10 Oct, 2021
Labour pains record before arriving in hospital:
4:57am
5:07
5:27
5:57
6:15
6:30
6:40
6:53
7:07
7:17, called midwives 7:20
7:33
7:45
8:05
8:33
8:48
9:08
9:28
9:46
10:11
10:31
10:42
10:55
11:15
11:26
11:36
11:45
12:01pm
12:13
12:24
12:30
12:36
12:46
12:59
1:05
1:11
1:18
1:22
1:27
1:36
1:42
1:46
1:53
1:57
2:00
2:04
2:10
2:15
2:19
2:23
Arrived in hospital around 3pm.
Cervix check 4:10pm: 7cm dilated.
Why keep such a detailed record? Because the midwives wanted me to wait
until I was cramping every 4 minutes before I actually go in the hospital!
So, our son decided to come out on 10/10/2021! Is he gonna be a revolutionary
leader doctor like my husband’s great grandpa? (For those who don’t know
Chinese history, 10/10/1911 was “the Chinese Revolution”/ the Wuchang uprising
in Wuhan, when the Republic of China overthrew the Qing Dynasty).
North Shore Private maternity has been super busy because they are
taking maternity patients from RPA and Mater. RPA had to make extra
accommodations for COVID pts while Mater had a COVID outbreak. The postnatal
classes such as the physio class, let’s discuss feeding class, and bathing and
settling class, are no longer conducted in a group setting, but conducted on an
one-on-one basis.
Baby Charlie was born 10/10 at 11:40pm.
Been a long birthing process. Woke at 4am on 10/10 with cramps every
15min. At 4pm cervix was dilated to 7cm but stopped at that because the waters
didn't break. In terms of pain relief, I only used the TENS machine, the
nitrous oxide gas and a warm bath. The reason was because I was concerned about
the epidurals making my pushing less effective and increasing my chance of
needing instrumental delivery, as well as the medication crossing the placenta
to the baby. Broke the waters artificially at 8pm. Got too tired pushing at
10:10pm and used vacuum. 2o tear and quite a lot of bleeding. Finally baby was
born 11:40pm!
In terms of my son’s name, there is a lot of
Christian reasoning behind it: His English name Charlie means “a free man”,
free from the bondages of sin. In terms of Chinese characters, they are like
drawings, and if you are a Christian you’d realise there are lots of Christian
revelations that can be seen in Chinese characters. For more details, please
see:
https://letterstoamoderndayjob.com/2018/02/17/the-gospel-embedded-in-chinese-characters/
His Chinese name 義祥has two characters, both characters’
got “sheep” in it, the first character is composed of “sheep and I” and this
word means “justice”, the second character is composed of “God and sheep” and
this word means “blessing/good luck”.
我們的兒子在2021
年 10 月 10 就決定要跑出來了!
他該不會想學我先生的曾祖父做搞革命的醫生吧?
兒子10/10晚上11:40出生!
生產過程有一些長，因為10/10早上四點多就開始每15分鐘陣痛一次，下午四點子宮頸開到7公分羊水一直不破，有四個小時都停留在7公分。晚上8點搓破羊水力氣又不夠了，10:10用吸盤，撕裂比較嚴重，流很多血，終於11:40分才生出來。我是順產的，只有用笑氣來止痛，後來是用吸盤把嬰兒吸出來的(縫針時用局部麻醉針打在傷口而已)。
他的英文名Charlie代表「自由的人」。他的中文名「義祥」:
羊和我，神和羊，因信稱義，有神的祝福。
12 Oct, 2021
Charlie had his hearing test today and that
was normal. He also had his first bath today. So far, multiple midwives have
commented that he has big feet.
14 Oct, 2021
Charlie was admitted into the special care
nursery with jaundice today. It was quite scary because the jaundice made him
very sleepy and this morning and he couldn't latch to my breast, whereas last
night he was latching very well!
He had lost 350g, which was >10% weight,
since he was born.
Based on the formula calculations, he needs
70ml of milk q4h currently.
When I used the breast pump, it made me
realise I am only producing 10ml every time I try to pump my breast. This meant
Charlie had been starving the last few days, which could be why he became
dehydrated, jaundiced and sleepy. Furthermore, he could already be more sleepy
than other babies due to the cephalohaematoma from the vacuum birth, whereby
the blood clot (haematoma) will break down (haemolysis), which can also give
rise to increased levels of bilirubin.
The first formula was given at 11:30am, to
try and flush the bilirubin out of his system.
15 Oct, 2021
The paediatrician Dr. Hale said we might have
to stay an extra night on Friday, depending on Charlie’s bilirubin results
Friday afternoon. However, the ward clerk Emma says parental boarders will need
to switch rooms to the Surgical Ward L2 as there is not enough bed in the
maternity ward, and that will be $250/night, single bed. Fortunately we
received news that Charlie’s bilirubin dropped to 175 in the afternoon, so we
were discharged home.
16 Oct, 2021
It’s becoming hard to keep track of Charlie’s
feeding and nappies. My clever husband started writing up excel spreadsheets
with programming in it which allows me to keep track of things much more
easily. It’s pretty fancy, there are even trend graphs! This makes life a lot
easier. I also started writing up things about appointments, visitors,
post-partum meals preparations etc., which allowed me to become more organised
in this chaotic time. Having these in place is hard work initially as we had to
keep adjusting the spreadsheets according to all the new tasks and trends we
became aware of, but it saves up energy and increases efficiency in the long
run. Today we had our first visitor since Charlie’s birth, Deborah and Jack,
whose wedding anniversary was the same date as Charlie’s birthday!
Since our return home, I have been feeling
very cold with pale lips, bad headache and had to open heater to keep warm. I
still had inadequate amounts of breast milk, 20mL each expression. Started the
post-partum DIY meal package today. This package is from “Windmill Wellness”,
which includes soup medicine packs and drink packs. The Traditional Chinese
Medicine doctor who founded this brand was the first female TCM doctor in
Taiwan and the doctor of Michiko, the Japanese Empress of Japan. The brand
advisor told me I can cook seven days’ worth of drink packs in one go, which
makes things easier. For the soup, I can make it as simple as I want (eg. water
and soup pack only), or as complicated as I want (eg. meat, various veggies
etc).
18 Oct, 2021
Went to North Shore Private for follow up
weight and blood check-up for Charlie's jaundice. His weight is now 3350, so he
had regained most of the lost weight. His bilirubin is 222, which is not normal
but ok.
Burnt the post-partum soup on the stove
today. Looks like I need to supervise the soup carefully if I were to cook it
on the stove.
19 Oct, 2021
Placed Charlie in the rocking chair for the
first time. We place him in the sun room during that time so he could get some
exposure to the day light and know there’s a difference between day and night.
Decided to cook the post-partum soup in the
multicooker, so that the cooking process can be unattended. This ended up being
very convenient. My body has recovered further today: Face and lip colour
improving to normal and not feeling so cold. No longer needing to open the
heater all the time.
