Xxm turns o.n.e.

Last year, at this very moment, G was in the 2nd stage of labour..with a very stubborn xxm refusing to crown. (And xxm's gender remains a mystery)

Now, at this very moment, xxm (a very active little boy) is fast asleep after a day of fun and special treats...

Special treat 1: walk to nature park and play on playground that has sand.

Special treat 2: no porridge for both lunch and dinner. Instead, G's mum cooked mee sua for lunch and ate out for dinner - din tai fung noodles!

Special treat 3: Baskin Robbins ice cream cake for dessert!

No wonder he's exhausted...

Xxm also gave us a special treat today: taking steps by himself...though it's only 3 steps, it was gratifying to see that all the effort to train him to walk is finally showing some results :)

One year old...it has not been an easy year for everyone. Taking care of a baby is like going on a trip which you have no idea where and how to get there. Lots of trial and error, mishaps, unexpected discoveries, nasty shocks and pleasant surprises.

As Chen An enters the next phase of his growing up years, may he always be happy and healthy :)

Happy birthday, Chen An!

Baby panda morphs into a koala

Xxm turns one year old in a weeks time!

Had a rather successful bbq party over the national day long weekend. Despite the rather ulu location and unpredictable rain, many guests came and J&G are very grateful for that :)

Feedback from guests were good too. G's jiemeis were happy with the goodie bags, while others liked the food.

And, Chen An too is very grateful for the presents and ang pows! Though he did had a rather embarrassing moment of wailing out loud after stepping onto his treehouse cake...

Now that the chalet is done and over, Chen An seem to have "grown" suddenly in terms of his awareness and "language"

Most obvious sign is the boy is now super clingy to G. G cannot step away without him throwing a crying fit or frantic chase after her. His morning routine now includes a banging fest on J&G's bedroom door while G is changing to go to work. And not only is he mire clingy, he has become more whiny too. Even when G is carrying him, he still gets episodes of crying fits for no apparent reasons. Teething, maybe? Or just the growing awareness that he is an individual, which leads to a form of unknown fear (that he will be abandoned?)

Basically, this little panda behaves more like a koala and G is the only eucalyptus tree in the house.

On a less tearful note, Chen An is starting to "talk".
Buses, cars and motorcycles are known as "aaaaaahhhhhh!"
His ring stacker with a bear head is known as "bah....bear"
G is known as "mm...ama"
Hummingbird that flies to balcony window is known as "jeeeee!"
Children, regardless of age, are known as "ge...gorgor" and "zei...chei"
Bubbles are the one thing he can "say" most accurately, known as "bub per"

Rest of the time, he babbles and babbled which no one can understand, but it's such a delight to hear these cute sounds. Last night, all of a sudden, he started repeatedly babbling "dabada...bada!". G got it down on recording and listening to it makes for good stress relief

G is quite sure it's just a clingy phase he's going through...but how long will it last?

Not too long hopefully...cos G's arms are already aching from all the carrying!

August has arrived!

Oh dear dear dear...

G needs to start paying more attention to this blog!

Last entry was 4 months ago...and now, xxm is turning 1 year old in less than 3 weeks time...

This little guy is really painfully adorable. Now, he is crawling so fast, and cruising so well, the living room is his playground.

One moment, he's on the playmat banging his toy, next thing you know, he has climbed up the sofa and cuddling his soft toy. And then before you can blink, he scrambles down and crawls to the bedrooms.

Not one moment of quiet time...except nap, breastfeeding and occasional breaks he takes.

G is anxiously waiting for him to take his first unassisted step...he can walk quite well when he pushes a stool or the walker toy..but once he is hands free, he will drop down to crawl. Lack of confidence perhaps...

Feeding solids have progressed to porridge which need not be blended. G is now trying to teach him to feed himself with finger food. He should have been able to do so probably 2 months ago, but no one taught him and he got too used to being fed. He actually learnt pretty fast, only problem now is he doesn't know how to let go, so many times, the food goes into his mouth then he takes it out again without leaving the food inside. Then he lets it go and drops onto the floor...to sum up, a messy affair. Nonetheless, it's fun to watch him...and that self-satisfied look he gives when he succeeded in feeding himself one piece of food is worth the mess :)

To celebrate his upcoming 1st birthday, J + G are gonna have a bbq at changi chalet. Hopefully it'll go smoothly and xxm will have loads of fun and plenty of photos to look at when he is older.

