The life of a cow - Part 2

So all these engorgement business were going on. I tried not to miss / delay any feeds. But hey, I didn't have much say - E's the boss. She was going almost like clockwork for her feeds - every 2 hours, which is good.

But being a baby, there were a few times when she was overtired and refused to feed. That spelled MASTITIS.

Mastitis = Feverish + flu like symptoms + sore breasts.

It was a good 48 hour of hell. I felt like was run over by a truck, 10 times. Or 10 trucks, at one time. The treatment for mastitis (apart from antibiotics) is to nurse, nurse, nurse.

But, was worried about overfeeding E too - she's a little reflux baby, spewed almost every other feed. There was even once she spewed while she was asleep. We didn't realise as we were not in the room. When we got back to the room, her bassinet just looked a little odd - there seemed to be some sticky white stuffs all around the bassinet. And I nearly fainted when I saw little E being covered all over by vomitus, but still soundly asleep.

That aside, the symptoms of mastitis pretty much settled after the first dose of antibiotics went in. Then onwards, mastitis never quite recur. We have the occasional missed feeds, delayed feeds, but was vigilant to keep myself comfortable and well looked after. 

The life of a cow - Part 1

Breastfeeding was my major concern in the first month.

Milk did not come until more than a week later. When I woke up from general anaesthesia, Dr. P warned me that milk may come late due to the complication (postpartum haemorrhage). Being optimist, I didn't think that will be a problem.

Big mistake.

E's first ever feed was right after she was born (when shit still hadn't hit the fan). It was a very strange, and painful (yes, you hear me, it was painful!) sensation. She latched pretty much spot on straight away, clever girl. But I wasn't producing much, after a while, she looked up at me with her curious big brown eyes (and was whisked away after that).

Then the second feed was after I came out of general anaesthesia - still the same strange, painful sensation.

Third feed, 4th feed, etc were the same. E was suckling harder but I only had that much. She was feeding every 1-2 hours, and needed some formula supplement too. I was applying Lansinoh like crazy, but my poor nipples were still sore. I tried to express, and what I got were the measly 25mls (less than 1oz!!!!) after an hour of expressing!! Totally drove me nuts!

I started dreading feeding time. Dr. P prescribed some metoclopramide for me to increase the supply. I also tried the old wives tales of drinking heaps of papaya soup (they are delicious by the way, so I don't mind drinking a lot) and fish soup.

As much as I want to breastfeed E, I was open to other options too. So we started supplementing E with a bit of formula, but because breastfeeding works on a demand-supply curve, I try to limit the formula only for night time (when I needed a rest and hubby could feed E). This kind of worked well for a week or so.

Then the second problem came - I started to feel engorgement. Yes, the milk finally came. One missed or late feed, can totally tip me to the other extreme end. My breasts were not forgiving - discomfort, lumps in the breasts, unable to raise my arms etc meant I needed to be up every 2 hours (at least) to feed/express to get comfortable. Sleep deprivation became the least of my concerns.

And there my journey of being a cow started.

The complication

So E arrived in a sunny summer afternoon. We were elated.

But the elation was short-lived. Shortly after birth, E was given to me for a little cuddle and had her first taste of milk. She was then taken to the baby-warmer to be cleaned and weighed, I suddenly felt a pang of chill. That was when Dr. P told me that I was still bleeding and they are trying to stop the bleeding. She also raised the possibility of going to theatre if bleeding did not stop soon. The uterine massages were painful to be honest, but they had to do what they needed to do.

Then more and more people came into the labour room, and I was feeling colder and colder, shivering all over. Lines were inserted (with some difficulties as I was quite shut-down), fluids were squeezed into me. Hubby was with E and when he came back to see me again (that was only matter of minutes), he was shocked - I was white as sheet, shivering and drifting in and out of consciousness.

Soon, I was wheeled to operating theatre. Before going to theatre, hubby came to say goodbye. I felt very sad, but was too cold and sleepy to say anything. I was not scared, but just very upset. I did not want to die, we just had our little bundle of joy, I hadn't even seen enough of her!

Anyway, once I was in theatre, the gasman put me to sleep...

Few hours later I woke up in another room, aching all over my body. Saw a few midwives around me, hubby came and told me E had been good, and sleeping. Dr. P then told me in details of what had happened. It was their quick thinking and management that I'm still typing away here today. For that, I'm forever grateful. The wonders of modern medicine hey!

Then I asked for E. Hubby brought her to me.

Such beautiful little angel sleeping peacefully, occasionally making little grunts and movements that made her look even more adorable.

And there I was, exhausted, but had fallen in love all over again with my precious little E.

The arrival

I woke up, felt funny. A very strange sensation in my lower abdomen. Felt like a period cramp, but a mild one. Looked at my phone, it was 3:20am. Then the cramp went away, I fell back to sleep.

Then the cramp came again. It was 3:40am. And went away. Went to the loo, a bit more blood strands but nothing major. I went back to sleep again.

3:55am, 4:10am, 4:30am... The cramps were tolerable, but I was thinking, could they be the contractions? Woke hubby up (as if he knew what contractions were, haha!). We decided to give birth suite a ring. The midwife asked if I could still take the pain, to which I said yes. The cramps were mild anyway. So she advised me to use heat packs, maybe take a shower, and take some simple analgesia, but to keep monitoring.

Then the cramps became more frequent. From every 15-20minutes to every 10 minutes, then to every 5 minutes. By then it was 10am, mom made me breakfast but I didn't have much appetite to eat, mind was pretty occupied by the cramps. So I just had a piece of biscuit and water. Rang birth suite, then headed off to hospital. Gave mom my extra SIM card so she could call us (and later realised there was no credit in that card! >.< so much about planning eh!)