21 Oct, 2021
Had our first phone consultation appointment
with the Northern Sydney Local Health District’s Child and Family Health
Nursing Service, Marsfield. Learnt a few things today. Hand sucking is a sign
of good brain development. In fact, some babies don’t suck their hands until 2
months of age because they don’t realise they have hands. Charlie already
started doing that frequently in the uterus since the late first trimester
ultrasound! He is also scanning the environment/people with his eyes and making
short eye contacts now: the nurse seemed a bit surprised as that usually
happens a bit later than this age, and she said that’s also a good sign of
brain development.
22 Oct, 2021
Charlie is opening his eyes wider and appears
very mature in the way he looks at people.
My weight is 67.5kg today.
23 Oct, 2021
Highest record of milk expressed in one go
was 88mL at 8am in the morning. Two other times in the 70s. Then 10pm 80.
24 Oct, 2021
Passed a 4cm round blood clot? from the
vagina. Went to Baby Bunting because my husband has some questions about
connecting the car seat capsule to the pram. My pelvic region felt sore when I
stand for prolonged periods and it was windy. Looked at some photos taken while
we were out: my face colour looked really bad with very dark undereye circles
and triple chins. Without any help from the grandparents’ generation, and not
wanting a stranger postpartum doula in the house, I pretty much have to be on
my feet doing some daily chores in addition to caring for the baby and can’t
really follow the “ideal” Chinese postpartum ways. Probably not a good idea to
go out like this again until 1 month postpartum.
25 Oct, 2021
Noticed I am starting to have a waist again. My
breast milk supply's been adequate the last few days. Latching is the biggest
problem now. I find that after I put Charlie 15min to L. breast, 15min to R.
breast, he can still take around 60-70mL expressed milk. This means he isn't
get much when he's latched on. And my nipple shape comes up
"lipstick-shaped" which is a sign of a not deep enough latch, and
baby is starting to get quite angry when he sees the breast. I watched all
these videos on latching and still get an angry baby at the breast and lipstick
nipples. So I called up the early childhood centre to book a breastfeeding
support session for tomorrow.
In the evening, the baby is starting to cry
even when he seemed to be fully fed and the nappy looks ok. He seems to calm
down when held. His abdomen looks distended with gas detected on percussion. I
suspect he is starting to have colic/gas.
Meanwhile there’s not much PV bleed since I
passed the huge clot yesterday.
26 Oct, 2021
Chaotic morning. Baby unsettled at 4am and
initially we thought it was still colic, but turns out baby was truly hungry
and we fed him after he had cried for quite a while. Had to feed baby again at
7am because we had to go out and do several things. Car servicing overdue by 20
days so had to drop the car in for servicing during rush hour at 8am. Traffic
was bad during rush hour because of the reopening. Then had to rush off to the
breastfeeding support at 9am, but was late by 20 minutes because of the tight
schedule and bad traffic.
At the breastfeeding support clinic, Kate the
nurse thinks Charlie is latching on ok, but relatively shallow because his
palate is shallow and his mouth is small relative to my nipple. And that
Charlie is probably getting lazy about feeding at the breast because it takes
much less effort for him to take the milk from the bottle. Charlie’s weight
gain is excellent, 3520 now, which is even heavier than his birth weight. My
left breast seems to express more milk than the right side, and Kate thinks I
can try pumping my right breast first before putting the baby to the right
breast. She thinks feeding the baby at the breast 15-20min each breast is
adequate. She suggest expressing 45min after breastfeeding because that’s the
amount of time it takes for a recently drained breast to fill up again.
27 Oct, 2021
My breast milk supply is still increasing,
with an average of approximately 100mL each expression. Fed baby 90mL midnight,
then 102mL close to 3am, then 113mL around 8am. Seems to be heaps if we were calculating
based on 150mL/kg. But then baby started crying at 9:30am. Initially I thought
it was gas because I didn’t think he should get hungry again after having had
so much milk, and was afraid I will burst his gut if I give too much. I did the
cycling movements and he seemed calm when I was doing that but started crying
as soon as I stop. Nappy was clean. Then, after seeing that he spits out his
pacifier immediately after I put it in his mouth, I concluded he is probably
still hungry. And indeed, he drank another 42mL of expressed milk! Then I
looked up the normal ranges and found that babies can drink as little as 54 ml
(1.9 fl oz) or as much as 234 ml (8.2 fl oz) of milk per feed and consume
between 400-800 ml/day!
Had hot flushing and headache after my
afternoon nap. Don’t know if it’s because the weather is particularly hot
today, or a change in my physiology. But my temperature was normal when I
checked with the thermometer. Since it’s uncommon for me to feel hot since
giving birth and usually my headaches get relieved after I wash my hair, so I
decided to take a shower and wash my hair, which is classified as a “no no” in
traditional Chinese postpartum terms. Felt pretty good after doing that though.
28 October, 2021
Charlie continues to drink a lot and had a
crazy bout of feeding cluster in the late evening until the early hours of the
next morning, drinking huge volumes each time.
29 October, 2021
Fed Charlie again at 6am. The amount of milk
he’s had in the last 24 hours is now 703mL! And for the rest of the day it went
up further and became close to 800mL! Charlie had very scaly peeling skin when
he was born. Most of the scaly skin have shed off already now. His head always
tends to turn towards the left most of the time since he was born. I think he
has torticollis. Furthermore, it seems like his head was already turned to the
left when he was in my uterus, because his spine was always off to the right
side of my belly. Today the weather is pretty hot, and Charlie looks quite red.
My husband also gets quite red in hot weather and is looking red today. I don’t
get red in hot weather. So I guess Charlie inherited heat intolerance from his
dad!
30 October, 2021
I think there is something wrong with the
breastfeeding, because Charlie seems to be very inefficient on the breast. But
when I saw the breastfeeding support nurse in Lane Cove on Tuesday, she says
everything seemed correct, maybe baby's palate is shallow and mouth small
relative to my nipple so latch is not that deep. However, Charlie was very
sleepy during that appointment so she didn't actually see Charlie feeding
properly. I also watched all these videos on latching and tried to do what
those videos say. Don't know why it's still like this. Yesterday I pumped my
breast straight after breastfeeding, only got 40mL from both breast, so it
probably meant baby removed approximately 40mL from my breasts in 30min, which
is not that efficient, because when we give expressed milk we can get 90mL in
him in 30min.
Another things is, when I pump one breast, I
noticed quite a lot of milk leaking out of the other breast so I took a cup to
catch the milk and saw that there were 20mL of milk leaking! Got my husband to
buy a second breast pump, the cheap $39 K-Mart Anko breast pump, as an experiment.
2 November, 2021
Went to the Child and Family Health Nursing
Service, Marsfield at 9am. Charlie had gained 370g in one week, which is too
rapid. So now, Charlie is 3.89kg, 54cm tall, and has a head circumference of
37cm. Although the weight gain is rapid, he had only just caught up to the 50th
percentile for weight today. The nurse couldn’t see anything wrong with my
latching, but because I gave the expressed milk too fast when he became hungry
in the clinic, and the baby became full rapidly, she wasn’t able to observe
Charlie actually feeding from my breast. So we’ve made an appointment for the
breastfeeding support clinic next Wednesday. Meanwhile, we noticed Charlie has
been feeding less frequently as the day went on.
