Full month celebration for Beanie... Yes or No?

Hub and I have previously agreed that we will most probably NOT throw a "full month" celebration for Beanie because Hub will be in Hong Kong and I do not want to run the show alone. In additional to the fact that I am anti-consumerism, so the idea of giving away those excessively wrapped gift boxes to guests seems extremely environmental unfriendly. Nor am I keen to receive more baby clothes or toys on Beanie's behalf.

Most friends, especially those who are single or without children, aren't really interested in babies, so I shall spare them the pain. However, I noticed that some of my relatives, especially the elders, like my grannie and my godma, are genuinely into babies and they look forward to meeting new members of the family...

Now I'm wondering should I hold a really small family gathering as a "full month" celebration for Beanie?

Breastfeeding 101

Beanie is officially 2 weeks old and after struggling with breastfeeding for 2 weeks, I've learnt the following:

1) Go see a Lactation Consultant within the 1st week if you have any questions or issues with breastfeeding. Do not wait. JUST GO. I booked a session with Sister Kang from Mt Alvernia and she was very helpful and friendly, and most importantly, she gave me the assurance and confidence that I CAN breastfeed.

2) Massage your breasts before every feed, ie: almost 10-12 times in 24 hours. Engorgement with blocked ducts is not fun. So massage the ducts before they get blocked!

3) Papaya-with-fish-bones-soup works wonder. so much so that I am currently struggling with too much milk and too fast let-down of milk that Little Beanie is choking when nursing.

4) My brest friend pillow is indeed my best friend right now. It really helps in supporting Beanie while nursing. Highly recommended!

5) Lastly and most importantly, do not feed your new born with formula! Formula milk is about 5X sweeter than breastmilk... no wonder a newborn will reject breastmilk after tasting sugar syrup!

Well... my 2 cents worth of advice with respect to breastfeeding.

Birth Story of Beanie

Beanie at 5 days old.

Finally I have a little break to read some newpapers and surf the net... now that my milk has come in, Beanie can suckle to her content and stop being a screaming monster. She is fully latched on and is showing regular feeding schedule at about every 3 hours, making my life easier as compared when we first brought her home.

Anyway, I wana share Beanie's birth story while it is still fresh in my head...

In the wee hours of 18 Aug, Thurs, at 4 am, I noticed that I had a "show" with some really light cramps. The cramps weren't painful and I was scheduled for a check up (39 weeks + 2 days) with my gynae later in the same afternoon, so I simply went back to sleep and continued with my usual activities until the check up.

At the clinic, through the machine, I was already having regular but very light contractions and was already about 2 cm dilated. The Gynae sent me home anyway but warned me that Beanie should arrived the next day and told me to check into the hospital if I were to have 2 strong contractions within 10 mins.

I was really excited that Beanie was finally going to arrive soon! So I called Hub, who was already working from the S'pore office that Beanie should arrived by the next day.

And I went home and did my usual stuff of having dinner and watching tv, while the contractions were rather spaced out and still painless.

->11 pm, the cramps were getting more obvious, my back begun to ache and contractions were still about 15 mins apart.

-> 19 Aug 2011, 1 am, contractions started to be painful but it was still very bearable and I ensured that I continued to walk around the house and did some yoga stretches.

-> 2 am, contractions started to be about 5 mins apart and contractions were painful enough for me to request help from Hub to massage my hips whenever contractions hit. At this point, I figured that we should checked into the hospital soon.

-> 2.30 am, I was admitted into Mt Alvernia Hospital and the nurse checked me that I was 4 cm dilated. I was thinking to myself "not bad, almost half way there and I am still coping ok, seems that I can really do this w/o epidural..." *smug*

I told the nurses that I would prefer to remain active and standing, so I was pretty much to be left alone with a quiet and dim delivery room, and I did all the "text book" stuff: swayed my hips, walked around the room, emptied my bladder regularly, deep breathing and told myself to accept the pain where every contraction would bring Beanie closer to me.

I couldn't sleep nor rest because contracts were hitting me at about every 5-7 mins from 3 am until 8 am. Hub didn't sleep at all because whenever a contraction hit me, he would help massage my hips and applied pressure to relief the pain. I wouldn't be able to survive the past 5.5 hrs without his help.

-> 8 am, my gynae came to check on me and TO MY HORROR, I was still only 4-5 cm dilated?! WTF?! Despite of my best effort, I did NOT progress in my labour at all?! My gynae suggested that the waterbag to be burst to help labour progress and I agreed.

