Ethan James says HI, everyone..
It's so difficult to update my blog and taking care a newborn at the same time.. But I will try to update everything about Ethan James because time flies so fast and in the blink of my eyes, Ethan J. will grow up very quickly.. Why not cherish this precious moment when he's still very adorable? (Well, in his mommy's eyes, Ethan. J will be as adorable as my little baby forever)
A little Update on mommy & baby: (Sorry, I'm not very good in blogging about baby and stuff)
Mommy's weight loss: 10 kg so far, Mommy still has 15 kg of fat to lose to get all her skinny jeans back!!
Confinement: As an Indonesian Chinese, I'm forced to follow strict Chinese Confinement rules..
Rule No 1 : No washing hair or showering for 30 days.. (Mommy couldn't stand it anymore, she washed her hair & showered after 7 days of delivery) Broke the Rule!
Rule No 2: No air-con and fan (Singapore weather is too hot) Mommy stays in her air-con room all the time. Broke the Rule!
Rule No 3: During 30 days confinement period, mommy is forced to drink wine every day. I hate drinking wine and I don't like the idea of giving my baby breast milk with alcohol content in it! Again I Broke the Rule! No alcohol please!
Rule No. 4: Wear slipper at home, wear extra layer of clothing, not allowed to touch cold water, wash hand, etc (again so many non-sense rules) Broke the Rule!!
Rule No. 5: Eating ginger every day, having Chinese confinement food with herbal. I have no problem with confinement cooking.. So, Mommy is being nice!! Followed the Rule!
Actually there are seriously so many confinement rules and seriously I don't follow everything or else it will just drive me mad!! I'm a modern mommy after all!! I'm logical!
Confinement Nanny: It's a Chinese tradition to hire a confinement nanny who specializes in cooking confinement food and helping mommy to take care a newborn.. My confinement nanny is from Indonesia and I'm thankful to have her taking care Ethan. J. for one month. I can't imagine how busy I will be after she's back to Indonesia end of this month..
Baby: Thanks God, Ethan. J. is healthy and gaining weight very well.. He gained about 500 grams in one week time. He's 4 kg plus now :) Big baby, yeah?
Diapering: Cloth diaper in the morning and afternoon and Disposable diaper at night.. So far so good, we managed to prevent diaper rashes with a little help of baby powder!
Sleeping: Ethan. J. wakes up every 2 hours and demands his milk.. So technically our baby sleeps for 2 hours then wakes up, then feeding time and he's sleeping again.. It's like a routine and it's a must to remember his every single feeding time.. It can be so tiring, of course! but worth having him in our life!!
Feeding: (before I talk about this, please do not judge me, every woman tries her best to provide the best for her baby, but one thing works for one woman doesn't mean it will work for the other woman, so please do not judge fellow mothers)
I'm providing Ethan J. 50-60% of breast milk and 40-50% of formula milk daily... I'm providing him almost 500 ml of pumped breast milk every day from 6AM to 9PM and from 9PM to 6AM, his confinement nanny will feed him with formula milk while his mommy is resting at night...
I tried so hard to get him to latch on... But every time, it's a struggle for both of us.. He doesn't latch well, he gets frustrated easily and of course he cries every time he gets near to my breasts.. There were times when he latched on perfectly well, but it didn't last for long.. After 5 to 10 minutes of latching, he didn't want it anymore or he fell asleep so soundly and couldn't be bothered to wake up (no matter how hard I tried to wake him up) and then he woke up half an hour later, crying for his milk... and the struggles went on and on...
It was so hard on us, so I decided to express him my breast milk using Medela Electric Pump and it worked wonder.. Not only he's getting my breast milk, he doesn't get frustrated easily with bottle feeding.. I don't have that great amount of breast milk supply.. Just good enough for him, not much left to store in the fridge.. Nonetheless, we are happy with that arrangement!!
Ethan J. is having about 90 ml of breast milk each feeding and I'm pumping up to 5 times a day from morning to evening..
The reason we are still giving him formula is because I'm suggested to rest well during my confinement period, so it's not really a good idea to pump crazily at night, plus I don't want to get too obsessed with pumping. Just if I had so much of milk supply, I would have saved some in the fridge and feed my baby with breast milk every night...
This is the best I can do for him and of course I wish I have loads of milk supply but sometimes things just don't work the way you want.. No matter what it is, I'm a proud mother being able to feed my son with breast milk, although it's not exclusive & it's only 50-60% of his daily milk intake...
So I found it ridiculous that some women bashing against other women who don't breastfeed their babies, saying that formula fed babies will be less smarter and less healthier than breastfed babies.. You know what, there are so many successful people and healthy children who weren't breastfed at all but doing so well in study & life.. So why judging people?
