Pic : Looking around...!
Monday, October 11, 2004
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Chapter 2 : Baby Alden's First 2 Weeks
2 weeks have come and gone. Wow, it's really really fast, and baby Alden would have added on 500 grams by now, which makes him about 4 kg.
The Homecoming
When we first brought him home on the 3rd day, he was a bit jaundiced and looked just a bit yellow. He had a steady appetite and was still very weak and fragile, and he slept for most hours waking up only when he feels hungry and needs to feed or to be changed.
Initially at the hospital he was fed a mixture of S-26 as well as on mother's milk, it was a bit inadequate though because Karen was still "getting used" to breast feeding, it was quite difficult to as she was only beginning to lactate. The good doctor advised Karen that she should not put the baby on formula so soon and get him to suck whenever he wants (on-demand) is the word because when the baby sucks, it would stimulate her to lactate faster. So Karen decided to follow the doctor's advice.
The Confinement
I just read the other day on the web that pregnancy isn't hard... It's the confinement that really gets to you. Looking back after having Karen in confinement for 2 weeks, it's true, EVERY WORD!! Karen had a good pregnancy, she didn't have cravings (whoopee for me), morning sickness, depression or anxiety attacks. Her back aches were there but where quite mild, she only complains of cramped calves which seem to trigger mostly in the night while sleeping.
For me, every meal for Karen smells the same and looks the same, it's always mixed with ginger. I also detect sesame seed smell as well, my family members always said that I have a overly sensitive nose, which is true! The meals are cooked to ensure that the "heat" is retained for Karen and that she has to be wearing long pants and cannot expose herself to the "wind", lest she wants to get severe athritis in her later life. As a result, Karen is always sweating, her long hair starts to smell after about 2 days, she herself detests the confinement period and keeps on asking who came up with this "idea". She has mentioned to me more than once that this confinement seems to mask its true hidden agenda for "family planning", as the confinement is truly unbearable. I seem to think so too as she has said before she wanted 3 children, now 2 seems to be enough... :) My mother had to prepare some special herbal water for her to bathe which smells of lemon grass and she didn't bathe until the weekend!
The Jaundice
I was very worried over Alden's jaundice and on Thursday evening went to the hospital to check with the nurses to see if Alden is infact jaundiced. They mentioned that he did look yellow but the only way to find out for sure is to get a blood sample and check the jaundice levels. We went home satisfied and got some herbs from the Section 17 medicine shop for him to bathe him, apparently, I used the same herbs as a baby as well. We also sunned him in the morning so that the jaundice will clear itself faster. This went on until Tuesday the following week 5th of October before we really got worried and brought Alden in for a blood sample.
My mum and Karen did make the trip in the end and they managed to get the "all clear" from the doctor. He said that Alden's jaundice is way below normal and we shouldn't worry, things should clear up when he's about a month old. So with that surety, we went home with relief. I heard some horror stories about how jaundice can affect a baby's mental development and could be fatal as well from my office colleagues. Thank God everything is all right!
Changes : Am I getting enough sleep?
A lot of my friends and relatives ask me this question, as the father, (heavy word with a lot of responsibilities there), and at the moment : yes I am, I can't say the same about the mother though, Karen is woken up a few times in the night to the cries of "FEED ME, FEED ME" which sounds like, "uuueeekkkk, uuueeekkkk...." Funnily that ALSO sounds like "I'm WET. I'm WET!!!" as well. So with no way of telling which is which, we got a system up, he feeds at about 3 hour intervals with 45 minutes feeding + burping period, all noise making in between is wetness... hehe!
I can only sympathize with Karen as I always say to everyone who asks me this question, "Don't come to me, I don't have milk to give....!" which is true, for now... Wait till we move onto the baby formula, that time, no excuse liao!
How's the Baby?
Alden is fine :) He's a very co-operative baby, doesn't make any noise apart from when he is soiled and needs changing and at other times, feeding. He isn't colicky or very grumpy, he just wants to be attended to and then we can all resume our lives. Very considerate child. Well, it's just 2 weeks, so, I'll tell you more later on. In the first week, he doesn't really flail his arms about but when it comes to week 2, he's kicking and fighting and flailing hands and feet to get attention especially during feeding, so we have to be patient and sooth him before feeding so that he doesn't flail around as much. He seems happy when he finds the nipple and drifts off to sleep most times just when he's had his fill. Even during burping he can sleep through it. Funny thing though, 80% of the time after feeding and burping he'll get hiccups.
