Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Ashton Tan Tian Yang says Hi to all

24 August 2012
This is the day I was scheduled for my Elective Csect because I'm 2 days away from my EDD (26 Aug 2012) and still no signs of Ashton coming out.
I had to be admitted to Mt Alvernia Hosp by 5.30AM because my op was listed early: 7.30AM.

On 23rd August night, I couldn't sleep a wink. I was just too nervous. I waited and watched the clock. Hours passed, still no signs of labour. I'm gonna be "cut up" again like last time. I drifted slowly into Dreamland.
24 Aug 2012, 4.00AM: I woke up to the alarm after just 2 hours of sleep. Oh no... D-day is here. I woke Hubby up, we picked up my hospital bag and made our way to MAH.

5.30AM: I was in the ward getting dressed in OT gown and getting my vital signs taken, and did the necessary. The nurse fleeted me with Enema and this is sooooo uncomfy, I felt like I was having the runs and sat on the royal throne for 15 min!

7.00AM: The OT staff came to wheel me off, with my excited Hubby all ready and eager to see his newborn.


The squirmy newborn is out!




Ashton says Hello Daddy.




By the 1st day of posting up his photo on my FB page, Ashton has garnered 65 Likes and 62 comments!


My cousin and my niece visiting.


My Mum is a proud Grandma once more.


A familiar routine which was once a distant memory has re-entered my life.


My brood. Adam is happily painting after he came home from school and a blissful Ashton in Lalaland.



On the Hospital stay:
Armed with my experience 3 yrs ago, this time I'm taking things really slowly. I didn't ask for Ashton to room in, instead, I had him sent back to the nursery and the nurses and Lactation consultant were the ones who kept wheeling him back to my room and urging me to breastfeed.
Hahahah this is because once you've been there, done that, you will know the hospital stay is probably your best vacation in a long long while, compared to what's waiting for you at home.
Sure, there's no place like home. But at the hospital, you get 24/7 nursing care, you get food served to you and all your needs attended to.
Best of all, I asked Hubby not to lodge with me so I could for the first time in 9 mths, sleep peacefully, alone. No snoring. No night-wakes to soothe nightmares/thunder scares.
It was just pure bliss.
On my first night home, I told Andy that I wish to extend my hospital stay for another week and I don't want to be hooked on the breast-pump and a latching baby all the time. To which, he promptly replied, "Sure. Then pay me back for the AVENT Electric Pump which I bought you".

On confinement and the new addition:
I have Dwi and my MIL helping me out so all I do is eat, sleep, nurse. Repeat 500 times.
In the day, after Hubby has left for work and the baby is sleeping, I feel so quiet and alone. Of course I'm not entirely alone, but I wonder how I still feel so lonely. Maybe this whole Mom of Two business hasn't really sank in yet and everything feels so surreal.
I also haven't bathed and washed my hair in 4 days. I wonder how long I can hold out.
And also, peeing and pooing the first week of your C-sect can kill you. I actually teared when I sat in the toilet pooing the first time.

Meanwhile, my MIL and Dwi have transformed into clucky Mother hens who keep hovering around Ashton and cooing, talking, tongue-clicking to him. With Adam, I was the possessive mother, insisting on doing all the baby care myself and religiously pumped, latched, washed, sterilised etc. Now, I'm just totally laid back and enjoying my confinement because this is my last confinement, no matter what Andy thinks, and I'd better make the best out of it.

On Big Brother Adam:
How shall I put it? Hmm. Adam is suffering from the typical First Child Syndrome.
He is demanding and attention-seeking and wants to be in the limelight all the time.
He gets upset if we are not quick to notice his little achievements and triumphs. Boy he just takes up so much of my energy.
He is also sometimes jealous of Ashton. When Ashton is sleeping on the sofa, he wants to sit in the exact spot, so we move Ashton to the rocker. Once his bum hits the rocker, First Child reacts by jumping up and racing to the rocker as well.
With my Csect wound, I cannot carry Adam and he seems upset about it, no matter how many times I've showed him my wound dressing.
Still, I can cuddle him when I'm sitting on my bed and him standing at the edge, and that familiar body-to-body contact feels great. I do miss my tyrant First Child.
We've been totally tolerant and understanding of his jealousy to Ashton. After all, how can we expect him to love somebody he doesn't even know?
Adam, we still love you even if you think otherwise. Even if you are a PITA sometimes.
Yes, Daddy, Mummy and the whole village who's raising you at some point or other loves you.



