Flashback of Zaczac - 3rd Month

Second came and passed quickly.. It was time to move back to our Seng Kang home. I started going back to Seng Kang lovenest weekly to clean up the house and prepare for Zaczac's homecoming. As I was packing, I realised that there were not enough storage space to accomodate Zaczac's clothes and toys. It was quite frustrating as I packed. I decided to talk to my hubby about renovating the house instead.

We have always played with the idea of renovating our lovenest. Back in five years ago, when we bought this place, we did minimal renovation due to tight budget. But now that Zaczac is here, we need more storage and it was time to rewire all the electrical wires in the house. Our laminated wood in the walk-in wardrobe showed signs of wear and tear. Thoughts were also given that we will not be buying another house for the next few years because we are comfortable with where we are now. And also, since Zaczac has not officially moved back, we should consider renovating the lovenest.

There were more pros than cons to have the renovation. And so the renovation project started. I shall not elaborate about the house renovation in this blog :) Here is a picture of Zaczac back at his Sengkang home before the renovation.

In this month, Zaczac went to many places, after confined in the house for about 2 months? Here are some of the places he went..

Zaczac went for his first 5in1 jab on the 19 October 2009. We were expecting him to wail after his Hep B saga. But to our surprise, he was ok with the jab. Probably he was distracted by the toys lying in front of him. His PD said he was a good boy! I'm glad :)

Zaczac met his another great-grandfather, i.e. my maternal grandfather. My grandfather hardly smiles, but the moment he saw Zaczac, he smiled! Zaczac cooed at his great-grandfather and he complimented that Zaczac is a smart boy. *grin* This is a picture taken at the great-grandparents' place.

On one fine Monday in late September, both my mom and I brought Zaczac to Northpoint for a walk. We do not have a stroller then, so I put him in the Babyjorn sling. He was quite comfortable in there and was sleeping throughout our shopping at Northpoint. Here's a picture of him falling asleep before I ate my lunch.

Zaczac visited his great-uncle's family at Harbourview Tower. Everyone just love to get his attention, especially his great-aunty. Just some pictures of hubby and I feeding him milk.



Zaczac's first shopping trip at Orchard Road was to Paragon. We brought him there to test drive his stroller. It was a fun experience because Zaczac was so happy during the test drive. Some pictures to show you his happy experiences!

Hubby and I checked out the various nursing room in Orchard area. We have been to the nursing rooms in Paragon (5th Level), Ion, Takashimaya shopping centre and Isetan. In the suburb area, we been to IMM, AMK hub and Northpoint. They are a must especially we bring Zaczac out.

Zaczac's grandparents were away to Beijing for a week. And I had to take care of him by myself. It was not as bad as I thought. Hubby worked from home on one of the days to help me out. The time spent with Zaczac was so priceless. It was not as bad as I thought it was. I was coping well! :) After staying at home for a week, hubby brought us to AMK hub for dinner. We thought we should try having dinner at AMK hub's foodcourt. It was so crowded, and we waited for a good table for 20 minutes. Zaczac entertained us while we waited. Good boy!

Zaczac's motor skill is always improving. He loves to do his 'crawl'.  Everyone will entertain him by supporting him on his chest so that he can move.

What else? I have to recall as I go along.. till then... :)

Flashback of Zaczac - 2nd month

One month has passed, everything went well. Hubby and I were still staying at my parents' place because it was the lunar 7th month, also known as Hungry Ghost festival. Being superstitious, I was not keen to bring Zaczac out of the house, so decided to stay for one more month, moreover, I had extra pairs of hands when in need.

My mum worked permanent night shift, so she could only help me during the day and I took care of Zaczac throughout the night. Zaczac slowly adjusted his bioclock and woke up less during the night, except for his feeds. He can be really impatient when comes to feed, he will demand for milk immediately and poor hubby had to make Zac's milk in his fastest speed.

Zaczac went for his second Hep B injection on 14 August 2009. He was alright throughout the whole checkup until he was given the jab. He wailed. PD warned that it was going to be painful. Being an emotional mummy, my tears just rolled down my cheeks after seeing my son wailed so hard. PD quickly carried him up and cuddled him. He stopped crying straight away. Here's a pic of his battered scar! 

