Born in Taiwan but left when I was 8y.o., lived in 5 different countries by 18y.o., Christian, full-time General Practitioner in Eastwood! Loves travelling&adventures. Master of Divinity graduate.
台灣出生，八歲出國，十八歲時已經長期居住過五個國家，基督徒，道學碩士，在澳洲依士活作全職家醫科醫生，喜歡旅遊探險。
Since the last time I’ve blogged about COVID in Australia, which was September 2021, a lot has happened! The NSW state opened up a week after I gave birth, the COVID cases peaked in December, climbed down then climbed up again in March 2022 after international borders opened on 21 February. It is now going down again. I was on maternity leave for four months and didn’t work when Australia experienced its biggest peak. After returning to work in February, the numbers started climbing up again. Encounters with people who’s got COVID eventually became inevitable (unintentional, only got notified about people testing positive afterwards). In April, there was a huge outbreak in the church we attend. But because I attended church via YouTube live broadcast from 20 March until the end of May, we’ve avoided getting caught up in that outbreak. Baby Charlie had two episodes of cold-like symptoms, once in April and once in May. In both instances, he was found to have rhinovirus only. Meanwhile, the outbreak in my home country, Taiwan, has gotten out of hand since April 2022. One of my paternal aunt, who just got diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer, caught COVID during chemotherapy and spread it to my paternal uncle’s whole family. One of my maternal cousins’ whole family caught it.
Despite inevitably coming into contact with people with COVID due the nature of my work, I've never gotten sick. Got a serology test on 6 June, and it seems like I never caught COVID! I got the spike protein antibodies from to my COVID vaccination but no nucleocapsid antibodies (which people get when they catch COVID). Maybe my immune system is so efficient that it kills off the virus before they even had a chance to give me COVID? Thank God for His protection.
The result will not change my vigilance in protecting myself against the virus though. I’ve heard that how sick a person gets also depends on the concentration of the virus the person is exposed to, so wearing a mask and hand sanitising regularly helps. I am just quite surprised that I haven't got the nucleocapsid antibodies, despite having been exposed to several cases.
Charlie shows an interest in food. When I was holding him and eating an
avocado, he dug his hands into the avocado and licked his hands
25 February, 2022
Over the last 2-3 days, while lying on his back, sometimes Charlie
tries to lift his head and shoulder up a little. Looks like he is gaining more
strength in preparation for sitting. During tummy time on the adult bed,
sometimes he lifts his bums up and steps with his feet. Looks like his attempts
to crawl is getting even better. He’s also getting quite cranky lately. I think
it’s due to teething.
27 February, 2022
I placed Charlie on the bed and only looked away from a second, and he
rolled off the bed!! Luckily there was no injury. But he was so shocked he
cried for a minute. I think at this rate he can be started on solids in a few
days’ time.
9 March, 2022
Brought Charlie to the physio today. She wasn’t able to perform the
HINE test because Charlie started crying like crazy! She says Charlie's lower
limb development is faster than the average milestone but upper body
development a bit slower than average. So I will shift my focus to helping him
practice sitting, especially tripod sitting.
I remember hearing this as an elementary school student and all I could
remember was a blond woman with a strange voice singing "Zombie, zombie,
zombie-ie-ie". Watching the music video now produced some very different
feelings compared to hearing it as a kid, especially in the context of what is
happening in Europe now (ie. bombing of a children and maternity hospital in
Ukraine)! By the way, I never realised this was an Irish band, until all the
IRA stuff kept popping up in the music video!
12 March, 2022
Charlie likes it when I hold him into standing position, and when he's
on tummy time he lifts his whole buttock up trying to walk with the legs. I
placed him in tripod sitting today and he remained sitting for quite a while
before tumbling over.
14 March, 2022
Charlie is starting to become ticklish. When I place my hand in his
neck under the chin, he giggles.
20 March, 2022
Chris was on AV today and during worship practice time, the music was
so loud that Charlie started crying as soon as he was in the congregation hall.
Had to take him to the parent room where the sound was much softer. Saw two
other babies who are clearly older than Charlie: one was walking around, and
one was sitting steadily playing toys, but they are both smaller than Charlie!
Charlie is a pretty long baby indeed! A paediatrician friend at church did a
brief physical examination on Charlie and he thinks Charlie is normal.
