I always look back at Eunice's pics when she's small, and am always amazed how fast my baby grows. I saw a friend showed the pics of their baby from month to month and I thought that's a good way to remember my baby's growth too. :)


... Our Wonderful Journey to Parenthood ...
Mastitis means that the breast is inflamed, and there is swelling, redness, tenderness and pain. There may be an infection, so it is wise to consult your health-care provider to determine whether or not an antibiotic is necessary.
I read about mastitis ever since I started breastfeeding. I have been very very careful. When Eunice was 3-4 months old, on a night, I felt chilled in my sleep. I woke up, felt my breast very very engorged. I went to kitchen and get a warm towel to do some warm compresses to my breast. And I saw a white blister on my nipple. I pricked it using my finger nail, made sure the milk flow resumed, and direct fed Eunice. I was ok on the next day itself. Later on, I read that that's blocked duct.
I have been breastfeeding for almost 14 months and I never thought that I'll get mastitis at this time! On Thursday, before my usual pumping time at 5pm, I already felt some pain on my breast. I thought why is it so engorged. So, I went to mother's room 30 minutes earlier, thinking I might get quite a lot. But I was wrong. Nothing much came out, and the milk was pink in color! And I couldn't stop shivering in the mother's room, and the pain on my breast didn't reduce even though I tried to pump for 45 minutes.
I decided to throw the 4oz of pink milk away. And I smelled some unusual odor from the milk. Fresh pumped breastmilk should be odorless. The milk from the other side of the breast was ok. When I poured the milk away, I saw some debris at the bottom of the bottle. It looks like some many little pieces of dried milk. I was shaking so badly that I couldn't even hold my phone with one hand. And the moment I left my office, I got fever.
I called up my friend Janice in KL as I know she has one lactation consultant that she always gets help from. I told her my condition and got her to help me to ask her LC what's going on. My main concern was - can I still direct feed Eunice? I talked to a few of my colleagues, but no one had this problem before. I called up a doctor from my church who's also breastfeeding, and another LC from Penang that I found in internet. I even called up to Island Hospital baby nursery room to talk to one of the sisters. All of them told me it might be mastitis, and it's safe to direct feed Eunice still. Only problem is that when I have mastitis, the milk will taste salty. So some baby won't like it, and it'll make things worse as the blocked duct will worsen the situation.
Thank God that Eunice was still drinking like usual! Even the LC Dr Jamie from PG was laughing about it. Guess Eunice is not a fussy eater. She was drinking longer than usual, maybe because it's full since I couldn't pump them out. I took a paracetamol, and slept at 9.30pm. Felt better after that.
I still went to office the next day, but I felt really lousy. So I took MC after settling some work and went to see my gynae Dr Karen. She was shocked to see my breast, commented that it's red & warm and it's infection. She commented that mastitis can happen anytime during breastfeeding when I asked her why. So, I'm now on antibiotics for a week and if it doesn't improve after 3 days, I need to go back to see her.
I initially stopped paracetamol thinking that I don't have fever. But how wrong I was. The pain was so bad that I couldn't walk well, and I couldn't even lift up my hands. I tried pumping and could only get 2oz! So, Eunice was my best breastpump to clear my breast for me.
I'm now on my 2nd day of antibiotics and I felt much better (maybe from the help of the paracetamol to reduce the pain). But I still feel the infected area on my breast. I hope I'll be better by end of tomorrow.
But last few weekend, we decided to go out for a lunch on a Sunday noon. We went to Chillis. And there's this Kids Eat for Free thingy, so looking through the whole menu, we ordered cheesy macaroni for Eunice, thinking if it's too salty, we'll eat it ourselves. I actually brought Eunice's porridge together with me. So, I had backup plan. ;)
The free macaroni for kids
I'm kind of impressed when the food came. It's a big plate! NO wonder all the parents love to bring kids to Chilis for meals. But it's just plain macaroni with cheese, nothing else. No meat no vegetable. I fed Eunice half of her porridge, then I let her eat the macaroni. :)... We tasted it first and decided to let her try as it's not salty nor it's full of flavoring.
The meal came with drinks also. We changed the soft drinks to guava juice (FOC). But the juice was very sweet. I think it's not fresh juice but it's from some packet drinks. So, I drank more than half of it, and diluted it with Eunice's water.
First row: Little girl eating her macaroni yum yum 2nd row: The small finger prints on the glass, drinking the diluted guava juice, continue eating her macaroni Oh my little girl loves the macaroni so much. I put some in her bowl and she could pick them up one and one and feed herself while I'm enjoying my meals. It's one of my most relaxing lunch so far. :)...
And I think my little girl is really no more a baby now. I feel more relax while bringing her out (unlike last time when she's younger I'll get all stressed out!). And this coming weekend we're going to bring her for a wedding dinner. Let's see how she's going to behave there. I surely hope she'll be able to sit through the whole dinner. *Fingers & toes crossed!*
We had Eunice's birthday during CNY. So, it's rather rush for all the deco stuff. Hence, I kept it really simple. Only gotten some Happy birthday banners, and printed some of her pictures to put on the big windows in Strada Cafe. I got this idea to decorate her high chair while surfing for some birthday party ideas website. Look at the birthday girl. Isn't she sweet? :)

Eunice's 1st Birthday from Euwing and Win Nee on Vimeo.
Now, my little girl has grown up. And I need to be more relax, and start to live some of my own life now.


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Mama Bear's Journey
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