Baby learns to read

Yes, i know it's still early days yet but who's to say we shouldn't be educating Sherrie everyday? She is a smart gal and i think it doesn't hurt to talk to her and teach her things. So far, we've been using toys to teach her things, primarily those that are red, black and white. Babies see best in contrasting colours so it's good to let her play with toys that have these colours.











On the educational side, V bought her a little children's bible and over the weekend, we got her some music CDs and a 1001 word book. Of course, you might say we are kiasu, but the pictures in the book are lovely and thematic.. making it easy to tell her a story during play time. She has play time normally between 4-6pm in the evenings. She enjoys the playtime. Actually I wonder how much time she should spend sleeping and how much time for playing.. i guess I will figure out as we go along.












The confinement nanny will be leaving this Sunday and i'm rather apprehensive as to whether I'll be able to cope. Mum has agreed to help out in the afternoons and we are going to get a part time maid for the housework. Also, probably going to order tengkat food for meals since cooking is probably out of the question. Koko has also kindly called and asked me to call her if i need assistance.

The thing i'm most afraid to do is to bathe her. But, i should have confidence. The nanny says she will teach me how to bathe her tomorrow so i'm back to being a student again; albeit for a very different kind of education! I'm looking forward to it (the learning, i mean) and hopefully by the time she leaves this Sunday, i can do it on my own. I suspect the first few times I would need another person to be around, just to be safe.

Sherrie's started on the bottle and somehow takes very long to finish her milk. She was being spoon fed the past 3 weeks but kept whining throughout the feeding. Spoon feeding involves having to press down her tongue to ensure she swallows her milk.. but being lazy, she always keeps it in her mouth. Try to put in some more and out it will come. Now with the bottle, I had hoped for less crying.. which worked, but she is taking twice the amount of time to feed. We will have to ensure she learns to suck faster.. or i will be spending all day feeding her.

Also, i bought a pumping bra from Mums & Babes but it's a little on the tight side that when i put the pump head on, it sucks so much of my nipple and areola in that it hurts so bad after i finish pumping. I must try to sell it online.

Week 2-3

Staying at home is unusual for me. Usually i'd be at work from 830 to 6 and be home only in the evenings. With the arrival of Sherrie, my life has really changed. I'm up bright and early, around 6.30am - for her first feed and i take intermitten naps throughout the day to recharge for the night.

In the previous post, i mentioned having engorgement, which affected my breastfeeding. The past 2 weeks have been better, with frequent pumping and feeding of Sherrie. Milk supply has gone up a bit and i'm feeling more at ease with being a Mom. Of course, looking at Sherrie and playing with her makes it all worthwhile.

In the past 2 weeks, Sherrie has grown more alert, frequently opening her eyes to observe the surroundings. She especially likes looking at lights and Eeyore. Yes, Eeyore. My cousin Alex bought her a Disney Discovery gym and she lay on it one day and couldn't stop looking at Eeyore. Here's a picture of her on the gym. See the Eeyore on the left? Here she is looking at me as i take her photo. She is certainly responsive.

Oh yes, she enjoys waving her hands about as if she is dancing, prompting me to ask her what song she has in her mind....

I really enjoy playing and talking to her. She may not be able to say Yes or no, but she looks at me with those innocent eyes and makes facial expressions that i don't make and it's all so cute! For e.g. she curves her mouth into an 'o' shape and opens her eyes big as if to say 'wow! is that my mommy?' and i just want to snuggle close to her. Feeding time is precious to me... i enjoy burping her and looking at her as she is nuzzling on my breast. She likes to multi-task i.e. drink milk and look around at the same time. As i bf her in my room, she stares at my wedding picture hung above the bed. Maybe she's wondering why mommy looks so big, especially my eyes.

At times when she is not playing, she is either feeding or sleeping. In order to recharge for the time I will be looking after her full time, I let the nanny feed her for most of the day, by spoon. this is to avoid nipple confusion. However, i think we will soon have to introduce the bottle. I'm afraid this might mean the end of her nuzzling my breast, but for practical reasons (V will feed her at night), I may have no choice. This doesn't mean she will stop drinking my milk; she will just drink it through bottle. As it is, she only likes to drink from my breast when the milk flow is fast. Otherwise, she will pull away from the breast. She is one smart cookie!