21 March, 2022
I cut Chris’ hair for the first time since Charlie was born. Some hair
from my cloth got onto Charlie, so I used sticky tape to remove the hairs.
Charlie giggled like crazy when I touched him with the sticky tape! When
Charlie was doing tummy time, he got his body under the cot and didn’t know how
to get his body back out again! He cried and I had to rescue him!
22 March, 2022
Our first time attending a Registry wedding! This is the second person
from our bridal party who got married! Chris was a multi-tasking person
impromptu: the ring bearer, the zoom video man, and the witness!
23 March, 2022
Fed Charlie solid for the first time! Avocado!
27 March, 2022
Charlie’s first time sitting in the high chair.
29 March, 2022
Charlie is now an expert of rolling around. He can roll long distances
on the bed now and I have to be very careful in watching him because he can
fall off any second I take my eyes off him! He’s now better at balancing and
shifts his weight left and right constantly when he’s in the tummy time and
tripod position.
30 March, 2022
Charlie now rolls to the left as well as the right and can roll so fast
that he actually rolled off the bed today! The shock made him cry for a while,
but there was no injuries. He’s often trying to get onto the 4 point kneeling position,
but his upper body is still a bit too weak to get into this position properly.
Hopefully he will succeed soon.
1 April, 2022
In the early hours of this morning, Charlie was crying and refused to
sleep.I had abdominal discomfort and a
sudden dip in milk supply. I suspect I’ve got food poisoning. And it seems like
Charlie was hungry. After feeding a large amount of expressed milk from the
fridge, Charlie fell asleep. However, I continued having difficulty sleeping
myself because of my gut upset. I wonder if it was the raw salmon I had for
lunch, or the reheated chicken soup I had for dinner. Chris didn’t have gut
upset. He didn’t eat as much of the salmon, and he heated his chicken soup
hotter than mine.
2 April, 2022
My breast blocked up big time this morning. Both sides! In the past I
have never had the left side block up! Wonder if it was the oily Shanghainese
food I had last evening. Or the fats in the milk hardening up more easily
because of the colder weather in the last two days.
3 April, 2022
Charlie has been cluster feeding the past few days. I wonder if it’s
related to the 6 month growth spurt? He is looking bigger and fatter as well!
4 April, 2022
Charlie can now sit with a pretty straight back! It seemed to have
happened so suddenly! He was still leaning forward quite a bit in tripod
sitting yesterday and now he’s suddenly sitting up so much higher! Had to add
in a formula top up for the first time since mid-December! Now I am sure it’s
not my imagination that my milk supply is decreasing. My breast is not feeling
as full and there is less milk coming out in the breast pumping sessions. I
googled and realised that it is not uncommon for breastfeeding women to
experience a dip in breast milk supply around the 6 months mark.
In the home group meeting tonight, Charlie was quite noisy and
irritable. I wonder if it was because he’s developed stranger anxiety, or that
he was hungry from my reduced milk supply over the last few days. My milk
supply seemed to have increased today though, so hopefully he will not stay
hungry for much longer. He’s more willing to eat solids as well, so I don’t
think he will starve to a dangerous level anyways. Charlie is now able to grasp
objects with his hand better than before! His fine motor skills have improved
further! His movements are becoming more symmetrical and it seems like the
right hand preference is disappearing. He can roll to either side
spontaneously, and if he topples over from sitting he can topple in either
direction.
10 April, 2022
Charlie is exactly 6 month old today. Thank God he is meeting the 6
month developmental milestones, which is quite reassuring for me as a parent.
To summarise, he first started eating solids at 5.5 month old, and started
sitting unsupported with a pretty straight back last week. He loves sucking his
toes. His movements are symmetrical now and no longer displays any hand
preferences. However, he’s blowing a lot of raspberries and becoming very noisy
nowadays because he’s trying to talk. He is also starting to show signs of
stranger anxiety! And guess what “gift” he gave me tonight? He bit my nipple
with his teeth whilst feeding from my breast! Ouch! If he keeps doing that in
the future, I’m going to give him expressed milk only! Charlie’s left eyelid
turns into double eyelid crease from time to time since he was born, but the
crease stayed folded for the past two days. As a child, I used to have a double
eyelid crease on my left and single eyelid on my right. Maybe he’s having what
I’ve got!
義祥今天滿六個月。發展里程碑一且正常，感謝主!
