Sherlyn & Family

Zander's arrIval

2010-11-12T18:29:00.000+08:00

Well, I wanted to start of this post by stating that having a second child is no less easier. Granted, you do have more experience and hence you can probably have more accurate guesses on the needs of the baby and/or what's to come. But the sheer effort and energy required is just not any lesser. In fact i think its worse as you are also older!

Anyway, back to the post on Zander's arrival. Well, i guess he definitely has his own timing to follow. I was getting fairly impatient with being pregnant that i wanted to schedule for an induction on the same day he came out. With the plan to go to the hospital at 6am for an 8am induction, I thought I had it all down pat. In fact, it was quite a good feeling, to know that you are getting ready for delivery the next day. I took a long shower, spent quality time with Karine as her last night as a single child, and just enjoyed the final hours turning in early.

Alas, the best laid plans were not to be. At 4am-ish, stomach pains and bloody show signalled the impending labour pains. As the cramps intensified,rushed to the hospital as fast as our Fiat cold take us, with Karine safely at my mum's.

This time was different, as I had already requested for the anesthetist, he was there fairly quickly! The nurses were also moving fast, wheeling me to the delivery room as I was already 5cm dilated when they checked me upon arrival. Within 6 hrs since my cramps started, out popped Zander!

The worst, or best, thing was, he came out with the umbilical cord wound round his neck twice, and a knot further down the cord! Can you imagine the somersaults he must have been up to in the womb! I don't really want to speculate whether that's an indicator of his activity levels when he becomes bigger!

Another good thing doing this second time round, is that I'm not such a noon at the breastfeeding. It really is like cycling, but some refresher tips are always useful. The tips at babycentre.com is really useful, especially the one that comes with the visual diagram. Here's the link: http://www.babycenter.com.sg/baby/breastfeeding/visualguide/

Ok, that's all for now. Will post more pics later once I have them transferred to my iPad. Typing with the soft keyboard is not as bad as I would imagine. I'll blog about how Karine is coping so far and also my thoughts about doing this a second time round and the differences between boy baby and gal baby. Naptime!

My other new Magazine Cover!

2008-05-31T19:04:00.001+08:00

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Latest cover

2008-05-30T00:40:00.001+08:00

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Laughing without a care

2008-03-22T13:01:00.002+08:00

Here's one of those moments whereby Baby's laughter lift up everyone's spirits!

Working Mama

2008-01-27T14:15:00.000+08:00

Have been working for the past 2 weeks already and boy, do I miss bb Karine at work! From being able to be with her at her every whim and cry to only be able to see her in the evening, it's a HUGE difference! It really makes me cherish the weekends more so that I can spend as much time as possible with her! Even changing her dirty nappies is a joy!

Expressing at work is also something that needed to be worked out logistically. I'm currently managing on a 5hrly interval but that can sometimes stretch to 6 hrs! I realised that I need an alarm reminder or something to get me off the desk otherwise I'll miss the time when I'm engrossed at the computer! But thankfully, my supply is ok so far and I get to take home 3-4bottles of milk for bb. And I'm also glad that I stocked up on the frozen BM, cos Mondays are when they'll be needed!

Another thing I'm glad about it being able to get photos free from HP's Snapfish service. Heh, so I bring the cute little pics of Karine to the office and think of her whenever I miss her. I've now replaced my mobile's wallpaper to her pic and now, I'm one of those mummies who proudly show off bb pics to just about anyone. Yikes!

One of my fav pic:

Today is also one of those days when I bathed bb. Usually a task undertaken by my mum, bathing Karine is not that tough after all. OK, she's bigger now and being used to the water and all makes the job much easier and pleasurable! She's turning into a regular water baby!

Brought Karine out to 2 places yesterday, Hubby's colleague's wedding and his friend's baby full month. I'm so glad that Karine was such a sweetie at those places. Even though it was kinda hot and noisy at the wedding, she sat in her pram prettily and quietly, and waited for mummy and daddy to finish lunch before complaining about the heat. Just in time to take our leave and reach home for her teabreak.

