***This post is a huge #throwback from 2weeks ago where we celebrated Mikaela's Baby Shower at our home ~~~ There is no other reason for the delay in this post.. We are just too busy taking care of our baby who is.. hmm.... quite a handful T_T***
It is quite hard to imagine that our little baby Mikaela a.k.a 小坏蛋 a.k.a BabyM a.k.a Mikae (that's what Omupie always calls her -.-... ) had her very own baby shower last week! I even bought her new clothes for her to dress up for the event but...
It was kinda tough putting on the clothes for her as she is rather fidgety now. Luckily our confinement lady was very experienced and she could still make her wear the clothes that i bought her..... but.....
LOL~! The clothes were way too big for her! zZzzZZzz this is like Newborn Size lor... but the shorts looked like she was wearing long baggy pants instead.. and the top makes her look like she is being wrapped by a huge towel... T_T wasted my efforts... purposely went to buy her nice clothes but.... sigh.... i think can keep until.. Christmas? Hopefully~
At first we wanted to just go with it, the oversized clothes and all but in the end we decided to change to something more fitting for her. Mikaela doesn't really like putting on headbands though haha~ see her expression become so stiff =X
My father-in-law couldn't join us for the baby shower as he had work to do, but nonetheless he still dropped by and hugged his beloved grand daughter before going to work^^
Lol~ We have established the fact that Mikaela is a pretty "smart girl" hahah~ because she always has a very happy expression towards her grandfather, but towards us... we are like her domestic helpers T_T LoLXxx
Some family photos before we begin the baby shower!
Sadly though.. the rest of the baby shower was rather chaotic for mich and i.. in the end.. we didn't even get to really mingle with all our friends and relatives.. much less take photos with them. Because there was just too many people. But nonetheless, Mich and I would like to express our biggest thanks to all of our guest who turned up for my baby's baby shower! =)
I also need to thank Cindy and Elise (Mich's sisters) for helping us arrange for such a lovely and cute dessert table!
I personally think that TheDessertParty did a really good job decorating the dessert table to our the theme that we wanted and the desserts were really really good! All of them were hand baked by Charlene from TheDessertParty and they taste great without being too overly sweet^^ check out their Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/thedessertparty/
?!?!?! Mikaela grew up so fast????
Lolx~~ That's actually Alsa (Omupie's daughter) hahah =) Time really flies... After looking at Mikaela and then looking at Alsa, i realised that Alsa has grown so much and she's now a big "jie jie" already! It felt really recent when Mich and I visited Omupie when they just delivered Alsa, and now look at her, shes able to walk and play with others already! =)
My folks from my dad's family also came down to attend Mikaela's baby shower^^ **see that little naughty girl's pose for the photo LoLxxx, so unglam lor~*
*stop saying me liao~ i shy~*
Hahaha my favourite pic of the day =) these was taken before the event started, that's why i still looked rather fresh LoLxxXx
While the baby shower was a success, we really need to thank everyone for forking out their time to attend our baby shower. It is such a nice feeling knowing that Mikaela has received so many well wishes and blessings from so many people, people whom we cherish and has also helped and given us advice along our journey as parents.
Mich and I will continue to give Mikaela all our love and make her feel like a princess^^
I am officially 29 years old now (throwback to 3 days ago)! But what is so special for me this year is that i have my cutie little pie to celebrate with me, along with my dearest family members =)
LoL i know... we are all super duper unglam hahahha but who cares?! Celebrating your birthday with people that are dearest to you is all that matters. =) ps. i had to wear a cap indoors because i just cut my hair into a 'pineapple' kinda style >.< *unintended* LoLxxx so i had to cover it up for the camera hahaha.
and Mikaela is 2 weeks old! =)
Taking care of her is no easy feat. but at the end of the day... she is worth it^^ And you will know it when you see your baby.....
Heeee~~~ Cute right? This little 小坏蛋! Even the way she sleeps looks so special to me hahahaHa. I never ever imagined that babies as small as her would sleep like an adult!
