40 weeks and 9 days

Warning: The post ahead contains a little more detail than you might care to read :) Proceed at your own risk.

Labour was induced on a Sunday morning by the breaking of my waters. We then sat around or I should say the husband sat around while I was pacing and taking the stairs in a bid to get baby's head to drop further down. We were hoping that contractions would start naturally after the waters were broken but all the pacing and rocking was to no avail. By 12noon, a decision was made to induce via the use of oxytocin.

So off we went to the delivery suite. I had the oxytocin drip put into my arm and contractions soon kicked in. I was a little nervous because I had read about the increased pain during contractions because of induction. I was also weary about possible risks with hormone inductions.

I must have been a little delirious because I remember saying to my midwife, " Is this all the pain I'm going to feel? This is actually quite manageable, sooo much better than the first time around!"

She gave me a big smile and just nodded along saying " Oh yes, it's not too bad is it? You are doing very well."

Then oh boy....did I remember. The pain oh the pain!

However labour this time around was only a mere 2.5 hours. Yes, it was ONLY 2.5 hours of blinding, searing pain and baby was out. Hurrah! I was so proud of myself for I had done it naturally, with no drugs and the best part, with no tearing. (this was so different to my first labour experience)

I was so glad and relieved that it only took 2.5 hours because as word of mouth goes, the second labour is usually half that of the first labour. My first labour took 20 hours and really, I was not game to take on 10 hours of labour the second time around without drugs.

I must mention that I also used the TENS machine when the contractions started. The TENS machine is a small contraption with leads coming out of it that you attach to your lower back on a gel pad. It works by sending pulses to two spots on your lower back (you follow the diagram to identify the right position to put it) which helps with the first stage of labour. I didn't have this for my first labour but managed to secure one for my second. I was skeptical about its functionality and effectivity at first but the machine worked as well as I had hoped, negating the pain in the first two hours. I would start the pulsing whenever I felt a contraction coming on and stop the pulsing once the contraction was over. I got to select the strength of the pulsing, the logic goes - the more pain, the more intense pulse. Towards the final 30 minutes of my labour I was no longer aware that the machine was still going until baby was out. To those who are reading this post and are pregnant or planning to fall pregnant, get this machine! Rent it or buy it, it's worth the money.

Back to the topic at hand.... Warning: Here comes more detail you might not want to read about. In case you are wondering why I'm putting all this info on the blog, it's because someday I might want to read this and remember my experience on that Sunday.

After the birth, we were going to spend the night (baby,husband and I) at the birth center and leave the next morning. I had breastfed the baby at the delivery suite but I thought I would give him another short feed before resting for the night. It was 6pm and while breast feeding him on the bed, I felt a very VERY sharp pain in my abdomen. It then passed and I was fine again. After I was done breast feeding, I told the husband that I would hand him the baby for him to tuck into the cot and I was off to use the toilet before getting in to bed. I took 3 steps away from the bed and then felt a huge gush of blood running down my legs.

I thought "Oh no, here we go again. Got to clean up." The gush of blood had happened at the delivery suite as well, but that it is normal post birth.

I got to the toilet but before I could use it, I felt a lot more gushing and this time I could feel big clots falling into my pants. I called out to the husband to tell him to get the midwife. She came in and I told her I had just bled again to which she said its normal. However when I said it felt like clots, she rushed in immediately, took a look and in a very stern voice told me I had to get myself to the bed and sit down.

I asked why since I wanted to use the toilet. She then said if I didn't I was most likely going to faint. She pulled me out and plonked me on the bed and before I could really take stock of what was happening, a doctor and some nurses came running in. Everyone was acting frantic (as frantic as doctors and nurses could get that is) and it was at this point that I realized this was not to be taken lightly. Something serious must be going on.

For the next 30 minutes they worked hard to stem the bleeding and to get all clots in me out. I had more drugs put in me to get the bleeding to stop. My abdomen was pummeled and rubbed which was so painful that I needed gas to get me through it. I didn't need gas for labour pains but I needed gas for this. This gives you an idea of how painful it was.

Thankfully they managed to stop the bleeding and I was kept in hospital for 2 days so they could monitor that all was safe and well. I lost 1.6 liters of blood that night. I had thought that with the labour being over I had gotten through the most difficult part of the pregnancy. Little did I know that I would have a hemorrhage right after. It was a life endangering moment and I am glad I made the decision to use the toilet before lying down to sleep. Had I not have gotten up, the blood would have continued to pool in my abdomen and I may not be blogging about it now.

