One Week Baby

Mayenne is one-week old today. She is feeding better after we used bottle. Milk is expressed from mum's breasts so that we can monitor her intake. If it's not enough, we supplement with formula milk powder. Her feeding pattern becomes more pronounced over the days. She seems to cry less, and we attributed to the higher food intake she is getting.

Today is Vesak Day, a public holiday, so my parents came in the morning to 'make a scene', much appreciated. We wanted to create a noisy 'daytime' environment so that Mayenne can differentiate day and night.

This is not Mayenne's first bath, but it's the first one that I was present.

Getting dressed up.

Feeling comfortable

Baby's Not Eating Enough

I am feeling the first setback as a parent. Today visited the paediatrician. He informed us that Mayenne is not gaining enough weight. We have noticed that since birth she has not been feeding well. She slept soundly during the day, responded to feeds rather fine, but cried for milk at night. Doctor says she should be taking about 50-90ml per feed, 8 times a day. In her last feed, we fed through the bottle so that we can gauge her intake. To our horror, she only took 20ml.

All we can now hope for is for her to take more milk. We will try to feed her more frequently and to interact with her more actively to keep her awake. We will probably offer formula milk after midnight so that she will feel more satisfied.

Despite the worry, watching her facial antics lifts our spirits and keeps us looking forward to another growing day.

First Night - Rough

We had a rough first night at home. Baby refused to sleep after meals. After putting her down, she woke up and cried again. We found that her nose block is worsened after I applied the nose drip and it disrupted her feed. I slept at about 12am but my wife and the confinement lady went on to feed and pacify her till 3am, before she quietened down.

My wife was very very uncomfortable with the breastfeeding position. She was also very worried about Mayenne's feeding difficulty that resulted in extended feeds. To ease her discomfort, I applied half day leave today to dash to Isetan to get the Medela breast pump 'Swing' model and the 'Brest Friend' support pillow for breastfeeding. Thanks to the Great Singapore Sale, I got good discounts. I also took a trip to Thomson Medical Centre to buy the cloth recommended by our antenatal consultant, Mrs. BB Wong, at Parentcraft.

The purchases are worth every penny. The breast pump works on both batteries and AC adaptor, and it's quiet and light, Angie can now express her milk conveniently. The Brest Friend pillow also works great.

It's almost midnight and Mayenne seems to be sleeping well. Hope the overnight feed is shorter and easier for Mummy.

Beautiful feet

Playtime!

Sleep time...

Baby Goes Home

Mummy told me that Baby is feeding better after the nurse helped out last night. And it seems that we have been under-feeding the baby. This morning, Baby was clamouring for more milk every half hour, keeping Mummy very busy. Fortunately, she was satisfied by the time we needed to check out, so she sat throughout the car journey quietly.

"Bleah!"

"Hi, Mama!"

"Eh, Papa?"

"I act cool!"

Home Sleep Home

3 Days, Daddy

Mayenne is being diagnosed with mild jaundice, and is put under UV light for the entire day. She is still not very proficient in suckling the breast, and we were kindda worried as we are unable to tell whether she has taken enough milk. Her cries are getting stronger and more 'scary', and we are at a loss of what to do. Her blocky nose does not help in the situation. Her weight has dropped to 2.5kg.

We then recalled that babies need to be fed even if they are happy to be sleeping. Herein lies the dilemma: she looked so serene when she is asleep that we were afraid to wake her up for food, but if we wake her and if she starts crying, we would not know what to do.

Tomorrow, Angie will be able to leave the hospital, but we do not know if Mayenne can leave with us. And if she does, it will truly be the beginning of our parenthood - on our own.

Looking at Mummy

Looking at Daddy - behind the camera

Serene

Looking at Grandparents

24 Hours Later

I reached hospital at about 9.30am, and a clinician was already there to teach little Mayenne how to suck so that she can feed on breast milk properly. And thank goodness it helped.

The paediatrician informed us that she has mucus build-up on her nose and so requires to be kept under a warmer. He also prescribed some nose drops.

Mayenne was mostly asleep and not hungry for Mummy's milk when we brought her to the ward. At times, she was wailing helplessly, and yet when we tried to feed her, she was disinterested though it stopped the crying. We thought it could be due to the below-body temperature she was experiencing in the ward. So we left her in the nursery most of the time.

She has yet to opened her eyes fully, but some who saw a glimpse thought she has double eyelids. Some even thought they saw dimples.

Here's some photos I captured while Granny (my mum) held her.




Many of our colleagues and old friends visited us. Thank you all for the gifts. Hope you all can attend Mayenne's first-month gathering!

Birth Day

Today I became a daddy.

Last night, my wife and I went to watch Pirates of the Carribean 3 at Bishan GV. She wished to finish the final trilogy before she went into confinement after birth, so I took the risk and bought the tickets in advance. Probably the worst of the 3 movies, but what matters is to complete the tale.

At 3.22am, I was woken by her sudden dash into the washroom. A moment later, she alerted me: the water bag had been broken. We took 15 minutes to get ourselves orientated, she took a shower while I packed the final stuffs. We reached the hospital at about 4am.

We monitored the baby's heartbeat and contractions, and all seemed to be normal, until about 5.30am we found the baby's heartbeat disappeared from the ECG. Panic, we alerted the nurse, who adjusted the ECG devices. We couldn't get any good consistent readings, and so the nurses decided to alert our gynae and prepared for an emergency Caesarian section.

By 6am, she was wheeled into the operating theatre. I wasn't allowed inside, so I waited outside till 7am, then I was a little life being wheeled out of the door. My daughter, Mayenne, is born at 6.35am, weighing 2.69kg (almost 6 pounds).

Everything happened so suddenly and so quick. I was expecting a long labour since nurse told us that her cervix was only 2cm dilated. But a C-section shortened the entire labour process, eliminating me from the entire process. We never got to make use of all the breathing techniques or the mental support we learned from antenatal classes. To my wife, it just felt like a surgical operation rather than a baby delivery, a feeling which I perfectly understand.

Incidentally, our bed number is 524, the date our baby's birthday.

Trying hard to make this post interesting, but having very little sleep, I lost my usual creativity and mental effort. Anyway, the most important thing in this post is... PHOTOS!!!

Hello!

Big Yawn!

Who's Peeping?

Snap the Babe!

Mother and Child