EBM

I had just started on work on 15th June 2010, and one thing that I can tell you is that I feel exhausted every single day..everyday, my aim is to pump as much milk as possible when I am at work, and for the time being, my milk supply has been successfully maintained. I do hope I am able to exclusively breastfeed my baby till he is at least 6 months old (corrected age)-which will be in October 2010.

I was on call yesterday, and this is a summary of my breastpumping schedule:

8 am-4pm: was busy in NICU and had to transfer a case to IJN. Hence, had no time to pump milk during this time.
4pm: Expressed 12 oz of milk
7pm: Night rounds and busy with new admissions
9pm: Expressed 5 oz of milk
12 midnight: had to attend to an emergency case in the ward.
3am: Expressed 6 oz of milk
7am: Expressed 6 oz of milk (was late for the radiology conference because of this)
3pm: Expressed 6 oz of milk

Total: 35 oz milk

Even though I did not have the chance to pump so frequently last night, I was lucky as the amount of milk that I have expressed was slightly more that what my baby had taken when I was at work, i.e. 32oz.


I do want the best for my baby, and I really hope that my milk supply will be maintained for at least till the end of the year...

Sing-along with a baby

Everytime after Aniq finishes his feeds, he used to fall asleep immediately. In fact, he even fell asleep in the middle of a feed! As he has grown bigger now, he takes about half an hour to complete his feeds, and it takes some time before he falls asleep-and it is fun to play with him during this time-that is, when he's not irritable.

I sometimes sing to him, whatever tune that comes to my mind. One day, he decided to play a part in the song.



Me: (Singing the Barney song)

I love you ..
You love me..
We are happy family...
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you


Aniq: *Fart*


Me: Won't you say you love me too...



Such a cute way to 'sing' with his mummy....

Jalan-Jalan @ Laman Seri

I'm going to start work in a 12 days time, and I am now spending as much time as possible with my baby. During my pregnancy, I often see my neighbours bringing their baby for a stroll in our neighbourhood and I've always wanted to do so for my baby one day.

A few days ago, it was a perfect time for us to do so. Aniq just had his feeds and he was all set to go out for some fresh air. It also had just rained, so it was breezy and not sunny at the same time. It was also a good excuse for me to go for a walk and lose that extra pounds!

Looking forward to bring him to a playground when he's old enough.

It was nice seeing my baby so relaxed in his stroller. He clearly enjoyed the ride!

Fast asleep after the outing!

Am going to miss this when I start work..

Baby fat

I am currently obsessed with my weight.

Pre-pregnancy weight: 47kg
Maximum weight at pregnancy: 61.5 kg
(at 32 weeks of gestation)
Weight at one month after delivery: 53kg
Current weight: 55 kg



My body weight has never been a problem for me. People have always said how thin I looked and some even said that I looked haggard. I blamed it on my work, as I sometimes had to skip meals due to my hectic working schedule. Due to that, I never went on a diet or take tried to cut down on my food intake. I could eat fast foods how often I wanted without worrying about the calories. People often force me to eat to fatten me up.

After my delivery, yes, I have to admit that I haven't been watching my diet. After all, I am exclusively breastfeeding my baby and it will make my appetite more voracious, right? As my baby was born premature, I had to eat well, to ensure that my baby adequately gains weight and try to catch up with babies his age.

I never really cared much about my weight until recently when more and more people started to pass comments on how big and fat I looked. The last straw was when my husband looked at my tummy and said--Aduh! Macam KLCC!
Ouch........

I dread each time when my in -aws come over to the house. One of my sister in-law is bound to say--Badan nampak dah naik la skrg! Berape kilo ni?

Yesterday, I went to a shop to make copies of my wedding DVDs. The guy opened the file and saw a short clip of the video and stared at me.

'Yang dalam video ni akak ke? Asal nampak lain?'


Haih..yes, I know I'm not as thin as I used to..


He then looked at the date on the cover of the DVD-13th March 2009 and said,

'Eh, tak le lama sangat'


Hmmmph..so I gained a lot of weight in one year. Big deal?



Yes, I am aware that breastfeeding will help to shed that extra baby weight compared to feeding my baby with formula milk. Apparently, an extra 500 calories will be used up per day, which equals to 2 hours of aerobic session. Somehow, I don't think I've gotten any thinner this past few months..

