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? ;)