Here are more pictures of her and what she does most (as most babies do)...











The confinement nanny will leave soon. I am wondering how i'm going to cope being on my own. I think things will be fine... Sherrie's basically quite easy to manage. She likes to be fed full and then she will either sleep or be awake, but she won't cry. The other times she cries are when she is hot and sweaty, had a poop/pee or simply wants to be cuddled to sleep. Isn't that what she all want? :)

A baby is born

Day 1
Sherrie arrived into this world on Friday, 6th March, at 7.40am, through C-section. Sherrie was estimated to be 3.7kg at birth and because of an uncooperative cervix, she could not be naturally delivered. I don't think that it would have been wise to try and end up in an emergency situation.

She cried the moment she was lifted out of the womb... taken to be wiped down and wrapped in a towel before she was placed in my chest. Daddy was there through the surgery (I opted for epidural: I was awake through the surgery) and was very supportive. When she was placed on my chest, it was such a joy and the first thing we noticed were her puffy cheeks! And was she rosy... I wonder if all that birds nest helped... The anaesthetist helped us to take photos and Sherrie left with Daddy to be properly swaddled and weighed. She turned out to be 3.740kg (as predicted). What a big baby!

I was wheeled to a recovery room and shortly back to the room to rest. Sherrie had to be monitored till her temperature stabilised and that took about 2-3 hours. Meanwhile Mum, Dad and Koko came to visit and since I had just gone through the op, I was on a drip and had my legs still slightly tingling from the epidural. Tired as I was, I was looking forward to seeing Sherrie.

She was wheeled into my room around 2pm and I got to breastfeed her for the first time. Though there was no colostrum yet, it was so warm to feel her suckling on my breast. The rest of the day whizzed by with Sherrie being wheeled in for feeding and bonding.

Day 2
Staying in a single-bed ward was the best decision we made. It gave us privacy and lots of space. We could even surf the net in the room. V could also stay over and be my support through the nights.

With the morphine wearing off, the wound started to hurt and it was not as easy getting out of bed. To help the recovery, the hospital provided an abdominal binder to hold the wound tightly together so that I could walk around more easily. While a little troublesome, it did help considerably.

Over the day, I learnt various ways of breastfeeding Sherrie - football hold, cross cradle hold etc. It was really interesting to see which hold was the easiest for me. I think most people like the cradle hold because the baby is right against the chest.

Sherrie opened one of her eyes today and we were so excited to see whether she would open both at the same time. We couldn't tell for sure if she had double eyelids or dimples (from Daddy) but she sure had the chubbiest rosy cheeks. She was also a loud wailer (not good for our ears) but it was always for a valid reason. She was either hungry, had wind in her tummy or pooped/pee-ed. At least there was a reason and she was not jus throwing a tantrum.

That night, we opted for Sherrie to have glucose water so that I could rest - a decision I regret now. Because of that, i didn't get up to feed and the next morning awoke with swollen breasts. I had read about engorgement but didn't know that the breasts would actually feel like rock melons.

Sherrie had a bit of jaundice and had to be put under the light to reduce the jaundice. However, the doc said that she would likely be able to go home with me because it was mild.

Day 3
We attended a bath talk to revise how to bathe baby and breastfeed and through the talk my breasts keep getting harder and harder. When i went back up to the ward, i requested for help from a lactation consultant or someone to massage my breasts because of the pain I was in. Thank goodness for a nurse who helped me massage and put cold cabbage on them to reduce the swelling.

Sherrie was also my heroine. She would, over the night, be wheeled in to help me clear the engorgement. What i didn't know was that the engorgement inadvertently prevented her from suckling efficiently on my breast and getting much milk at all. Oh yes, this day, Sherrie opened both her eyes and we were all so delighted. She is really cute!!! We also discovered that she loved being swaddled tightly, but also enjoyed sticking her hands out through the swaddle. She had a strong grip and strong kicking legs (exactly like in pregnancy).