All in all I'm glad I had a very quick labour but not so glad that I had a hemorrhage after. I have been told that should I decide to have another child in the future, there is a significant risk of this happening again. But that's a bridge that we won't have to cross till much later and maybe not at all.

For now, I'm off to enjoy baby and be thankful that I am here, back to blogging once again. :)

World meet Christian, Christian meet world.

My beautiful baby boy. Welcome to the family!

A Long Awaited Post

Its been awhile since I have put up a post on the blog. The last time I typed up an entry and actually posted it was way back when Abigail had just turned 5 months. She is now 1.5 years old!

In a nutshell, the last year has just been a whirlwind of getting used to daily changes and challenges. It is a big thing to adjust to having a third person in the family, her growing up from being a baby to being a toddler, me going back to full time work, Abigail adjusting to daycare, Alex completing his Masters and us finding out that hey, amidst all these happenings and the steep learning curve involved, we will be expecting a fourth person in the family!

If having one child wasn't easy, what were we thinking having another? Well, I guess the logic was since we were already working hard as new parents we might as well double the effort now, have 2-3 years of being bone tired and then relaxing once the kids are running around at 3 to 5 years of age.

At least thats the plan :)

So baby no.2 will be due in a mere 10 weeks. I will be back to being a stay at home mom until January 2013 so hopefully I will be able to find the time and the energy to blog a fair bit as I did before.

More soon.

Cheryl

Christmas in Penang

Christmas tree at Straits Quay

We had a lovely time in Penang. The little girl got to experience a different country, different weather and with all things considered, she did very well. We spent 3 weeks on the island and headed back to Canberra on the 27th. I got to meet up with friends, show the baby around and fill up on yummy Penang food. One can never have enough of good food and I must say I was rather reluctant to leave on the 27th!

The picture above is one of Abigail looking suspiciously at the camera. Probably wondering " What are they up to now?" We visited the newly opened Straits Quay shopping area at Tanjung Tokong. Penang is about to have way too many shopping centres. First there was Time Square, then First Avenue, now Straits Quay and later Paragon. How is each centre going to survive? Penang may be crowded, but its most certainly not enough to sustain 6 big shopping malls. I hope its not going to be a situation where the opening of one centre sees the demise of another. I think the city needs better planning. To the folks giving their approval for such projects, "Hey, think again!"

Abigail turned 5 months in December so we celebrated her 5 month birthday in Penang. I know, you are probably thinking '5 months? Thats a birthday??' Well to be honest, I needed an excuse to buy a yummy chocolate cake (if you have read about my consumption of food post delivery, you will understand) So I thought why don't we celebrate her turning 5 months and get a cake? Hahaha.... Ok moving on.

We had a so-so Christmas because Alex fell ill and managed to give it to me, Abigail and my mom. Because we were not feeling tip top shape when we boarded the plane for Canberra, the flight was not the best experience. I got no shut eye throughout the flight and Abigail did not do well during the journey. I was really glad to get back into our house on the 28th, put Abigail to sleep and got some rest myself.

In the little series of photos above, Abigail was having a very animated conversation with the auntie who was sitting across from her. We met up with some family friends for dinner and for the first time, Abigail was very captivated by a conversation a stranger was having with my mom. A stranger to Abigail that is.

We took this lovely shot at church on Christmas day.

This trip back to Penang was also so that my grandmother, Abigail's great grandmother, could see Abigail and have a cuddle with her. This is a picture at that visit. It will be something for Abigail to look back upon as needless to say, she is not going to remember taking this trip.

All in all we had an enjoyable trip. I must say I don't think we will be making another trip back to Penang anytime soon. Not until Abigail understand what it means to swallow and blow her nose (to avoid ear pain due to change in air pressure)

cheryl

Development: 24 Weeks

Abigail turned 5 months a couple of days ago. We celebrated it with a little chocolate cake. I will probably get another cake for when she turns 1/2 a year old too :) Any excuse to eat cake! Anyway, a day after she turned 5 months, Abigail flipped! She has been trying to tilt her body for awhile now and today, she managed to flip herself over on her belly. She did this on a bed instead of her floor mat. The surface of the bed gives a little under her weight so it makes it easier for her to roll over.

cheryl

Abigail's BIG first adventure

December 7th was a BIG day for our little girl. Not only was she interrupted VERY early in the morning from her sleep (she usually sleeps till about 7am) but she would be travelling on 4 planes, covering 4 cities (starting from Canberra) and arriving in Penang, Malaysia. Cheryl's biggest concern was her ears because of the altitude and we took on board so much advice that most of it worked. That was, until the last flight, but more on that later.