On a side note, many of G's friends are expecting or have just given birth...G is starting to miss being pregnant, especially feeling the little one kicking and squirming inside. But...are J & G ( & xxm) be ready for xxm2....?

Leave it to the hands of fate :)

Time flies when you are taking care of a baby

Wow, has it been almost 8 months?

G has been trying hard to keep up with xxm's daily routine and this blog has unfortunately become the lowest priority. Finally, G has some time on hand to update the blog!

Xxm will be 8 months old in 4 days time...over these few months, he has grown from a little bundle of joy into a joyful bundle of energy...

His physical milestones are approximately as follow:
- rolled over back to front @ 3 months
- sits unsupported @ 5 months
- prone to sitting @ 7 months
- pulls to stand @ 7 months
- creeps @ 7 months
- crawls @ 7+ months
- take steps when held upright @ 6+ months
- cruising @ 7+ months

He is definitely a very mobile baby now...so much so that the living area had to be reorganized to allow room for this little one.

G is still breastfeeding him, on top of his 3 meals of solids. While he's not exactly a fussy eater, he gets sick of food quite easily. Feed him infant cereal and it's world war 3, but give him chwee kuey and he opens his mouth wider that a hippo yawning.

Xxm is a natural charmer with strangers. Once out of the house, he turns into the cutest baby who can get the attention of any stranger who happens to make eye contact with him. Random uncles, aunties, gor gor & jie jie have come up to him to play with him or just to stroke his cheek.

But at home he turns into a little terror who cries and screams for attention! And recently, he has started developing separation anxiety. Once G is out of his view, he starts whimpering and crying...at times, he even crawls in the direction that G has walked away.

In the next few months, xxm is gonna get more mobile and hopefully, he'll (and G's parents) cope ok when G finally goes back to work

The birth story

This is a very very VERY overdue post...XXM has arrived!

And so, let us cut out the preamble and go straight to the point!

22 Aug 2012, around 12am

G woke up for one of her usual middle-of-night bathroom trip. XXM is already 1 week past his EDD and G is getting anxious and a bit sick of being pregnant...

But this bathroom trip is different...for one, G is having a very bad backache
And for another, she is having 'the show'...
And lastly, as she finally gets herself back into bed, she was hit by a contraction.
Not those teeny Braxton Hicks she has been feeling since week 34..
This is the real stuff. She knows because it feels so different

22 Aug 2012, 6am

J's alarm went off and while he is lazing around in bed, G broke the news to him

"I'm having contractions"

Nonetheless, since the contractions are about 20mins apart, there's plenty of time...

22 Aug 2012, around 8am

Contractions coming at about 5-7min interval. G decides to call the delivery suite. Midwife who picked up the call ask her to stay at home unless the pain is unbearable or water breaks

22 Aug 2012, 8am - 11+am

G continues to monitor the contractions while keeping herself mobile...she even clean and dusted the furniture! (the squatting helps with moving the labour process faster)

Then, at 12+pm, while having lunch, G starts to feel unwell. Body aches and lethargy, as well as feeling feverish. Checked temperature, no fever but bordering on having one

G informs J to be prepared to send her to hospital as she is feeling unwell

22 Aug 2012, around 3pm

J came back home to pick up G to go the delivery suite. By this time, the contractions are coming hard and with the feverish feeling adding on to the discomfort, G is starting to feel drained

Checked into delivery suite at around 4pm. Plug set and antibiotics injected, panadol given and CTG strapped up, G tries to settle herself down and find a comfy position

22 Aug 2012, 4 - 8+pm

The hours passed by in a blur of contractions and endless breathing exercises. Everyone in the room (except G) was calm and speak in soft tones while G is busy with deep breathing and then pant-pant-blow. The transition phase was terrible. The contractions seem to fuse into one big one that doesn't seem to end. G remember screaming...though J denies that she did ("not scream, just moan very loudly")

Throughout the whole process, it never crossed G's mind to ask for pain relief. Though somewhere in the process, G nearly gave up (but still did not think of asking for pain relief)

And unfortunately, that leads to G being too tired to move out of the bed and into the pool...

Finally, G gets the green light from the OBGYN to push...and that's the word of the day: PUSH!

22 Aug 2012, 8+pm to 1017pm

Pushing and pushing...moving from the bed onto the birthing stool. The lines that are etched into G's head

"Push! 2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10! Quick change of breath and Push! 2...3..."

"Contraction still going on. Can you push again?"

"Now you are 2 weeks constipated. C'mon, push it out!"

