What’s Next?

so, baby’s out… what’s next?

our current plan, now confirmed, is to return to Brats after CNY ‘10. Ayl will come back to Kch on CNY day itself and after 2weeks, we’ll be going to KLIA and off to freezing-winter Brats we go. can’t imagine how the 2 kids will be going from such a hot weather (30*C+) to a freezing one (-10*C n below).

meantime, i’ll still be here in Kch at the in-laws’… now with 2, moving/going around will be difficult since i don’t have a faithful companion who can help me take care of an active running-around lil girl while i have my hands full carrying baby.

coz of this, i won’t be able to go back to Penang… SAD!! but i’m still hopeful that maybe something will come up and i’ll get to go back maybe for just one day to attend my beloved cousin’s ROM in Dec.

Grace Flows Down

His Grace is sufficient for me.

it’s going to be 2weeks now since Ashton’s born and he’s nothing like his older sister! Arielle was an easy baby… an angel, she hardly ever cried even when she’s hungry. Ashton however cries very very VERY loudly when he’s hungry, especially when he’s hungry and not getting his milk. this time i’ve chosen to breastfeed baby fully and so far it’s proven to be quite a challenge for me.

some days are good when he’s latching on properly, other nights are horrible when he cries and cries and forgets how to latch and that made me panic and frustrated as well. with sleepless nights and body aches, he’s being a big bully when he doesn’t stop crying (to put it nicely). every time i feel like losing it, i look up to God and ask for H.E.L.P.!!! short simple prayers get answered all the time, and i’m so grateful i’m still able to sit and find time to blog about this, otherwise i think i would have already gone crazy pengsan (fainted)!!

this is an old song; heard it in one of Passion’s live concert album that’s in my pc and it captured me immediately. it’s simple yet comforting. i found the vid from YouTube and cried after watching it. So great is God’s love for us. Thank You God for Your faithfulness and Your grace.

My Little Man

Finally! baby’s out and now he’s sleeping soundly in his crib. i delivered on 26/Oct; 8.37pm to be exact after only 5hrs of labour. i’m proud to say, there was totally no use of any painkillers during labour (i had some kind of ‘laughing gas’ when i was in labour with Arielle)  and was a natural birth. what? of course there is pain!!

PAIN IS INEVITABLE!!

my water broke in the morning at 10am, but there was still no sign of contraction at all. i feel so comfortable that i thought my prayers for a painless delivery is really coming true!! haha… well, no such thing after i was checked and then induced. contractions came 2hrs after that and then 5hrs later, this little man came into the world crying very loudly.

delivering here in Kuching GH, i cannot help to but to compare the vast difference with Putrajaya’s semi private hospital where i delivered Arielle. the facility, the staff, and especially the service (!!) are so much better – people here are more friendly and they’re not so racist. no doubt the service if compared to private hospitals is under the benchmark because the you don’t get the special attention that you pay so much for, but overall, Kuching GH has preceded my expectations of a local government hospital.

Post Natal – i was discharged the next day at 2pm, with a fee of RM50 for hospital bills (everything even food) and a compulsory ‘gift offering’ of (3packets x 10pcs) Kotex Loop Sanitary napkins. then home we go!

the day after (27th), we had to go to the clinic again (the one i went for checkups) to report on the delivery of baby and then checkup for baby and mother. the nurses were thorough. they check blood pressure & heart rate, check your breasts and they encourage you to breastfeed, they check the contraction of the uterus; is it returning to normal, even check ‘down under’ to see if you’re healing properly. yes, i’ve got stitches, not a long cut like the 1st delivery but a 1st degree tear instead. again… pain is inevitable. we can put the blame all on Eve. i’m thanking God for His strength and His grace. this time around i’m much more cheerful; i believe i was more than slightly depressed after my 1st delivery due to the 12hrs labour, all the poking and prodding and scolding and mistreatment  i got from the hosp, would have gone insane if it had gone any longer.

so, i’m currently one-hand nursing and one-hand blogging – my goal is to fully breastfeed baby for at the least 6months; he’s still learning how to latch on, and i’m also learning the ways and tips of nursing; what’s best and what’s not with many thanks  to Leona and my MIL. baby’s routine now is to feed, sleep and poo… if only he’d do it all in sequence! the thing is, he’ll wake up to feed, falls asleep 5mins later while being nursed (sometimes poo also) so i’ll put him in bed, but he gets up 3mins later and cries for milk cos he’s still hungry. so it’s latch on and off for nearly 2hours, sometimes in the wee morning. it’d be a great relief if he already knows how to latch on properly. no wonder why most prefer to just give formula milk – so much easier cos baby sleeps immediately after the bottle and they can sleep for hours before the next feed. i found a good site though for those learning how to breastfeed like me.

…and he shall be called Ashton Tavy Leong Xuen En. following my brother’s kids Ashley & Asher, Ash carries the Hebrew meaning of happy/blessed. the middle name Tavy is from Ayl’s middle name; and the chinese name literally translates to ‘proclaiming’ ‘grace/glory’.

or should we just name him Ash instead… hmmm, what do you think?