So the adventure begins at Canberra airport, we checked in and went through the security check at the 'new wing' of the airport to get to the gate where our flight to Melbourne was leaving. Grandpa and Nan were on hand to say have a good trip and not long we headed down and onto the tarmac (get my first experience of the new airport and what happens, we get a remote gate :() and finally onto the plane for the short hop to Melbourne.


The entourage leaving Canberra, Cheryl, Abigail and me...


Abigail with Grandpa, Nan and me...


Abigail with Grandpa, Cheryl and me...

Flight time was only 45 minutes so it was quick. Abigail was fed as we climbed to the cruising altitude and then as we descended into Melbourne. Poor girl was probably thinking what is happening today, why am I being fed so often and whatever happened to my sleep? :)

OK, so in Melbourne we only had about 25 minutes on the ground before heading to Perth. That was just enough time to change Abigail's diaper and walk to the gate, on the other side of the Qantas terminal. Now this flight I was looking forward to. A new plane (2nd newest of the fleet) and a new cabin with PTV's for a domestic flight. Got on board and saw this lovely flight attendant who really helped us settle in. They said on the Qantas website that airplanes equipped with PTV's would allow passengers the ability to start entertainment on the ground rather than wait till the air. What they didn't say was that if you were taking a bassinet seat, that wasn't going to be possible :(. Ah well, I got to use it once in the air anyway. We left about 20 minutes late but once in the air, it wasn't bad. I watched Toy Story 3 (those who know me would know why) and then a fair bit of Mr Bean since there wasn't enough time to start another movie. The cabin itself felt very refreshed and yes, the hot meal wasn't bad either. Again, Abgiail was fed as we took off and as we landed. I reckon she would have been pretty full by the time we got to Perth, but no complaints, especially about the ears.

In Perth we knew we had a longer layover. This was a good opportunity to take a breather. What we didn't know was that the shuttle to the International terminal ran once an hour during the time we arrived. That sucked because we had to wait just on an hour before the next shuttle. So since there were a few of us, I decided to ask whether they wanted to split a cab. They all agreed and long and behold, we arrived at the International terminal. Perth International terminal is really small. But we cleared customs and immigration and headed airside. Now that was even smaller.

With about 45 minutes to kill before boarding, we walked around and Cheryl got to the use the Internet before boarding. We had to walk through the duty free shop (it seems to be custom in Australia that you have to walk through duty free after clearing customs) and boy was Abigail the STAR attraction. All the ladies crowded around her and played with her. That said, I went off and explored the small terminal, with just our lonely plane sitting at the gate waiting to head to Singapore.

Flight 3 / 4: Perth to Singapore. This aircraft had probably the narrowest seat of all the seats we encountered that day. This, combined with the fact that the armrests were fixed probably didn't suit Abigail too well since she was kicking up a fuss when we tried to feed her before taking off. But we were happy since she started taking the pacifier as well!! Anyway, we took off from Perth with a very energetic captain and crew and headed north for Singapore. News was on and then a movie that lost interest very quickly on me, Made in Dagenham. Anyway, Abigail slept about 90 minutes to 2 hours before waking up. I slept I think about the same time as her while Cheryl tried to sleep longer. When she was up, we took her walking around the cabin. She was liked by all on board as well... :) 3 hours and 40 minutes after take off, we landed in Singapore airport. Abigail didn't need milk, rather she took the pacifier again.

The one thing we miss about Changi airport wasn't the humidity that hits you in the face when you walk out, but we miss our soup spoon. Now this is a little shop that sells probably the heartiest soup in Singapore. Once we completed formalities for our last flight, we headed there for soup. Boy was it nice. :)

The LAST flight, Singapore to Penang. OK so this flight was full. Even though it was only like a 150 seater plane, it was full. Our row had us this gentleman who we asked to sit in the aisle for better access and then a Malaysian couple (as Cheryl says) with children sitting on the other side. Everything went smoothly until we started our descent into Penang Airport. Now everyone always says that when travelling with kids, the change of altitude will always be an issue. They should swallow or blow their noses hard to fix this. I don't think the father knew this. Why? Because when her daughter started screaming her lungs out because of the altitude change, all he did was cover her ears and say it was ok. Turned on the light to distract her but nope... She kept screaming. Eventually Abigail started crying as well... Pretty sure out of sympathy so we had two screaming kids and the poor gentleman sitting next to me. I could just see his face (why am I seated here??).

