SUPPLY > DEMAND

I have been struggling between the options of direct latching Denz or solely expressing my breast milk out. After giving much consideration, I have decided to pump out instead of latching Denz on. My gynae of course disagree with me but after Wenz' episode, I was rather afraid of the consequences. During Wenz' time, I was so determined to latch her on and she was drinking well but when it comes to the point feeding her breast milk in bottle, she rejected. Everyone in the house has a hard time getting her to drink since then and she even went on hunger strike. Moreover, I'm a failure whenever comes to latching.

Now after expressing out, anyone in the house can juz feed Denz and I won't have the worry to train him using bottle when it's time to return to work in 3 months time. Hubby also gets involve and enjoy feeding him. On the other hand, Wenz also can drink some to get extra immunity. I find that this is the best option. :)

I realise I dun have as much determination as 1st time especially during my 1st week whereby I experienced blocked ducts and my nipples and aerola were super painful loh. However after one week of hard work clearing milk ducts cum establishing milk supply day & night, I achieve at least 120ml per pump and I have an excess of 14oz of milk sitting in the fridge right now.

Now my supply surplus the demand and I even mix some into Wenz' milk. Luckily she couldn't tell the difference and drank everything. My storage bottles also running out, think I gotto get some more bottles when I go out for my gynae's apptm tmr.

Denz is 2 weeks old :)

Look how much Denz has grown. Has he change much for the past 2 weeks? To me he's still the same but hubby commented he did grow in length and size. Perhaps I have been facing him all day long that I really couldn't tell the difference.

Denz is 2 weeks old which means I have survived the torment of not washing hair for 2 weeks. As I have an appointment with my gynae tomorrow, I negotiate with my mum and she allows me to 'overhaul' myself today. Whoppee....what a relief!! Feeling so fresh and clean after bathing. :)

I notice I can take it better for this confinement compared to the previous one. So fast.....my confinement will end in another 2 weeks plus time. The next joyous occasion will be Denz' Full Month! (",)

Thanks Serene!

Denz received a parcel today and it's from Aunty Serene's family. It's a smart Polo Ralph checker top with Osh Kosh denim jeans. Wow, haven't full month already got gift coming in..........

It's a little too big now but I'm sure he'll wear it when he's of the right size. Thanks Serene for ur well-wishes! Really appreciate it.

Denz' Umbilical Cord Drop

Today Denz' Umbilical Cord has dropped off during morning bath session. Finally after waited for 12 days. I rmb Wenz was around 8 days but she 'kicked off' herself and not dropped naturally. My fren ever told me the longer the cord takes to drop the more stubborn one will be. Oops! 12 FULL days which means Denz will be one stubborn fella as well?? Hmm.... hopefully not! Not something worth looking forward to. :)
Godpa came visiting earlier. Denz looks so petite in his arms. Actually Denz has already grown in size compared to his birth weight. He has chubb-up quite abit liao. I hope he can continue to grow healthily and constantly. Godpa came not only to visit Denz but Wenz as well. His ultimate intention is have an interesting game session with hubby lah, kekeke....

Sad News.....

Juz got updatez from my colleague thru email that the baby who was successfully being saved by the gynae is still in ICU. His brain was affected to some degree and his limbs are weak. He couldn't swallow nor suckle and is non-responsive. Furthermore, the bills are already chalking up to nearly 20K. My eyes became teary when I read these. Hopefully his mummy will watch over her own son and bless him to be out of danger real soon.

I appeal to people out there who read about this to pray for the good and recovery of this newborn. It's really saddening for this family to lose the mummy and I really dun wish to see another life being taken away.

A Touching Truth!!

For both my pregnancies, my FL went to the temple secretly to pray for the well-being of both mother and child. He told my ML that my tummy was so big that he see liao he's afraid. It's really touching to hear this when my ML told me. He even went back to temple to thank the god after I have successfully delivered. I really appreciate FL's gesture for doing such a thing.

Actually, they din ask for more grandchildren nor stress the importance of gender which most of my friends faced. In fact, they dun mind juz having Wenz as their only grandchild. It was however our decision to give Wenz a sibling cos I feel 2 is good. He told my ML 2 is enuf, asking me not to give birth liao cos to my FL, child labour is a thin line between life-and-death.

