Isaac's First Hour

Mum's De Best

Mum came to be with me to welcome Isaac. She came June 2, 2008 and left yesterday, the fastest moving 4 months of my life. I cannot imagine the kind of emotions that ran through me. For days before her leaving I tried to fight back tears. Yesterday there were no longer in control. I just let it flow and flow and keep on flowing. I hugged her so tight, refusing to let her go. I felt like a small girl in her arms again. Baby Isaac misses her too and I let him hug her tee-shirt so that she will always seem to be around. I dunno if that comforts baby or me.
I miss her so much that it aches. I love you mum...more than you ever know..

Isaac turns 3 months today..

It's September 25, 2008 - Our boy is 3 months old ! It's also first haircut day. Frankly I dun think there's anything wrong with his hair until remarks like these became frequent :

1) Ohhhh such a sweet baby girl !
2) Awww....What a pretty princess...!!
3) Boy or girl arr your baby ??

I reckon I can't delay any longer...he needs a haircut.....fast! I decided to make him look like Maddox, Angelina Jolie's eldest son. I took a magazine with Maddox to show the stylist, just in case. At 2pm we took him to a salon in Chinatown and looked for Lisa whom we know often trim his baby boy's hair. We wanna find someone familiar with baby hair trimming cos we dun wanna hurt the precious boy. The cut was sweet, short and reasonable. I kept some of de "fallen" hair for his baby book. The result : Baby was good thru-out the cut and for CAD7.00, all of us are H-A-P-P-Y !!!!!

After Labour Menu at Peter Lougheed Centre aka Hospital

I have been meaning to share these menus. Food the hospital served me right after delivery. Special attention to the ones in red which is a big no-no to Chinese confinement rules. Cooling food it seems. I have to admit I did steal some forbidden food in red...mum was not around to stop me... :D

Breakfast

• Milk
• Bran Flakes
• Carrot Pineapple Muffin
• Peach Yogurt
• Fresh Orange
• Coffee

Lunch

• Minestrone Soup
• Milk
• Chicken Salad Sandwich
• Tossed Salad
• Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae
• Tea
• Soda Crackers

Dinner

• Cream of Celery Soup
• Milk
• Sansbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy
• 5 Grain Rice
• Mixed Vegetables
• Orange Sorbet
• Tea
• Soda Crackers

Isaac means Laughter

Early Issues with Baby ...

Day 01 - Isaac baby refused to suckle and they (nurses) suspected he is tongue-tied (watever dat means). They told us it's better to have his tongue clipped (a slight cut under the tongue) so that he could latch on to the breast easily. And out of weariness and dizziness I agreed with one condition - never let me see ! The nurse then took him to have the procedure done and brought him back almost immediately to try on my breast again. Well, sad to say, he refused to suckle yet again. Obviously he prefers the bottle cos he din have to work so hard for food! Lazy bum baby...we were made to stay for another night so that the LC (Lactation Consultant) could help me and Isaac with breastfeeding.

Day 02 - Upon discharging the paeditrician's report revealed that she heard some murmur in his heart! OMG....I was trying to fight back tears as I listened to what the paed advised us to do. She say it could be a common thing but Isaac should have a proper check when he is 1 week old. Appointment was made with Dr Michael Giuffre for ECG and Echocardiogram on Friday, 4th of July 2008. And after getting the go-ahead, both of us headed home. Yayyy...!!!

Day 03 - Public nurse came to visit and saw that Isaac was a lil yellowish. She tested him with Transcutaneous Jaundice Meter (TJM) which is placed on his forehead to have his bilirubin reading (the cause of Jaundice). This gadget uses light to measure the yellowness of the baby's skin. Reading was high and she took his blood to have it tested. It was so urgent that she called a cab to bring the blood sample to the hospital immediately. She called 90mins later - Isaac has to be admitted straight away. Parents to follow. Sigh....Back to Peter Lougheed Centre we went, leaving PoPo at home. He underwent phototheraphy almost immediately and a string of doctors came to examine the poor lil boy. Apparently Jaundice is BIG in Western countries unlike Asia whereby a baby without Jaundice is questionable. They recognise that it's common amongst Asian babies too. We had to monitor his poop and pee and feed him very often. The more he poop, the faster he heals. Both mum & dad had too much fun in the room which is noticebly much better than mum's after labour-recovery room. There's a mini TV, Wi-Fi, free coffee, tea, snacks, Medela Symphony breast pump, baby supplies, extra bed with sheets for Dad ! Somehow we didn't manage to rest too much cos Isaac was uncomfortable and was making noise the entire night until the night nurse came to take him away so we could rest. We were discharged the very next day upon improvement in his bilirubin count.

Day 07 - We went to see Dr Giuffre for ECG. Baby had stickers all over his chest and wires everywhere. He didn't make too much of a fuss but was feeling chilly. Both me and Soony had to sing him songs to distract him from all the discomfort. After 30mins, the doctor came with results. So glad that we didn't have to wait weeks for it. Cannot imagine how agonising the wait would be. She told us that Isaac's heart is fine. Murmur is gone. Yahooooooo!!! However.....there is a slight crack on the upper part of his heart which in time will close-up naturally. Some babies do experience it and it's very common. Ooh..........my heart sank a lil and hope that God heard my prayer.