3 November, 2021
It seems like Charlie has passed through the
current cluster feeding phase, which allows us to have a better rest. In fact,
it seems as though he’s quite satisfied after feeding from my breast this
morning. I wonder if he’s became a more efficient sucker and can empty my
breasts better than before? The amount of milk pumped out on each expression is
decreasing though, so the two main possibilities are: the bad Anko breast pump
draining my breast inefficiently and making my milk supply decrease, or baby is
better able to drain the breasts so there’s less milk to pump out. To be on the
safe side, I decided to buy a better quality breast pump. Ended up buying the Ardo
Calypso, which is a hospital grade pump that is available for hire from the
Australian Breastfeeding Association, but I was able to buy it for $300 when it
normally costs $400.
Went to the church home group for the first
time since the lockdown, and the first time Charlie’s ever been to a home group.
There are quite a few people in the home group with medical backgrounds. One of
them is a midwife, who gave us lots of useful advice, and gave me two thumbs up
for giving birth to Charlie vaginally because his head shape is actually the
type that is very difficult to come out vaginally. In fact, Charlie’s head
circumference at birth could be underestimated because his head got squashed by
the vacuum at birth!
4 November, 2021
We noticed that Charlie is starting to have
tears when he cries!
5 November, 2021
The Ardo Calypso breast pump arrived.
However, there seems to be very little milk extracted, usually 10-20mL each
breast only. I was expressing at the end of the breastfeeds and couldn’t tell
whether it is because the baby is draining the breast well or my supply is
going down rapidly. If the supply is going down rapidly, I’m quite concerned
that it could be due to ineffective breast pumping. So I started using the
Philips pump on one side again, since that was the machine which has been
giving me the best volumes, and the Calypso on the other side.
6 November, 2021
Baby woke up a bit hungry around 9:15am. Fed
him my left breast for 15 minutes and baby became relaxed and slept again.
Couldn’t get him to feed further. Breast pumped using the Philips on my left
side and Calypso on my right side. Actually got 55mL of milk on my right side,
which is good for a breast that hasn’t been emptied from breastfeeding yet, so
I guess the Calypso pump is ok after all.
Enrolled in a free breastfeeding course from
the “Tinyhood” website. The course is amazing! It taught me a lot more than any
of the antenatal classes I’ve done before (better than my health insurance
funded online antenatal course and some online courses I found from the big maternity
hospitals)! In fact, if I had seen those videos before, we might have avoided
all the problems I had in the hospital during the first week, as well as some
of the latching concerns I had later on. If I had gotten off on a good start in
the first week, I probably would have avoided all this breast pumping and
stuff. The breast pumps will still be useful for the future though, when I
return to work and still need to express milk.
https://www.tinyhood.com/courses/breastfeeding-101
Went to Ikea. This was the first time
Charlie’s visited a shopping centre. Had dinner at the Ikea food court and this
was the first time we’ve dined out since the lockdown in the end of June as
well as Charlie’s first time dining out in his life.
7 November, 2021
Today marks the end of my 4th week
postpartum! Interestingly I am no longer feeling cold, despite the relatively
cool and rainy weather today! Meanwhile my hands are getting quite sore from
all the holding of the baby, household chores and pumping of the breasts. Hope
I’m not getting osteoarthritis or tendonitis!
8 November, 2021
I haven’t been wearing the bra postpartum
other than when I am pumping my breast. I thought I’d try wearing it all day
today for better efficiency, so that I don’t have to keep changing into the
maternity bra every time I pump. Towards the evening I realised my right lower
breast is painful.
9 November, 2021
Joined the Marsfield community health mother’s
group and met via NSW telehealth conference. It was difficult getting the
technology going. Seems like the other moms encountered similar issues to me.
They also experienced the overfilling of North Shore Private due extra
maternity patients from the Mater and RPA. Many had worse breastfeeding issues
than I do. Some people said they have to room share, and quite a few actually
left the hospital earlier than the recommended discharge date because they just
can’t stand being in the hospital! I have hand soreness but someone’s got hand
soreness much worse than mine and had to wear a hand split already!
The nurse running the telehealth conference
taught us a few tips:
Read a booklet called “The First 2000 Days.”
The booklet emphasises that it is very important to talk to baby, with words in
singsong voice. Reading to babies is important. Start reading to baby early,
choose books with simple pictures. Babies stare at you and respond to you
talking when they are born.
We just realised that when Charlie kicks his
legs, it looks like he’s dancing in Gangnam style! Video recorded him kicking
to the Gangnam style music, but he started crying! When we played the video
again, he started crying again as soon as he heard the sound of his crying in
the video! Seems like crying is contagious amongst babies!
10 November, 2021
Charlie is exactly 1 month old today! Had
another check at community health centre and Charlie gained another 370g in one
week, so I think he is getting more than enough milk! Therefore, sometimes he
may be crying for reasons other than being hungry! The nurse thinks he’s having
“purple crying”, and in fact some of the crying could be due to being
overtired, as babies this age tend to get overtired when they are awake for
longer than 40minutes!
Meanwhile, I noticed the amount of milk I’m
pumping out is decreasing when I am using Ardo Calypso on both breasts, so I
have switched back to using Philips on the left breast, and Calypso on the
right breast, as that seems to be the combination that yields the greatest
amount of milk.
12 November, 2021
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to
settle Charlie into sleep recently, as he’s became more alert, especially
during the night! So I’ve booked to join a “Supporting Sleep in Young Babies”
education session with Tresillian next Monday. I think someone must have
cancelled last minute because these sessions are very popular and booked out
months in advance!
I’ve had a careful feel of his hands and
realised that he’s double jointed like me! In exactly the same joints! And his
left eye is bigger than his right eye, like me again.
13 November, 2021
Charlie cried nearly nonstop from midnight
until 7am. The only times he’d stop crying is when he’s feeding. And he’d start
screaming again soon after being taken off the nipple or bottle!! And we fed
him a lot… it’s like as if his stomach is an endless pit. So say a few minutes
after feeding is finished he'd cry again nonstop.. and spits out pacifier and
only stops crying when feeding. This meant he drank 854mL in the last 24 hour
period, which is a lot more than other babies of the same age! He finally
seemed content after the 7am feed. Then he woke up at 9am crying. I fed him
which stopped the crying but he continued crying after the feed.
I did a physical exam on him and he seemed
normal... just prayed with him for a while since 10am and he calmed down quite
soon when I was praying with him, but still highly alert... then I strapped him
to my chest and he gradually fell asleep... I wonder whether it could even be a
disturbance in the spiritual realm.
Charlie woke up crying for a feed again close
to 1pm. Luckily, after the feed, he quietened down and fell asleep in the cot.
Meanwhile, the pain in my right lower breast has resolved.
14 November, 2021
Charlie still had frequent awakenings in the
early hours of the morning, but at least he is consolable, so this is much
better than yesterday.
15 November, 2021
Brought Charlie to Tresillian Canterbury, or what
I would call “the sleep school” today. Feeling quite lucky that I made a last
minute booking on Friday as his sleep started getting really bad from midnight
Saturday where he was crying nearly nonstop unless he was being fed, and we
knew he shouldn’t be eating so much so there must be other reasons for crying,
but the only coping strategy we know of was to feed him!
