Breastfeeding Journey II

When I found out I was pregnant, EG asked me if I want to upgrade my breastpump. Of course I want. :)... I was using Unimom for Eunice's time. It served me well. But this round, knowing that it's going to be another long journey, I bought Medela Pump In Style Advanced instead. I got it from Amazon.com and EG's colleague was really kind to help me to bring all the way back to Penang for me!

I have read that for 2nd baby, mother will have more milk. I prayed for that. During pregnancy, I felt my breast duct was a bit painful, the sensation is similar to when I had mastitis during Eunice's time. I was worried that it'll be a roadblock for me to breastfeed my baby. Thank God the sensation went away in my later part of my pregnancy.

EG said I have breastfed Eunice for 19.5 months, so I must do the same for Natalie, if not more, to be fair he said. :).. Well, I agree.

I direct latched Natalie after she's born. No bottle feeding. I insisted to direct feed. When I came home on my 4th day (I stayed extra day to observe Nat's jaundice), I felt my breast was very engorged. So I pumped, and I got 6oz output! Wow, amazing.

I pump once a day during confinement to clear my breasts. I can get 7oz easily, while I direct fed Natalie most of the time. So in the end, I fed Eunice my breastmilk since I dunno what to do with it. :)

After I started working, my supply was abundant. Averagely I get 8-10oz on my every pump session. And I tried not to over supply, hence I still only pump 3 times a day, even Nat has slept through the night. And I still get 27oz-30oz of output everyday. As a result? Not only my freezer is full, now both my girls are on breastmilk fully. Yes, you heard it right! Eunice is on breastmilk AGAIN. :)

I tried not to stuff up my freezer since EG didn't want to buy another freezer for me. I have to agree with him that as long as it's enough supply, no point stocking up so much. My girlfriend told me, it's a good problem actually. I have to agree with her. Oversupply is always better than under supply.

I love my new pump. I could get 7-10oz in 15 minutes. My friends sharing the same pumping room in office often shocked with my efficiency! It's good because work is crazily busy  now and I won't take so long in the room pumping like during Eunice's time.

I sure hope I can breastfeed Nat up to 2 years old. For 2nd baby, even breastfeeding is such an enjoying process. :).. Guess my friend is right, with a good pump, it surely makes the breastfeeding journey more pleasure! :)

4th day post partum, my golden creamy milk

My new companion for the next 18 months, or more :)

National day present - pumped 14 oz one go!

Freezer door full during confinement

1.5 mths post delivery

Effect of durians - 19oz one go! I also went @.@!!!

My freezer today on 28 Dec 2012

Natalie's Update

Once, a friend told me, you won't enjoy when you have the first baby because you're too stress up, for the 2nd baby you'll enjoy it much more. And that's what I am experiencing now. :)

Since we took care of Eunice ourselves, both EG and I were kinda ready to go through all the "hardship" again with Natalie's arrival. However, I thank God that Natalie is a much easier baby than Eunice. She enjoys going out, and she sleeps most of the time. She sits in her stroller and she's quiet as long as she's carried. :)

Time really flies with 2 kids at home. We're just busy with house work and preparing meals/milk for the kids and Natalie is already 4.5 moths old, going to be 5 months old soon.We're very happy with our little girl's milestone. In her 2nd month+, she could actually turn from her back to her tummy. She gave us a shock. What a strong girl.

At her 4th month now, Natalie can:
1. Lift head while lying on tummy @ her 1st month
2. Reponds to sound since confinement
3. Stares at faces since confinement
4. Follow objects with eyes since confinement
5. Gurgles and coos @ her 2nd month
6. Hold her head up high @ her 2nd month
7. Turns from back to tummy @ her 2nd month
8. Does mini push up @ her 3rd month
9. Rolls all over the mat from tummy to back to tummy @ her 3rd month
10. Grasp a toy with her hands @ her 3rd month +
11. Smiles & laughs

Whenever I carry Nat up on a sitting position, she'd "stand" on my tummy with her legs straight. :).. We do think she has very strong legs. Even confinement lady said that.

