Baby's First Christmas

On Christmas Day, we get discharged and its time to bring baby home!!! So we pack her in the car, put her in her new car seat, and whizz back in the morning before it starts getting really hot.

Before we know it, we're getting calls from hubby's parents, sister and brother in law and Nora and gang saying that they're bringing over lunch. So we put away all the stuff we brought back from the hospital and start getting ready to have visitors.

Come 1pm, hubby's parents are over and they've brought a Christmas spread!!! Ham and prawns and salad and coleslaw and buns and butter and pickles and the lot! Everything that they usually have at Christmas. Then hubby's sister and brother in law turn up to join in on the festivities. Then Nora and gang turn up with Indonesian food to add to the feast. Oh, how quickly it turned from being a simple, quiet homecoming to a full blown family Christmas affair.

And at the centre of it all, slept a perfect littl' baby...content to bask in the attention while everyone ooh'ed and aah'ed over her. Out sweet littl' angel - our very special Christmas present come early. 


Merry Christmas little one...

The birth...

On Monday the 20th, hubby took me  to the hospital. We arrived at about 5:30pm and proceeded to the labour ward where they hooked me up to some machine to get a baseline reading of baby's heart rate and my contractions. About an hour later, Dr Tai came to insert a gel in my cervix to help it to soften. Apparently, my cervix was already quite soft and I was 1cm dilated.

I was checked again at midnight and at 5am, and at this point, was found to be 2cms dilated. After a short nap, hubby arrived and we both went to the labour ward after I had a quick shower. There, Mel the midwife, asked if I was going to have an epidural. She said that I didn't have to use it if I didn't want to but that the anesthetist could be difficult to get hold of later on if I did. Hubby and I decided to have the epidural catheter put in and to use it if we needed to. There was a drip and a spinal tube and again, I was linked up to the fetal heart and contractions monitor.

After breakfast, Dr Tai came in to break my waters at about 9:30am. It felt weird, having all this warm fluid come out of me. And when a big contraction came, it would push out more amniotic fluid from me. Hubby and I would look at the contractions monitor from time to time, just to see how big some of the contractions were...but I was still pretty comfortable.

Come lunch time, Maggie the next midwife, offers the both of us some lunch and says that she's going to have to increase the amount of oxytocin to get the contractions to come closer together. She said that I was getting inconsistent strong contractions and they needed to have 4 strong contractions in 10 minutes to get things going. Time to up the dosage from 30mls to 60mls. This was about 1:30pm or so and was also right about the time when things started to hurt. And so we started the epidural.

At about 4pm, Maggie does a VE and says that my cervix has completely dilated and so off she goes to ring Dr Tai and gets me to start pushing. She coaches me on how to push with the contractions, where to put my hands, and what to do with my breathing. And so it begins.

Dr Tai came in at about 5-ish (time starts getting really fuzzy at this point as I'm concentrating real hard on pushing) and gets a bit concerned with my temperature and baby's heart rate. Apparently, it would take another 3 hours of labour to get baby out naturally. So he decided that we were going to have a vacuum delivery and tells me that if I push, he'll pull...and we'll have a baby. At some point, the vacuum comes off the baby's head (poor baby!) and I feel it too. Then, he puts it back on and we continue...

Dr Tai then gets concerned that she's not going to fit...so he does an episiotomy. Later, hubby confesses to hearing the snip and then witnessing all that blood loss. He was helping hold my legs up and was giving me encouragement but at that point, needed to sit down and gain a bit of colour. I remember the pain and how it felt to have baby bearing down...it was like I was being torn apart and I didn't know if I could take it any longer or if I could push anymore...I was so close to giving up...so so close...

It took 3 sets of strong pushes before baby came out...there was a pause at one point where Dr Tai got me to pant before asking me to start pushing again. And then presto - she was out! Once she was out, Dr Tai placed her on my breast, all bloody and wet and everything. It was a sight for sore eyes and it was just amazing. Our littl' girl...I was finally holding our baby.

Soon after, she was whizzed off to get cleaned and weighed and APGAR tested etc whilst Dr Tai harvested the cord blood, delivered the placenta and sewed me up. I was starting to feel the pain of his sewing as the epidural wore off and it probably took him a good 45 minutes to finish all that stitching. By this time, it was well past 6:30pm and I was exhausted.

The next thing we know, Dr Tai announces that the parents are here! Apparently, they had schemed to go to nearby tavern for dinner and then decided to walk over to see what was happening because there hadn't been any news on what was going on. Hubby sent them home and came back to spend time with baby and me. Baby had started rooting at the breast and that was the first time I breastfed. At that moment, the wonder of it all hit me and I fell in love with our littl' girl...

She's here...she's perfect...and she's all ours.

Welcome to this world littl' one...