HahahahhaaA, in my eyes my daughter is just SOOOO CUTTEEEEEEEE =X (although i just had to carry her for 30mins.. before she would sleep for 5mins... then cry for me to carry her again for another 30mins...... ) Well, i guess i've been pampering her too much.. but then again.. it's tough for me not to pamper her lolx~
I can't believe it.. tomorrow i will be starting work, leaving my wife to take care of Mikaela alone (Confinement lady is leaving us in about 1.5weeks time).. If only theres a way to maintain my salary while working at home LoLx! Then i can spend more time with wifey and our baby =)
Anyways, everything has been great so far and all i can say is that we are very very thankful for the support that everyone has been giving us and we will continue to strive to be great parents for our little Mikaela^^
So.. it has been about 1.5months since i've blogged, and that is because we were really busy preparing and getting ready for our first child to be delivered to this world! And as of now, she is already 2 weeks old, and healthy too!^^
If i have to summarise our experience from the past 2 weeks, it would be: Excited - Stressful - Scary - Super Duper Happy - Exhausted - Blissful
LoL~ if you follow the words above, it is kinda like a timeline from the moment we were at Mount Alvernia Hospital anticipating our baby's delivery, to the first few days at home fumbling with the milk bottles and how to bath her, and now, seeing her smiling as she sleeps, feeling the blissfulness of having such a healthy and happy baby =)
It all started on 11 Nov when wifey felt uncomfortable and we decided to visit the gynae to confirm whether or not these were the legit symptoms that meant our baby is ready to be delivered. True enough, the gynae told us that our baby is ready for delivery! We admitted to Mount Alvernia Hospital at around 12 midnight (Tip #1: save 1 day of hospitalisation fees) and waited anxiously for what is to come next, the arrival of our baby daughter =)
We immediately went to the labor ward, and wifey donned the hospital gown. For some reason, she was shivering very badly, i guess from the cold, panic and nervousness. The nurse checked in on her and she was 1cm dilated at that point in time. I immediately grabbed like 5 blankets and covered her with it, hopping that it would ease her shivers.
While she rested at the labor ward, i had to go downstairs to settle the administration matters. This kinda sucked, because there was only 2 staff at the counter and i had to wait about an hour before i could settle the administration. During this 1 hour.. time seemed to crawl ever so slowly and i kept thinking how was wifey... was she still shivering very badly? is she in very bad pain?
Finally i settled the admin stuff and it was around 1am+, wifey was feeling a little better now. She wasn't shivering that badly and gotten slightly more accustom to the temperature and ward conditions. at around 3.45am wifey started bleeding and she was in very very bad pain! The nurse checked on her and told us that she was about 3cm dilated. As the pain was really unbearable, we decided to go for the epidural. Can you imagine going through the pain for another... 8hours without epidural??!!?..
After the epidural, the pain subsided and wifey could catch some rest. I, however, couldn't really rest at all.. partly because the couch at the side wasn't that great and because i was worried that she may need my help.
At around 6am, we heard baby cries from the adjacent room. It was a very warmth feeling to know that a life has been brought to this world and while we can't wait for our turn, we were also worried when it comes to our turn. We couldn't go back to sleep and stayed awake until our Gynae arrived at around 8am. Not long later, the midwives and nurses all came to help and prep wifey for the push. The push wasn't easy at all, it lasted for 45mins and the doctor had to assist in the delivery by "vacuuming" the baby out. After one last push, the doctor managed to help us deliver the baby and she was the most adorable thing in the whole world to us.
We teared, we were overjoyed and we will never forget the moment we saw her in our arms. Words can not express how happy we felt, and i can not describe that kinda feeling here in words.. but it was such a magical moment for us when we cuddled Mikaela in our arms =)
Thankfully both wifey and our little baby are fine and healthy!