That was when I began to experience the worst pain that I had ever experience in my life. The contractions started to come fast and furious, at every 3-4 mins and they would hit me with a vengeance in my lower back, hips, pelvic and thighs. It was excruciating pain, which was made worse because I had to lie down (on my side though) to hook onto the monitor to ensure Beanie's heartbeats were ok and to have the IV antibiotic drip due to my previous Strep B infection.

-> 9 am, I started to panic and cried aloud in pain and I was losing it. I couldn't be calm and the thought of deep breathing or visualization of my cervix "opening up like a rose" was making me even more desperate. If I had to endure such pain and even more intense pain during the "transition period" for the next 3-5 hrs, I would just DIE. So, after 7+ hours from checking into the hospital, I threw in the towel and opted for the epidural.

-> 9.30 am, epidural started to kick in and to my surprise, I was still able to move my legs, hips and toes, but no pain from contractions! Hurray! Hub and I immediately knocked out for the next 3 hours. Both of us were so tired since we didn't sleep at all in the night. Zzzzzzz.... .... ....

-> 12.30 pm, a nurse checked me and guess what, I was already 9 cm dilated! So it seemed that the more relax I am, the faster the labour could progress. Last 1 cm to go. By this time, I could feel the contractions right under my ribs and they were moderately painful. Even with the epidural, I could still feel some pain from the contractions, I couldn't imagine if I were to proceed without.

-> 1.45 pm, I was fully dilated and getting ready to push. At this stage, Beanie suddenly was showing some signs of distress. Her heartbeat slowed but thankfully I only needed to push for about 10-15 mins and Little Beanie was born at 2.05 pm!

When I saw a healthy little Beanie, screaming at the top of her lungs, being put on my tummy, I was overcome with relief and joy... ...

I have a little baby girl!

Little Beanie has arrived!

There she is... a picture of her when she is just a few minutes old from birth.

Both Beanie and I are doing well and I am still in awed that a little baby girl has popped out of me.

I'll share my birth story shortly, meanwhile, I gotta get the hang of breastfeeding first! Tonight will be the first night at home... hopefully Beanie will sleep well and only wakes up twice for feeding. Wish me luck!!!

Little booties for little Beanie

Pink booties with a matching headband.

Completed orange booties with a matching hat.

Since Little Beanie is still happily hatching inside my tummy, I do have some spare time on my hands and I've managed to complete the orange pair of booties with a matching hat, as well as a pair of pink booties.

If Beanie is still not out soon... I'll start working on a pair of cream booties, something for her to wear when she is 6 mths old.

But seriously... I'll really prefer to have Beanie out and screaming!

Beanie at 39 weeks

Still no signs of Beanie. Ugh.

There were some encouraging Braxton Hicks contractions and some of them were rather painful, but that was it. Just "practice" contractions, as long as I change my positions or rest for a while, they will usually stop.

And Beanie is happily piling on weight. The latest weight estimation of Beanie: 3.8 kg?!?!?!?!?!

I hope that's an OVER-estimation! How am I going to push a 3.8 kg baby out w/o epidural???

*stressed*

Meanwhile, I've decided to walk as much as I can to encourage Beanie to arrive. Hub is now already stationed in Singapore and both of us are really curious about how our Little Beanie looks like.

So, Beanie, please please please come out soon!!!

Beanie at 38 weeks

Little Beanie is still hatching inside me at 38 weeks. Hmmm... no signs or any indications that she is interested to greet me in person yet.

So, here I am, waddling around with a huge stomach, sweating buckets and feeling super hot all the time.

Beanie is luckily in the correct position and her head is engaged. Hub will also be flying back this Sat and will be stationed in Singapore until Beanie is born.

So, I am all ready to have her once Hub is here. So, Little Beanie... are you ready to arrive from this Sat onwards?

My birth plan

Ok, I know that it’s fashionable to write a birth plan nowadays, but my idea of a birth plan is not to have a plan.

Hrm… ok, not very organized, I know but end of the day, I’m just supposed to have a baby loh. That is the plan: have a baby, make sure that Beanie and I are safe and sound. Period.

Of course, I have done all the required readings: Hypno-birthing, Lamaze method, Bradley method … plus another 10 books on “how to birth naturally, drugs-free”. But my focus is very clear, to have both Beanie and I safe and sound. That is the most important thing… having a “good” birth experience is good to have, like icing on the cake.

Nonetheless, I do have a vague birth plan lah:

1) Epidural free. Other than the fact that I want to experience child-birth (it’s crazy, I know), since I’m only going to have 1 or maybe 2 kids, so this is like the only shot I can experience what many other mothers in the world experience, the process of giving birth and I am curious how things are going to be.