12 April, 2022
After being constipated for a few days, Charlie did a large poo, with some
solid components, and more smelly than usual. I guess this is probably the
consequence of starting solids? Tried to get Charlie to play a bit of piano today. Meanwhile, the last few months of continuous
rain hadn’t done much good to my vegetable garden! The weather is finally good
enough for me to tend the garden. The tomatoes, chillies and Woolworth basils
have died. The leaves of the silver beet, potato leaves, and water spinach got
eaten by worms. It seems like only the spring onions, chives, red basils and
avocado plant are thriving!
13 April, 2022
Charlie received his 6 month old vaccines along with his first flu
vaccine! He seems quite sleepy and irritable afterwards, so I gave him his
first ever Panadol. However, most of it came out with his drool.
Easter Long Weekend: Charlie’s first long distance trip, 15 hours Sydney
to Brisbane and back
Saw the paediatric physiotherapist again. She thinks Charlie is on
track with all the milestones and she doesn’t really think we need to go back
again. I mentioned how Charlie is starting to go on all fours and lifting his
bums up pretty high. The physio says that’s four point kneeling, and Charlie is
likely to be able to go into the sitting position by himself within the next
six weeks if he’s already doing this.
26 April, 2022
Charlie had been in a four point kneeling position for most of today,
and yelling a lot. Then, in the afternoon, he was able to get from the kneeling
position into the sitting position by himself for the first time!! Another
major milestone, getting into a sitting position from tummy, at 6 months and 16
days.
27 April, 2022
Chris has just started his 10 week paternity leave. Worked for a full
day for the first time since Charlie’s birth! And the first time Chris cared
for Charlie for a whole day! It was actually unexpected for me. Nearly two
months ago, I was discussing with our principal doctor about working full-time
when Chris goes on paternity leave and discussed some possible times where I
can work more. Later on, Chris didn’t think I need to work that much, but I
forgot to mention this to my colleague. In fact, I kind of just forgot about
the matter. So when I went to work today and saw that I was booked for the
whole day, I was surprised initially. Had to work out a solution with Chris. So
what ended up happening was, Chris installed the 6 month old baby car seat into
his car and drove in to the clinic during my lunch break to pick up the milk I
had expressed during morning tea and lunch break, so that there is enough
expressed milk to feed Charlie for the whole day! This was also the day when I
found out that I had been in brief contact with more than one person diagnosed
with COVID recently. Although Chris and I didn’t have any symptoms, Charlie had
a runny nose, so I decided to do a respiratory swab on Charlie. A colleague
kindly gave me a NeilMed Nasal-Oral Aspirator sample to aspirate Charlie’s
runny nose! In the evening, we were supposed to attend church home group, but
nearly everyone in the group were struck down by respiratory illnesses, with many
confirmed to have COVID, so it got changed to a web meeting, but Chris and I
were too tired to attend after such a big day!
28 April, 2022
Charlie tested negative to COVID, positive to rhinovirus. I guess this was
his first ever viral infection.
30 April, 2022
Charlie fell asleep in a kneeling position during midnight, which looks quite odd. Since Chris is on paternity leave and is frequently going to our new
house that is still being built, thought we’d buy ear muffs for Charlie to
protect him from construction noises. We bought the package that’s got sunglasses
too, because I noticed the sun can sometimes shine into his eyes in the car. I think he looks like Korean singer DJ Koo 具俊曄 from CLON in the 1990s!
1 May, 2022
It’s not easy feeding Charlie solids. He is a really messy eater, and he
often push the food out with his tongue or drool it out. And he still seems to
like breast milk much better than solids. Today, I made a vegetable puree and
the mess looks more obvious due to the colour of the puree. Charlie looks even
more like his dad today, with this “moustache” around his mouth!
4 May, 2022
After working full days for a while, half days are starting to become a
piece of cake in comparison! I’ve ordered more Muscle Chef meals, so I can pump
my milk with less time wastage during lunch breaks.
5 May, 2022
I watched Charlie playing with Sophie the giraffe while sitting up and
noticed that he transferred the giraffe from one hand to another. So looks like
this is another milestone ticked off the list. However, he hadn’t done the “going
from 4 point kneeling to sitting” thing again since the first time he did it
more than a week ago, so maybe that was just an “accident”?
7 May, 2022
I increased the amount of solids for Charlie and he became constipated.
His abdomen had become so heavy that he was not rolling over as easily as he
usually did. After six days of not opening his bowels, he finally pooped today. There
was one solid piece that was clearly more solid than any poo he’s ever done before.