Alden is now more alert and more awake as well, he doesn't always doze off after a feed anymore, at times, he'll be awake and look around him, he responds well to his grand dad's cajoling, flails at me when I put my face really close to him, enjoys music (or seems to be), detests the pre-mature potty training by grand ma and gurgles quite a lot when left on his own. He's most content after feeding and makes nice content noises...! I like it when he "stretches" and urgles at the same time...
Alden's Chinese Name
Some of you may be asking me this, so I'll put it up. It's P'ng Zhi Zenn promounced Chee Zenn. The individual characters in Chinese stands for intelligence and luck. His English (not Christian) name is Alden. Alden stands for Wise Protector. Al is pronounced as ALL and den is pronounced same as the don in London. The English names comprises of both my name : Alex and Karen's. So that's how we arrived at Alden. Well, couple that with a really hard to pronounce Surname, he'll have LOTS OF FUN introducing himself :)
Pictures
I'll post some up later, when I fire up the uploading engine again... heh!
Read on for more updates later ok? ;)
The Homecoming
When we first brought him home on the 3rd day, he was a bit jaundiced and looked just a bit yellow. He had a steady appetite and was still very weak and fragile, and he slept for most hours waking up only when he feels hungry and needs to feed or to be changed.
Initially at the hospital he was fed a mixture of S-26 as well as on mother's milk, it was a bit inadequate though because Karen was still "getting used" to breast feeding, it was quite difficult to as she was only beginning to lactate. The good doctor advised Karen that she should not put the baby on formula so soon and get him to suck whenever he wants (on-demand) is the word because when the baby sucks, it would stimulate her to lactate faster. So Karen decided to follow the doctor's advice.
The Confinement
I just read the other day on the web that pregnancy isn't hard... It's the confinement that really gets to you. Looking back after having Karen in confinement for 2 weeks, it's true, EVERY WORD!! Karen had a good pregnancy, she didn't have cravings (whoopee for me), morning sickness, depression or anxiety attacks. Her back aches were there but where quite mild, she only complains of cramped calves which seem to trigger mostly in the night while sleeping.
For me, every meal for Karen smells the same and looks the same, it's always mixed with ginger. I also detect sesame seed smell as well, my family members always said that I have a overly sensitive nose, which is true! The meals are cooked to ensure that the "heat" is retained for Karen and that she has to be wearing long pants and cannot expose herself to the "wind", lest she wants to get severe athritis in her later life. As a result, Karen is always sweating, her long hair starts to smell after about 2 days, she herself detests the confinement period and keeps on asking who came up with this "idea". She has mentioned to me more than once that this confinement seems to mask its true hidden agenda for "family planning", as the confinement is truly unbearable. I seem to think so too as she has said before she wanted 3 children, now 2 seems to be enough... :) My mother had to prepare some special herbal water for her to bathe which smells of lemon grass and she didn't bathe until the weekend!
The Jaundice
I was very worried over Alden's jaundice and on Thursday evening went to the hospital to check with the nurses to see if Alden is infact jaundiced. They mentioned that he did look yellow but the only way to find out for sure is to get a blood sample and check the jaundice levels. We went home satisfied and got some herbs from the Section 17 medicine shop for him to bathe him, apparently, I used the same herbs as a baby as well. We also sunned him in the morning so that the jaundice will clear itself faster. This went on until Tuesday the following week 5th of October before we really got worried and brought Alden in for a blood sample.
My mum and Karen did make the trip in the end and they managed to get the "all clear" from the doctor. He said that Alden's jaundice is way below normal and we shouldn't worry, things should clear up when he's about a month old. So with that surety, we went home with relief. I heard some horror stories about how jaundice can affect a baby's mental development and could be fatal as well from my office colleagues. Thank God everything is all right!
Changes : Am I getting enough sleep?
