I'm BACK... at home

For my little hunny-bunny!

After being in the hospital for a week, both of us are so eager to get home ASAP. The first 2 nights at home for Owen was a big adjustment. It smells and feels different from what he's used to, in this case the hospital feel. He cries non-stop for 45 mins or so before he falls asleep. He cries ONLY after midnight. With three of us carrying him around our small apartment and humming (not singing, can not sing mar!) lullabies, he still refuses to sleep at times. When he cries, I seriously think everyone in our block wakes up!! But then again, what can they do when a baby cries like that?

The first 3 weeks of his life, was my life in hell as he wakes to feed every 2 and half or 3 hours. This guy feeds slowly (I mean real slowly). Which is good for digestion but bad for us in the middle of the night. He'll fall asleep half way through! So with the help of a visiting mid-wife, we finally made him a little bit more alert when its feeding time rather than falling asleep all the time. As part of post-natal care, you get 10 visits for breast feeding and or child care advices from these mid-wives (fully trained experienced people), and its fully covered by your personal insurance.

Hmmm... Shall I cry again tonite or not?

For the moment he's quite easy to handle, except that he makes this funny of noise each time after feeding and while sleeping. Sounds just like long hmms, like going to the loo for the big one!According to my mum, its the "piglet" noise! hehehehe... But for hubs, its just "too" noisy for him; "why did he just cry out loud?!". But seriously, which sounds less in the middle of the night; the long and low hmms or the loud and sometimes even louder cries? Men, I just don't get it sometimes....

Owen sunbathing...

For those whose wondering about my confinement month... Well, honestly its just plain boring but I think I could gt used to it! hehehehe.... Yes, I did wash my hair and shower but only every 2 days since we have hot water. What I don't really like was the rice wine my mum literally forced me to drink every day. And its even cooked with my meals (made together with lots and lots of ginger)!!! I think I was drunk everyday, together with Owen! If you're wondering, did I taste my own breast milk? Yes, I did and I made hubs taste it also. He says it taste like low fat milk with ginger (thanks to mum!). Well this low fat milk is actually full of useful calories and vitamins.

We were moving within a few weeks after the hospital stay. Moving home is not a very pleasing experience. Especially when you have a crying baby getting use to the new "smell" of the place! At the moment we are getting the feel of our new home and I'm still getting the hang of my "new" kitchen... hehehehe...

I'm BACK.... from the hospital

Our baby boy

Pheww... Its been a long time since my last blog. Weelll...... Have been pretty busy these few month; first with the arrival of our baby boy; Owen and second with the moving into our new home.

Our son was born 10 days later than the expected due date, thus this little guy weights 3.99kg at birth. We didn't expect (well I) at all for him to be this big a size. Even from the look of my tummy during pregnancy, we were expecting him to be max at 3.5kg. Hhmmmm... I wonder where he could be hiding inside me. Anyways, the delivery was provoked, or induced as some people put it, in an ungodly hours of the morning!! My water broke just as I was about to enjoy my breakfast IN BED. I've NEVER had breakfast IN BED before, and guess I will never get to enjoy it huh? As my contractions were getting closer and closer (in other words, more and more painful-lah!), I regretted not having the peridural anesthesia in the first place. In what seems like hours of work, I finally agreed to take the peridural anesthesia but I had to wait for the anaesthetist, which took another hour or so for him to arrive. All I was thinking of that time was; "Where the hell is that guy?!? Go toilet also not that long-lah!!"

The proud papa

It was basically 6pm in the evening, when they (mid-wives and doctors) told me this: "The baby's head couldn't go thru, you have to have a C-section". I wanted to shout at them: "WHA-LAU EH! You guys put me through basically 6 hours of work and finally you tell me this?!? Wouldn't it easier for everyone if you've told me earlier?" Owen was born 2 and half hours later. The operation lasted only 30 mins!! If I've known earlier, a C-section would have save everyone the work, time and pain.And its a good thing that its done finally, as the umbilical cord was around his neck when he came out!

Kiss.....

Can't say he was the most adorable baby there as I was too tired to notice anything, and all I wanted to do was to sleep! Hubs was with me since early in the morning and he was so excited to be tired I think. I only saw Owen pretty much later for his first breast milk, after they cleaned him up and do whatever they had to do with him. Hubs got to give him his first bath on the same night he was born and me on the third day. The nurses were nice enough to show us how to bathe, dress and feed him.

As I was feeding him, I've realised how big (and round) he look like! And it got me thinking, where in the world was he hiding inside me as throughout my pregnancy, my tummy don't look big at all even at full term! Breast feeding for the first time really hurts, my nipples were so soar after the 3rd day... :( We ended up using the nipple shell as mine were bleeing a bit, as this little guy is so greedy and need to learn how to latch on properly! hehehehe....

One of my many dinners; Mashed potatos, steamed carrots, Vegie & tofu squres with fresh fruits and a fruit milkshake (not with ice-cream but milk)

What can I say about the stay at the hospital? For C-sections, I had to stay for 6 days (not counting the delivery day) as they had to remove the stitches. There's only 1 thread to remove and I was lucky that they some what forced me to get up the next day after delivery so that its less painful during the removal process. Okies enough about this, not to scare later mums to be... I've had my share of tasteless and overcooked hospital food throughout the years (and more to come, I think). But this time round, the food was not bad at all! We even have the whole week menu posted in the rooms. That way, no surprises (if you know what I mean). I get tell them what I don't eat etc once I was admitted, which is great. I remember I didn't get to do this when I was admitted in University Hospital years ago. But of course don't have Asian food, only Mat Shalleh food-lah!

How cute is this dessert?

As days past by, it was time to go back home. While checking out, the nurses at the nursery were abit sad to see Owen leave. He's the only Asian baby around, and since he's such a big sturdy boy, everyone just loves to carry him around!