The RN running today’s meeting was Leesa.
There were two other groups of parents/babies today. I found this two hour
session very helpful. It helped me differentiate the baby’s cues a bit better
than before, and very hands on as all three babies were able to act as
demonstrators for some of the techniques discussed. For example, I told Leesa
that Charlie is sleeping too much during daytime and cry suddenly when he wakes
up, without displaying any warning cues. She advised me that we should wake him
every 3 hours in the day time if he's not waking by himself, otherwise he will
give us trouble at night. Charlie happened to have slept more than four hours
during the meeting so Leesa got us to wake him up. After waking him up and
breastfeeding him, she could see how he’s like right after a feed, and taught
us how to do the tummy time at the right timing. Charlie actually looked very
happy during the tummy time today. He usually gets quite grumpy during tummy
time at home. I also asked Leesa about Charlie sometimes having the behaviour
of pounding my breast with hands, shake head side to side etc, and was told his
is actually as sign of him displaying self-soothing and self-regulation.
Other things learnt: Be careful of overfeeding,
especially at night. When the baby is 2.5 months, should not give any more
snack feeding.
Normal awake times:
1 month: 1hr at a time.
2 months 1.5hr
4 months 2hrs
Hand rock baby to sleep in the cot: use 2
hands, one on chest, one on belly. Gently rock.
17 November, 2021
Charlie has been awake since 1:30am. Although
I can settle him, but he just won’t sleep, and cries as soon as I put him down.
The Tresillian class is very helpful in that we learn the techniques for
settling, so we can calm him down using methods other than feeding, but his
sleep cycle is still crazy and there are unpredictable periods where we just
can’t get him to stay asleep in the cot. I was away for an appointment with the
pelvic floor physiotherapist in the morning. When I got back, I strapped him onto
the Ergobaby carrier around noon, and he went into a light sleep. After he woke
and had a feed, his sleep was good for the rest of the afternoon and night.
19 November, 2021
Charlie started becoming very unsettled
around 7am, with lots of fussing, crying, hunger signs and therefore has been
fed quite a few times. He was awake until noon. Then we had to meet up with
friends for lunch in a restaurant in Macquarie Shopping Centre. Strangely, he
stopped fussing and fell asleep when placed into the car seat capsule. He was
half awake/half sleeping in the restaurant. Then the fussiness seemed to have
passed for the rest of the day.
20 November, 2021
Again, Charlie was unsettled between 6 to
noon. I think it’s much easier for us this way then fussing in the early hours
of the morning between midnight to 6am! However, after only sleeping for 1
hour, he woke up again at 1pm! I had to strap him onto the Ergobaby again so he
can get some sleep. He woke again at 4pm and stayed awake until 6pm! When he
slept, I slept. When I woke at 9:30pm, my right breast became blocked again, at
a different site from last time though, in the R. upper inner breast. Seems
like my right breast is particularly prone to blockage for some strange reason!
Did things like massage with frequent feeding, and dangle pumping. Then saw on
YouTube a physiotherapist saying ultrasound also helps break up the clog. So I
used the fetal heart monitor on the breast, and it was actually very effective!
Charlie remained quite sleepy, so it looks like we’re going to have a good
sleep tonight.
21 November, 2021
My mom had arrived in Sydney and Charlie met
his grandma for the first time. He studied her very carefully with his eyes.
Initially my mom was afraid to hold him due to the floppy neck, but I taught
her how to hold him and she’s ok with holding him afterwards. She’s bought
Cookie Time from New Zealand, which Chris and I are very happy about!
Meanwhile, Charlie is making more different
types of little sounds and smiling more intentionally at me. When we prayed
before dinner, he made a little sound after the Amen that sounded like an
attempt to talk.
22 November, 2021
Charlie had his 6 week vaccinations at the
clinic where I work. His weight and height were both in the 50th
percentile, so I guess we’re doing ok feeding him and do not need to worry
about overfeeding. It is a bit disappointing that his height went from 85th
percentile at birth to 50th percentile though. The head
circumference recorded in the clinic was small, but he has a pretty big looking
head so I rechecked it at home and it turns out to be in the 50th
percentile. There’s slight asymmetry of his leg length so ultrasound of the hip
was ordered. When he had his needles, he turned red as a beetroot! I bought
baby Panadol in case he gets sick from the vaccines, but other than falling
asleep more easily than usual, which is a very good thing for us. Everything
else were normal and he did not get a fever at all!
23 November, 2021
It is said that baby go through some “stormy
weeks” (or “wonder weeks” or “fussy weeks”).
https://www.thewonderweeks.com/babys-mental-leaps-first-year/
Charlie has become very easy to settle again,
and falling asleep quite easily on his own. In fact, instead of just crying, he
seems to have found different ways of communicating as he’s making these new
little sounds. Hopefully he has just passed his stormy weeks! The next one will
probably be coming in three weeks’ time!
During the mother’s group webinar, the nurse
reminded us to do a lot of “Love Talk Sing Read Play” with our babies.
Meanwhile, Air New Zealand just cancelled
more than 1000 flights between now and 31 December. Pretty glad my mom came on
Sunday. Her flight might have gotten cancelled if she really do come o 1
December like she initially intended!
Saw some Karitane parent workshop webinars.
While they are kind of helpful, it’s nowhere as helpful as a face to face
workshop. Learned that when you want to put your infant to sleep, you should
make slow soft sounds. If you were to make one of those tongue clicking sounds,
you need to make the rhythm very slow.
Grandma and her de facto gave him a red
packet during dinner and he grabbed it forcefully, as if announcing “this is
mine!”
25 November, 2021
This is a restless day, with Charlie not
sleeping for the whole afternoon and seeming to be hungry all the time.
26 November, 2021
Went to see my obstetrician for postpartum
follow-up. The wounds are healing fine. The pelvic floor is neither great or
bad. There is still a bit of suture left that is causing localised irritation. It
was actually a rushed morning, as I had to pick up the Haakaa breast pump and
22mm Ardo Calypso flanges at the Nursing Angel warehouse before my obstetrician
appointment. The 22mm flange really fits my nipple better and there is less
nipple discomfort whilst pumping. The Haakaa breast pump collects the let down
as well as express additional milk by natural suction! Got 30mL from my first
use on my left breast while I was breastfeeding on my right breast at the same
time! Pretty impressive!
When we bathed Charlie, he suddenly looked a
lot bigger than the last time we bathed him! Previously my husband had to hold
him carefully so he floats on the water and doesn’t drown in the small round
plastic wash basin. Now he fills up the whole basin with his legs very bent and
can no longer float as his buttock is already touching the bottom of the basin!
28 November, 2021
This was the first time Charlie attended
church in person! Was out from 9:30am to 3pm. My breasts got really full, and I
expressed heaps of milk when I got home. However, my breasts seemed to have
really dried up in the evening. Hope my milk supply will come back soon.
29 November, 2021
Charlie has officially upgraded to size 2
nappies as we finished up all the size 1s already!