I was greatly affected by the news of my colleague passed away when I received a call from my good fren at work on the day I was discharged from the hospital. This news is too sudden for me to stomach and accept. I am still thinking of it and couldn't believe it till now. I rmb seeing her b4 going on leave. Two of my colleagues came to visit me yesterday and I tried to get some info on the cause of her death. She died due to AMNIOTIC FLUID EMBOLISM.

"A rare but frequently fatal complication of labor, this condition occurs when amniotic fluid embolizes from the amniotic sac and through the veins of the uterus and into the circulatory system of the mother. The fetal cells present in the fluid then block or clog the pulmonary artery, resulting in heart attack. This complication can also happen during pregnancy, but usually occurs in the presence of strong contractions."

Her doctor managed to save the baby thru emergency c-sect but the adult turned purple within 2 minutes when the amniotic fluid leaked into her bloodstream. I was devastated hearing this and feel so sorry for her elder daughter who is so attached to mummy. I couldn't imagine her life without mummy for this poor little gal.

It's really a blessing that both my pregnancies was smooth and safe, and I can still blog healthily right now. This news has definitely shaken me and make me cherish what I have now. I really hope the family of the deceased can be strong and tide over this difficult period of time.

A Changed Person

My hubby has become a changed person after Denzel is out. Of course is a change for the BETTER. He is more hands-on looking after the 2 kids now. As he took half month's leave to accompany me during my confinement, he volunteered to take over the 'night shift' duty of feeding Denz. He send Wenz to school in the day and bring her down for play session. He's trying his very best to keep Wenz company so as not to let her feel neglected. One thing that does not change from between 1st confinement and now is he's running to and fro topping up things in the house when there is a shortfall. Whatever it is I am happy with his new change. I can see him taking up new roles and getting more involved.

On the other hand, I am so busy establishing milk supply. OMG I have blocked milk ducts when I got home. *sigh* I can only blame on my laziness as I dun wanna breastfeed in the hospital so I gotto work triple hard to get the ducts unclogged. Pumping at least 8X a day really tires me out. I manage to get 120ml of milk after few days of hard work. Well, shall see how long can I hold to sustain the determination to breastfeed this time round.

I only feel guilty towards Wenz as she yearns for me to carry her, play with her and bring her out but I can achieve so little with my recuperating body. She can sense a change in the house and has not been very obedient at home. She even went of hunger strikes, rejecting her usual food totally. The moment she sees didi drinks milk, she also says she wants milk. Some of her actions is a tell-tale signs of jealousy and everyone in the house is handling it tactfully so as not to hurt her. I hope this phase will get over soon.

Denz' 1st Studio Foto

Mummy received my 1st 'studio-style' photo package from Peter Pan Studio yesterday. It was very nicely taken and this package is a new concept. It was so much different from my jie-jie's time. They can even print my name and some birth info on it.

Swee swee right??

Everyone is so pleased with the end product. Ah ma said I look very leng chai leh. Mummy even thot of asking the studio if they can do the same thing to jie-jie's fotos 2 years back (",)

Hospital Stay

Well, I always like the hospital stay in my whole confinement. Got ppl to run errrands, serve food, takecare of baby etc...

Would really like to thank all visitors who came to visit Denzel and of course keep me company in the hospital. Also not forgetting for ur generosity of well-wishes gifts. (",)

Special thanks to both my children's godpa for bringing his lappie and internet connection for me to the hospital to kill my time.

As I checked-in near to evening time, visitors on day 1 were mainly family members and of course my darling princess, Wenz. She fell asleep half way to the hospital. She was sleeping on my bed and by the time she woke up, she was in a daze not knowing what had happen. Her response wasn't too great towards her di-di when Denzel was introduced to her. I passed her the present and mentioned it was from di-di. She merely took the present and played with it without having much attention on Denzel. When it was about time to leave, she dun wanna leave without me. I think she must has miss me dearly. I miss her so much too.

Many visitors flocked in on day 2 late noon. Wenz came late in the night and this time round she was very high-spirited.

Happy Wenzel!!

Sayang Di-di!! (",)

Flowers for my beloved mimi :)

Can I keep some flowers for myself ?? :p

On day 3 which was a day for both baby and me to be discharged from the hospital. I'm looking forward to go home though I know there will be endless things to do at home and countless taboos to observe during confinement. Oh no.....gotto follow breastfeeding routine in order to establish milk flow.

