Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Maternity Leave Coming to An End Soon
In three weeks' time, I'll be returning back to my work. I am already feeling a slight dread in my heart. Initially, I had felt that the life of a full-time mother is pretty monotaneous and predictable, always going through the same feeding, bathing baby, changing diaper, tucking baby to sleep routine. I'd probably feel more productive from accomplishing my work and obtain higher satisfaction from solving work challenges (Not that I'm an overly ambitious or high achiever type.) It's just that caring for the baby involves mainly manual tasks which do not require much brain work. Hence, I could imagine that my brain would have deteriorated as a result of being underutilised!
Now that my maternity leave is coming to an end, I suddenly wish that I could turn back time and re-live the past eight weeks and perhaps improve my baby care techniques further. How I wish I can have more time to bond with my baby and watch her little body grow and developing all her body movements and facial expressions. I've really come to enjoy breastfeeding, holding her little body close to mine and seeing how satisfied she is sucking for the milk. Now I can truly comprehend the wonders of breastfeeding, aside from the health benefits it brings to the baby, it is, without doubt, the most wonderful moments a mother can have with her child. Returning to work would mean giving up on breastfeeding as my work place does not have the facilities nor environment that support breastfeeding mothers, especially where expressing milk is concerned.
Now that my maternity leave is coming to an end, I suddenly wish that I could turn back time and re-live the past eight weeks and perhaps improve my baby care techniques further. How I wish I can have more time to bond with my baby and watch her little body grow and developing all her body movements and facial expressions. I've really come to enjoy breastfeeding, holding her little body close to mine and seeing how satisfied she is sucking for the milk. Now I can truly comprehend the wonders of breastfeeding, aside from the health benefits it brings to the baby, it is, without doubt, the most wonderful moments a mother can have with her child. Returning to work would mean giving up on breastfeeding as my work place does not have the facilities nor environment that support breastfeeding mothers, especially where expressing milk is concerned.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Hello, I'm back!
My blog has been dead for more than a month! Guess you would have known by now that motherhood has indeed consumed me. Since my last update was about my first week experience with baby Adele, I should give a brief update on Adele's progress from second week till now - 8th week!
The confinement period has certainly provided a much needed rest and aided in my speedy recuperation. The food is quite to my taste, unlike some who simply disliked confinement food due to the lack of variety and the heatiness caused to the body. Of course, it was also atributed to the fact that my mum, who was my "confinement lady" was creative and took extra efforts in planning my confinement dishes. Though I did enjoy my confinement, I very much looked forward to its end when I could get out of the house, meet people and do some shopping.
Adele has grown healthly in the first month with a weight increase of 1.3 kg from birth weight of 2.7 kg to 4 kg. This came as a surprise to me cos' she seems to have a small appetite and would sometime prefer sleep over a full feed.
Much to our delight, she is quite a well behaved and predictable baby, sleeping well at night and waking at every 3 hour interval for her feed. She loves water and enjoys taking her bath. Perhaps we can start her off with swimming lessons at an early age. It's so interesting to watch her after a bath cos' she will be so cheerful then and her eyes glancing around and her mouth making sounds such as "oohs.. ahs...". Into her 7th week, she has learnt to focus on our face and other close distant objects, and even respond to us with her little baby talk.
The confinement period has certainly provided a much needed rest and aided in my speedy recuperation. The food is quite to my taste, unlike some who simply disliked confinement food due to the lack of variety and the heatiness caused to the body. Of course, it was also atributed to the fact that my mum, who was my "confinement lady" was creative and took extra efforts in planning my confinement dishes. Though I did enjoy my confinement, I very much looked forward to its end when I could get out of the house, meet people and do some shopping.
Adele has grown healthly in the first month with a weight increase of 1.3 kg from birth weight of 2.7 kg to 4 kg. This came as a surprise to me cos' she seems to have a small appetite and would sometime prefer sleep over a full feed.