The next stop was near our house, and she took her nap on the sofa, amidst the milling guests and other curious toddlers and babies! I'm so proud of her, being able to sleep anywhere, regardless of noise! What a doll!

Talking about sleep, Karine has started sleeping through. In fact, this sweetie pie started sleeping through 1 night before mummy returned to work! I'm still crossing my fingers and hoping that this it! And her feed times have fallen quite neatly into the 6, 9 and 12pm cycle. She's pretty much into dreamland after her last feed at 9pm-ish and after changing her. I'm glad I bought the Baby Whisperer book and settled her into a routine from day 1, amidst scorn and sceptism from some older folks.

Oops, gotta change nappy now!

Karine welcomes 2008

2008-01-02T15:49:00.000+08:00

I feel so excited to usher in 2008 with our new addition. Can't believe it. The same time last year, we were still happily idling in our own home watching the celebrations on TV and calling family members wishing them a Happy 2007. Fast forward to now and how do we celebrate the ushering of 2008? By being sound asleep, with our little one in the next room. Won't be going out for any celebrations anytime soon till she's much older of course!

It's nice to have a little bundle of joy around, babies aren't called little bundles of joy for nothing. Each time I see Karine and she gives me a big smile or gurgle, I feel so happy.

Life really changes and it's true what they say, you learn to appreciate your own parents more when you become one yourself. I can't imagine how my mum can go through labour pains 4 times without epidural! Goodness!

And it's true how having one makes me feel like having another one to keep each company. And I've kinda forgotten the pains. Well, sort of. Anyways, it's still too early to plan for that now, I'd like to enjoy Karine as much as possible first and wait till she gets a bit older to be able to help me with a mei mei. Yup, hope the 2nd one can be a gal too! hee...

I was just telling hubby that I miss Karine's newborn look. In fact, I can't seem to remember how she's like already! Of course looking at the pics help, but somehow, she still looks the same to me! Thank goodness for technology, we capture those moments and share them and review them so easily!

Then:

Now:

I've been with Karine for the past 2 months and 2 weeks 24x7, it'll be tough on me when I return to work! I'll definitely miss her! And I'm starting work in a week and a half's time. On one hand, it'll be kinda fun to be back on top of things. However, I'm just getting used to being at home and being with BB. I've already planned out my leave days so that I can wean off being with Karine 24x7. Luckily CNY hols would follow soon after I return to work!

2mths and it's Xmas time!

2007-12-26T18:44:00.000+08:00

BB 2 months liao! so fast!! And 1 more mth and back to work, sianzzz. Have been trying to capture pics of bb close-up and catch her gummy grins, but somehow, the shutter seems to be capturing all motion blur and fuzziness! And most times, the pics turn out to be bad passport photo mugshots! How do the rest of the mummies manage to capture those grins perfectly?!

Nowadays, our attention has been pretty much focused on feeds. naps, diaper change, poo and pee. And watch out for that sneeze, or warm sticky poo will land on you!

I've also realised that Karine has established her own kind of routine, an hour after her feed, she'll need her nap or she'll be really cranky. I'm so thankful that I've started to be more diligent in recording her naptimes. Also, she usually takes 1-2 longish naps like 2hrs or so and abt 2-3 shorter naps, which can last anytime from 15-30 mins. I'm glad i started her on a routine and she's managed to lay down for her longer sleep at night after her last feed, which is usually at 9-ish. So far, waking up for one night feed.

Am reeaally looking forward to the day sleeping thru occurs! When when?!?! She did sleep through the nite before, and my body suffered for it.

I'll explain why.