As we had got Denzel's name everything ready, we went to the hospital one-stop portal service to register his birth and get baby bonus thingy done. I wanted to do so when I gave birth to Wenz but unluckily was a public holiday so the booth wasn't open then.

Hubby and baby happily waiting to go HOME!! :)

More fotos of Denzel

One pic of me crying where got enuf?? Here's some of my fotos in the delivery suite.

I'm a great poser, juz came out already know how to pose in front of camera.

Feeling so shiok after bathing.....(",)

How's my mummy doing?? She's fine except feeling extremely tired after the hard pushes.

Meeting The World

Hi everybody, actually today is my actual due date but I decided to land here on Planet Earth few days earlier.

So who am I?? My name is Denzel Pek. Papa gave me this name cos he wants me to be as strong as the fort. Yes, Denzel simply means FORT but carrys the character of being artistic and independent. Does that mean I'll be one arty-farty fella?? Hahaha...still early to tell eh.

My Chinese name 白浩安 is given by mummy. Mummy look up baby-naming books and count the strokes of the cheena character. I think mummy basically wants me to grow up to have sense of righteous (浩然正氣) and safe (平安). Why safe?? Cos mummy met with some small mishap when she conceived me but all were 有驚無險 and she also fell ill a couple of time during pregnancy. Well, whatever it is....I love my name.

Birth Story of Denzel

I was admitted to the hospital in the afternoon around 1.00pm. I waited for HB to return with necessary documents, my bag and of course my hard-boiled egg (refer to previous post to see why).

Below is a recall of Denzel's Arrival:

1.00pm Admission to delivery Suite
1.25pm HB reached and ate my egg
1.45pm Gynae came to rupture the membrane = break the waterbag *cervix already 6cm dilated* I asked for pain relief, at least pethidine on my thigh but gynae said she think I wun need any. YES.... I went on w/o any form of pain relief. I'm not a HERO or SUPERMUM, dun think too highly of me, I'm just an obedient patient. :)
2.00pm Mild contraction set in
2.45pm Contractions continue to torture me and experiencing very very bad backache
3.15pm Nurse allowed me to walk due to bad backache (they should hv done so earlier cos I went to clear my bladder and contractions became more and more intense. Must be the urine that is causing obstruction)
4.00pm Went back on lying position cos I could feel labour coming soon
4.10pm Called nurse in and boy was 8cm dilated with the strong urge to push
As my previous labour experience also quite fast, the gynae came in shortly after the nurse verified my condition.

I only remembered after 3 very hard cum super hard pushes and Denzel was out. I have really clean forgotten about the 'push tactic' that I learnt 2 years back during the antenatal class. It should be a swift continuous 3X pushes to make up 1 push and I was taking my own sweet time to push the 1st round, that was why causing so much pain. I was better off the 2nd round. Though the baby's head was out after the 3rd round of pushes, his shoulder was stucked and i gotto make the 4th attempt in my 3rd round of push to force him out. What a close!! Phew!!

Gynae kept telling me my 2nd labour was faster as the whole labour process only took about almost 3 hours but I feel that 1st labour wasn't as painful as this tme round. Of course lah, Denzel is bigger than Wenzel mah, so definitely will be more difficult to come out.

Denzel's weight is 3.66kg while Wenzel weighs 3.15kg, a diff of 0.5kg.
Denzel's length is 51 cm while Wenzel measures 50 cm.
Denzel's head is 34 cm while Wenzel's head 33 cm.

See....big head, big size plus longer, tat's y i feel more pain loh. I told myself NO MORE 3rd time. It's really a lot of hard work but I know everything is worth it when I see little one staying warmly in my arms. Ooooh.....so sweet!! Will be back with photos updatez.......