And the best part about Natalie is, at her 4 mths+, since 19th Dec, she has been sleeping through the night! Her last feed is normally around 8pm-9pm, and she'd sleep for 12 hours, sometimes even longer, without waking up to drink. I tried picking her up to direct latch but she cried. I was worried initially, but later I read that sleeping is more important than drinking. So, I let her be. Hence, as impossible as it sounded, I also started to sleep through the night. What a luxury it is! I could actually do some of my stuff after she sleeps.

I have to agree with some ppl that Natalie is a very contented baby. We brought her to watch a musical play from our church on Christmas, All Nat did was to lie on my chest, slept 2 rounds, woke up but stayed on my chest quietly, throughout the whole 2 hours! I could actually finish watching the whole play! :)

And yes, she's breastfed, of course. She doesn't drink as much as Eunice, at least 30% less, but her weight gain is on par with Eunice's with Eunice was a baby, hence Dr said there's nothing to be worried about since her weight growth is above average. She sleeps more than she drinks, I guess she grows in her dream. :)

26/10 - Flipped herself

Doing push up

@ Altera Family Day :)

My pretty little girl

2/12 - Sitting straight up in her bumbo

Toilet Training

A looooooooong due post

I toilet trained Eunice since May this year - when babysitter closed for holiday. She was 26.5 mths then.

I tried many ways - Using potty, diaper pants, asking her over and over again, and nothing works, until I let her run butt naked at home. Then it worked! She'll tell me when she wanted to pee or poo. I tried putting potty in the living hall, and after I went to do my stuff, surprisingly I saw some poo pieces in the potty. I praised her. Then, when I was working in my laptop, suddenly she came and told me said, "Mummy, I want to poo poo..", and she started to walk with legs apart, hands behind her butt, like something falling out. It was hilarious. But I am grateful that she's able to tell. :)

While taking care of her for that week, there's no accident. So when I sent her back to babysitter after they reopened, I told them to continue my effort. Well, accident happened there (obviously they were not as attentive as me, or she was too busy playing with other children until she forgot to tell?), but as time goes, she is almost fully toilet trained, except sleeping time and going-out time.

Eunice at 26.5 mths.
Need iPhone to kill time while doing business. :)

And now, Eunice at 32.5 mths, she can shout and tell us she wants to go toilet, either pee pee or poo poo. She can take off her own pants or panty and run to the toilet before asking us to put her on the toilet bowl (we got her a smaller toilet seat), and will shout when she's done. She can keep herself dry during napping time so no more diaper during afternoon nap. Once, EG forgot to wear diaper for her while sleeping and at 3am, she woke her dad up and said want to "shh shhhh". However, she's already wet her bed a bit. So she's still on diaper during night time.

We never really let her go diaperless when we go out.

But last week, we forgot to wear her a diaper after picking her and Nat up to QBM for dinner. And in Nando's, she said she wanna "shhh shhh"... So, I brought her to the handicapped toilet in QBM and carried her up to pee. The handicapped toilet in QBM is very very disappointing - wet floor, dirty toilet bowls, no toilet paper, etc. I carried Eunice to pee, and wiped her, washed our hands and used sanitizer to clean some more. And on Saturday, we tried again to let her go church with no diaper. It was a successful attempt. No accident. :)

Now, she's learning to put on her own clothings, esp pants or pull-up diapers, and she can do it well. She will walk around the house proudly when she does it successfully and I will normally praise her for her good job.

She's grown so much, and one day, she'll be independent and not depending so much on us now. :)

The two sisters

I wonder if it's because of the previous experience, or it's because my babies are just so adorable, I enjoy being a mother so much more comparing to the first time. I am more relax, knowing what's in front of me, and what and how I can do better to give the best to my babies now.

I am a very happy mother now. Eunice is so adorable, and Natalie is such a beautiful baby.

I feel my life is so complete now. I love putting the two sisters together and see how they can "communicate" to each other. From their eyes, I feel that they are connecting. They somehow enjoy each other's companion. That's why I felt so happy when doctor told me I was carrying a girl when I was pregnant with Natalie. I can just imagine how sweet my two girls can be when they are together, and now it turns out just like what I have thought. :)

We took some of their pictures whenever we put them together. I love all these pictures. It's so heart warming to see the two sisters together.
 