1 week away

i’m 1 week away from due date and really i just can’t wait to deliver!! argh!!

baby, baby… time to come out and see the world darling!

it’s fantastic that Ayl gets to come back to see us even for a day (ETA KCH 30/Oct night – ETD KCH 31/Oct), and we’re so looking forward to seeing him again after just 2 1/2months being away from each other. he has a biz trip to KL office for the whole week next week, so he’s flying in today and will ETA KUL tmr afternoon.

we really thank God for His favour and His goodness that Ayl has such a generous and wonderful boss! the parents here hope that by then, baby will already be out and he gets to see the newborn. we shall see then…

Laughs…

can’t imagine what kind of junk Arielle would grow up with if Aylwin is this full of crap!! ~

37 going on 40

no, not the age but the weeks counting down to LABOUR, numero dos!! (number 2)

this Wednesday i’ll be going for my 5th checkup at the government clinic here in Sekama, Kuching (Klinik Ibu dan Anak). the treatment and medication is free although as usual with everything government, there is the long wait. even though there is an ‘appointment’ set (the clinic will set the date to return for checkup) but the time is not, so i will still need to take a number and wait for my turn.

on my first trip there i was a bit confused. there are a few treatment rooms for checkup, a main counter at the side, a doctor’s room and a lab. the procedure is to take a number from the main counter, the nurses give you your card and another number; you put your card unto a box in front of the room which you’re allocated to and wait for your number to be called. meantime, you’ll need to go to the toilet and pee into a small plastic bottle and keep it with you until you go into the room for treatment; the nurses will dip a urine test chit (dunno what you call those) to check. your weight checked, pressure & heart rate as well as the length of your baby inside the womb. this part i dislike the most coz they make you lie down on a high, narrow, stiff and FLAT bed, face up so they can measure the belly. why? it’s freakin uncomfortable for me coz:

1. baby’s already heavy

2. my back hurts like *%#@!^*#!

3. just moving from my side to the position requested is tough work coz the bed is so narrow, and after that, getting down as well

it’s nearly exactly the same kind of bed i was asked to lie on for checkup before they send you to the labour room in Putrajaya Hosp when i was delivering Arielle. already having contractions and i’m forced into such a painful position with 2 belts strapped tightly around my waist – wahlau, like what the Hokkiens say ‘thai tu!!’ (slaughtering a pig; it’s a joke)

anyway, jokes aside – usually that’s all there is to the checkup, mine’s already 2ice monthly since i’m already 8months+. sometimes they will send you to the doctor to go for an ultrasound (with the stupid bed again) and sometimes they will send you to the lab for blood test. how long’s the wait? usually i go 1/2hour before they start the operating hours to take a number; averagely i wait for one and a half hours every time i go. bring a book and mb something to chew on if you think you’d get hungry. one more thing to note, parking is non-existent - you have been warned so best to have someone send you there and back.

if you’re a first-timer, you’ll need to sit for a talk on breastfeeding first before heading for the checkup. and always always, remember to bring tissue for toilet use, and also to remember to return the numbers once you’re done with it. i accidentally took it back with me 2wice, heh heh, my bad.

at 8months

belly looks more pointed instead of roundish; checkout my nicely toned biceps!

SO, how is the pregnancy so far? the first trimester was a bit difficult coz i was in Brats at that time, so no Msian food, crave like crazy and was eating junk food from McD and KFC most of the time. didn’t have appetite for anything else, and everything i cooked made me nauseous. thank God i didn’t have throwing up bouts. saw a gyne there and their routine checkup is to check the cervix as well… if you’re a mother already, you’ll know how doctors check them. i was totally caught by surprise (of course not a pleasant one) but even so, not as bad as i thought or had experienced it here in Msia, i even got used to it after a few times. the doc didn’t give any vitamins though unlike my gyne/clinic here, so i had to get some myself from the pharmacy.

this second preg is unplanned like the 1st one; and this time around, i’m more independent and active. i took Arielle for walks in downtown Brats and the zoo with the public bus, walked and walked a lot, up and down hills with her pram, i even took my cousins to the Devin castle (TWICE) when they went for a visit in Brats. it’s as if i was not pregnant at all. but that was all in the early stages when the bulge was not so prominent yet. nowadays, it’s difficult just to get up from sitting on the floor! hahaha…. i’ll not mention how tedious, frustrating and physically tiring it is to have an active 2y.o. always running away from you when you ask her to come so you can bathe her/change her/give her food!

so that’s why i’m really looking forward to deliver, so that i can finally walk normally and not waddle; so that i can keep up with numero uno (number 1) and hug and kiss and cuddle her nicely; so that i can lie down on the bed and sleep comfortably in my fav position (if i get to sleep at all later ); so that i can dress and look normal again …. so many more things i can think about. by God’s grace, i will deliver soon to a healthy baby with the shortest and painless labour ever!!!!