Much to our delight, she is quite a well behaved and predictable baby, sleeping well at night and waking at every 3 hour interval for her feed. She loves water and enjoys taking her bath. Perhaps we can start her off with swimming lessons at an early age. It's so interesting to watch her after a bath cos' she will be so cheerful then and her eyes glancing around and her mouth making sounds such as "oohs.. ahs...". Into her 7th week, she has learnt to focus on our face and other close distant objects, and even respond to us with her little baby talk.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
First Week with Baby Adele
The first week of our parenthood was like a war at home - three adults battling with a little baby! Trying to understand her cries and responding to her needs was already hard to master. On top of it, I was also struggling with my breastfeeding technique and it really added to my frustration. During the first week, I couldn't nurse the baby properly due to sore nipples and engorgement. I was so depressed that I wanted to give up breastfeeding altogether. I thought why do I have to waste so much time feeding the baby and expressing out the milk. I could have used the time to accomplish other things instead. For a while, I felt I had lost control of my life - instead it is now dictated by the needs of the little one.
Thank God for my husband who was with me during that whole week, comforting me and encouraging me. In fact, I thought he would have made a better mother than me during that first week. We tried to establish a feeding routine for the baby so that we can manage our time more efficiently and not to get "lost" in midst her demands. Very soon, things took a turn for the better with my soreness healed and I was able to resume my breastfeeding again.
Thank God for my husband who was with me during that whole week, comforting me and encouraging me. In fact, I thought he would have made a better mother than me during that first week. We tried to establish a feeding routine for the baby so that we can manage our time more efficiently and not to get "lost" in midst her demands. Very soon, things took a turn for the better with my soreness healed and I was able to resume my breastfeeding again.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Announcing the Arrival of Baby Adele
1 July 2007 is another significant turning point in my life - the day of the arrival of Adele. After 39 weeks of anticipation and excitement, and enduring her kicks and turns in my womb, I finally get to see my baby!
My contractions started pretty unexpectedly on 28 June, Thursday. It was still bearable and I could even go for a hair-cut on Friday afternoon, followed by cell meeting that night. It intensified on early Saturday morning around 2 am. However, again it subsided slightly during the Saturday daytime. As I did not experienced any other signs of labour such as rupturing of my water bag or blood discharge, I did not even regard it as the onset of labour. However, the pain became so unbearable on Saturday night 10 pm onwards that I began to get worried. Since there were still no other signs, I thought to myself: am I supposed to bear with the excruciating pain for another week till my due date on 7 July? We decided to inform my gynae about my contractions. Immediately we were told to go to the hospital and I was admitted to the labour ward.
Being a person with "zero" pain tolerance, I requested for the epidural without any hesitation. Thank God for the pain relief. Can't imagine how I can still have the strength to deliver my baby if I have to endured the pain. It was a long 14 hours of waiting in the labour ward because my dilation was so moving at snail's pace. At one point, I was even given a drip to speed up my dilation, unformantely, my baby resisted it so badly that her heartbeat dropped. Finally, at 3 pm, my gynae came and prepared me for delivery. After about 3-4 pushes, a loud wailing sound greeted us and my baby was placed on my chest. It was such an emotional experience for me that I didn't know how to react but to cry with joy. I guess only the mothers can truly understand my feelings at that moment. The mother and child bond that was seeded 39 weeks ago has eventually crystallized into a little life.
My contractions started pretty unexpectedly on 28 June, Thursday. It was still bearable and I could even go for a hair-cut on Friday afternoon, followed by cell meeting that night. It intensified on early Saturday morning around 2 am. However, again it subsided slightly during the Saturday daytime. As I did not experienced any other signs of labour such as rupturing of my water bag or blood discharge, I did not even regard it as the onset of labour. However, the pain became so unbearable on Saturday night 10 pm onwards that I began to get worried. Since there were still no other signs, I thought to myself: am I supposed to bear with the excruciating pain for another week till my due date on 7 July? We decided to inform my gynae about my contractions. Immediately we were told to go to the hospital and I was admitted to the labour ward.
Being a person with "zero" pain tolerance, I requested for the epidural without any hesitation. Thank God for the pain relief. Can't imagine how I can still have the strength to deliver my baby if I have to endured the pain. It was a long 14 hours of waiting in the labour ward because my dilation was so moving at snail's pace. At one point, I was even given a drip to speed up my dilation, unformantely, my baby resisted it so badly that her heartbeat dropped. Finally, at 3 pm, my gynae came and prepared me for delivery. After about 3-4 pushes, a loud wailing sound greeted us and my baby was placed on my chest. It was such an emotional experience for me that I didn't know how to react but to cry with joy. I guess only the mothers can truly understand my feelings at that moment. The mother and child bond that was seeded 39 weeks ago has eventually crystallized into a little life.
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