This boy is a charmer

Yes I am back.

No prize for guessing why I was absent for the past few months. I delivered my second baby on 28 Sep 2013 and have stayed at home since to look after him full-time. It was an awesome five months which deserves a few separate posts on its own. For now, let me bring into limelight the baby boy, who has grown into quite a charmer over the months.

At one-month old, he drunk well and when he was not drinking, he slept like a baby. (This sentence is totally redundant I know)

At two-month old, he is awake a lot more and has developed a keen interest in his surroundings.

At three-month old, he has won everybody's heart with his smile and his giggle, so much so that everyday after dinner, we enter into a competition on who can make him laugh the most. Till today big sister Kah Yen is still the record-holder. Her bubbling voices and her random dancing and whirling about are the most fascinating to him.  

At four-month old, he is a helpless baby no more. He started kicking and rolling and pushing himself up. When pulling him up he will stretch his legs and stand. We call him "Super boy" and no doubt he likes it. 

At five-month, we now call him "Happy boy", that's how we are feeling about him. He is generally happy and contented when we are around, even though each of us may be busy with our own things. He flashes his big smile whenever anyone goes near him. Being a second child, he doesn't get our attention all the time, but he has not the slightest problem with it.    

We have only known him for five short months, but he has totally wooed us over.

I am Kah Yen. It's my birthday

Kah Yen's birthday is on next Monday, it's going to be her first birthday celebration in school. And she is probably the last one to celebrate birthday in her class since she was born in November. Almost every month she brings back birthday goodie bag from school from her various friends.

I have been thinking of a grand celebration from the beginning of the year. You know - with 3-D cake that wows all the children, and goodie bag that is unique and special! But then the second baby came and he has just celebrated his full month 2 weeks back. I am exhausted from all the feeding and rocking and waking up at night (I can have another 10 posts on this but I haven't the time to write even one). Daddy is also adjusting since he has to take care of Kah Yen all by himself now. It's only a few days away from her birthday and we haven't done anything. Guilty? Absolutely.

Thankfully Daddy has come out with a simple idea with his creative genes and managed to put the pieces together by sacrificing a few nights' sleep. Here it is! We did an activity book for Kah Yen and all her friends. The book will be put in the goodie bag together with other things we have bought.

Not sure if other children will like it. But one person loves it for sure - that is Kah Yen. She started coloring and scribbling the moment we passed it to her and couldn't get enough of it. We haven't gone through the text with her so she is scribbling random things on it.

Sibling time

Big sister Kah Yen likes to be around with Baby brother Kah Soon, because baby brother makes her feel like she's a BIG GIRL, a title she is mighty proud of these days.

My birth story (VBAC)

One of the best decisions we have made during my second pregnancy is to change gynae at the last month of pregnancy, in order to try for VBAC - Vaginal Birth after Cesarean. Though it has cost us a big sum (Our prenatal expenses almost tripled since we had to pay penalty to the first gynae for canceling the package), we had no regrets.

I had a successful VBAC and delivered my baby naturally 3 hours after checking in the hospital, without epidural. Though the pain of natural birth was horrible (Yes, it is!), it was an amazing experience I will remember for a life time!

27 Sep 2013, FRIDAY

My due date was 28 Sep 2013, Saturday. On Friday, I felt slight tightening of lower stomach. I didn't think it was the starting of labor as it was nothing regular, and there was no pain. I still went out for a walk in the morning with Kah Yen. In the evening there was a planned church seminar to attend. So I went. During the seminar the tightenings came and went a few times. I had a feeling my body is getting ready, cervix is probably dilating. But I knew it was still early. Thank God I was able to sit through the seminar, there were tightenings about 10 minutes apart, I managed through them by practicing deep breathing and drinking a lot of water.

27 Sep 2013, FRIDAY NIGHT

Friday night turned out to be a sleepless night. I developed a mild headache. Stomach muscle was still tightening, still not very frequent, so did not bother to time them. But it seemed more persistent than in the day, it came back every 8-10 minutes. I dozed on and off in between. By 3am it hurt a little to lie down, so I decided to get up and walk around the room for the rest of the night. Drank a lot of water and went to the toilet multiple times to empty the bladder. By the early morning contractions came at 5-6 minutes interval, felt like this could be the active labor stage, but still not very sure. Found some brown color discharge when I went to the toilet, it must be the mucusy discharge that blocks the cervix. So cervix was opening! This could be the day! 

28 Sep 2013, SATURDAY

Saturday morning contractions still came on and off, not very intense, can be managed by deep breathing and bending forward. I had my breakfast, then continued to walk around in the master bedroom while husband played with Kah Yen. He knew I was feeling uncomfortable, but he had no idea how far away I was from labor either. 

The rest of the day was spent alone in the bedroom. I continued to walk around. I tried not to lie down even though I was feeling quite tired. Firstly, contraction was more unbearable when lying down. Secondly, contraction was less frequent when lying down. I would like to speed up the contraction so I walked as much as possible. When the pain came I leaned forward on the edge of our bed and breath deeply. By the evening contraction was very regular and 4-5 minutes apart, and VERY INTENSE! I am pretty sure I was into action labor! But I am not sure how much I have dilated so I thought I'd wait until dinner was over to decide if heading for hospital.

Turned out, I had no appetite for dinner at all. Contraction was almost 3 minutes apart and was PAINFUL! That very night my mother in law was supposed to go out, I told her to cancel her appointment, and when husband and Kah Yen came back from playground for dinner, I announced "That's it! I need to go to the hospital!" which sent everybody into a hyper mode. Husband tried to have a quick bite after booking for the taxi, but he was too excited to even chew his food before swallowing. I went in for a quick shower - my last shower for a few days! Husband grabbed the bag and his DSLR, we told Kah Yen where we were going and gave her lots of kisses and hugs. And down we went.

I had 2 strong contractions inside the lift, and a few more inside the taxi. I managed through them silently.

28 Sep 2013, SATURDAY NIGHT

We reached the hospital at 8pm. I was sent to the observation room straight away and nurse came in to hook me on bed to monitor baby heart beat and my contraction. The pain almost doubled once I was lying down, I asked to come down and walk but was rejected by the nurse, who checked my dilation and announced I was 3cm dilated. Only 3cm! I was disappointed! I thought after a whole day's hard work (walk) at home I should have dilated to 9cm! They called my doctor to come in, who said a few words then left, probably thinking I won't be ready to deliver my baby till the next morning!

My contraction was still coming strong. At 930pm, they transferred me to the birth room.  Pain was so UNBEARABLE it was impossible for me to come down and walk. They won't allow me anyway. I screamed for half an hour and decided I couldn't take this any longer. So I ordered the nurse to check my dilation again. I was thinking if my cervix was only dilated to 4-5cm then I will ask for epidural right away. Good news! Cervix was dilated to 7cm - that was surely fast. And bad news? It was too late to admit epidural. But I was pretty encouraged by the speed of dilation, and it kept me going for another half an hour or so. Then I felt my water broke. And I started to have the urge to push. I shouted to the nurse while screaming in pain "Quick! I feel like pushing. Baby is coming out!" I was worried they have not gotten themselves ready and my baby was going to drop on to the floor!

They called the doctor right away who came in at around 11pm. They popped my legs up and the next thing I knew, after 3 rounds of pushing, baby was born at 1111pm.

It was amazing! I thank God for a fast, easy and problem-free delivery.