Almost everyone who came to visit us told us that our baby looked exactly like me T_T~~~ (Don't think that is a good thing though ahhaha)
Luckily though, Mikaela's jaundice wasn't too high and the PD allowed her to go home with us on the third day^^ and that is also... when the "nightmare" started hahahahhaha
We were too idealistic and simple minded, thinking that all a baby really does is eat - sleep - eat - sleep ... but nnoooooooooooo... at first, my plan when she cries was NOT to immediately run and carry/cuddle her BUT... her cries were just too pitiful that i had no choice but to carry her...
Every time we fed her, she would have that squealing high pitched sound and look like she was choking/gasping for breath, wifey and i felt so lost because we don't know what when wrong and we were severely deprived of sleep!!! can you imagine resting 1hr between her feeding times? And when she looks distressed, uncomfortable or cries, you don't know what to do or what is she like that? omg.. it was really really scary for us.. We literally didn't have any help at all and we were left on our own..
We were total noobs and really didn't know how to handle a baby. We thought we knew, after "playing" with our friend's baby and watching a lot of videos from the hospital and YouTube.. but in a real life situation like this, we realised that we knew NUTS! and we were helpless!
This "nightmare" lasted for a week ... we gave in and finally decided to engage a Confinement Lady.
Luckily for us, we managed to engaged a Confinement Lady and after that, smiles can be seen on our faces once again! hahaha! Wifey and I had lots of sleep, and we could spend more time playing with Mikaela^^
Everyone is fresh and happy^^
But wifey and I also know that the Confinement Lady will not be with us forever, so we also took this time to learn from her as much as possible. Taking care of a baby is no easy feat, and it is also probably a never ending journey. But we will cherish this moment and enjoy how to properly carry her, bath her, feed her, change her clothes etc. etc. =)
A few tips for first time parents like us:
1. if your child has that high pitch squealing sound, it is most probably because her larynx isn't strong enough yet and hence it causes a squealing sound. It is quite normal and the baby will outgrow soon enough.
2. If your child has jaundice, take note that sunning them, washing them with chinese herbs such as 金银花，苦瓜干 will only aid in changing the "yellow" appearance of the baby and not exactly reduce the jaundice levels. in fact, it may not be healthy to sun the baby because the UV rays would harm the baby.. The best way is to feed the baby properly and ensure that she pees and poos normally. You would observe that her poo is yellowish in color, and that is because it contain bilirubin. By passing it out, it would greatly reduce the baby's jaundice levels. This is the best way to actually reduce the baby's jaundice level.
3. If your baby is always choking/gasping for breath during feeding, it is because they small little organs take time to digest the milk/food and sometimes the flow is just too fast for them to handle. Therefore you have to make sure that if you are bottle feeding, the teats are the slow flow ones that can better regulate the flow of the milk for the newborn to consume. Direct breast feeding doesn't seem to have this problem though. In addition, you can also communicate to your child and tell her to drink slowly while patting her lightly with a constant tempo. This helped Mikaela and i hope it helps you too! =)
Have fun with your baby and enjoy the process of growing up with them! Just remember that as long as the baby is able to feed and sleep normally, she is fine =)
Just sleeping with Mikaela today, seeing her smiling face, really made us feel very fortunate to have her as our baby.
The haze is so so bad lately... and i'm falling ill.. hopefully i don't pass the flu bug to wifey T_T
Recently, we finally bought our favourite baby stroller~ the Bugaboo Bee 3!
Pardon the little untidiness at my house haha. We have bought a lot of baby stuff lately and still in the midst of sorting them out~ its gonna seriously take a while haha
Setting the Bugaboo Bee 3 was no easy feat. Check out the parts and all, it feels like i'm building a huge Tamiya Car =X But what really really made me stuck for a very long time was the seat of the stroller. It was quite tricky for me, and therefore i decided to.... come up with my own YouTube Channel, to VLog on this Bugaboo Bee 3 seat demo! So that i can hopefully help others who ain't sure how to install it =)