A Sunday Morning

Before changing to leave to babysitter's place

After changing :)

Play time before bed time

My favorite shot of the two sisters :)

Confinement

Confinement during Eunice's time was pretty chaotic. So, when I found out I am pregnant, we looked for a confinement center. We engaged O'hana opposite Island hospital as we were impressed by its environment, and most importantly, they support breastfeeding.

However, they closed down in end of May. We tried looking for other centers but the condition wasn't impressive, and they failed to convince me that they are breastfeeding friendly when formula milk is included in the package.

So, we decided to get a confinement lady. I called up 20+ CL contacts and all are already booked till end of the year, imagine my stress. EG even told me worst case scenario, he'll take 2 weeks off to cook for me, or we cater confinement food.

To cut the story short, in the end, I managed to find this Aunty Lily from Farlim, who surprisingly still available in August! We met her up immediately and found her pleasant, so we hired her.

We never like to have stranger in our house but I guess hiring a CL was one of the most right decision that we've made. Same as Eunice's time, the 1st 2 weeks after delivery was very tiring as I was still in the recovering mode. One lucky thing this round is, I have more milk. Baby normally sucked only one side and couldn't clear my breasts. I pumped out to clear engorgement and managed to get 6ozs on my 4th day post partum.

CL suggested me to sleep at night and let her bottle feed baby. She said if mothers have enough sleep and drink enough fluid, we'll sure have lots of milk. We bargained and finally decided that we'll bottle feed Natalie once at 1am, and I'll direct feed for the other times - then at least I get to sleep from 10pm to 3am or 4am.. It really helps me recover faster.

Besides, Aunty Lily cooks nice food for us.. Tea time are great too. I was served roti babi, potato balls, red bean with longan, pong pia with eggs, etc..

When I engaged her, I requested her to cook for EG and Eunice for dinner, holidays and weekends and she agreed with no extra charge. So far, not only EG likes her food but Eunice has been eating a lot too. :). EG is a very clean person and so far Aunty Lily has done a good job in cleaning the kitchen after every cooking and EG has no complain.

However, after 3 wks plus, I'm getting super bored and couldn't wait for it to be over. Though I enjoy having food served without me cooking it myself, I still wish to bathe 3 times a day, and have some of my privacy back.

My confinement is going to over in another week. If I'm given another chance, I'd still hire a CL.. Comparing to my first confinement, I felt like I treated like a VVIP.. And CL's experience in handling baby also makes me more relief, ESP when baby is burped well and she's much less colicky comparing to Eunice. :)

Again, I really thank God that we still can find Aunty Lily though it was so last minute, and that we can tolerate each other well throughout the one month. :)..

Some of my tea time

Food for the others

My food I

My food II

D Day 2 :)

I requested to work from home 1 week before my delivery. It was a good decision because it's less tiring comparing to working in office. I still work, but at least I'm at my home and I'm less stress out. I believe it gave me some rest. I often feel very exhausted after working as my brain was all drained.

I worked till Friday 10th August. I was surfing in the internet on how to induce naturally. There are a few ways 1) eat pineapples - I somehow couldn't find fruit stalls :P... 2) eat chocolates - on this is easy, so I walloped Starbucks choc with java chip & Coffee Bean double choc when I went out lunch with hubby & friends. 3) Galloping - Ya, sound scary, but me in the desperate mode, I galloped while going up my staircase...

On the 10th Aug, I went Jusco with hubby to buy some food for the weekend. I was telling him how dreadful I am for weekends now as me with a super huge tummy, still need to take care of Eunice and worry about her food! (Ya, somehow I still dun really feel very comfortable having her to eat outside food for the WHOLE weekend.. one meal is fine but not for all the meals over the weekend)... I was supposed to go for my next checkup on the 13th Aug and decide if I want to induce or c-sect if there's still no sign of labor then.

We bought salmon from Jusco, thinking that's the easiest meal to prepare. And some other ingredients for pasta that EG will be cooking. I continued to work in the afternoon but it was a peaceful afternoon with not many issues in office so I lied down and rested for an hour - good move as well! Around 5pm, I felt some contraction. I felt the same thing the day before but it wasn't regular. So I thought it was just braxton hicks as I had the same thing for Eunice for about a week before the real labor show happened.