2) Labor at home for as long as I can. So, if I wana be epidural free, it is very important that I do NOT go to the hospital too early, because the nurses and doctor will tend to intervene by inducing or wana IV drip here and there, and basically make labor so painful that most mothers give up and take the epidural.
The best outcome is to arrive at the hospital where I'm at least 6 cm dilated, by then it will be too late to have the epidural anyway!

3) Get hubby to fly back from Hong Kong in time. OK, this is the idea: once I feel contractions (hopefully, not false labor), I’ll call Hubby up and he has a 7-hrs window period (inclusive of checking-in and travelling time) to get his ass to Singapore. During the 7 hours, I should be laboring at home.

4) If I am REALLY dying of pain, aiyah, take the epidural loh.

HAHAHA.

So… Beanie is now 37 weeks, her estimated weight is 3.1 kg. I think she is ready to arrive soon… maybe next wk? 8 Aug 2011 seems like a good date. ;)

Headbands galore!
Made the above 2 for Little Beanie

Above two are for Baby Alyssa and Baby Heidi. ;

Also made some hair clips for Little Katie


Having a big stomach now means that I spend more time on my butt then on my feet. Although I do try my best to walk around, but it is getting more and more tiring for me to put one foot in front of the other...

I prefer to swim any day, swimming is my favorite form of exercise now. Only when Im in a pool, I can finally feel weightless although being the only hippo in the pool, kinda makes me self-conscious. Thankfully, the pool isn't usually crowded during weekdays' lunch hour. I try my best to swim at least twice weekly but I must confess that my low energy level barely allows me to crawl to the pool once a week.

Anyway, with more time on my butt, I can now work on producing more headbands and hair clips for my Little Beanie, as well as for my friends' little girls. Hmmm... I wonder how the headbands will look like on their little heads, gotta get my friends to post some photos!

Finally, ONE bootie is completed!

After many days of struggle, I have finally completed ONE bootie! Crocheting is definitey harder than it looks...

Now, I just gotta concentrate on the other bootie so that Beanie can have a pair to wear. ;)

Hub saw the photo and commented "who wears orange shoes???"

*sniff*

Well... girls with the classic orange Birkin bags from Hermes will definitely wear orange shoes! Ok, Mummy will make the orange shoes... hrm, Beanie just gotta make Daddy buy her the orange Birkin bag to match the shoes. (but Mummy will borrow once a while ok?)

Another pet?

And I said I do not exactly like birds... But somehow, I ended with birds in my house once again.

This little yellow cockatiel flew into my neighbour's flat last Sunday. It was slightly injured with a bleeding left claw and a bruised nose. My neighbour's cat, Meimei, is a great hunter, who brings home dead birds,lizards,bugs,leaves... ... etc. The moment she saw Tweety, she was all ready to pounce on her. Luckily, my neighbour managed to catch MeiMei in time and saved Tweety's life.

So, to cut the story short, Tweety ended up at my place instead. How's Cookie taking Tweety's presence? She is totally NOT interested in Tweety at all.

Haha, my black-and-white cat took a look at Tweety, wrinkled her nose and went back to sleep.

Cookie, the cat with ZERO killer instinct.

So, a friend passed an old bird cage to me, and Tweety is now residing in my guest toilet. Whenever I'm free, I'll put Tweety's cage at my planter box so that it can enjoy some greenery and sunshine.

I tried to entice Tweety to come out of its cage to explore my house, but it isn't interested in leaving its safe haven and it is currently still rather defensive and keeps biting my hand whenever I have to handle it.

Hub seems to find Tweety very cute and keeps bugging me "how's the bird? How's the bird?" whenever we are on the phone.

Seriously... I find Tweety a rather silly thing, which poos all over the place, and not being very interactive at all.

Maybe I should let a bird lover to adopt Tweety instead.

34 weeks

I attended a wedding dinner 2 days ago and it hit me that I had not taken any photos of myself with Beanie ever since I got pregnant.

So I immediately bugged Hub to take a few pictures of myself with Beanie since I was all dressed up for the wedding dinner.

To date, I've put on about 9 kg, and from the last visit to the gynae, Beanie's weight was estimated to be around 2 kg, which was considered "average weight". Phew. All these while, I was worried that Beanie isn't putting enough weight because my appetite has been poor.

Indigestion is driving me crazy and I have to eat really small meals. Other expecting mommies are eating to their hearts content, and here I am, eating like a bird. Not only that, nuasea is also hitting me once again. I am constantly gagging in the morning and whenever I walked past strong smelling coffee shops and food courts, waves of nuasea would hit me. But I guess I should have an easier time losing the weight once Beanie is born. ;)

Really not easy being a mom and it's only the beginning!