30 November, 2021
The SRC shorts I’ve ordered have arrived
today. I started wearing it at noon. It seemed to have shrunken my abdomen when
I checked in the mirror again in the evening. Heard it is very effective. Hope
it will work well on me!
2 December, 2021
Charlie had his hip ultrasound done and the results were normal.
4 December, 2021
My right breast blocked up again since the
afternoon. Got the church’s home group Christmas dinner in the evening. Charlie
is quite alert during the dinner, and when the church sisters played with him,
his eye contact seemed to be more intentional, where he’d look at someone and
widen his eyes, fitting the following description: “Between 6-10 weeks, baby
begins to direct her eyes more intentionally by looking directly at her
caregiver and holding the gaze with eyes widening.” This description came from:
https://www.tinylove.com/us_en/articles/eye-contact-babies
5 December, 2021
This morning Charlie did some new gigs! He
looked at me with bright eyes and started babbling some new sounds he’s never
made before. He was smiley and I saw him laugh out loud for the first time,
where he opened his mouth in a laugh and made a sound!
My right breast blocked up big time this time.
I’ve tried everything I know that have worked before, including applying ultrasound
on my breast, and it has only improved slightly, but still blocked. Did two
additional tricks which I’ve never done before: massage gun (only touching very
slightly so the skin gets vibrated) and lecithin supplement. Then the duct
unblocked! If the blockage happens again, I might consider getting ultrasound
of the breast to make sure there isn't a mass lesion or cyst that's making this
breast block up recurrently!
6 December, 2021
This was supposed to be the start of another
“wonder week.” Charlie didn’t go crazy, but he appears unsettled. He kept
kicking his legs and turn red, and made “uh uh” sounds, which made us think
he’s quite constipated. He was actually constipated though, because he hadn’t
opened his bowels for 6 days, and finally opened his bowels today. However,
when he was sleeping in the evening, he continued to make the “uh uh” sounds
and kicked his legs. Maybe this is in keeping with the wonder week description:
“Baby is beginning to recognize and create simple patterns in his world; he’ll
practice moving his hands in the same way over and over, or make the same
grunting sound again and again.”
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/wonder-weeks-chart-baby-toddler-sleep/
9 December, 2021
Charlie has been fussier than usual, probably
due to him being in his “wonder week”. He feeds more frequently and often looks
like he’s constipated or pooing, but isn’t. He is particularly fussy this
morning so I tried using the swaddle on him for the first time. It works quite
similarly to the baby carrier: initially he protested angrily and cried for a
short while, then fell asleep. Better than what’s been happening for the last
few days, where he just keeps grunting and kicking his legs and did not look
like he had restful sleeps.
10 December, 2021
Charlie’s growing fast. His socks have become
too small for his feet. The socks used to be so loose when he first started
wearing them that he sometimes accidentally kicked them off.
14 December, 2021
I brought Charlie to have a blood test just
to make sure all parameters have really normalised. Paediatric blood collection
is by appointment only, and I made the appointment for this morning 11am. The
Douglass Hanley Moir pathology is very short-staffed, with the paediatric
collector suddenly being sent to do COVID PCR test, and they nearly changed
Charlie’s appointment time, but as soon as I told them I can collect the blood
myself because I’m a GP, they just did it.
Charlie is able to lift himself up really
high during tummy time on the nursing pillow! And for quite a long time too!
16 December, 2021
I noticed Charlie looking up at his own
reflection in the wardrobe mirror from his cot! I also just realised this is
the third day that Charlie hasn’t had a formula top up! Last top up was 14
December 10:45pm! I gave a formula top up at 11pm tonight though, because I ran
dry and Charlie still looked hungry, which marks the end of his 72 hours
without formula. Nowadays Charlie enjoys watching me sing and play the piano.
He is making more and more different sounds in his babbles. It’s becoming
easier to make him laugh. Previously he always seemed to wake from hunger and
cry angrily as soon as wakes up, but now he is awake for different reasons, eg.
just wanting interaction. So it no longer seems like he’s hungry all the time! And
he’s awake for longer periods of time. He’s striking at the different hanging
objects from his play gym with his hands. He can even crawl when he’s lying on
a flat surface on his back, because his legs are so strong that when he kicks
it propels him upwards!
19 December, 2021
This is the most full on day ever. Had clinic
Christmas buffet lunch at “the Feast” in Sheraton on the Park, then church
carols in the afternoon to evening... So tired going out with the baby on a
very hot day!
21 December, 2021
Around noon, I could hear Charlie making
sounds so I went into the room and saw him happily “playing” with his own
reflection! He’s actually turned himself 90o from his usual position! Normally
the mirror is on the top of his head, but he turns to the point where he’s
parallel to the mirror! It’s something I’ve never seen him do before so I guess
this is a new milestone!
25 December, 2021
This is Charlie’s first Christmas! He’s very
sociable today! At the Christmas Day church service, he was awake the whole
time and sometimes making little sounds. During lunch, even though we put him
in the pram with the shades pulled over, he kept moving and sometimes made
little sounds. When we had two guests at night, he kept smiling and laughing
out loud at them, showing no stranger anxiety. He is also “playing with his
food” more often: sometimes he spits out my nipple in the middle of the feed
and starts smiling, and then licks the nipple before sucking it again. And with
the expressed milk, sometimes he simply refuses to drink the last mouthful
that’s still in the bottle.
26 December, 2021
Charlie was very cranky today. He was sleepy
or hungry most of the time, and not smiley like yesterday. This is coinciding
with the start of his 12th week, which is another wonder week! This
is the week when he’s supposed to develop smoother motor movements. I’m quite
concerned that his neck is still quite floppy. Hope that will also improve this
week! When I played the piano Charlie made many sounds, like as if he’s trying
to sing! He also makes a lot of sound when he’s awake in the cot and chuckles
quite a bit. And this morning my mom tried to get him to do tummy time better
by lifting his body up slightly into the air, and this really improved his
ability to lift his head a lot! And when we lowered him onto the flat surface,
he started raising his head up more. He’s blowing more saliva bubbles and
drooling more today!
28 December, 2021
Charlie was very cranky again, especially in
the afternoon. The positive side to this is, he suddenly developed a new skill!
So I gave him a bottle, and he touched the bottle with his right hand! Then my mom
made some adjustments to his hands and he held the bottle independently with
his own hands for a while!! His motor skills have developed further indeed! But
the downside is, he’s starting to grab my hair with very good grip and pull it!
30 December, 2021
Been through many “first times” with Charlie
this year, including his first wedding today! It was possibly the most
romantically decorated wedding I’ve ever been to, on the Grounds of Alexandria.
The current theme on the Grounds is “Beauty and the Beast”! Many people
commented that Charlie’s growing very well. The groom’s mother commented that
he looks like a “mixed race” baby! One of my aunts also said the same thing
before. We only RSVPed for the wedding, as it is difficult to stay for
reception with a baby so young, so it’s a bit of a pity that we couldn’t really
catch up with that many people. But with 12,226 newly diagnosed COVID in NSW
today, attending weddings and receptions are actually quite risky. Another thing we did today was to
get rid of several trees in the garden, some of which were already starting to
destroy the boundary fence! A lot more sunlight started flooding into the house
as soon as these trees were removed, which made me quite happy!
