Jo Ern, April 2010

Arrival number two

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz...

Baby Su Ern has arrived! :)

And with her, in the words of my gynae, "my family is complete".

*sniff*

What's in Mummy's tummy?

So I told Jo Ern there's a baby in mummy's tummy about 2-3 weeks ago.  She got it, sort of.  She would first point to my currently inside-out belly button and say 'bubbet' (bubble).  Then she'd point to my tummy and say, 'Got baby inchide!'.  Then followed by 'Got DOG inchide!'  Err I don't know how that came about but I am pretty sure there shouldn't be a dog inside...

Last week she got smarter.  She'd still happily peer under my shirt and go ''Got baby inchide!'.  But now, followed by a firm 'NO dog'.  OK, that's more like it!  At 2 yo and being a late talker, she's too young to get the concept fully.

Oh well, baby's coming real soon.  It's 5.30am and I've just finished a snack in preparation for my C-sec around 11.30am.  I haven't been sleeping well anyway so might as well update blog.  :)  I'm rather looking forward to NOT having a big bump after today!  Bump's way bigger than with Jo Ern.  Maternity clothes that previously fit to the end got too tight a month ago.  My stomach/leg muscles ache from having to push myself up.

Here's the only photo I have of both Jo Ern and bump.

Me got Dog-jee, baby got no dog

2-fingers

I am on MC now and having the time to go through some photos of Jo Ern. Thought I'd post these up. She still sucks her fingers to sleep and on other occasions... for the latter, luckily she will remove them when asked to.

4 months

5 months

11 months

15 months

2 years old

Who needs pacifiers??  And yes, only those 2 fingers taste good.  The others all not nice. 

Countdown to #2

Another little one is coming! I'd have liked a boy to round up the pair, but it looks like I shall have two girls.  Aiks so much for the power of positive thinking.  I'm reverting to my theory that things come when you stop expecting them.  So much for buying baby stuff in unisex designs and colours so far. *ok end of grumbling*  Two girls are great too!  Hubby prefers daughters anyway and two sisters might enjoy each other's company more than a sister and brother.  As for me, I only plan on having two so there isn't much difference between 1G1B and 2G (vs say, having 5 girls hehe)

What I'm in two minds about is having another one NOW.  Mainly it's concern about having less time for Jo Ern. I already carried her much less during pregnancy.  I'd miss having one focal point for my attentions. We lugged her to Singapore, to Phuket, to Hanoi, countless times up Genting and it was fun seeing her reactions to new situations.  If I were younger, I'd wait another year or so.  Jo Ern would certainly provide enough entertainment and challenge for that long!

But my biological clock is ticking and I'm thankful for the fact that I WILL have another one.  Jo Ern came along only after 2+ years of trying.  So now... Can close shop already! No more monitoring of basal temperatures, counting and double-checking fertile days, harassing hubby to be fit and available for duty (heh) at the right times, the hope and then despair that came with each failure.

And now as I count down to EDD next week, I'm pretty glad I will not be pregnant again. :) This second pregnancy was harder than the first.  The first trimester was the worst - I was feeling out of sorts throughout and really had to drag myself to work every day.  I'd literally retch when I thought of the office building/carpark/lift.  That applied when I thought of my project room and team members too hehe.  Yet I had to hide such weaknesses since I was with a new company and had to prove myself.  Luckily things improved. And I didn't have carpal tunnel this time, which previously troubled me a lot.

One more major task left.  Have to think of a name for baby #2!

While mummy talk talk talk, I oi-oi with Dog-jee and Oppers 

(the duo formerly known as 'Gie' and 'Perh')