Do whatever is good for you and of course a hungry & angry baby will never be okay.. Do whatever you could to keep your baby as happy as possible :)
Pictures of Ethan. J. He's 2 weeks old plus now..
His sleeping style..
I always thought Ethan James looks exactly like my husband but somehow I discovered we shared the similar eyes shape ^.~
Until Next Time,
Momma ~ Netty
Hello!!!
This post is a late one, I supposed because I have been so busy taking care my newborn, he's here!! For real and I still can't believe my eyes!!
Ethan James Lim (Ethan means strong and firm, we named him Ethan because we want him to be a strong honourable man) was born on 26th April 2013 (same birthday date as his mommy, 26th, mine is on 26th May) at Thomson Medical Centre, Singapore.. He's a Singaporean by birth (his daddy is a Singaporean although his mommy is still holding Indonesian citizenship)
10 hour Labor Story
On Wednesday, 24th April, evening time, I started to have light menstrual cramp.. It felt like my period was about to come anytime soon, I didn't have contraction or bleeding, so I wasn't worried at all but I did tell my husband that I had a feeling that baby's coming out soon, maybe tomorrow!! I slept well through the night.. I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant!
On Thursday, 25th April, 9AM, I woke up with bloody discharge in my underwear.. It looked like early menstrual blood accompanied by little menstrual cramp.. I knew it!! Baby's coming soon, it could be today or next day, so I took a long shower, groomed myself a little while, got myself really prepared, re-packed my hospital bag and I was mentally prepared that going to hospital this time would end up in bringing a brand new baby back home and my life is gonna change forever!! I was right!!
My husband drove me to hospital, Thomson Medical Centre at 12PM, he took urgent leave from work.. We arrived and I explained my bloody show had appeared.. I was sent to the labor ward and put under observation.. I was asked to change and in minutes I was already on the white hospital bed with my pregnant belly hooked by belts and dopplers to observe baby's heartbeat and also contraction (if any).. I was still feeling good and I felt period cramps, not contraction! At that moments, a few women in the delivery room had delivered their babies.. I heard newborn crying and I felt like crying too.. Just too touching to hear!! Me & dearest husband were looking forward!!
At around 1PM, the midwife came and checked if I have dilated.. The cervix examination was too painful to bear.. I felt extremely uncomfortable and in tears!! Shockingly, I wasn't dilated at all!! Barely opened yet!! My bloody show was getting heavier! So, the midwife called my doctor and asked his opinion! At 2PM, the senior nurse came to us and asked us if I would like to be induce since I was already 39 weeks plus pregnant and my due date was very near!
Me & husband discussed for a while and agreed on labor by induction! The reason was because I was bleeding & having cramps and we didn't want to end up going back to hospital in rush in case if I had heavier bleeding & cramp!
At 2.18PM, the midwife inserted vaginal tablet (not sure what's the name of the med) to start my induction..
At 3PM, I was still having a good time with my husband. We chit-chatted, laughed, enjoyed our last moment being pregnant and of course were looking forward to meet our little angel. I felt mild contraction but very very bearable.
At 4PM, Contraction was getting a little stronger but bearable.. I was still able to have my mid-snack time (Milo + Butter Cake)
At 5PM, Bleeding was getting heavier, contraction was still bearable although it was getting more and more uncomfortable
At 6PM, My doctor came to check my cervix and I was 2cm dilated.. Cervix examination hurt like hell! Bleeding was very heavy and I had red color blood clot coming out and it was pretty big.. My contraction was getting stronger and stronger
At 7PM-8PM, as we were all waiting for me to get dilated to 4 cm and to start my epidural.. If I wasn't dilated, doctor would decide to give me another shot of vaginal induction tablet.. I couldn't bear the pain, the contraction was really painful & unbearable.. At 8PM, the nurse came to check my cervix.. That's the time I couldn't bear the pain.. Having strong contraction & getting painful cervix examination was not easy at all.. The painful cervix examination brought me to tears.. I was 3-4 cm dilated!! I broke down and cried for a while! I told my husband I couldn't do this anymore and he comforted me like a big baby!
At 8PM plus, the nurse came and inserted something inside my anus to clear my bowel and it was not easy going to toilet to do that 'business' and having strong contraction at the same time.. I remember not being able to walk straight to my hospital bed.. What an agonising pain! I was literally shouting for help! I needed my epidural now!! 10 minutes later, I read and signed the epidural concern form quickly and we were going to delivery room! A better relief in pain!