People are right abt bbs being our gym. I've never did so many squats and lunges and walks with a 5kg weight so many times! now, it makes up like 80% of my day! Ok, I may exaggerate a bit, but it seems like 80% of the time. I sleep like 20% of the day . Anyway, back to why my body suffered. So since Karine slept through, i didn't wake up and move my body right, so by the time I woke up, 7 hrs+ have passed and body has "stiffened" liao. You know, like how you exercised a lot the day before and the next day your muscles ache like anything. So that was the way it was the whole of yesterday. Damn sng!!! But heng, my massage lady came yesterday, which i totally wasn't prepared for cos I didn't receive her confirmatio sms, which she said she sent, and the session was really solid. Damn painful but damn shiok! ok, i'm sick. Some of you already know that!

Ok, enough about aching bodies. Back to sleeping through. when when when! I thought it could be repeated last night, but Karine was just too sleepy to be woken up for her 9pm feed, that i let her sleep on. And I said hello to 2am feeding again. But my body didn't ache that much today, so I guess moving that butt out of bed and back again helped!

The other milestone that Karine reached was her 2mth vaccination jab. I've been stressing out over that and preparing myself for bouts of fever and fussing, but all that came to nought. She took the jab pretty well, thanks to Dr AAT's quick draw! Before Karine realised the jab, the needle was out and the plaster was on! She started to cry abit and it was time for the rotarix vaccine, which is taken orally. And she was comforted by that, happily sucking away!

When we returned home, i was monitoring her temp almost 2 hourly, which hb thought was kinda excessive. thankfully, her temp didn't peak more than 36.8 deg, and the thermometer still maintained a smiley face! all that worry for nothing! which is great!

After the jab, I felt more comfortable in bringing bb out to more crowded places. I've been quite hesitant about bringing her out before her jabs as it's the year-end festive period with loads of people and of course, year end bugs. so the sights Karine's been taking in were trips from home to Grandma's and trips to the PD and the greenery view from the windows! call me paranoid but I'd rather believe in prevention than cure for now!

Well, BB has since gone for dinners and lunches out with Grandfolks at Swenson's and Tung Lok. So far, she's been great to travel with. I'm so blessed! We also had a Christmas lunch at Perlyn's place. Roast lamb - yummy!

Snug and asleep in the trusty sling!

Darn camera, not very easy to capture leh! look here!

Cousin Emmanual paid us a visit too! And he's fascinated with Karine's mittens! So cute! Those mitts have since come off, need to give those little fingers some air-time! But they go back on at night, cos she wakes up with scratches on her face! There was even one time she scratched her own eyeball and I had to bear with looking at a little red tiny scratch on her eye white. It was probably more painful for me than her!

I'm so looking forward to shopping for a new wardrobe for work, doing my hair (yay, can colour liao after 9 mths!) and my much-missed facial!! Need to make appts for my pedi and hair spa too...which i miss so so much! Haven't gone for my facial after my 7th mth, too uncomfortable to lie down for long. And the sales are now on! yay!

1st mth celebration

2007-11-29T12:02:00.000+08:00

Finally, I am out of the confinement month. Not like I have been observing the don'ts strictly. Obviously, I washed my hair, and slept in aircon room, how else to survive the month otherwise! Also, haven't been able to drink those red dates tea etc, too heaty and gums felt it! But love to drink those yummy soups and the pork/chicken fried with ginger and rice wine!

BB 1st mth was done at our home, so bb went home for the first time! And thankfully, she slept throughout the whole party, waking up only for feeds. And nobody actually carried her except me, wahaha. So bb wasn't traumatised nor cranky and her feeding schedule still adhered to. BB also had lotsa gifts and ANG BAOs! hee hee, of course that goes into her trust fund lah.

Here are some pics

I'm as big as my pressie

After the 1st mth checkup, BB was given the ok for jaundice level. In fact, don't even need to get the blood test done, hooray! no pricking today!

Following the good news, there's some not so good news. PD said BB must do some neck exercises to correct her head tilt! must do them more diligently! Next PD visit would mean taking her vaccination jab, which she'll have to take almost mthly till she's at least 1 mth! yikes, but better to take now than suffer later.