And so what have I been doing about it?


I bought this DVD a few weeks ago, PLANNING do some exercise at two or not three times a week. So far I've only used this DVD twice. Not good enough right? I chose this DVD because I wanted to do some toning exercises, to work on my upper and lower body. Plus, I didn't want to do something fast paced, as I wanted to give time for my caeserean scar to heal fully. Even though I read on the internet that it is safe to exercise 6 weeks post delivery, I still.didn't dare push myself so hard, and will stop intermittently when I felt my surgical scar area ache.

I can't even fit into my old clothes and pants. Now, I still wear my maternity pants to go out. It's so depressing...

I've never been this concern about my weight and it does affect how I look at myself. I really hope that my weight will go down drastically when I start work in a few weeks time..

Dadih

Apart from spending precious time with my baby, I did have time to practice my culinary skills these past few weeks. Since I got married, I have been staying at my in-law's place, and I never dared to cook there, fearing that they will judge the way I cook or how the meal will taste like. (Not I had so much time to spare anyway!) Since I am now staying at my mum's place, I feel more confident to try out new recipes and to give a chance for my husband to taste my cooking.


Recently, I decided to make something simple. Almond-flavoured Dadih.


When my husband came back from work that day, I asked him whether he noticed there was some dadih in the fridge. He seemed surprised.



Husband: ' I nampak dalam fridge tapi tak berani nak makan.'

Me: ' La, kenapa tak makan. I buat untuk u la.'

Husband: 'I takut susu.'

Me: 'Susu? Memang la dadih ada susu cair kat dalam.'

Husband: 'Takut susu dada la!'



Haha..Yeah, he did have a point.

From breastfeeding to bottle feeding

My baby has now passed his due date, which was on 30th april 2010. So he is now at corrected age of 6 days of life, chronological age of one and a half months. Prior to his due date, some even referred his age as 'negative .. days.' Kesian my baby. Jadi negative pulak his age. :)

Since I am now at home full time, I am still exclusively breastfeeding my baby. Ever since I have established breastfeeding, I keep on thinking that one day I don't have a choice but to introduce him to the bottle. I dread for that day to come. I somewhat feel detached, just by the thought of him having to drink from a bottle. Yes, I know that he will still be drinking my milk, but the thought of someone else feeding him...I just don't want to feel distant from my baby. I do know how important it for him to drink from a bottle. After all, when I start work, I do need other people's help to feed him.

It was on the 1st of May that he had first taste of the bottle.

I was out with my husband to Vichuda, Section 7, for a family dinner with my in laws and we decided to leave my baby with my mum. I fed my baby and he fell asleep before we left, and I was hoping that he would remain asleep until we came back. After one hour, Mum SMSed me and said that the baby was crying for milk and she had fed him with a bottle. I really didn't expect that coming.. I could not help myself to not feel sad. I told my mother in law what happened and she said that I should be glad that he is one of the few babies who could easily accept a bottle upon introducing it for the first time.

Upon reaching home, Mum was still feeding him with the bottle and he was slowly gulping down the milk. I watched him for a few minutes, and that was the only time that I needed to accept that fact that I just have learn to let him go..I do have to admit that the anticipation of him to take a bottle was far worse that the actual thing.

Ever since, he has been taking my milk from a bottle once a day. Based on books, for a working mum, a baby has to be introduced to a bottle for at least one week before starting work. However, I've heard many stories from mums saying that her baby refused to take the bottle and only wanted to take direct breastfeeding. I read from a parenting book that the earlier we introduce a baby to a bottle, the easier for him to accept. Hence, I have decided to continue using the bottle until I start work next month..The good thing about it is that I will have more time for myself to do the things that I have missed doing.

The 'little' addition to our family

There are just too many experiences that I would love to share with all of you out there, but in a few simple words, giving birth to your first born is so rewarding..

My little one is now 25 days old and he is getting stronger by the day. I can also proudly say that I have successfully established breastfeeding after weeks of struggle..I never realised that breastfeeding could be ever so challenging-especially so in my case as my baby was born at only 33 weeks..

My current goal is to make him gain weight-which is by feeding him as frequently as possible. His latest weight is 1.82kg and he still has a long way to go.

I also realise that support by family and friends is extremely important to keep me going at this critical time..

Thank you everybody.