And finally...FINALLY, with one mighty push, at 2217h, XXM is born :)

First line from J: It's a boy!
First line from G: Why is he not crying?

22 Aug 2012, 1017pm to 2am

XXM did not cry when he was born. But he came into this world with his eyes open! When the OBGYN passed the baby to G, XXM looked up and into G's eyes.

After the cord was cut, XXM was whisked away as he is still not crying.
The neonatal Dr came...and it was only much later that G realized XXM had to be intubated
G was helped back into bed while J observed the process of getting XXM to start crying
The midwives rubbed XXM's legs and feet while the Dr set up the oxygen support
G looked on in fear at the number of people surrounding XXM...and finally, XXM let out a weak cry. G heaved a huge sigh of relief...

After that cry, XXM had to stay away from G for some time to get his oxygen level back up..in the meantime, G had to be cleaned up...some time around 11pm, the midwife gently place XXM onto G's chest for skin-skin contact.

After an hour of skin-to-skin contact and XXM had his first breastfeed, the midwives cleaned him up. Then, J, G and XXM were transferred to the labour ward for some much needed rest...

And so..this is the birth story for XXM a.k.a. Li Chen An （李辰安）








To be continued...

The wait continues...

39 weeks and 6 days...

1 more day and XXM will be really full term.

But the worrying thing is that nothing seem to be happening to indicate if XXM is gonna arrive soon!

G went to see the OBGYN 2 weeks ago and was told that she is already having quite strong contractions. On internal examination, she was dilated at 1cm. That gave J and G some hope that maybe XXM is gonna make its debut soon...

1 week passed and at the next Dr appointment, G is still only at 1cm dilation! Even the Dr expressed some disappointment, and did some manual stretching to see if it will help. 

G is immensely disappointed since that Dr appointment. And over the weekend, she walked, climbed stairs, squat, shot some hoops and played Kinect sports, all in the bid to try and wriggle XXM southwards and stimulate the labour to get started. Despite all the efforts, nothing has changed. Stress is starting to get to G and her mood swings has worsened. Poor J has to put up with her yoyo-ing mood, and has been trying his utmost to support G through this period. 

G's worst fear is that XXM is growing too big for her to push out naturally, which means a C-section is now more possible. In fact, even if XXM remains a respectable size, if the dilation doesn't happen, a C-section is likely to be the route. Furthermore, G was hoping to avoid medical induction so as to prevent the cascade of interventions that may follow...especially the dreaded epidural. 

It has been a stressful weekend...luckily, G has started on her maternity leave. At least that takes the stress of working off her shoulders...

Hopefully, in the next update...there will be a picture of J, G and XXM

Anytime now...

37 weeks and 2 days...
2.8kg
Femur length 71mm
Head fully engaged in pelvis.
XXM is now full term and ready to meet and greet the world anytime
At the check up today, G's cervix is just starting to dilate, so Dr says probably not due too soon...looks like the waiting game is gonna last for while more. G also had her first CTG done today. Being able to hear XXM's heartbeat for a full 40mins is such an enjoyable experience! And the reclining chair was so comfy too..G drifted in and out of a peaceful nap, lulled to sleep by XXM's heartbeat...and awaken by the contractions that comes every 2-4 mins. G is kind of looking forward to the next CTG. Can't see XXM, but hearing the heartbeat is definitely reassuring

XXM is one active baby. Usually by this time, the head is stuck in the pelvic cavity and movement become less - less kicking, more squirming from side to side. But XXM continues to kick, punch, stretch, elbow, squirm more than before! Dr is kind of puzzled, but she say it shouldn't be a cause for worry. Just have to monitor closely and make sure the movements don't suddenly decrease by alot...

G had a moment of freaking out this morning. All this time, while growing a life inside her body, she has been preparing herself to be the caregiver for another human being (a much smaller one which she has no experience in). Suddenly, this morning, while staring into space, it suddenly hit her that not only is she going to care for a little human being, she is going to be a mother. Yes, a MOTHER. And now, she is having alot of doubts about her own ability to be able to raise a healthy and happy child.

J, on the other hand, is still fighting off a bad cough. He has been having trouble sleeping lately, probably subconsciously, the anticipation, worry and fear of impending fatherhood is causing enough stress to affect his immune system and sleep pattern.

A new phase in life...and lots to learn...lots of compromises and sacrifices...all for this little life they've created

Soon, very soon...at the most, another 4 weeks...at the least...well, who knows..might be tonight!