A lot of my friends and relatives ask me this question, as the father, (heavy word with a lot of responsibilities there), and at the moment : yes I am, I can't say the same about the mother though, Karen is woken up a few times in the night to the cries of "FEED ME, FEED ME" which sounds like, "uuueeekkkk, uuueeekkkk...." Funnily that ALSO sounds like "I'm WET. I'm WET!!!" as well. So with no way of telling which is which, we got a system up, he feeds at about 3 hour intervals with 45 minutes feeding + burping period, all noise making in between is wetness... hehe!
I can only sympathize with Karen as I always say to everyone who asks me this question, "Don't come to me, I don't have milk to give....!" which is true, for now... Wait till we move onto the baby formula, that time, no excuse liao!
How's the Baby?
Alden is fine :) He's a very co-operative baby, doesn't make any noise apart from when he is soiled and needs changing and at other times, feeding. He isn't colicky or very grumpy, he just wants to be attended to and then we can all resume our lives. Very considerate child. Well, it's just 2 weeks, so, I'll tell you more later on. In the first week, he doesn't really flail his arms about but when it comes to week 2, he's kicking and fighting and flailing hands and feet to get attention especially during feeding, so we have to be patient and sooth him before feeding so that he doesn't flail around as much. He seems happy when he finds the nipple and drifts off to sleep most times just when he's had his fill. Even during burping he can sleep through it. Funny thing though, 80% of the time after feeding and burping he'll get hiccups.
Alden is now more alert and more awake as well, he doesn't always doze off after a feed anymore, at times, he'll be awake and look around him, he responds well to his grand dad's cajoling, flails at me when I put my face really close to him, enjoys music (or seems to be), detests the pre-mature potty training by grand ma and gurgles quite a lot when left on his own. He's most content after feeding and makes nice content noises...! I like it when he "stretches" and urgles at the same time...
Alden's Chinese Name
Some of you may be asking me this, so I'll put it up. It's P'ng Zhi Zenn promounced Chee Zenn. The individual characters in Chinese stands for intelligence and luck. His English (not Christian) name is Alden. Alden stands for Wise Protector. Al is pronounced as ALL and den is pronounced same as the don in London. The English names comprises of both my name : Alex and Karen's. So that's how we arrived at Alden. Well, couple that with a really hard to pronounce Surname, he'll have LOTS OF FUN introducing himself :)
Pictures
I'll post some up later, when I fire up the uploading engine again... heh!
Read on for more updates later ok? ;)
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Chapter 1 : The Coming of Alden
I’ll rewind the clock to the last consultation (23rd Sept) we had with the Gynecologist, he measured Karen’s blood pressure twice and found that it was a bit high, out of fear that Karen might be having PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension), he recommended to induce the delivery on Sunday on the 26th. We then borrowed an Omron blood pressure check machine from Tau Ee (most senior maternal side aunty), very kind of her to lend it to us and started to verify the BP. However, we found that the BP is normal, it’s a model BP, wished I had that BP, about 100-110 over 60-70. So there’s no problem actually.
We also had the benefit of extra consultation from a couple of our high school friends (well, one of them is, but his girlfriend also works in the same department and was at the BBQ party as well) who are now working as doctors in Ipoh General Hospital’s Obstetrics and Gynecology department, so we weighed the pros, cons and dangers of such technique when it was a bit unnecessary.
Armed with a mountain of information that Selvyn and Loga generously provided, we decided that we should go all natural and try not to induce if at all possible. So we waited till Sunday morning, got into the labour ward at 8 am, got the nurses to check her BP (which was confirmed 110-70) and got them to call the Gynecologist. He then said that it is our decision and at our own risk should we want to go all natural, but we didn’t worry much about that.
Well, lazy nice Sunday, I was ill, went to see the doctor and all. She slept throughout the afternoon, then at about 12 ish, the strangest thing started. Karen felt like she wanted to go to the toilet all the time, and that she had an uncontrollable urge to go and pee. She also said that she couldn’t control her “peeing”. We delayed about 45 minutes to see if this is just the baby pressing against her bladder, but after 12.45 we checked again and I had this feeling that it wasn’t pee. So we called up the Labour Ward at Assunta Hospital, after talking for a few minutes, we decided to go and get her checked out.
