Baby Isaac @ 8 months Old

My 8 month old precious has started to show signs of being mischievous.  At this point, amongst the things that he can do are:

- Shake his head (vigorously) when you say “No! No!”

- Just learned to say “Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa”. On repeat mode. 

- Trying to psycho him to say “Ma Ma”.  He’ll usually shake his head.

- When in awe, he'll usually go "UhhHHhHhhh" with an "O" shape.

- Can give a high 5.

- Depending on mood, can do Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

- Knows what is Bang! Bang! and then proceed to bang on the table.

- Occasionally can clap his hands. 

- Sometimes can wave bye bye.

- Likes to bite people. Especially on their faces. 

- Able to scoot around very fast. Not able to crawl properly yet.

- Able to sit very stably on his own.

- Learning to grab onto things to hold himself up.
- Loves to roll around on our bed. 

- Is in a “koala bear” phase. He love to cling onto me. 

- He screams when things don't go his way. 

- Cries and will reach out for you for attention.

- Knows when and how to manja to get things done his way.

- Showing signs of separation anxiety.

- Dislike being in a huge crowd of unknown people. He'll end up crying hysterically and being in a "koala" mode.

We have started him on semi-solid ever since he was 6 months old. He's on 3 times solid now with 3 times of milk. I'm very pleased that he is not too picky/fussy on food - he'll usually chomp them down. And if you are not fast enough, he'll end up crying screaming for more. Of course if those that he doesn't like, he'll end up spitting them out or clamping his mouth shut. If you continue to force him, he'll use his hands and grab the spoon or will inevitably end up crying screaming. Yup, this boy knows exactly what he wants! 

On my breastfeeding journey, I'm sad to announce that I'm on mix-feeding. Once on breastmilk and twice on formula milk. Mummy can't catch up to his demands anymore - he's now taking a total of 7.5oz at each feed. :( And may I say, formula milk is so darn expensive! We're feeding him organic Bellamy formula milk. Apparently, the closest you can get to breastmilk in terms of components. 

I vow for my #2, I will push myself to direct latch more and to go on exclusive breastfeeding as long as I can.

My precious is growing up way to fast! I love waking up next to him every morning and cuddling him to sleep in the night. Better enjoy it whilst I still can before he eventually outgrows all the snuggling sessions. 

Love;

Mummy Geri

Baby Isaac @ 6 Months Old

How time flies! Isaac boy is 6 months old!

He is such a joy to be with. I love rushing back from work and seeing him laughing and smiling away. To think that initially I was so worried whether if I'll be a good mother and how on earth am I gonna manage a baby! I wanted him to grow up fast.

Now I want him to slow down.. I'm beginning to miss his infant-hood! :(

Here are some of his milestones:

He slept through the night at 2.5 months old. Good boy! So that Mummy and Daddy can be well rested for work. :) He has learned how to flip and turn over.Recently have learned how to lift his cute butt up and lunge forward. My baby boy is attempting to crawl soon!

Very chatty! He will go coo~ing and aah~ing when he sees us. He blabbers a lot too I'm psycho-ing him to call mama :p I think he's teething as he's drooling a lot and he nibbles on things. He's biting on people's fingers, knuckles, and shoulders! He's quite a kay poh chi observant little baby. Always looking at people with his mouth open wide.

Relatively easy baby. Not much fuss. :) He loves the water! He'll kick and "paddle" in his bath tub - making us all wet!

He loves music too - all thanks to my Mum. He love it when people sings to him. When he sleeps, he loves being surrounded by a lot of pillows, only leaving his little face exposed. And he wants people to hold his hands too. -.-"

Extremely good in manja~ing. He'll snuggle his face into your shoulder and chest. And when no one is around, he'll cry and reach out his hands for you to be carried.

Started on semi-solid i.e. avocado and he loves it. He love his food just like Daddy.

And he loveeeee his Mummy's milk :)

Love;

Mummy Geri

Life as a Mummy

Sorry for the lack of updates. With the baby and being a first-time mum, life has been extremely hectic. Everything is centered around the little one and there is no such thing as a 'me' time anymore. Proper bathing is a luxury item now and is a thing of the past.

Don't even talk about leaving the house for movies, shopping, leisure walks, hi-tea etc. 

Yes, I'm not gonna lie. Much has to be sacrificed. It is tough. I do get very frustrated especially when my boy fuss around and you have no idea why is he behaving like that. Worse is when you have lack of sleep. Thank God my mum has been coming around often just to help me so that I could take a breather. Truly grateful for that.

So far mummy~hood has been not too bad. Am beginning to slowly get the hang of things and understanding baby Isaac's pattern and routines. 

Well, he is now coming to 2-months old. How time flies. Some of his significant milestones are:

- Smile voluntarily (my heart melts each time).

- Coo and responds to us.

- Lift up his head.

- Turn to his sides (I have a feeling he's gonna flip over soon)

- Sleep through the night (hallelujah!)

His last 1-month checkup shows that his progress has been on the upper percentile which means he has been growing at an above average rate (not fat ok) in terms of length and weight. All on cap susu ibu (more on breastfeeding later).

Yup, and here's a simple collage of my little prince.

Love;

Mummy Geri

My Birth Story - Baby Isaac Lee

Baby Isaac Lee

Baby Isaac Lee was delivered on the 17th November 2012 at 1:20pm. Mummy had to go through 25 hours of labor with excruciating contraction pain in the final hour when Mummy was pushing the baby out. Am still   in the hospital as the baby has slight jaundice and needs to be put under photo-therapy.