31 December, 2021
Today’s newly diagnosed COVID in NSW has
nearly doubled, to 22,577 today! Got notified by the church that 3 people
attending the church on 26 December got diagnosed with COVID. Guess it was a
good thing we watched the 26 December service online that day. My mom’s going
back to Taiwan on 3 January, let’s hope she doesn’t test positive!
1 January, 2022
Charlie no longer fits the size 000 clothes!
He’s grown out of this size faster than expected! He’s able to grasp things
with his hands more precisely than before and when he hits the various dangling
objects from the play gym, the hand movements appear smoother and more
intentional! He is no longer having a closed fist all the time and moves his
fingers individually rather than all at the same time! His cradle cap is
getting quite bad though. Although it’s a harmless condition and will get better
with time, I feel a compulsion to remove some of the scales from his scalp.
3 January, 2022
Charlie is getting fussy again since
yesterday, latching and unlatching from the breast and feeding frequently. Maybe
he’s going through another growth spurt! Meanwhile, my mom flew off to Taiwan
today. It feels a bit depressing with less people in the house. Hope it won’t
be too long before I next see her!
5 January, 2022
Although Charlie’s head is still somewhat
wobbly, he is doing tummy time for longer periods and not slipping off the
nursing pillow as easily. When I hold him, sometimes his head suddenly jerks
forward, which makes me worried about him having infantile spasms/ West
Syndrome! I wonder if I’m being overly anxious. Apparently for babies around
Charlie’s age, the chest circumference is supposed to be the same as or even
less than the head circumference. But his chest circumference is 42cm and head
circumference 40.5cm, which means his head circumference is 1.5cm smaller than
expected!! Charlie’s height is above the 80th percentile but his
head circumference is in the 50th percentile! Both my head
circumference and height are approximately in the 50th percentile of
the Australian population. Both my husband’s head circumference and height are
approximately in the 88th percentile of the Australian population.
Charlie’s head circumference and height are not in the right proportion!!
9 January, 2022
Charlie seems to be attempting to roll these
days. When he wakes up, he’s always not in the same position as before he fell
asleep, with his feet moving towards his left-hand side and rotating
counter-clockwise by 90o. And when I place him on the floor on his back, the
position also changes in a counter-clockwise direction as he kicks. When I place
him on his tummy, he rolls a bit onto the right hand side of his body, but he
can’t turn over yet.
10 January, 2022
Charlie’s exactly 3 month old today! I
witnessed him nearly rolling over from his back to his tummy in the cot. He was
very close to succeeding. Maybe he will succeed in a few days’ time. However,
his neck is still wobbly with head lag. And he has a clear right hand
preference, where he is often trying to reach out for objects with his right
hand, using his right hand to swing at dangling toys and scratch the seborrhoea
off his scalp, but not doing it as frequently with the left hand. I’ve
discussed the situation with a paediatrician friend and he agrees that I should
get Charlie checked out. He recommended Dr Daniel Lin, who is a specialist that
I’ve referred quite a few patients to myself. However, Dr Lin is booked out
until June and his reception could only offer me an April appointment using the
“follow-up appointment” slot rather than “new patient” slot.
14 January, 2022
I was told by our paediatrician friend that
we can try booking paediatric neurologist Dr Sekhar Pillai instead, as we might
get an earlier appointment w/ Dr Pillai, so I did, and got a booking today due
to a cancellation. Thank God Dr Pillai didn't think it's infantile spasm. However,
the right hand preference is a bit of a concern and something to monitor. He
advised me to take Charlie to see a paediatric physiotherapist to do a HINE
test and ordered a head ultrasound. I looked at the HINE checklist and briefly,
and I think the chance of cerebral palsy based on that list is probably low,
but will still try to get a paediatric physiotherapist to do a proper exam.
16 January, 2022
Took Charlie to the sea at Collaroy for the
first time so this was his first time viewing the sea. Initially he was sleepy
and bored and not paying attention. Then he became more awake and started
looking far away at the sea! The weather was nice and Chris drove along the
North Shore sea and forest areas. It felt really nice to catch some fresh air.
17 January, 2022
Got quite a few church friends to help pray
for Charlie due to concerns about the right hand preference and cerebral palsy.
Over the last few days, Charlie has been kicking vertically rather than
horizontally, and his neck is becoming less wobbly. Thank God for that! And
today, he made another major milestone! In the morning he rolled onto his right
side, and remained lying on his right side. In the afternoon he rolled completely
over, from back to tummy! But then he started crying as soon as he rolled over.
The books say that babies tend to get very scared when they learn a new skill
because it’s something they’ve never experienced before. I guess that could be
why he was crying? Then, when I placed him on the floor, he was able to lift his head very high, but then he suddenly dropped his head and bumped against the floor and cried again! His head circumference is 0.5cm larger than three days ago.
Thank God for all these reassuring signs. But this also means I can no longer
swaddle him. I tried to use the Muslim wrap as a blanket, but he kicked it off
immediately and couldn’t sleep initially.
19 January, 2022
I tried using a proper baby blanket since
Charlie doesn’t seem to be well settled using the Muslim wrap as a blanket. In
fact, I think the Muslim wrap is probably too thin to be used as a blanket.
When he was swaddled, it is equivalent to having 2-3 layers of wrap over him. But when it is used as a blanket,
there is only 1 layer over him. Even though he still tends to kick the proper blanket off, he
seemed to have a better quality of sleep with it. And I don’t think wearable
blankets will work well on him because he disliked the Ergopouch sleeping bag and
Love to Dream swaddles.
20 January, 2022
Charlie overnight sleep is record breaking
long! From 11:30pm last night to 7:10am today! Amazing! Guess he’s gotten used
to the blanket and can now sleep better in the blanket than the swaddle! Had a
big day today though! I was long fed up with the old bathroom sink and vanities
which has already cracked/corroded/smells very bad where the pipes are. Since
we are planning to move to our newly built home in April, I might as well do
some work on my house to improve my quality of life by a tiny bit for the next
two months, and make the place more presentable for potential tenants! The
plumber worked on the two bathrooms for a whole day. After the plumber and my
husband left for dinner, guess what, our neighbour’s house caught fire! At that
time, I was pumping my breast and heard some people yelling outside. I thought
it was the neighbour from the back arguing with the neighbour next to us again.
Then I received a phone call from my husband saying my tenant two houses away
from us called him saying our neighbour’s house caught fire! So I held the
baby/took a few essential items and walked out the house. As I walked past one
of the bedrooms and glanced at the window, it was just all orange flames outside,
which made me quite worried that the fire could also spread to our house, given
how close the neighbour’s house is to us! When I stepped out of the house, it
was already full of people and emergency workers, and they made us stay a
certain distance away from the burning house. Charlie was wiggly and kept
turning towards the burning house, looking curious and anxious. Got some church
people to pray for us via social media apps. After half an hour or so, the
emergency workers told me I could return to my house. Thank God the fire didn’t
spread to our house, and that there was no one who got injured! Don’t know
whether cutting down the overgrown trees in our garden last month had reduced
the chance of fire spreading from the neighbour’s house to our house, but either way, I’m glad those trees were cut off as it gave
our house a lot more sunshine!