We went to fetch Eunice, and was jokingly talking to babysitter that I felt so heavy now. She asked me to eat more, saying some babies want to eat a lot before they decided to come out. :P.. We went for dinner near babysitter's house and I was very hungry so I ate quite a bit. On the way back, I saw the jam on the other side of the road heading to town, and I joked with EG, with the traffic like this, how to go hospital if I have to labor now? :P

Around 6.30pm, I went to toilet. After I done my business, I felt a gush of something coming out down there. I quickly sat back to the toilet and I saw some pinkish blood show. Immediately I told EG, "Hey, I have a bad news for you! I got blood show!" This is our 2nd experience so we were quite cool. He called my MIL and asking her to come on Friday itself instead of Saturday (she's supposed to come the next day), and she quickly went and changed her bus ticket to Friday itself, and thank God she did it.

In the meantime, I kept having water bag leaking at home. I sat on the toilet bowl and almost every 20 minutes, the water bag leaked. It's different from Eunice's time as during Eunice's time, it was blood show and regular contractions. I have decided to follow what my friend, Sheila, advised me to do - not to rush to hospital but walked at home to help dilation. And I drank milk and honey, as she advised, which supposed to give me some energy later to push.

So I walked up and down. I even squatted down to clean myself. I sat on the toilet bowl quite often. And of course, I checked in internet that as long as the water bag leakage is clear and with no foul smell, it's safe. So, I refused to go to hospital. At the same time, I worried how to settle Eunice if my MIL couldn't reach in time.

The bus from Taiping left late and only left at 8pm instead of the planned 7.30pm. EG told me worst case we'll bring Eunice to hospital and let her sleep in stroller or any bed. Wow, how bizarre that will be! I whatsaped my friends to pray for me, called my mum. My mum was very kan cheong and kept pestering me to go hospital. I refused. Stubborn me. Another reason is because I know Island hospital charged a new day from 12am onwards. I thought if I can tahan till 12am then only go hospital it'll be more worth it. :P

9.15pm - my MIL called and said she's on the Penang bridge already. Thank God! I told EG to bring Eunice out to fetch my MIL. And that was the best move as my girl  dozed off in less than 10 mins and when EG brought her in to her bed, she was still snoring. One major worry down.

9.45pm - As funny as it can be, I asked EG if he wanted me to marinate the salmon for him. I told him the salmon is RM23 and pls don't waste it. So with my contraction on and off, I chopped the garlic and marinated the salmon together with my hubby. Told him how to operate the oven and bake for 30-45 mins. I almost got killed by my girlfriends when I told them I was doing that. :P

10.30pm - I started to have the bearing down feeling so I told EG, let's go hospital. By then, I already lost count of the no. of times my water bag leaked, and I dunno how close my contraction was, probably every 5-10 mins.

I was still telling him, maybe we can lepak around that area and only go into hospital near 12am.

While on the way to hospital, my contraction got more and more painful. I told EG it's so painful, and he drove faster.

11pm - We reached Island hospital. I told the nurse at A&E, please check me first. If can wait, I'll wait till 12am only admit. So they wheeled me to labor room, slowly. I guess my face must be pale as the contraction was really bad at the sitting position. I kept breathing hard on the wheelchair and I thought I heard a lady told me, "jia you!" in the lift. :P... I might have scared her. :P... When I got into the labor room, I stood up and walked again and it made me feel better.

11.15pm - Midwives asked me to lie down. That time, the contraction almost killed me. So painful. They asked me to adjust myself and lied down straight and I told them I couldn't move! We asked if someone has informed Dr Karen. They said they needed to check the dilation first.

11.20pm - Checked dilation and told me I WAS FULLY DILATED! Goshhh... And must admit already. They called Dr Karen, I overheard the conversation "Patient fully dilate, membrane gone, active labor now".

During then, it's really painful already. I actually told EG I regretted for being stubborn to go for natural delivery. :P

Then, they gave me gas, asked me to breathe in the gas, said it'll help with the pain. NO, IT DIDN'T!. And the worst part is, they asked me don't push. Wa, that was really torturing! Because doctor is not there yet! Gosh.... but later on, they saw my suffering face and told EG, ok, let her push, worst case, we'll deliver for you.