Drove over to Assunta Hospital and got there at about 1.20 ish am. The nurse was very HAPPY at 1.30+ made us feel quite at easy, friendly and easy going, she’s very nice and patient, name’s Elaine from what I hear. She checked and said that Karen’s water bag has been leaking and she’s dilated about 3 cm. So the baby’s coming all right, I could hear the Gyne saying, “told you to go on the morning, should be easier for everyone, now the baby’s going to come in the middle of the morning…”
But we didn’t care… The contractions which Karen mistaken for “baby moving very weirdly” started at about 2 am they are very minor contractions and didn’t hurt at all. Wait one hour later and it gets more urgent. So at about 5 o 6 am, it got unbearable for Karen. I was also unable to get much of a good rest and no matter what position Karen adopts on the labour bed, she felt uncomfortable. The pain of the contraction is there and it got more and more intense as time passed by. I just held her hand and wished that I could share the pain, literally.
At about 7 ish, she was quivering and shaking from the contractions, we then discussed pain killers, she first opted for drug injection where she will still be able to feel 50% of the pain, but I was thinking Epidural will be much better, since it got rid of 90% of the pain, more effective. Discuss, discuss, decided on going for Epidural. Got the nurse to “check” new nurse come in for the shift, it was Nurse Tan, a lot taller, more authoritative (especially when ordering Karen to PUSH!!) she checked Karen and then later told me, “Oh GOOD NEWS!!! Karen is 90% dilated and won’t need the Epidural!! We called the doctor, he’s coming in now…!”
So there wasn’t much we could do but just bear it out. Karen felt the baby coming out at the birth canal already and the nurse even verified that, “We can see the baby’s head!”. So we waited until about 8.15, Karen was really groaning in pain from the contractions that time, so when the doctor came in, they prepped her and I get to go in at 8.25 to “help”. I just held her hand and tried my best to match Nurse Tan’s spirited urging to get Karen to PUSH! the baby out. The baby’s head actually appeared about half way twice, but got sucked in when Karen’s contractions subsided.
After 3 tries, the Gyne said, “Ok, I’m going in with the forceps… Ok ahh.. I’ll help you out there..” He expertly lubricated the forceps, which looked quite formidable, and inserted them into the birth canal. I thought it was painful but apparently Karen didn’t even notice.. With the next contraction, it was very good, Karen pushed, the doctor pulled, and pop came baby Alden’s head. He was already crying, gurgling though because of the fluid still stuck in the breathing passages. With the next push, Alden popped out, and was delivered into the doctors arms.
“OK! Baby’s out, 8.30 a.m. September 27th, Ok ya! Boy ya!” (side note, we couldn’t get the ultrasound to pick up the baby’s gender even until the last consultation with him, cause Alden’s a bit shy apparently). He brought the baby’s groin quite close to me so that I could see the –you know– just to confirm the gender. Nurse quickly swathed him in some towels and brought Alden to see his mother. Karen just looked a while and nodded, very tiring ordeal passed. No, the doctor did not slap the baby’s bottom, and no, I didn’t go and beat him up, I know some of you saw that online video clip where it was the advertisement for the Argentine Association for the Hearing Impaired.
The nurses then took him and started to do some preliminary clean up as well as sucking the fluid from the mouth and throat. The doctor proceeded to pull out the placenta. Procedure is now over. Doctor sewed up the cut from the Episiotomy, I was by Karen’s side, trying to soothe her after the ordeal.
In about 10 minutes, sewing finished, we managed to see Alden right before they bundled him into the nursery and got him tagged, number 76 was tied onto both mother and baby’s wrist. So Alden was successfully launched into the world coming in at 3.5 kgs (about 7.7 pounds) huge and tall baby, full of hair, I was amazed at how much hair he’s got, initially thought baby was a girl, because girls grow hair faster in the womb.
So thank you for hearing Baby Alden’s story chap 1. Hopefully there will be more updates, I hope I managed to portray the whole event as it took place before me, I can’t really put it into words the feeling I got, I still can’t, cause I don’t think it has sunk in yet, I’ll just feel when I have to I suppose. I have included some pictures for you to pore over.
This is definitely Karen’s baby because of the extra ear tags, on Karen it is small (Karen also has a small one on the left ear) but on the baby they are quite large, the Pediatrician has advised that we wait till later to remove it, as many Chinese people consider them lucky. I dunno… I’ll just wait till later. Thanks to all that came and visit!
Wow this looks like blog material…
Thanks again to everyone’s support. Do share the story and pics with those I “accidentally” left out.
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