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Full Month! Well almost... |
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Posted at Tuesday, May 27, 2008 |
As usual, time flies. A thousand and one errands have come and gone. Come this Sunday, our little baby would have successfully disturbed our sleep for one month. It's been challenging and tiring... Waking up to feed his incessant hunger, fighting back his kungfu strokes, feeling the heartache when he cries... It's a mixed bag of emotions and it's certainly frustrating - very frustrating - at times... But ultimately - it's all worth it. When he calms down and stares back at you with those bright eyes of his, the whole world seems to shrink to just that... I guess the number one lesson we've learnt from this is to make sure we get a confinement nanny the next time round. Cheri has had to take care of him in the daytime and she can't get enough rest as a result. When I get home from work, it's my turn to take care of him but it's pretty much preventing me from getting much schoolwork done, not to mention the fatigue. Basically, chicken essence and coffee are now my two best friends. I'm not sure if it's good or bad luck that contributed to this situation. The original intention was for me to work from home during this month so that I could help out in the daytime as well. But then a lucrative job offer came along... So well, I couldn't very well carry on working from home after resigning... While it's probably a good move for us in the long run, the timing of the offer certainly could not be worse. Oh well, it'll probably be better after her confinement is over - Just a couple more days to grind it out now...
So tiny his hands
Yet hold our world in it he can
So bright his eyes
Showing us our future ever so clearly
So fragile his body
A little bundle of hopes and dreams
So serene his smile
Lifting our weary souls ever so gently
This little one's name is Matthias
But his name in our hearts is unspoken
He's snuck his way up into all our hidden corners
And made himself a big home in our hearts
Matthias Lee, you won't ever be alone.
Daddy and Mummy will always love you so!
13th May
16th May 
20th May 
27th May    
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Feeding Time! |
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Posted at Wednesday, May 07, 2008 |
I think I finally understand why the Chinese used to measure time in two-hour intervals. They must have used a baby's instinctive feeding timetable as a guideline.
It's been 3 nights since we've returned home. It's been relatively ok so far since I'm still on leave but I'm not so sure about it when I finally get back to work. It's definitely not easy waking up every two hours and staying awake for an hour after that... It's certainly tiring... But when I look into his face, it's suddenly all bearable and worthwhile.
I'm having a hard time getting back into my routine of work and study. Somehow I just can't find the interest to do either - I much rather spend time holding and looking at Matthias. He's so small now but I know he's going to grow up fast...
Like they said, the first kid always gets the most pictures. Most true indeed!
About an hour after he was born... Curious eyes peering around... 
One Day Later 
Two Days Later
Day Three |
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At
5:29 PM, May 08, 2008, Cª+he®iNe said…
Congrats on your newborn!
He looks totally adorable =)
At
9:37 AM, May 10, 2008, said…
At
4:36 PM, May 20, 2008, Arun said…
Belated Congratulations Mr Phang,
hope you and your lovely wife have a wonderful life ahead with your lil' man.
Best of Luck!
Arun
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| » Never Never Land |
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May 3rd 2.04am |
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Posted at Saturday, May 03, 2008 |
Matthias - Welcome to the world!
It was a long wait indeed.
By 5pm, your mummy was still feeling perfectly fine. We both thought that she was probably going to need another dose of prostin at 10pm so I thought that I might as well go collect the maid from the agency first. Your mummy wanted to go too as she was bored but then the nurse strongly advised against it. Somehow, your mummy started feeling a little backache at the same time and so she decided to stay. I went off at 5.30pm thinking that it probably was going to be at least 12 hours before I get to see you...
So I picked up the maid, brought her upstairs to your grandma, bought dinner for them and then went home to bring potato chips and chocolates for your mummy. And that was when she called me to tell me that it was starting to hurt badly. Well, I think I really pushed our car pretty hard after that.