火燒房!
昨晚鄰居家著火，差點燒到我們家!
當時我在用擠奶機擠奶，聽到外面有人在叫，我以為又是後面的鄰居在跟隔壁的鄰居吵架。接著我先生打電話過來說跟我們住同一條街的房客打電話跟他說我們隔壁著火了，我才知道!
當我抱著嬰兒離開房子前，望著面向隔壁的窗戶一看，只看到橘色火焰!
這讓我很擔心會燒到我們家，畢竟鄰居的房子離我們的房子非常近。所以離開房子後傳短信給幾位教會朋友讓他們代禱。消防人員、警察把我們趕到離火燒房有一段距離的地方。兒子在我懷裡扭來扭去，一直朝著火燒房的方向東張西望，看起來又好奇又緊張。半個小時後，他們就讓我回去了。感謝主沒燒到我的房子，也沒有人傷亡!
一個月前我請人把我家後院一些長得亂七八糟的樹砍掉。有一半的樹都已經長到鄰居的後院了，並且開始破壞地基了。不知道砍掉這些樹是否有幫助昨天鄰居火燒房沒燒到我家。無論如何，還是很高興有砍掉這些樹，因為這讓房子裡的光線變好了!
22 January, 2022
Charlie is sticking his tongue out a lot,
even to the point of extrusion during breastfeeding, which actually interferes
with his feeding! Then I found out it’s called the “extrusion reflex”, which
often occurs in 3-4 month old babies! And he is now getting easily distracted
during breastfeeding. Sometimes he just looks upwards in the direction of the
ceiling, or when my mobile phone makes a sound he turns towards it. Maybe his
vision is getting better now? He is now using both of his hands when he swipes
at the dangling toys on the play gym, which is a good sign. He is also holding
his head up a lot more steadily during tummy time on the mattress. But
strangely, he now refuses to be put on the floor and cries hysterically when we
try to have him do tummy time or simply just lie on the floor. So we could only
do his play time on the bed mattress. Maybe he’s like his dad, who doesn’t like
to lie on hard surfaces. Charlie attend his first wedding of 2022 today! The
church people haven’t seen him for approximately a month and they all said he’s
grown a lot! He was quiet and alert during the wedding, and my husband held him
up so he could see what was happening in the ceremony! It’s interesting that
Charlie is quiet in the public, and chatty at home.
24 January, 2022
Charlie had his head ultrasound today and it
was all normal. They say early hand preference could be a sign of cerebral
palsy, but it could also be a sign of giftedness. Let’s hope that he is a
genius… haha. Meanwhile, the seborrheic dermatitis on his scalp has mostly
disappeared and the ultrasound gel had rubbed off the last few flakes.
29 January, 2022
Charlie plays with his feet sometimes and
likes to sleep on his side. Furthermore, he is no longer phobic of the floor
now. All heading in the right direction so far! However, he’s got tongue tremor
sometimes, which makes me worry about spinal muscular atrophy!
30 January, 2022
Charlie becomes increasingly easily
distracted during breastfeeding and now starts making even more dramatic
flailing arm movements! And sometimes when I feed him with a bottle he knocks
the bottle away with his arm movements! Now I am worried about him having
something along the lines of chorea! Charlie seems to be undergoing a sleep
regression the last two days, where it is very difficult for him to fall asleep
during day time, and his night sleep are back down to 4 hours before awakening
instead of 7 hours straight.
2 February, 2022
Today is my Chinese
Lunar calendar birthday, and there’s lots of 2s: 2/2/2022, day 2 of the Chinese
New Year (which is when daughters return to their parents’ home to celebrate in
the Chinese culture). Took Charlie to the Paediatric physio. She thinks
everything is on track for a baby who is nearly 4 months old, and that his head
lag is not really a head lag as the neck muscles are activated as she pulls him
up into the sitting position, and the slightly abnormal appearance is due to
his torticollis to the left side. Charlie can move his head in both directions,
but the range of motion is just a bit less when he turns to the right than to
the left, so she recommends I try to put toys on his right side and try to keep
him off his back. She says the HINE test is more accurate at 5-6 months of age,
so we didn’t end up doing that today, but she thinks there’s very low chance of
him having any neurological problems just based on how he’s like today. She
commented that Charlie is a very long (tall) baby, he’s making lots of
different sounds, he’s able to do some 4 month skills such as reaching for
objects, and some 6 month skills such as playing with his toes and help hold
bottle during feeds. These are all very reassuring things to know before I
return to work on my birthday in less than two weeks’ time! Had an outdoor
dinner with the church home group tonight and the weather is pretty cool, so Charlie
wore long sleeves for the first time in his life… Picked a cloth that was a
gift for Charlie which arrived in our house on his birthday! But this 00 sized
cloth which is meant for 3-6 month old babies is already getting quite tight!
今天是我的農曆生日，數字裡有好多二喔!
2022年2月2日、大年初二! 教會的小組聚會在戶外吃晚餐，天氣有些冷，所以第一次給義祥穿長袖。今天選的這件衣服剛好是在義祥生日的那一天寄到我們家的!
沒想到這件專門給三到六個月大的嬰兒穿的00碼衣服第一次穿就已經很緊了!
6 February, 2022
Charlie no longer have a head lag today! This
is very reassuring! Then I looked at the Wonder Weeks book and realised Charlie
is already in the “Wonder Week 19” phase, because this phase actually starts as
early as 14 weeks and lasts approximately 5 weeks! No wonder he is so cranky,
hard to keep entertained, and very distracted during feeds over the past 2-3
weeks! In fact, he sometimes goes nuts, making these really loud screams and
hitting me with his fists!
7 February, 2022
Charlie continues to get stronger. When he
lifts his head up during tummy time he uses his hands to grab the things in
front of him and place them into his mouth! He is now turning in the clockwise
direction when he’s on his tummy. I guess these are the signs that he is
developing the muscles needed to roll from tummy to back and crawl. Charlie’s
favourite toy is currently Sophie La Giraffe. I personally think the other toys
appear more fun, such as the crab rattle that changes colour. Turns out lots of
people got this giraffe for their babies! I looked up the product website and
it does seem like a pretty good product!
https://www.sophielagirafe.fr/en/
Received an email from Morling College
offering its alumni to study an auditing unit at the discounted rate of $50.
Very enticing. Picked the “Principles of Hermeneutics.” Lectures start on 14
Feb, my birthday! What a nut I am, restarting work and studies on my birthday! Probably
gonna join the classes mostly via livestream mode though, as it is very
difficult to go on campus while breastfeeding a baby, and in the uncertainty of
the COVID pandemic.
8 February, 2022
Charlie rolled over tummy to back for the
first time today! It happened too suddenly for me to capture on video so I took
a video of the second time he’s done it, which is just straight after. The
frequency of his double eyelid crease appearing is also increasing, so there’s
a possibility his eye shape may still change later on.