TOUCHDOWN Penang, 8.20pm. So after a LONG day, started at 3.40am Penang time, we arrived at Penang 8.20pm and got everything done by 8.40pm. Luggage into the car and driving. So 17 hours after we first started from Canberra, Abigail, Cheryl and I completed our first trip overseas as a family. Mind you, Abigail has already been to Penang before, but saw everything through mummy's eyes. :)

Thank GOODNESS the trip back to Canberra won't be so long or torturous. We fly Singapore Airlines (bring on the slings and the seafood meal!) and then Qantas back to good ol' Canberra.

I am sorry I hadn't updated in a long time. I never knew Uni could be so time consuming. Anyway, a little more free time now so I might blog again later to catch everyone up some more.

In the meantime, a picture showing us in front of a Christmas tree at the Traders Hotel in Penang.



Until next time,
Alex

Development: 20 weeks

Baby is officially 4 months and 2 weeks old. Time has certainly flown by. How quickly children grow up! Fancy me saying that now.... Imagine what I will say when she flies the coop!

I am excitedly waiting to start baby on solids. At this point we can't just yet because she has yet to master neck control. I may give it a shot in a week or so. In fact I have already bought rice cereal in anticipation for that moment. I definitely want to record that moment as I have heard a baby's expression while having their first taste of solid food is priceless.

However, grandma decided to jump the gun yesterday and she offered Abigail a stick of asparagus. We managed to take a picture.

She was quite happily sucking on the asparagus and didn't make a face. I guess we'll see how the rice cereal goes down :)

cheryl

Development: 19 weeks

This series of photos were taken with much mirth and laughter. I wanted to take Abigail out for a walk but it was a little cold. So I sat Abigail down on the couch to put on a hat to cover her still rather bald head and booties on her feet. I thought of taking a picture of her but she kept sliding down the couch!

Everytime she slid down the couch, her hat came off. So in between me holding on to the camera, stopping her from sliding and pulling her hat down on her head... Abigail started laughing! It was so funny... Baby laughter is so adorable. It's such an innocent sound. Plain and simple joy bubbling forth. I couldn't help myself but laugh as well. After awhile I didn't know if I was laughing at her laughing or maybe just that the whole scenario of me going from her head, to her body to her shoulders just to get a shot was bordering on ridiculous.

Just as I managed to capture a couple of shots, Abigail regurgitated milk all over her bodysuit. You should have seen me scramble to get her burp cloth. So not funny anymore.

We got our act together in the end and had a nice 30 minute walk. All in a day's work of caring for baby right? Don't even get me started on projectile poo.

cheryl

Development: 18 weeks

Abigail is getting a lot more alert as the days go by. She now recognizes mom, tracks me very intently as I walk across the room and can get a little upset if I leave the room. A bit early for this no? I thought babies only get clingy to mom at a later age - nearer to 6 months. I hope this clingy-ness dissipates when she meets more people in December. This will stand her in good stead when she enrolls for daycare in January.

On a side note, I cannot believe its the end of November! I only have one month left with her.. I'm so gonna miss my baby in January! SOB!

cheryl

Development: 17weeks

I love this shot of my baby. Its not easy to capture a nice picture of a baby in natural lighting (i.e no flash) whose movements are constantly jerky and to whom you can't just say "Ok.. hold still and smile!"

Firstly I have to hold the camera steady in one hand. I have shaky hand syndrome (probably from too much chicken feet - the chinese believe that if you have to much of chicken feet, you get shaky hands) Taking pictures with no flash requires a very steady hand. So while I'm doing that with my right hand, my left hand is gesturing and poised ready to catch baby if she falls forward or slides to the side. At the same time, I'm saying " Peekaboo!" in efforts to elicit a smile from baby. Every split second I take my eyes off the screen of the camera and tilt my face to make sure baby can see me and I'm not blocked from her line of sight by the camera.

See? Lots of multitasking! And I have to make sure the picture is in frame! Balanced on all sides! Of course all this would be made easy if someone else could take the picture but I'm home alone with little bub most of the day so its up to me to get pics!

Alex doesn't like this shot because as he puts it " You cut off one hand and one leg..."

Ha.. and I thought I was the one in this family who was obssessed with details! I will get him to take a picture next time and see if his composition is any better than mine. Phhhphtt!

cheryl