Review : Battle of the Storage Bottles (Bumble Bee vs Autumnz)

The reason why I had two different brands was because Autumnz storage bottles comes together with my Medela Swing, whereas Bumble Bee was bought. Honestly, I prefer Bumble Bee storage bottles over Autumnz and here's the reason why : 

(1) Compatible with my Medela Swing. I can straight away pump into the Bumble Bee bottle without having the hassle of changing and pouring. Minimize the risk of spilling my precious breast milk.

(2) I find Bumble Bee's storage bottles more 'solid' in the sense that it doesn't look too worn out after numerous washing and sterilising.

(3) The middle cap doesn't fall off easily as compared to Autumnz (which is darn irritating).

Love;

Mummy Geri

Review : Autumnz Steam Steriliser and Bottle Warmer

The initial reason why I chose Autumnz brand is because they comes in a set and is relatively cheap. Also, the steriliser was recommended by a good friend. After using them for a couple of months, here are my reviews.

(1) Autumnz Steam Steriliser. 

- Straight to the point and very user friendly.

- Sterilises your items in 8 minutes.

- Light indicator and there is a beep sound once it's done (plus point!).

- Able to fit all my Avent bottles and Medela Swing pump. 

- Good buy. 

Good buy :)

Can fit in a lot of items

(2) Autumnz Bottle Warmer.

- Takes very long to warm up (major thumbs down!)

- Good to keep the milk warm at a constant level i.e. 40c.

- Light indicator - orange means warming up, green means keep warm.

- Can do without it, would rather do the traditional way of using boil water.

Bleh~

Traditional way is still the best and fastest!

Love;

Mummy Geri

Review : Giving Birth in SDMC

I had stated previously on why did i choose SDMC to give birth. And how I have been through it, I am glad that I've chosen this hospital. 

The only downside is that this hospital is amongst one of the more expensive private hospital to give birth in. My total bill (inclusive of the baby) came up to approximately RM9k! Bear in mind that this is an induced natural birth with epidural and not even a c-sect. Can't imagine what's the cost of a c-sect. When we looked through the itemized bill, the hospital in itself charges the most (surprisingly not the professional fees of the gynea or the anesthesiologist or the nursery and pediatrics).

Oh and also there is no additional sleeping chair for your spouse. You may rent a lazy chair but it is very uncomfortable. In the labour ward, there is no sofa chair as well. Room is rather small as well.

What I love about SDMC:

1. Dr Delilah, my awesomest gynecology in the whole wide world
- calm, cool, and collective. In my 25 hours of labor she kept coming in the check on me - even in the wee hours of the morning.
  
2. Midwives
- all very professional and patient.

3. Dr Ngui, the anesthesiologist who did my epidural
- fantastic, didn't feel a thing.

4. Labour Ward
- very warm and comfortable (not scary like those you see in movies)

5. Nursing Care
- Thumbs up!

6. Nursery
- Very pro-breastfeeding. After the baby is taken to the nursery to be heated up for 2 hours, the baby will be taken to you for breastfeeding. Everytime the baby is hungry, the nurses will bring the baby to you for feeding. The nurses will teach you how to latch correctly and is on-call 24 hours should you encounter any problems. Rooming in with the baby is encouraged. No formula milk is given unless consent is given by the mother.

7. Dr Sanjay, the peadiatricion
- Extremely gentle with babies. Love that he encourages breastfeeding as well.

So there you go.. given a choice (and the budget), I would definitely choose SDMC again to give birth.

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

Postpartum

After birth, I was still okay, happy, and chirpy while in SJMC for 5 days (needed to stay longer as Baby Isaac had jaundice and needed to be under phototherapy). I thought I wont get the postpartum blues. I thought I was strong.

How wrong I was.

In less then 1 week after being discharged from the hospital during my confinement at home, I started feeling really down and moody. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't even wanna take a look at the baby. I only wanted to be alone in my room. Sometimes I cry for no reason. 

Thank God for me I acknowledged that I am getting into postpartum blues. Even family members and my husband can see it. It was that obvious. 

I am now entering into week 2 on my confinement and things are looking pretty upbeat at the moment. I still get the blues especially in the evenings but I am trying to manage and overcome it. My parents encouraged me to talk to Dr Delilah and see if she can prescribed some hormonal tablets to balance up my system and prevent it from getting worse. 

I really hope that this phase would pass over soon because I don't want to be stuck in this situation. 

And for those new mummies out there, postpartum blues is very common and I urge you to talk about it with your husband and family members. It is something very normal as our hormones are imbalance at the moment. Get yourself surrounded by loved ones. Don't lock yourself up because it can lead to depression. 

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

Reflection

Accordingly, tomorrow is suppose to be the day that I am to deliver my baby bear. And if nothing happens, I am to go into SDMC to be induced the following day. So either way, we will be seeing the baby bear by this week.

 

To me, it still feels surreal to the point that I can't believe that I am to be a mother. At age 28. Mother to a child. Wow. Amazing.

 

Surreal #1:

After carrying him for 9 months, we finally get to see, touch, and smell the baby. I really wonder how he will look like.

 

Surreal #2:

I can't believe it. I am about to give birth. Something that have plague me with fear since young. But yet, at this point in time, I am still surprisingly calm about it.

 

Surreal #3:

Will we be good parents? How am I to handle being promoted to be a mother? Will I be a good one? How will I know what to do?

 

Surreal #4:

Am I really prepared???

 

Like what all first-time mummies would tell me, no one is ever prepared to be a mother no matter how mch they read about it, ask people about it, or prepare themselves mentally about it. Maternal instinct will kick in naturally and eventually you will know what to do.

 

Well, I guess I will know when the time comes.

Which will be very soon.

 

p/s: I have a feeling the baby bear will come on the dot tomorrow. Just a hunch.

 

Love;

Mummy Geri