Not Ready: Baby NinJa

It's almost time for me to come. Am I ready? I don't think so...its so nice and warm in mummy's tummy and I'm all safe in here! I get fed, I get rocked, I can do whatever I like...why would I want to come out?

Ah Ma keeps on checking Mummy's tummy's position with her fingers and saying that when there's 4 fingers between the top of the bump and Mummy's diaphragm that I'm ready to come. Well, I'm not...so there's no point continuing to check...

Twas the weekend before...

It's like that poem...'Twas the night before Christmas...but this is more like 'Twas the weekend before the delivery! Wow, getting so close to Baby NinJa's due date that it's scary how real this is starting to feel.

All my bags are packed and I think I've finished all my nesting stuff...put her clothes and nappies in the drawers, organised the nursery, put up the cot mobiles, organised the stuff she won't need straight away and packed away some of the stuff I won't need anytime soon...

I've tried to do as much housework as possible so that we don't have to worry about this and I've tried to finish reading "What to Expect When You're Expecting" so that we're all prepared so hopefully I'm ready. It's crazy how we're almost at delivery point...almost...almost...almost!

Am I excited? No...not yet. More anxious, nervous, worried...I guess its the whole fear of the unknown. Hopefully, all goes well and Baby NinJa comes out safe...I guess there's enough time to get excited when I get induced and when we know for sure that its time to have a baby. OMG, we're having a baby!!!

We're almost there...

Stuff! Baby NinJa

Boy oh boy oh boy!!! Did I get spoilt today! I got clothes and more clothes and lots more clothes! Onesies, bibs, tops...I also got a cool Christmas top!!! My first Christmas outfit! There was also all this other stuff like a baby book, photo frame, bath thermometer, food masher, cot mobiles, food warmer, wraps...so cool so cool so cool! I get pressies even before I'm born!

I'm so lucky...=D

Baby Shower

Ever since we told Nora that I was pregnant, she's been most eager to have a baby shower. She even knew how the invites would look like (which incidentally, turned out to be littl' red nappies that we made with felt and pinned together with littl' safety pins). And so we had a baby shower...and it went really well!

It was a small party, but just the right size me thinks for what the house could hold. Nora made yummy food (potentially a tad bit too much) with others bringing in odds and ends here and there...and hubby had to scoot off before the festivities began.

So what did we do? We were divided into 3 groups and started off doing blind taste testing of baby foods. Man, I can't believe we feed babies this pureed can/bottle stuff. It was yuck!!! No wonder babies end up throwing it on the floor!! Must learn how to make porridge...that would be waaaay nicer than any of this stuff!

Then we did celebrity babies...now I have no idea where Nora got all these baby photos (and I didn't know 99% of the babies' faces!) but one of my ex work colleagues, Em, was really good with this! I think everyone was amazed at her memory...and so her team scooped this one up!

And lastly, we played Pictionary with kids related stuff...there was some really hard things to guess in there (and our team seemed to pick most of them!)...so being so disadvantaged, obviously we didn't win. But it was all good fun. It was interesting watching some of the drawings that came out!!!

Then we opened pressies and there was a whole heap of stuff for baby NinJa!  She definitely got spoilt. Lucky baby...

An absolutely perfect afternoon spent with good friends, good food and good times. Thanks Nora!

Birthday: Baby NinJa

Mummy and Daddy took me for my final scan on Tuesday and the sonographer told Mummy that if I came between then and when we went to see the obstetrician on Friday, that I was in a good position. She also assumed that Mummy had her hospital bag packed...I know Mummy didn't but I was good and didn't say anything! But that's the first thing Mummy did when she went home...hehehe...

So on Friday, after having a look at the scan, the obstetrician told Mummy that he's booked her in to get me induced for the 21st of December. Unless I come early, I have a birthday!!! So everyone, get ready...in not too long to go, it'll be time for me to come out!!!

Woooooo hooooooo!!!

Surreal...

I can't believe how fast time flies. The last big thing at work was applying for maternity leave...now, I'm on mat leave already! Friday was my last day at work and it felt surreal...the only time I've had to leave work was to leave the country (or resign). Its never been a case of leaving work for family reasons...so it is a bit surreal that I won't be going to work on Monday due to an illness or holidays.

I was also surprised by the number of colleagues telling me that they'd miss me (and the amount of stuff I got as a going away present!). And by the head of the department coming to my going away drinks. It was an outer body experience, having people come up to wish me well and all the good wishes for a speedy delivery for baby NinJa.

So what do I have planned up until the 21st of December? I guess its time to do some nesting...and to kick it off, I have a whole lot of washing to do...I hope the washing machine's going to be able to handle this!!! And also to take up Allie's advice and get some rest...it really is getting to be quite tiring! But not long more to go now...not long at all...