11.35pm - Thank God Dr Karen came in already!. I have pushed once but baby is not out. They told Dr Karen that baby was in transverse position. I asked EG in my weak voice, what does that mean? Dr said baby is facing sideway. My heart dropped! Means it's not in the ideal position yet and I might end up c-sect again!

I kept praying and singing the song "God is so good" in my heart... to distract myself as well. I pushed another 2 times and Dr exclaimed, "OK baby is now down. Now, only waiting for mummy to push her out!"

Dr Karen is a very patient doctor. She once told me I only have chance to push 2-3 times and if I couldn't push baby out, I have to go c-sect. But during the delivery, I was given chances to pushed for almost 30 mins. I think I pushed easily 5-6 times. EG asked Dr Karen if everything is OK and she said, yeah, baby's heartbeat ok, she still can push... but baby is a bit biggish for her.

12.01am - In the end, Natalie was vacuumed out. I didn't like the vacuum. I had the same thing for Eunice's time and it was painful, and it's still painful! But it really helped. At my last push, everyone was shouting in the room to ask me to PUSH, and suddenly I felt a warm wiggling feeling down there, and while I thought I had to wait for another painful contraction to hit, EG told me, You did it!

I couldn't explain how happy I was.. happy is not the word, I was just overjoyed! I saw Dr Karen took out Natalie, put her on the baby carrier in the labor room. My eyes just couldn't leave her. I couldn't believe that I really did it for natural delivery! I really praise God for granting my wishes!! I told EG to snap her pic and my pic as memory. Natalie cried, oh that was the sweetest voice I've ever heard. :).. They showed me her fingers, toes, and showed me she's a girl :)... and brought her to clean up. After 1 hour she was brought to me to breastfeed.

While Dr Karen was stitching me up, suddenly I remember one thing, and I asked her, "Was there any episiotomy?". She said, no, just normal tear! Another miracle! I was so happy that I whatsapp-ed my girl friends and others who prayed for me that "I DID IT!!"...

Dr Karen left after everything was done. I kept saying thank you to her, and she told me congratulations, and she said, "You've gotten your natural delivery that you wanted :)". I was too happy to even tear!!

For the 45 mins of labor, I was holding EG's hand at one side throughout. I asked him later if it's painful, he said it is but lucky my hand is small. :)... But I'm really glad that he was beside me all the time to support me, and that he being supportive to allow me to go for natural delivery though I know he is so scared of that whole process.

I have been telling this story over and over again for probably 5-6 times but I still remember every detail of it. I told EG now that I think back, we might be too daring to take so much risks but it was really a very exciting night and he agreed. :)... But all in all, we still want to thank God for being so good to us, so merciful to us, to grant us our wish, and to give us such a beautiful and healthy baby, and such a wonderful delivery experience for both EG and me.

God is just SO GOOD!

My Miracle

I have delivered my 2nd princess on 11th Aug safely.I never blog about my pregnancy this time. Why? Many reasons - work was busy, lazy, weekend was busier, plus there are lots of hiccups.

Why I call her my miracle baby? In my pregnancy this time, there are just too many uncertainties that caused me with sleepless nights, worries, but all got ironed out so well that I think all these are just miracles.

First, I engaged a confinement center opposite Island hospital in Feb. Paid deposit before CNY. I thought probably staying in a confinement center will be easier for both EG and Eunice. When I brought my parents to visit in May, they told me they are closing down end of the time. I was so shocked. We went to see other confinement centers but the condition was just depressing and they couldn't convince me that they are breastfeeding friendly at all. My parents were checking out the places and pestered me to get a confinement lady instead. In such a short notice, it's not easy to get a confinement lady! I called up 20+ contacts that night and all are booked. To cut the story short, finally I found one auntie who is free in August. We met her and found her pleasant, and we engaged her. This is the first miracle that we could find a confinement lady in such a short notice. How's the auntie? I'll update more later. :)

My baby has been growing well all the time inside me. But on week 36, Dr Karen told me baby is not engaged yet. I was taking it easy. But on the subsequent weeks, baby is still not engaged. I have been desperately hoping for a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-sect) this round. I still bathe Eunice until I couldn't balance myself with my big tummy, because I know squatting helps dilation. I keep myself agile, I went marketing alone, did cooking until late 3rd trimester, and try to keep myself as fit as I can to prepare for the day. But even I have prepared myself, baby is not engaged!