義祥今天第一次從肚子到背翻身!第一次翻來不急錄下來。接著翻第二次時就把他錄下來了。
9 February, 2022
Charlie was quite unsettled in the home group
this evening, making some noises during bible study and doing a poo. Home group
was done in an open garage for better ventilation but the mosquito repellent incense
seemed to have irritated Charlie and made him cough. The home group was celebrating
February birthdays and I happened to be the only one born in February. It was
great to have a “birthday” photo with my husband and son.
10 February, 2022
Attended the Circle of Security course this
morning via webinar. Hope it will help Charlie form a healthy attachment style
to Chris and I. Charlie has been quite irritable lately. He is what Tracy Hogg
calls the “textbook baby”. He was able to sleep 7 hours straight for a week or
two in mid-January, then the Wonder weeks came and it shortened to 4-5 hour sleep
again. Guess that’s what they call “sleep regression”. Now he’s even more
irritable, showing the signs of teething, with swollen gums at the two lower
central incisors. It’s harder to feed him, especially from the bottle compared
to the breast, probably due to the discomfort of his gums and the nipples being
softer than the bottle teats. Meanwhile, during tummy time, he is showing
attempts to crawl, but just ends up turning in counter clockwise circles on the
floor instead.
11 February, 2022
Charlie lost 100g compared to a few days ago.
He appears hungry but his teething discomfort is interfering with his feeding
at the same time. In fact he was even shaking during the noon breastfeeding
session. I wonder if he was too hungry? He was more settled in the evening and
slept quite a bit.
12 February, 2022
In the early hours of this morning, Charlie
woke up quite a few times with blocked nose. Wonder if he is sick or got
rhinitis? He doesn’t have a fever. No wonder they say parents can’t get enough
sleep when their children get sick. And Charlie isn’t even that sick. Wonder
what would happen if he really got struck down by a virus? He slept well when I
propped him up on the pillow, probably because it helps unblock the nose.
However, given the risk of SIDS, I have to stay awake and watch him when he’s
sleeping on a pillow.
13 February, 2022
Since I am going back to work the following
day, thought I’d try ingesting the placenta which I kept frozen since Charlie’s
birth! (At my own risk, of course. If you’d like to try this, should get someone
with a qualification in placenta encapsulation to do it.) I know the principle
of placenta encapsulation etc. So I basically took the placenta out of the
freezer to defrost it, then washed it. I got a tiny bit of placenta tissue and
made it into a berry smoothie, because some people say some of the nutrients
may get lost after cooking. I steamed the rest of the placenta for 30minutes
with some herbs like spring onion, basils and chili. I ingested some of the
steamed placenta and dehydrated the rest of them using the air fryer at 80oC
for 3 hours. The steamed placenta tasted like goose liver. Interestingly, I felt quite different after ingesting the
placenta! More energetic and happy! And I think my milk production increased: I
can only say “I think” because you cannot see the amount which the baby drank
from the breast, but there is more milk being pumped out by the breast pump
than before! If I have another child in the future, I will probably take the
placenta earlier post-partum, as it is useful based on my personal experience
today.
14 February, 2022
8am to 2:30pm, 6.5 hours, that was the
longest time my husband cared for Charlie alone, and the longest time I’ve been
separated from Charlie since his first existence! Even during blue light
therapy, I didn’t get separated from him for as long as 6.5 hours! Back to work
on my birthday, a pretty busy morning! Although everything still felt very
familiar, the main problem was me running behind time, and the added anxiety
about how my husband and Charlie were coping at home especially since my
husband is just working from home and not actually on any leave. Good thing is
I got a time slotted in to express my milk, so my ducts don’t block up and I
can create more stashes for my husband to use at home. My colleagues celebrated
my birthday with a cake and birthday song, which was great. Rushed home and
found that my husband and Charlie survived. Charlie was quite hungry but
otherwise looked ok. Milk supply is still quite good despite being somewhat stressed
this morning. My husband told me Charlie used his foot to turn the baby mobile
switch button on and off multiple times today! Accident? Or too clever? Don’t
know. While my husband isn’t the most romantic guy around, I was pretty
satisfied with my birthday gift, which is a Samsung Galaxy Watch4! Had been
wanting to monitor my oxygen saturation ever since the pandemic began!
15 February, 2022
Placed Charlie on his back on the floor at noon.
Looked away for a minutes. Then looked back and saw he was on his tummy! So this
is the second time he’s rolled from back to tummy, as his first time was 17 Jan
(which was thought to be an “accident” as he did not repeat the manoeuvre again
immediately afterwards like he did when he rolled tummy to back)! Then in the
afternoon, I placed him on his back on the floor again. Suddenly he rolled from
back to tummy and tummy to back! It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have
time to record it! Then he did it again a few more times! So now I can be
pretty sure this rolling is no accident!
Attended the Morling livestream lecture
tonight. We have to open our cameras, and join discussions in breakout rooms at
times. Doing this with a baby is more difficult than I thought, as Charlie
tends to cluster feed and be agitated in the evenings.
16 February, 2022
Second day back at work this morning. Also
time for Charlie to have his 4 month vaccines. Booked him in with our regular
GP/colleague and got seen during my 30 min breast pumping break! Charlie made a
long loud cry and turned red for a few seconds, then settled down immediately. My
husband and I also received our COVID booster vaccines. Chris wanted AstraZeneca
and that is approved as a booster in Australia and he does not like the idea of
mRNA vaccines. I had Moderna. The injection went into my left arm and I gradually
started feeling an ache as the day went on. There was a sense of head fullness
initially, which gradually disappeared but I became pretty tired in the
afternoon. I didn’t run late this time and actually felt less stressed at work
today despite the relatively tight schedule! Charlie appeared very sleepy when
I got home in the afternoon. I took a nap in the late afternoon and felt
alright afterwards, but my left arm ache continued. Charlie had his first ever “frozen
meal” tonight as I experimented with defrosting and heating up a milk stash I
created on 8 November, 2021!
Looking at Charlie, his eyes looks like mine.
So is the shape of his ears and the double-jointedness of his hands. Everything
else looks like Chris: his eyebrows, nose, his hairline, the direction of his hair
flow, the size of his ears, and his height. Not sure about the lips. Now that
Charlie has passed the four month mark and I have returned to work, I will just
be keeping track of his major milestones like when he sits up, when he starts
solids etc. This diary will be something which I can refer back to when I have
another child, as people say you often forget what happens if you don’t record
things down. And I probably won’t have enough time to make such a detailed record
with the next child, as my cousin warned me things will get much tougher with two!
Looking at my garden, I also felt a sense of
accomplishment. Last year, it was an untended pest-filled non-harvesting shady
garden with messy trees that had started breaking the foundations of the house.
It would have placed us at great danger from the neighbour’s fire if I hadn’t
decided to intervene. This year, we are harvesting various fruits and
vegetables, including things like tomatoes, spring onion, chives, potato
leaves, avocado plant, chili, silver beet, basils, figs, lemon, guava, etc. And
the whole place is full of sunshine. Personally it reminded me of the parable
of the wheat and weeds, and the fig tree. And coincidentally I had watched
quite a few talks which are related to those topics recently. I think it serves
as a warning about my spiritual state as well as a reminder to turn my focus
back to God in the midst of my busyness. I wonder if I’d be willing to move to
another country if there is a clear calling from God?
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