The Fateful Day

Today is suppose to be my check up at the clinic before I pop, so hb and I go for the appointment early in the morning. Mum thot we went out for breakfast and Wenz actually knew we went out cos mum told us Wenz said "Papa goes to work" when she heard hb close the door. :)

I was still joking with hb on our way to the bus-stop telling him Denzel wun come out today cos everyone in the family has "even number" for lunar birthdate. Upon reaching the clinic, my abdominal was strapped to monitor contractions and fetal heartbeat. After the CTG monitoring, 2 contractions were monitored and gynae checked on my cervix and she was shocked and I was shocked as well. She told me I was 3-4cm dilated and the membrane may rupture any moment. She refused to let me go home as I asked her if I could come back tmr cos there really wasn't any symptoms. HB oso couldn't believe, let alone me!!! The usual pain, cramps and 'contractions' I felt in the past few weeks was still there with nothing more intense than that. I was so accustomed to that kind of pain for weeks till i dunno I was actually contracting already. Gynae advice me to have a good breakfast at coffeebean in Mt E cos I couldn't walk too much and too far while HB go home get impt stuff.

Chey....coffeebean where got nice??? Was thinking of going to Takashimaya for Chicken rice after check-up and buy some bread home from Crystal Jade Bakery. However, the way the gynae said was quite scary so I decided not to go too far but I still insist on eating rice as I noe I will have to fight a hard battle later on. I settled lunch alone at Lucky Plaza and walked back to the hospital, sat at the lobby hoping I could wait for HB to return as I dun wanna to be admitted that early as well. I have 2 taboos to observe for child delivery....my own belief. 1st taboo is before delivery must eat 1 hard-boiled egg and drink a cup of hot milo (Mum's theory is 'yang sheng' water - ginseng water) for strength and fast labour. 2nd taboo is do not let anyone know u r going to give birth cos the more ppl knows the longer baby will take to come out. In fact my friends called me while I was at the lobby but I didn't tell them I was going for labour soon.

After 30 minutes of waiting at lobby, I decided to check on the admission procedure with the counter and it was much much simpler than I thot. Simply dun need anything and I was directed to the delivery suite after checking.......there my torture journey begins......(",)

Yummy Treat!!

Lantern festival is coming soon. I wonder If Denzel is out by then. I think so and hope so too. But that will mean I wun be able to bring Wenz down for lantern play this year. Well nvm, still have papa to bring her down anyway.

I love mooncake and have already finished one box of it as my friends kept telling me cannot eat during confinement but then hor, my mum says can leh. Anyway in order to prevent myself stranded in a 'no-mooncake' situation, I bot and finished a box of mooncake with assorted flavors without myself realizing it. Yummy...yummy.....until hubby has to remind me to "keep fat in check"!! :p

SL has moved over to her new flat smoothly with the help of everyone in the family. So she gave everyone a treat to Swensons for ice-cream earlier as promised.

Greedy Wenz took quite alot of ice-cream and fries. They were taken aback when they saw Wenz ate ice-cream like a pro. Well, it's of no surprising to us anymore as we have been bringing her there for kids' meal and ice-cream quite often.

I wanted to buy this Disney chocolate-coated ice-cream mooncakes for Wenz last week when we were there dining. One box comes with 2 flavors - Strawberry for Minnie and chocolate for Mickey. I decided to buy it as SL has the credit card that entitled to 15% discount in line with current promo. Thanks to SL for the yummy treat as well as lending me her card.

Wenz was delighted to see the box. Of course she dunno there was ice-cream inside it. Think I can serve this as snack for her tmr since she has liking for baked mooncakes recently and it's part of her snack on her plate as well. :)

Missy New Habit

I think my missy has reached the stage of "NO" now. Anything that u ask her, she will reply u with a negative answer.

Do you wanna change diaper? Dun wan change.
Are you hungry? Dun wan eat.
Are you sleepy? Dun wan sleep.

My area of concern is her health. You can say 'no' for few hundred times but I will make sure she eats her meal and drinks water. My recent new tactic is to provide her with a 'snack plate' on the table with her fave snacks on the plate. She is only allow to eat the snacks after her meal and water.

Not only I have to think of what to cook for her, I gotto think what snack to give as well now. Whenever I'm out shopping, I'll look out for appropriate snack for her too. Her snack plate consist of fruits, candy, biscuit, pastry, cookies, yogurt flakes, raisin, cranberries etc.. but of course I dun give all at one go, I'll rotate and make sure it dun bore the missy. It's difficult being a mom, isn't it? (",)
Look at this......dun u think it's cute?? I saw it and decided to buy for her as snack. It looks appealing and missy loves it too!! :)

Denzel Hibernating

Hey world, I'm still here, juz in case u think I have gone into labour. (",)

I have juz went for my check up at the clinic with CTG monitoring contractions and heartbeat of baby this morning. Heartbeat is normal with no major contractions detected and cervix not open which means not likely to pop any moment yet.