Karine has been a good baby so far, thanks to us putting her on a routine since exiting the hospital! Thanks to the Baby Whisperer, we are able to decode her cries and body language easier too. And so far, she's been a sweet baby to care for to-date. She's been waking up usually once in the night for her night feeds. Looking forward to the time when she sleeps through!

Mummy and Daddy love you! Muacks!

Karine says: Hello world!

2007-10-29T16:32:00.001+08:00

After 37 weeks, Karine's had enough of her crampy environment and decided to come out into the world with a loud wail. She's insistent enough to stage a "mobilisation" exercise for mummy and daddy at 36 weeks! But, that didn't come through even though I was dilated at 4cm and was admitted.

Anyways, at 37 wks, Karine made the decision for me to stop working in the office and start working in the home! After a sumptuous dinner on the 15th, Karine decided to give me a wake up call at 6am or so with cramps. And not before getting me every hour or so to pee! Left the house at around 6.45am after a trip to toilet resulted in some bloody stains. HB obviously quite kan cheong and bolted out of bed, quite unlike his usual self during work days. The ride to TMC was painfully long, although we got there in less than 30mins.

If i thought the pain experienced (or rather lack thereof at 4cm) the week before, this time round it was bloody painful x 3!! Especially after the waterbag was burst, i can't believe how ppl can do it without the epi! whatever breathing exercises and relaxation exercises I learnt during the antenatal classes just flew out the window with me gripping onto the bed rail and the gas mask like nobody's business. the wait for the anasthesia was excruciating, every min seemed like an hour and boy was I glad when he arrived. still, i had to wait some more for him to prep me for the jab...grrr...and then relief!!! could barely feel my legs and those quickly turned to lumps of flesh for me. My gynae said I would be fast, but really, how fast is fast!

I was finally wheeled into the delivery room around 10-ish and i guess i got dilated further when the nurse started telling me to push. The epi that gave me such great comfort has turned into somewhat of a hindrance, i had absolutely no idea when to push! And i know that by the time the contractions showed on that damn chart, it's already a delay. They turned down the epi drip but still, i can't feel the pain. Doc came in, started ordering me to push even harder and i guess there came a point when the birth needed to be assisted. so out came the forceps and out popped Karine! with a wail no less!

My first thought - goodness what a big baby!

My second thought - so much hair!

Those were quickly pushed out cos doc wasn't done with me yet! to spare the gory/bloody details, i requested for the epi to be up again cos whatever she was doing, it was getting to me!

Eventually, after being weighed etc, bb was in my arms, and off we were to our room.

Here are pictures of BB's arrival

We stayed in TMC for 5 days, mainly because i had a bad tear (she was big and came out as a stargazer) and needed more rest and Karine had jaundice. So we opted to stay with bb, cos even if we went home, there was nothing to do but wait, might as well wait with bb, at least i can bf her.

Meanwhile, pics with the excited family

Karine with mummy's Daddy and Mummy!

Karine with mummy's family

Karine with Daddy's mummy and bro's family

Karine with Daddy's mummy and daddy

Homecoming
It's nice to be back, and of course, home was my mum's place in woodlands, with all the gear all set up!

The first bb check-up revealed that her jaundice level was still high, so we had to rent the phototherapy light box and put Karine under for 3 days and for as long as possible. And because we had to feed her more formula milk than breast milk to increase her calorie intake, i had to pump my milk. However, didn't do that diligently and I figured that impacted the ss. But i think it's ok now. Subsequent checkups showed that her jaundice had stablised but still needed sunning, so bb is now kinda tan and not as fair-skinned as before. I hope that is just a temporary situation though!

In her light box, huddling into her little corner.

Hopefully she'll be better after 24hrs in the lightbox, can't bear her being pricked again to check her jaundice level!!!