Will you eat your own placenta?

Have any of you mummies out there consumed your own placenta? The thought of stir-frying my placenta is a bit too hard core for me, but placenta encapsulation seems very do-able.

The placenta contains very high level of prostaglandin which stimulates the shrinking of the uterus (ie: I can get back into shape faster and bleed less!), as well as small amounts of oxytocin which is basically a "feel-good" hormone that can ease post-natal depression and even promote breastmilk supply.

Although there isn't any real, scientific evidence that consumption of own placenta will truely reap the above mentioned benefits... but no harm right? It's my own placenta anyway.

The only catch is that I gotta find a reliable "service provider" that can ensure that the whole process of placenta encapsulation is done in a very hygienic manner and the placenta is indeed mine!

I managed to find 2 such "service providers" online and reviews from forums seem encouraging.

Am I the only crazy woman here who wana eat her own placenta??? None of my friends had done it, so I am on my own here. Hub is very supportive. In fact, he has heard about how the placenta can improve one's complexion and he wana eat MY placenta as well?!?! He is even wondering about the "texture of the placenta and suggest that we should stir-fry it with ginger and spring onions, just like pig's liver and do a taste test..."

And I thought I'm the crazy woman... guess there's a reason why we are married to each other. HAHAHA... Anyway, I told him that the placenta is full of FEMALE hormones, so unless he wana grow some "man-boobs", I seriously dont think it's a good idea for him to eat MY placenta. My placenta is ALL MINE to eat!

More hair accessories!

Made another batch of hair accessories this weekend, a knitted headband with a cloth flower and more hair clips. ;)

Hrm... I realize that the headband might be too thick for a new born, so most probably that will only come in handy when Beanie is at least a few months old. And I also realize that Beanie might not have much hair to start with... so all these hair clips might not be useful until Beanie is older as well!

Guess I gotta make more headbands instead!

Making baby hairclips

Materials bought from Arab street, Daiso and a craft shop in AMK.

Ta dah! Finished products! I'm quite proud of myself. ;) *1st attempt ok*

Will be giving these clips away to friends who has little girls.

Have mothers noticed how much the shops are charging for hair accessories for little girls? I nearly vomited when I saw some shops are selling $6 for a pair of hair clips. Hallo? $6 for a pair??? I can making these with a cost of $0.60 for a pair.

And prettier, cuter somemore.

So I went shopping for materials, and made a few hair clips yesterday evening. It was a rather fun exercise and I enjoyed myself. ;)

I will definitely be making many more hair clips since I bought 2 big bags of raw clips... So, friends with baby daughters are in luck! ;p

Meanwhile, I will also try making some baby headbands and sock monkeys (soft toys) too!

Heh... Little Beanie is lucky to have a crafty mum like me! *stingy more like it!*

Haha!

Sleepless nights

Everyone has been telling me to sleep more before Little Beanie arrives, but it is getting harder and harder to enjoy a good night's sleep nowadays. On the weekends, at least I can catch a nap, but during a workday, I do get really tired and sleepy in the afternoon, so much so that I start to develop headaches... Ugh. ;(

Typical sleep pattern at night:

11 -1130 pm: Goes to bed and try to sleep on my left side

12 am: Lucky if i'm asleep by now

2.30am - 3 am: Gotta turn to my right side because left arm starts to hurt. Turning around takes a lot of effort because Beanie is much heavier now and I gotta rearrange my pillows again.

5 am - 6 am: Cookie will start meowing at the door. She has begun to sleep in the living room instead of the bedroom, and has so far, been behaving very well. Hrm... Except for the loud meowing, head-banging or scratching of the door in the early morns. I don't mind the early hours because usually around this time, I gotta wake up to pee anyway.

So, I will feed Cookie and let her out of the house, and try to catch another 1+ hour of sleep before waking up to get ready for a workday at 7.15 am.

But last night was really bad, I woke up at 2 am, 4 am, 5 am (Cookie's fault), 630 am. I feel like a zombie right now.

Or maybe my body is preparing itself for the sleep deprivation in months to come!

Knitting
I went for my very FIRST knitting class last night and knitting is much harder than I thought!

My neighbour was very kind to pass me her old knitting needles and yarns, unfortunately they were too big to knit baby booties, so I still have to make my way down to a handicraft shop to buy a new set of needles and yarn to knit some baby stuff for Little Beanie.