B is for Baby is for Boy

The stork finally remembered our address and sent us our B*O*Y !! He is a full term baby. Came on 39 weeks & 5 days. My EDD was June 27, 2008. Almost needed to send him to NICU due to breathing difficulties and he din give a loud wail like all the other newborns. Somehow baby realised that it's more fun to be with mama and tried a lil harder. Soon, he was A-ok. He then continued to make mumbling sounds for at least an hour. He stopped once in my arms. Awwwww......

Name : Isaac Kye-Ian Cheah

DOB : June 25, 2008 Wednesday

Weight : 7lb 8oz or 3.5kgs

Length : 51cm or 22in

Season : Summer

TOB : 620pm

Soony and Kate Plus One

Labour is hardwork. Hardwork requires time. It took me 16 long hours to bring Isaac to see the world. Due to many doses of epidural (I suspect it's more like overdose) my lower abdomen was super numb. This epic makes delivery even harder cos I couldn't feel the contractions to push! Instead of delivering at 4pm they had to let the epidural wear off so I was made to wait for the pain to return to senses. Hubby coached me to push as he could see my contractions from the monitor. I did the pre-pushing exercise for 2 straight hours until I told everyone in the delivery room I wanna head home. This apparently sounded more like a joke to them and they laughed. So no one took me seriously.

6pm ~ A Senior Physician whom I recall looked like Colonel Sanders of KFC came to examine the woman in labour who was at the verge of giving up. Really. I had slight fever therefore the process should not be delayed further. Baby needed to be vacuumed. He immediately prep me for the procedure and after 2 attempts (cos baby had loads of hair and was slippery), he finally made his appearance. And phew....I was dizzy, exhausted, exhilarated and feeling on top of the world eventho I look like I was very much under it. Mum came to console me saying that it's over, baby is here and slap me with a cold hard fact : "It's never easy being mum. Welcome to my world...!!!!"

*speechless*

Labour Day which isn't a Holiday

The time is NOW : 8am. A glass of water before admitting to Peter Lougheed Centre. Contraction was 3mins apart and I was yelling the entire night eventho had Morphine & Gravel from hospital at 4am. Was sent home at 5am cos only 1cm dilated. Gawd....:O

Yeah...mom was with me in the labour room. Shy-shy leh but comforted.. see all the sheets n blankets covering me? I was having slight fever which is not a good sign so they monitored me very closely. Dat's Soony looking fresh while I look like a fish out of water. Had epidural. Able to rest a bit while waiting for physician to break my water bag at 12.30pm.

After much struggle, here I am in the triage aka assestment room to check my dilation. 9am : 6cm dilated. And yes I qualify to stay and have my baby! Was wheeled to the delivery room for further preps. I even squeezed Dr Calvin's hand during one of the super-painful contractions. He told me I can squeezed him harder if I had to. Awww..isn't he sweet ?

IV needed bcos of epidural but only to realise after labour it didn't work. Either the needle was not inserted properly or I moved too vigorously during the pushing and gripping Soony's tee. Yeah dramatic really..

My best friend in the delivery room...GAS!!! It made me spacey and took away the pain temporarily. My threshold to abdominal pain is rather low...epidural is a MUST. The lady opposite my room (also in labour) let me have the epidural procedure before her after hearing my moans n screams which I think was unbearable to listen to. Did I sound like a buffalo about to be slaughtered ? Having said all these, I'm indeed very grateful to the lady and I wish her well :-)

Huge + Heavy = Me

Being pregnant is wonderful. Looking like a walking hippo + penguin is not. I did this collage to remind myself what a balloon I turned into because of my lil munchkin. I put on a whooping 20kgs (or was it more?) these wonderful 39+ weeks. Staying at home 24/7 sans stress with all the sleep and food in the world contributed to the scale, I suppose. Losing the pounds doesn't come naturally unless I breastfeed the kiddo. Pray that baby will co-operate in helping me get back in shape. Pray pray pray.....

Calgary, our Home

We are residing in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Am not surprised if you have not heard about dis part of the world. When my hubby (let's call him Soony) first told me he got posted to Calgary for a project, my reaction was...

Me : Huh ? Where ?
Soony : Somewhere in Canada, cold and blooming.
Me : Got shopping centres ar ??
Soony : Got lah...haiyo !!!
Me : Can't you go to places like Vancouver or Toronto?
Soony : Why dun you go ask Shell ??
Me : $^*&(*%#@#%^

By the time of dis overseas posting, we were expecting our first child and I was in week 12 gestation (I think).

Virgin Blogging

Congratulations Kate !

Allow me to pat myself on the back cos my procrastination is finally over, thanks to my blogger friends Siew & Ivy. I often feel good reading theirs especially when it makes our world a little closer though we are thousand miles apart. Blogging is a good substitute for Facebook ,I hope. I think I'm far too hooked on it. Aren't you? I have asked a few friends on blogging and they encouraged me to start one since I'm sooooo free (can't agree more) and here I am, writing my virgin blog..woohoo!. I should perhaps cut a red bow or something on this very special and auspicious day.
Enjoy..........