Hmmm.....I'm puzzled too as I feel extremely uncomfortable every nite, making me think that I will pop any moment. Perhaps I may be too gan cheong this time round. Well, maybe Denzel wanna spend a little longer inside me as he knows the outside world is harsh, kekeke :)

I am already on leave, in fact today is my 1st day of leave. Really dislike the idea and feeling of waiting at home but the pressure on my pelvic has make things worse for me at work. I could hardly walk up the overhead bridge twice a day plus 3 flight of stairs at work so decided to give myself a break earlier. Now that I'm on leave, I kinda miss going back to workplace. Don't you think I'm weird??? Hahaha.....

Wenz starts her Term 4 of school today. She is happy to go school and so coincidently we reached the lift at the same time so took the same lift back home. For the past 1 week, I hardly hear her saying she wanna beat who and who.....thus hb and my conclusion is she does pick up this bad beating habit from school. As she also learn something good from school, guess we gotto close both eyes on the bad aspect of schooling and try our very best to educate this gal to change bad to good habits.

Ratatouille The Movie

Went to catch this hilarious movie yesterday - Ratatouille. Look at this lovable rat above!! It's name is Remy. Dun u find it cute?? The animated rat always looks so cute but the real rodent......hmmm..... Yucks.

This movie incorporates action, humour and romance together. Anyway, I do find this a nice and worth-watching show as it never fails to keep me entertained for the whole of 2 hours.

Guess this will be my last movie before I get to step in the cinema again..... :)

The Counting Down game starts

Why am I still blogging at such wee hours?? I think I'm going to pop soon. I had very intense contractions and abdominal pain the whole day from yesterday till now.

My walking speed and pace is of similar to a snail, slowly crawling and dragging my heavy feet every morning to work. My plan is to work till end of this week and start on leave next week. However, I'm starting to worry whether I can hold on till next week after what I had experienced yesterday.

I felt great discomfort, pain and cramps irregardless whether I was walking, sitting, standing or lying down. I could actually feel as if Denzel is trying to look for a passage way out. I still have lotsa things not done. There's a need for me to pack and tidy up my working desk before going on leave as company is re-locating to a new site end of this year.

If not for the pain yesterday, I think I wun have any motivation to pack my hospital bag yet. In fact I was dead worried I pop before packing my bag. Now that this hospital bag was packed, I'm feeling more relieve cos in any event of sudden delivery, I can juz instruct anyone at home to bring my bag to the hospital with the necessary barangs and documents in there.

This week marks my 38 weeks of pregnancy. I have a feeling Denzel will come out earlier than EDD. Hang on there and wait for my updatez....

Believe It or NOT

Time flies.....Wenz has completed one term of STUDY wor!! Basically I dunno what did she learn inside the classroom cos it's all enclosed. Both hubby and I found her teacher weird weird after a few interaction with her but we still continue to sign Wenz up for Term 4 else she will be lobo-ing at home during my confinement.

Anyway back to her performance in school, there were actually books used during lesson time. I was surprised to see 4 books on the table at home when my mum brought it to my attention. The 4 books consist of 2 English books and 2 Chinese books. All along I thot Wenz only go school sing song and play games but I din noe she actually did some work in there.

English Progress Report

According to the progress report received, her English is better than Chinese. The most surprising thing is she scored very well for "willingness to listen"!!??! I din expect that cos Wenz is not lidat at home leh. If only she is as good as what was reported, I'll be very happy liao loh.

Chinese Progress Report

Another surprising fact is after looking thru the work she has done in the books I actually dun believe she has completed those. Below are some examples of her work:

I dun believe she can color within the letter 'P' (see left) and I dun think she has the ability to cross out the difference (see right).






I dun think she can match the correct number to the picture and circle the correct answer.

The only work that looks like her doing is this piece above, hahaha.......I'm a bad mimi isn't it?? Anyway, who doesn't want to listen and see the good things of what their children did. Rmb the TV Ads of Gold 90.5 FM - Only hear the good things???? Of course I still feel happy looking at those work in the books lah and I surely believe she will be able to achieve this one day. Ganbatte kudasai my precious darling (",)