Apparently up to one week of not pooping is normal.
The first ever mother’s day I’ve spent with Charlie, and two days before
Charlie turns 7 months. Time to think about what to do regarding Charlie’s care
as I continue working, because Chris will be working again after his paternity
leave and he probably won’t be able to work from home anymore.
Did an epic drive up to Brisbane in one go yesterday, leaving Sydney at
9am and arriving in Sunnybank Brisbane at midnight! Charlie had been good,
sleeping when the car was moving. We still had to stop the car quite a few
times to help him stretch, make sure he was not overheated, and feed him. In
addition to the frequent stopping, there were some congestions on the road
which delayed us by 1.5hours. I had to drive as well, because it wasn’t safe
for my husband to do all the driving himself over such a long distance. It
wasn’t a good feeling to be pumping my breasts in the car, but feeding
expressed milk was the most efficient way to feed him when we were driving, as
we didn’t have to stop the car when we did that. We brought a cooler bag, ice
pack, milk warmer, cooled boiled water, and steam steriliser, which are all
very important equipment for feeding! The cooler bag and ice pack acts as a
“minifridge” so that excessive expressed milk and the pump containers don’t
spoil during the car trip. We even brought the baby mobile, so there will be
some familiar soothing music for him in the new environment. By the time we got
to Port Macquarie, I felt I was going nuts already! One of my university
classmates also came to Brisbane with his family, but they flew up instead of
driving up, and I began feeling very envious of them. They flew by Qantas,
which has its own domestic terminal, which they said was not congested with
people like the other domestic terminal. Don’t think I will ever agree to my
husband about doing a drive like this again in the future. There was a cot
prepared for Charlie in the motel, but Charlie got very scared in the strange
cot, so we had to place Charlie in between us on the bed. Not the most ideal
situation, but nothing much we could do.
16 April, 2022
Thought my milk production would decrease big time due to all the stress of travelling like we did yesterday. Surprisingly, it didn’t! Maybe it’s the magic of the Taiwanese food in Sunnybank. Met up with the family that flew up from Sydney to Brisbane yesterday. Their 6 month old is only approximately 20 days older than Charlie and is smiley and friendly to everyone. Charlie is more reserved. Charlie is calm with strangers but only tend to smile to people he knows well. Sunnybank is actually a pretty good place to visit when you cannot go back to Taiwan for Taiwanese food. We haven’t been back to Taiwan since January 2020. Began meeting up with relatives and friends today.
17 April, 2022
Had a family portrait session with our wedding photographer Alex.
Although it was quite tiring, it was something worthwhile doing, especially
with a 6 month old baby, as this is a time when babies reach some important
milestones. Furthermore, it was a rare opportunity where we could have professional
photos with Chris’ relatives. And most importantly, photos taken at home cannot
compare with photos taken by a highly skilled professional!
18 April, 2022
This is the day when we realised “it’s a small world in Brisbane after
all”. We were taking it easy and didn’t arrange to meet anyone in the day time,
but bumped into Chris’ cousin whom we had only just met for lunch the day
before, and an aunty who had played an important role in Chris’ life whom we
only just met for dinner the day before. Don’t know if it’s simply easy to bump
into people in Sunnybank and Calamvale, or it’s God’s providence.
19 April, 2022
Did another 15 hour drive today. Left Brisbane at 7am and arrived in
Sydney at 10pm. The traffic was really bad on the way towards Gold Coast. We
stopped in Tweed Heads, as I’ve never been there before. It is actually quite a
nice place to take a vacation. Then, we were intending to stop at the service
station in Ballina but the misleading signage led us to exit the highway before
reaching the service station and we couldn’t get back onto the highway without
going to the tow centre! At Ballina, we took a photo of the big prawn. Charlie
was tired. Then, the next stop was Coffs Harbour, and we stopped by the big
banana. Charlie could barely open his eyes. By the time we got to Taree, it was
dark already, and we didn’t bother taking a photo of the big oyster as it is
too ugly anyways. The weather was pretty good until the last 30 minutes of our
drive. When we got home and placed Charlie in the cot, he began grinning
happily. When we placed the baby mobile back onto the cot, Charlie pressed the
start music button using his hand for the first time! He used to press the
button with his feet before! That’s quite a leap in his fine motor skills at 6
months and 9 days!