Seeing and cuddling Baby Isaac in my arms now makes it all worth it. And here is my birth story :)

- 16th November 2012 -

8:30am:

The day when I was to be induced. Took a nice long shower and washed my hair. Me, Bear, and my parents had our breakfast in a nearby mamak stall. Thank God for that because I was to fast during my long hours of labor, which I totally didn't expect.

9:30am - 11:00am:

Admitted ourselves into the labor ward and changed into my hospital gown. Was given enema to move my bowels. A light meal of porridge was served. A vaginal examination (VE) was done - meaning the midwives will jab their fingers down there and go all the way up the cervix to check for dilation. I couldn't even take the pain and discomfort so they kinda abandon plan and said that I definitely need epidural, which I totally agree. 

The labor ward in SJMC

11:30am - 12:30pm:

Was induced via insertation of pill in the vagina. And waited for contraction to start. It didn't and the midwives wanted to start me on drip to further induce. I was already quite scared at this point because I can't stand needles. And they took 4 tries trying to poke that drip needle because they couldn't find my vein. It was horrid. 

2:00pm:

Dr Delilah came in to check on me and was kinda agitated on why was I not on the drip yet. She inserted the drip herself in one try. 

2:30 - 4:00pm:

Start to feel the contraction pain which is once in every 2 minutes. Requested for an epidural first at 4:00pm because I was too chicken to go through the full force of contraction pain.

Epidural machine

4:30pm:

The anesthesiologist came in an administered the epidural. Truth be told, I was terrified because I know that a small tube will be inserted to my backbone where painkiller will be pumped into my system to numb the area below my waist. However, the procedure was pretty painless and the anesthesiologist was very gentle. Really nothing to be scared about. 

5:00pm:

The effect of epidural starts to kick in and I was pretty relax by now. So I sent Francis down for his lunch. He was pretty famished by then.

7:00pm:

The midwives did VE and I was 3cm dilated. Dr Delilah came and broke my waterbag by inserting a long thong-like scissors into my vagina all the way up to the cervix to poke. This will speed up contraction much significantly. Thank God I don't feel anything. Everytime when the VE is done, the midwives will also insert a catheter to drain out my urine (because of the epidural, I am unable to feel the urge to pee.) 

- 17th November 2012 -

2:00am:

Only 6 cm dilated. By now, I was already mentally very tired and extremely hungry. Sucked on sweets which Francis got my dad to buy and took sips of water. You are not allowed to eat or drink anything when on epidural because you may end up vomiting. Sent Francis downstairs to our single ward room to sleep for a bit as he was getting very uncomfortable sitting on the chair in the labor room.

3:00am:

Suddenly there was a beep in the baby's heart machine - seems like the baby was in distressed. I was so worried for the little one as I was in labor for so long and the waterbag has been broken for some time. Turns out that I was having low grade of fever and the midwives quickly gave me panadol and injected antibiotic intravenously. By now, my BP has also dropped and Dr Delilah instructed for the induce to be temporarily removed to stabilized by BP.  

6:30am:

I was 7cm dilated. Extremely slow progress so I was put back on the induce drip. By now, I was crying to myself because it was really tiring and I was mentally very exhausted. It was made worse with me having no food or water for hours, which makes me physically very tired as well.

9:00am:

Dilated to 9cm. Was getting very excited because I only had 1 more cm to go before I can push the baby out. And I knew the end is very near after the long waiting hours.

Really tired

11:00am:

Finally dilated to a full 10cm and the midwives asked to switched off the epidural so that I would know when to push with the contraction pain. I was extremely terrified because of the on-coming pain.

11:30am - 12:30pm:

Started to feel mild contractions as the epidural begins to wear off. I was asked to start pushing. By now, the baby's head has crown. Dr Delilah was suppose to come in at 12:00pm to assist in the delivery but she was held up in the OT and subsequently with another natural delivery.

Machine to monitor baby heart rate and contraction.

12:30pm - 1:00pm:

By now I felt the full-blown contraction and I had stopped pushing. I screamed, teared, and wanted to give up with every contraction pain. It was so bad I wanted to die (not being drama about it ok). The midwives had to quickly called Dr Delilah and informed that the patient was in distressed. I screamed for the epidural to be switched on again. It was done but only half-dose. It brought no pain-relieve whatsoever for me. 

1:00pm:

I was still screaming in pain when the Dr came in. Somehow despite the pain, I was relieved to see her because I knew that I was in safe hands. She quickly assisted me to help vacuum the baby out and instructed me to push when the contraction came. In the moment of confusion and daze, a few midwives had to hold my legs down. I was given a towel to bite to stop myself from screaming. My drip was pulled off from the commotion. 

1:20pm:

By God's grace and enabling, despite the pain I managed to push baby Isaac out with Dr Delilah's help and it was the most beautiful thing ever. She put him on my tummy and then instructed Francis to cut the umbilical cord. The minute the baby was out, I was almost going in and out of consciousness from the pain and tiredness. From now, everything was a blur. I knew that the placenta was pushed out. I knew Dr Delilah was stitching me up but yet I felt nothing. I knew that they took the baby to be weigh and warmed up under the heater but I just couldn't respond to his cries.  

Baby Isaac straight from the oven

After everything was done and I was cleaned up, I was allowed in the room by myself with the lights shut off the rest and sleep. 

3:00pm:

Once my energy was regained, I was wiped and sponged down. Thereafter, was transported back to the normal single ward. Food was served which I chomped down gladly. Around this time was when I had a good look at baby Isaac. 

There was such overflowing joy and love for the baby that all the pain that I had endured earlier was totally forgotten. 

Love;

Mummy Geri