Previously, my neighbour mentioned that knitting would be just like doing cross stitch, ie: easy peasy. And I was like "ahh, ok. I have done cross stitch before. So knitting should not be a problem right?"

WRONG.

I must have killed many of my brain cells last night while trying VERY hard to coordinate my fingers. Geez, this was much harder than it looked! I made so many mistakes but thankfully the instructor was very patient and she didn't make me feel toooooooooo stupid.

And I wonder do I enough time to knit her a pair of bootie before Beanie arrives? Looking at my progress last night, I really gotta buck up!

Cookie, the baby until the REAL baby arrives

Cookie's sulky corner. This is where Cookie likes to sulk. Whenever she is displeased about something, she will sulk at this corner. But not that we care anyway... Haha.

Cookie has to check out EVERY new piece of furniture in the house. Nothing escapes her eyes... This Ikea step-stool becames her personal step-stool to the retro cabinet, where she likes to hang out when I am in the toilet doing some hand-washing.

Once again, Cookie has to lay her paws on everything. Even this little canvas box that I bought .

This lamp as well...

Cookie is usually rather lady-like when it comes to her sleeping positions, unless she is dead-tired. Guess this was one of those days when comfort was more important than style.

Cookie is a semi-stray cat, which we kind of adopted when we moved into our flat about 1 year ago.

Previously, she treated our place like a hotel and only came over whenever she felt like it. Now, she will start running towards me at the void deck whenever I take out the house keys and will follow me up the stairs to my flat. She sleeps over every night and follows me around in the house.

Now that Hub is away in Hong Kong, it is Cookie who keeps me company and I spend most of my evenings talking to her, as if she is a person. She will usually just flinches her ears or gives me an occasional yawn as a form of acknowledgement. At times when I am eating some prawns or fish, then I will suddenly become her new-found best friend, and she will become very "manja", rubs my legs, paws me at my thighs with her little right paw and looks at me with her big, golden eyes, of course, begging for treats.

I have grown to be very foud of this little cat and I hope that Cookie will continue to be part of our lives when Little Beanie arrives.

But I'm afriad that Cookie will have to learn to sleep in the living room soon... Currently, she is sleeping at a corner of my bed. When Beanie arrives, I will have no choice but to let Cookie sleep in the living room instead.

Sleep training for Cookie gotta start soon!

A little update from me and Little Beanie

Finally I am done with the 6-hours-marathon CFA L3 exam yesterday, I really hope I can finally pass this time round. To pass is to score 70% and above. To be honest, I am not confident of achieving that but nothing much I can do about it now, except to wait for the results in Aug.

Meanwhile, I'm 29 weeks now into my pregnancy and I gotta start preparing for Beanie's arrival! Her room is still in a mess, so we gotta get our act together to ensure that her room is decent and the Confinement Lady gets a decent bed to sleep.

Next, I gotta prewash her baby clothes, blankets, toys. Figure out how to use the breast pumps, replace some of the old parts, get her cot ready, knit her booties, hand-make a soft doll for her, buy some modern cloth diapers and convince Hub to use them.

Woah.

Then gotta read up on natural birthing techniques. Friends have recommended some books for me to read and I am hoping for a drug-free, natural birth experience. *keeping my fingers cross*

I will be giving pre-natal classes a skip as Hub is still based in HK, and if I were to attend the classes alone. I would most probabaly feel very alone and depressed, so might as well just read up some good reference books instead.

Little Beanie is very active, always moving and whooshing around in my tummy. Especially so, during and after my mealtimes. Guess she is actively exercising her limbs when she is being fed!

Talking about exercising, I've been swimming regularly at least twice a week and practising my yoga moves 3 times a week as well. All these are to prepare my body for the up and coming labour. I really pray for a safe and smooth delivery with Hubby at my side.

We are still wondering how we can coordinate, such that Hub can fly back in time to go through labour with me... Hmmm, hopefully Beanie can be corporative and arrives near the estimated date of birth: 20 Aug!

11 more weeks to go!

It's red!!!

I've never thought that I will live to see my Frangipani flowers, but it did!!!

Yay! I'm so happy! ;)

I've been wondering what would be the color of flowers if the tree ever bloom. Due to meanly bugs problem and the fact that I do not get enough sun at my balcony, I never have much hope of seeing my poor tree flowers.

So when ever I walked past a frangipani tree in full bloom, I would look at the flowers jealously and marveled at the beautiful colors of white, yellow, pink, red and even orange.

Giving thanks to the recent hot weather, seems that my frangipani is doing much better. Less meanly bugs and it actually flowers!

Just wana share my joy! ;)