On the way to hospital, cramps were getting more and more frequent. Hubby was excited, but there I was asking him to drive slower as any slightest hump and bump of the car would make the cramp worse.

By the time we arrived at hospital, cramps were 3 minutes apart. Walking from the car park to the birth suite was a bit of a mission, stopped over 3-4 times, but managed to make it to the birth suite safely.

Our midwife examined me, 5cm dilated. Hmm still a while away. She asked me if I needed epidural at the point, I said I'll let her know when I need it. Then she gave us a huge yoga ball, and taught me to sit on it to relieve pain. That really helped, together with hubby's crooked sense of humour, I was actually laughing my arses off most of the time.

Then at 1pm, midwife examined me again, I was 7cm dilated. Dr. P came, and they decided to break my water. A gush of warm water was felt, and the cramps got even stronger and more frequent. I was given Entonox. Midwife asked me again if I needed epidural, and I said I can still wait. Then they said that was probably the most painful it could get - so I thought to myself, if that's the case, don't think will need any epidural then! Plus Entonox really did wonders anyway (and hubby's crooked sense of humour)

2 hours later, I suddenly felt a strange urge of pushing. They examined me - 10cm dilated. There I was screaming my lungs out, but was told not to scream as it's not gonna help with the pushing. At that point, I had no control over myself at all, just did what I was told.

Those several pushes seemed forever (although later was told that the pushes were quite effective so didn't take very long) and finally, E made her grand arrival, screaming.

That was the most wonderful music to our ears!

The Day Before THE Day

Two days after mom arrived, baby was due, but did not come out. Went to see Dr. P the next day, she said I was already 2cm dilated, and did a little stretch for me. Then we decided to get baby induced two days later, which will be on the same day as hubby's birthday.

After the appointment, we were gonna have our lunch at Tak Chee - my favourite chicken rice place since 2nd trimester. Could eat the same thing (chicken rice and squid sambal) over and over again, and still crave for it. The madness of pregnancy! But Tak Chee was closed for a week. Massively disappointed because that meant no Tak Chee for the next couple of months, until I'm confident to bring bub along for any eat-outs (but read on, the first time bub came along with us for lunch was when she's 2 months old - but that's another story altogether)

So we headed to have some dim sums (which mom really liked it). After lunch, I felt quite tired, but we were waiting for hubby who's working in the city. So we walked to Utopia (a karaoke place with a nice little cafe downstairs), sat there, ordered some bubble tea and just chatted away. As mom's living a continent away from us, we only get to see each other once or twice in a year, so I always look forward to see her, have a drink and just chat away about almost everything under the sun. Chatting with mom, who has 6 kids, opened up a very different perspective about raising children. Of course, our conversation was interspersed with the topic of food - as we both are passionate about cooking. And we came up with an idea - to make some Chicken Siew Pau (a baked flaky pastry bun with chicken fillings) together the next day so I can have some before I headed off to hospital the day after. The plan was that I would make the pastry and mom was gonna make the filling.

Then came 5pm, hubby finished work, we headed back home. Mom cooked us dinner, I was just lazying around, trying to do some revision (yes I was crazy, thought was gonna sit for a professional postgrad exam). Mom even started to cook the filling to allow ample time for the filling to cool.

On and off, I went to the loo and noticed some blood strands - but that could be normal after a vaginal stretch. I knew time was near, but did not think it was gonna happen that night anyway.

Then came bedtime. Everything was just so ordinary, apart from the little blood strands. And soon, I was asleep.

The Journey of Watermelon

After the double-line-confirmation, excitement begins.

But secretly.

We were paranoid. We wanted to make sure everything was okay before announcing to the world. Although, deep down I'm very much aware that there isn't a 100% guarantee until baby is in your hands, and even then, does not guarantee a healthy stress-less parenthood. But after first trimester, risk of miscarriage dramatically decreases.

First trimester was relatively smooth. Apart from heartburn and some nausea, everything else was good. Scans, blood tests all came back normal. Then cat was let out of the bag.

Second trimester was uneventful. I was still working full time. Saw my private obstetrician every month. Time went pass very quickly. Anatomy scan was normal too, and there we knew we were going to have a baby girl. Shopping started. Exciting! Hubby bought quite a few massage vouchers for me, and I started going for massages. Life was good, not too heavy. In fact, not many people knew I was pregnant anyway :p

And came the third trimester. Pregnancy was uneventful, glucose test was normal. And I still had people giving me a surprised look when told I was pregnant. Seriously, was the bump that small? Haha! Was slightly concerned initially - but Dr P reassured that baby was growing fine. Went for 3D scan and that was interesting. Baby was already making all sorts of facial expressions, and she looked chubby. Then I was counting down to maternity leave. Lots of things happened during this trimester - we bought a house, moved to new house, spent my first Christmas in Australia (working), then maternity leave started. Mom came over a month later.

The Great Masterplan

Being on the very borderline of OCD, I like things to be in the order I like them to be. And like babies, I love routines, dislike changes. Planning for the great migration has already introduced heaps of changes in every aspect of my life. No matter how well prepared I thought I was, there are still things that caught me in surprise.

After quitting my job, got hitched, we moved to Perth, and I started my new job. New job is a 4-days-a-week job. Sounds fantastic, but it's not a routine 9-5 Monday-Friday job. Working on shifts means the routine is not having a routine at all. Was upset initially, but workplace support was pretty good, likeable workmates, so I got used to the new routine (of not having a routine at all) pretty quickly.

Then, the husband suggested to start planning for a bub. When I say plan, there are several things to sort out beforehand - my visa, my job (yeah, maternity leave and stuffs), PAP smear, health check... Yes, I'm a paranoid freak.

After sorting out all those nonsense, we started our great masterplan.

A month later, 2 little lines confirmed our joys. And there, exciting journey begins.