8 comments:

  1. Hi Veron,

    Congratulation to your newly addition in your family. Ashton looks so adorable. Enjoy the fullest while u are still in confinement. Are you doing the night feed? I am still waiting for my gal to sleep thur the night. Congra once again proud mama of 2. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Diana :D
      Yes I m doing the night feed becos Im still trying to increase my BM supply. Tiring as hell. Things mothers do.
      I tried using the pump but gave up after 2 days becos my nips hurt from the constant latching of a newborn's tiny mouth.

      Did u have this experience w your girl?? How old is your girl now??

      Love,
      V.

      Delete
  2. She is 23 wks old, nearly 6 mths old. Gee time flies. I am not good with breastfeeding, after a week, I am down with high fever, blocked duct. Just felt horrible! I wasn't that hardworking, initially I did wake up & try pumping at late night but gave up after my high fever/blocked duct. Milk flow dropped & didn't seem to recover as my pump also drop/irregular. My boy is very active & all the attention is draining my energy off. She started semi solid food at 4mths+ like apple sauce & cereal, initially she plays around her tongue more thn swallowing it but by 5 mths, she is enjoying her cereal & refuse taking her milk first, only after having cereal.

    By the way, your helper is it Filipino? Filipino loves kids/babies. But baby sleeping with her is a little extreme especially if she mentioned more thn once. Maybe as a friendly gesture, u can ask whether is she misses home/son? She wana call her son? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Diana,
      I'm guessing your boy is toddler-age now? Must be tough juggling a boy this age, I know right!
      I'm facing the same prob as u - whatever "free" time I hv is spent on Adam instead of pumping. Sometimes just to make him less jealous I don't even BF in front of him! Instead I get the helper to feed Ashton using the bottle.

      My supply is kicking in now, but not as much as with Adam where I would pump after every latch-on and freeze any excess. Now I'm just lucky if I manage to pump at all :P

      My helper is Indonesian. Yeah maybe she misses her family. I asked her before, she said she'll get her husband to send photos to our address, which I agreed.

      And nope I didn't learn photography. My mum bought me a Canon DSLR EOS 30D and after playing around with the functions I downgraded to an easier (dummy-proof) model Canon EOS 550D. I did upgrade my lens however, to achieve the "focus on object but blur out background" effect. Most of my photos are trial-and-error. It's really not as difficult as it seems! :)

      Delete
  3. By the way, did u learn photography? U seem to take pretty awesome shots & I would love to do that too. What camera are u using? SLR? Does camera matters in producing good quality shot? Hmm

    ReplyDelete
  4. My boy is nearly 3 yrs old, around Adam age. Loves to make friends, whenever he sees any kids, he will say they are his friends. Active boy & stubborn at times too.

    I am taking things easy with #2, I hope she don't feel we short changed her. I do admit that me & hubby were more gan cheong & on the dot with #1, not sure is it bcos experience, so we are more laid back & relax with my gal.

    P.S do u have FB?

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  5. Hi Diana, same here. With Adam, I always worried about feeding/ pooping/ milestones etc. I kept a log book on how much he drank each feed & I was round the clock latching & pumping milk. When he was about 3 or 4 mths & couldnt flip over i googled about whether it was norm. That's so insane now that I look back at the things I did!

    This time, I'm much more relaxed as well. I don't fuss over the small things anymore & taking more time to enjoy the newborn process becos I know one day I will so miss this stage :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh yes my FB account name is Veron Zhen. Add me?
    If u r unable to for some reason, then gimme yr user name or email :)

    ReplyDelete

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