At 8.30PM, the epidural procedure started.. I had my iv drip set up and my epidural procedure started.. It was quite painful having that large needle poking my back and I felt like a little electric shock in my back and thigh! No matter how uncomfortable the epidural was, it was much much better than having super painful and strong contraction...
At 8.45PM, I remember telling the nurse "How come I feel so good?" The epidural worked like magic!
At 9PM, me & dearest husband were enjoying our second last episode of Channel 8 drama, Break Free at delivery room.. I was in good condition at last!
At 10PM, Finished watching Channel 8 Break Free drama and I felt a little funny! Especially in my V area & anus.. I could feel contraction but not painful.. What a funny feeling! I started shaking, that was the effect of epidural.. I didn't feel itchy or I wasn't vomiting, I was just shaking badly! Not a nice feeling!
At 10.30PM, I couldn't concentrate watching TV at all.. I was shaking vigorously!
At 11PM, my water broke naturally and I felt like I had a huge gush coming out but I didn't feel a thing.. I couldn't move my legs and half of my body feeling so numb, yes.. I couldn't feel my legs at all! My doctor came and checked my cervix.. Cervix examination was not painful at all and I was dilated to 5cm..Good News!!
At 11PM - 1PM, we were waiting and waiting to get dilated furthermore cm and it was a long wait as I felt very uncomfortable.. I was shaking so so so badly and I couldn't concentrate on anything.. My head was shaking too.. Literally I was asking for help to stop this shaking! The shaking made me feel like I was losing my body and mind, felt like terribly sick!! I was not only shaking but I felt a terrible painful pressure inside my V area and anus.. I could feel contraction was getting stronger but not in a painful way and not in my tummy or back area.. Just that the pain (like contraction, on & off) was in my V area and anus.. I couldn't take it! I remember at 11PM-1PM, the nurse had adjusted the epidural quite a few times.. When I was feeling pain in my V & anus, the nurse increased the epidural dosage, but then when I was feeling super numb like jelly, the nurse decreased back the epidural dosage!
So, it's not true that epidural will make you 100% painless.. You could still feel pain in some degree.. and epidural effects are not cool! At least it helped me to reduce my pain up to 90%, so I was thankful to epidural & wanted to use it again for my next birth!
At 1.30AM, I was checked and dilated to 9cm.. We are so excited! I didn't even bother the pressure pain in my V & anus!
At 2.30AM, I was dilated to 10cm.. Started practising pushing.. Doctor was on the way to help me to deliver.. Pushing was very very tiring especially when my lower body was totally numb.
At 3.20AM, Doctor decided to deliver our baby boy via vacuuming because his heart beat was getting higher and it concerned him, so we were ok to that!!
At 3.30AM, 26 April 2013, Ethan James Lim was born.. (I am tearing while typing this) It was the most touching moment in my life.. I heard his cry for the first time and it was getting louder and louder.. His daddy cut his cord, then he was put in my chest minutes after his birth, I remember seeing him so wet and covered in blood.. I couldn't help but crying and crying.. My tears just streamed down uncontrollably. We cried together.. I couldn't believe that I just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and he's perfect in my eyes, in every single way!
He was later brought to be cleaned up and his daddy was watching him and busy taking pictures! He weighed 3.5 kg and he was 52 cm in height! What a big baby boy! Perfectly healthy! I am very thankful to my family for their prayer!
At 4AM, I was having a little complication :'( Doctor couldn't deliver my placenta because my cervix closed before placenta was delivered.. The medical team decided to bring me to the operating theatre.. My condition was getting worse.. I was still shaking so badly and I was vomiting non-stop too.. I felt like I was losing it! I felt like dying because I was terribly sick and I prayed to be alive because I wanted to watch my son every day! I have fallen in love with my baby boy so deeply!
I didn't remember anything, what I was told that the medical team tried their best to remove my placenta through my V, not needing a C-Sec and it was successful although I lost a lot of blood!
I couldn't remember the time and when was it done because I was half awake and half unconscious!
I shall stop my labor & birth story here and from the moment I heard Ethan's cry, I was already the luckiest woman in the world.. A supportive husband and a newborn baby boy! A joy!! What else I could ask for more? I was very grateful beyond words I type here..
Having Ethan James in my life worth risking my life during delivery and worth every single pain and contraction I felt.. Our little angel is everything in our life now!
At delivery room & epidural on, I felt so good!!
Minutes after birth...
A few hours after delivery..
and now 12 days after delivery.. Ethan James is almost 2 weeks old now.. How time flies!
Does he look more like daddy or mommy?
Until Next Time,
Netty
P/S: I received a comment from one of my readers, wondering why didn't I update my blog for so long and if I'm still alive.. I'm kicking well now, so absolutely alive and spending quality time with my baby!!