Once I reached our ward, your mummy was already sitting in the wheelchair waiting for the nurse to bring her down to the delivery ward. I quickly left everything and picked up the videocam and went down with her. We were then admitted to suite 30 and your mummy was starting to hurt really badly. Anyway, it turns out that videocams aren't allowed so I hurried back upstairs to get the camera instead. :p
So anyway, your mummy was hurting and the senior staff nurse Thelva checked her cervix for dilation at around 8pm. It was still only 1cm but while examining, the waterbag burst as well and your mummy was hurting so badly that she teared. My heart was really aching badly to see her that way. With the waterbag burst, it was going to be much more painful from then on. And it really was - the contractions were coming 3 minutes apart and lasting almost 3 minutes each. It was bad and your mummy opted for epidural straightaway. However, Prof John Tee advised against it as he felt it was still too early. So she just took the Pethidine injection first. It helped to relieve the backache but the contractions were still proving too painful. After an hour or so, she could not take it anymore so the anaesthetist was paged. When he came, he informed us that your mummy would need to have a blood test first to rule out the presence of a certain chemical that could result in blood clots due to her high blood pressure. The test seemed to take forever and while waiting, it turned out that the dilation had opened to almost 7cm already! From 1cm to 7cm in the space of less than 3 hours... The nurse said your mummy was lucky which was probably true since she effectively got to skip a couple of hours of pain. Well she couldn't quite agree then in her state of pain....
Anyway, the blood test result finally came at around 11pm and your mummy was good to go. I wasn't allowed to stay during the procedure but when I came back, I saw your mummy in a much more relaxed mood. The epidural was definitely a god-send! However, her dilation was still only 8cm but the nurse said that her cervix wall was very thick and swollen, probably due to the numerous contractions. With the pain gone, your mummy managed to nap for an hour before she started to feel a small amount of pain again. It was then that Prof Tee came back around 1.30am and when she told him about the pain, he suspected that she might be ready. He checked and yes she was!
Prof Tee then asked your mummy to push hard but it was clear that it was going to be a long labour. He was concerned about your fluctuating heart rate heart rate which always dropped to 50-100BPM whenever she experienced a contraction. He said that it was possible that the cord was around your neck and so he wanted to speed up the delivery with forceps. We of course took his advice and before we knew it, the forceps was clamped against your head and he was pulling hard while your mummy pushed. The episiotomy was performed and then I saw your head and then your neck and more heartbreakingly, I saw the cord wound around your neck. The next moments were a blur as you seemed to smoothly slide out and your cord was cut, you were placed on the warmer, cord blood was drawn and the stitching began.
So on May 3rd, 2.04am, you were brought into this world! You opened your eyes in about 10 minutes after you were placed on the warmer. It was so amazing... The nurse weighed you in at 2.905kg, measured your length of 51cm and your head circumference at 33cm. Like your mummy said, the whole day felt like a dream. But when we finally held you in our arms, it was reality alright. We both know we are going to love you so much! |
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10:36AM |
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Posted at Friday, May 02, 2008 |
Your mummy woke up early this morning at 7.20am and took what will be her last bath for a while. We looked at your cot and prepared it as best as we can for the last time before we headed upstairs to your grandma's place for breakfast.
Reached KKH at 9.30am and was admitted into Room 4 of the Delivery Suite. The nurse monitored your heartbeat (about 150 bpm)and your mum's contractions for about half an hour. I went back to the car to get her medicine for high blood pressure and while I was gone, the nurse came in and inserted the prostin into your mum's cervix. She's lying on the bed now dozing off while I'm sitting here typing away... Nothing to do now but wait... How many hours will we wait before we see your head popping out... |
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We'll be seeing you soon |
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Posted at Thursday, May 01, 2008 |
Yes. We are going to see Matthias soon!
Seen my gynae on Wed and actually had protein in my urine and high blood pressure which he said it's pre-eclampsia. Sounds serious.. He checked my cervix (it was darn painful) which is 1cm dilated. Then he told me that since I have dilated, he want to induce my labour in 2-3 days cos I'm having pre-eclampsia which can be dangerous in acute cases. He asked, "are you prepared for it?" This question got me a little dumbfounded since both Mal and I have been preparing for many months for Matthias's arrival but I actually wanted to say NO to my gynae. But before I did, I turned to see Mal's reaction and he nodded his head so I said ok to my gynae. And here I am blogging the last time before admitting to KKH tomorrow morning at 10am for induction.
I have heard many stories about being induced and I really hope I can have a natural birth. Please pray hard for me! In any case, I know it's not going to be easy tomorrow but I still have to go through that. Everyone seems excited about that but I can't help having mixed feelings. I guess I really do need support tomorrow and I know I'm going to be cranky tomorrow and probably the next 1-2 weeks. (So Mal, please be patient!) Now, the only thing I hope is that I can really relax tomorrow so that labour will be easier as advised by my mum.
Matthias, please be co-operative! We're seeing you soon.
(Look out for our update!) |
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Congrats on your newborn!
He looks totally adorable =)