Day 4
Leaving the hospital was tough! In the hospital, I could wheel baby away when i neede to rest.. but at home, i had to hear her cry whenever she was either wet, hungry or tired. It was heartbreaking. We were met at home by the confinement nanny and the agent. Ying jie would be spending the next 28 days at our home, taking care of baby, doing laundry and cooking for us. It would be a good transition from the hospital. What we ddin't know, was that I STILL had engorged breasts and a baby with insatiable hunger.

V had to go buy more stuff for the nanny to cook and so i took a nap while Sherrie slept (well, not for long). The rest of the day passed relatively quickly, with reality sinking in that this was going to my life for the next 4 months.

That night had to be the hardest night ever. Sherrie kept crying and ying jie told us that she was hungry. I was determined to breastfeed and she brought Sherrie to us. Yet after each feed, I was exhausted, but Sherrie was not satisfied. She kept wanting more. Desperate and sore (nipples), we took out the breast pump, thinking we could express some milk for her. However, cos I was still engorged, we got only 1 or 2 drops and worse still, cos the nipple was cracked, there was also some blood. It was painful! We called the TMC hotline and they suggested to hand express. When we tried that, again, only 1 drop came out. Hardly enough for my lovely Sherrie. As a result, she cried all night and we hardly slept.

Day 5
We made an appointment with TMC Parentcraft to find out what was the problem. I didn't know i was still engorged, thinking it was a latching problem. When i arrived, the lady told me that the engorgement was quite deep and needed alot of massage to remove it. In fact, she put me on a regime of Cabbage-massage-feed-pump. Sherrie came along each time because I thought it was a latching problem... and cos she started to cry there, they had to feed her formula. She promptly drank down 60 ml of the milk and quietened down. That was when we discovered that she had a great appetite. She was only 5 days old. That morning, we went back with cabbage on my breasts and bottles of formula for my darling (so we wouldn't hv another sleepless night).

I had to return to TMC that afternoon because the problem was still there. Believe me, i didn't really look forward to it because the massage was so painful. But i really wanted to settle the problem and feed Sherrie with as much breastmilk as possible. When we were there, Mrs Wong Boh Boi, lactation consultant and our antenatal class teacher, found Sherrie very cute and in her words, 'eh sai jia' (hokkien for 'edible'). She promptly asked V whether Sherrie could be part of a photo shoot for her new book. Of course, we agreed. We were asked to bring her back the next day... she could go for the shoot while I could continue my massage treatment.

Day 6
Back at TMC again.. The breasts were getting better and I could pump out about 20 ml for Sherrie. But it was not good enough. I still had to continue with the regime and look sadly while Sherrie drank formula again. I guess it was a no choice situation - I'd rather she have milk than go hungry. As she spent many hours at the photo shoot and probably used up a lot of energy, she consumed almost 3 60 ml bottles, leaving Mrs Wong to remark that i had a big eater on my hands... Sadly, mummy here was not a big supplier at the time....

The photo shoot for her new book was interesting and the photographer took many lovely photos of her. They would call us to pick up the CD once they had settled all the photos. I hope we also get a copy of the book she's writing.. Sherrie is a star even before she made it to 1 week! As mummy, I'm proud of her! Anyhow, the ladies at the photo shoot were gushing over her and wanted to ta pow her home. I said they could whenever she cried. hahaha.... Kidding, of course. Who would want to give her up? She is incredibly sweet and cute. But i am biased of course.

Day 7
We had to go bk to TMC again.. this time not for engorgement. The breasts were getting softer with V's massage at night. It was tiring for him, having to be back at work and wake up in the middle of the night to pump milk and massage my swollen breasts. However, thank goodness for his strength because the breasts became much softer. Of course, i still had to follow the regime, even sleeping with cabbage and waking up to remove it by setting the alarm.

We were back at TMC for the pediatric appointment and to register her birth. Sherrie weighed 3.755kg, only slightly heavier than when she left.. probably cos she just fed. We had brought along some formula and picked up 40 ml of breastmilk from TMC... as contingent. We ended up taking longer than expected cos we wanted her to do a metabolism test so the two milk items saved our lives! I also had to go to the nursing room to feed her before we went home. She was certainly a big eater.

Her name on the birth cert is Sherrie Chan Mei Yan (Chen Mei Xin). I am a proud mummy.