I asked my girlfriends to pray for me. I emailed my cell group to pray for me. It's very rare for me to ask for prayers because I always don't like to trouble others. Besides, I always think other people have bigger problems than me. But this round I did. I cried and cried because baby is not engaged. Dr Karen said my tummy is pendulous, and probably that caused baby not able to engage. Besides, my baby is also at the posterior position (facing up, looking at my belly).. Same like Eunice! Dang!!! In order to have an easier labor, baby needs to engage and at the anterior position. One of the reason why I had to deliver Eunice through emergency c-sect is because she was at the posterior position and she couldn't turn down during the delivery, and she got distressed! I cried and cried that both my babies are the same and this round I might even need to have to make the decision consciously to go for c-sect.

A friend told me to do some exercises to help baby to engage, and to turn the baby to anterior position. I did them every night before I sleep. On Week39, baby is STILL not engaged! And still at posterior position. And worse, Dr said, she's still high, and there's no improvement from Week36 till Week39. My heart just sank.

Many friends are praying for me. Even my pastor smsed me and EG to tell us that he and his family are also praying for us, and sent very encouraging advise to us. It comforted me, a bit. I sent an email to my friends, updating them on the status, and my decision. I decided to go for c-sect on my Week40 check, 1 day before my EDD. If it's still the same, I'll go for c-sect on 8th Aug. I told them, I was sad to be in this circumstance to make this decision. A friend replied me and told me that her family are still praying for miracle to happen to me, and asked me to be joyful.

It makes me tear because when I have given up on the situation that I'm in, there are still people praying for me. That makes me feel there's still hope. Friends send me bible verses to comfort me. I meditated on them to comfort myself. But I stopped doing any exercise. I was just so depressed and I wasn't putting anymore hope and was preparing myself mentally to go for another surgery to deliver my 2nd princess.

I took my maternity leave earlier, used a day to cool myself down, quiet myself at home, relax, and spend some time with me myself only. Then, I went for checkup the next day.

Dr Karen touched & pressed my tummy, asked me, pain or not? I said, a bit. I felt weird coz for the past few weeks, she touched and pressed, then told me, "Nope, not engaged".. this round it's different. Then she did ultrasound, and told me, "Baby engaged already... and she's looking at her daddy now.." EG was standing on my left side. I couldn't express my feeling then! I was too happy to even feel happy! It took me a while to know that there's still hope for natural birth!!

So, Dr Karen's advice is to wait till Week41. If there's still no sign of labor on Week41, then we'll decide if we should induce or go for operation. I told EG, Let's wait ok? My sweet hubby told me, "I know it's your heart's desire to delivery naturally, I'll support you. We'll wait..."

Of course if you follow my facebook, I delivered my 2nd princess naturally! I'll write on the detail in my next post but I want to pen down this miracle to remember God's goodness on me! I have never imagined that baby still can engage at the very last minute. I call it a miracle. Truly a miracle in my life.

All praises to our mighty God!

Counting

Eunice can count from 1-10 since she's 2 yrs old. She can identify the numbers whenever she sees it anywhere too. I also taught her to count it from backward. She can do 10 - 1 pretty well. Recently, she can count from 1 to 20, but she can't really recognize the numbers 11 to 20, just merely counting them.

This morning, while playing with my iPhone, I taught her one-and-one (11) is eleven. She picked that up.

Then, I tried teaching her counting backward also, by looking at the number on my phone.

So I told her twenty, nineteen, eighteen, and she repeated after me, and she started to pick up the trend and it became:

Eunice: Seventeen!
Me: Correct!
Eunice: Sixteen!
Me: Correct!
Eunice: Five-teen!
Me: Fifteen..
Eunice: Four-teen!
Me: Correct!
Eunice: Three-teen!
Me: Thirteen..
Eunice: Two-teen!
Me: Twelve..

Then she looked at 11, I just taught her that's 11 and she remembered! And she looked at me with her dazed look, asking me, "Ehh.. mami...." And I said, ya this is ELEVEN! I think she's going to say one-teen if I din teach her 11 is Eleven. :)

I am also trying to teach her to count in chinese, just one to five. She takes longer to pick up and ah, her slang, are just so ang-moh! :P