Shortly after his first month, my mom suggested that Zaczac should shave his hair (poor boy!). Hubby and I protested that Zaczac shall not go bald! He has such nice hair and it is a pity to see him go bald! To compromise, Zaczac trimmed the back of his hair for the usual chinese ritual. He had his eyebrows shaved as well, so that it will grow thicker, according to my mom. Well, I gave in because there were not much brow hair then. Guess what? Zaczac did not fuss through out the process, he was sleeping! *haha*

I could remember clearly Zaczac suffered slight colic for few days in his early 2nd month. He did not wail as described in those reference books, but he showed signs of discomfort every night. He would cry and we suspected he had lots of wind in his tummy. We would find ways to help him get rid of those nasty winds (by applying Ru-yi oil and burp him all the time). It was upsetting to see my dear bub going through that phase. I tried swaddling him and cradle him to sleep. My friends gave me some good advices to follow as well. I called Zaczac's PD and asked for her opinion. She said he would probably need some wind drops which can be bought in any pharmacy. Hubby bought it that very day and gave the drops to Zaczac. He did feel slightly better. Since then, we always put 0.5ml of Rid Wind in his milk before he goes to sleep. PD also prescribed him with Probiotics.

Another incident which I remembered clearly was Zaczac's naval. After the umbilical cord has fallen off, the naval never seems to dry off, there were some white sticky stuff in the naval. We tried cleaning with cord spirit, it didn't work. Being an anxious mummy, I called Zaczac's PD again. She suggested that I bring him down for consultation. PD prescribed that it was Granumola and needed Silver Nitrate to treat it. I was told it is not painful, just black stain around the naval and it will go away after a few weeks. However, after 1 week, Zaczac situation did not improve, and so I called PD again. She suggested another treatment was required. Indeed, the granoluma dried off after the second treatment. The naval now looks perfect!

Sometime during the second month, Zaczac had problem pooping regularly. That worried me. I did some research online and even post it in Facebook to ask for advices. Some suggested I change his milk formula and some advised I should massage his tummy and exercise his legs in bicycle movement to encourage bowel movements. I tried all ways, there was still no sign of Zaczac's poop. After 4 days, he pooped! It was a great family affair because everyone in the family will ask if Zaczac has pooped yet. So the moment Zaczac pooped, everyone was so happy for him. I was relieved!

I thought it was an one-off. I was wrong, he has decided that he should only poop after four days or more. It can be really worrying, but PD and GP told me that it is normal and I should not worry unless he is passing out hard stools (which he did not). I was told by PD that babies who are on breastmilk may encounter such problem, as long as it is not hard stool, that is ok! After awhile, I got used to his poo patterns. But Zaczac is a good boy, he will give prior warning that he will be pooping soon. How? He will show signs of "nnnnggggg" on his face the day before he poops! *ROFL*

I am trying to recall what other happenings during the 2nd month... ahhh... since he slept in the proning position all the time, that attributes to his strong neck muscle. He was able to lift up his head with minimal support required. He also like to 'crawl' even though he is still too young for it. We will always give him a push to help him moved forward when he tried to crawl. It is really funny to see him 'crawl' at times!

We stopped putting on mittens for him after 5th week. This was because the naughty boy always put the mittens in his mouth! Notti Notti!

I must say 2nd month was still a steep learning curve for a new mummy like me! 

Below are some pictures of Zaczac taken during the 2nd month:

Flashback of Zaczac - 1st Month

The delivery room was filled with Zaczac's cries and voices of my hubby who was busy calling family members to inform Zaczac's arrival. I was still trying to recover from the delivery process. I felt tired but yet I couldn't stop myself from looking at my bub.

After the nurse took bub away from me, she placed him in the incubator with UV lights to warm him up. She was also cleaning him up and gave him the first injection of his life, first dosage of Hepatitis B. I can still remember clearly that bub's eyes were already opened and looking around. He was so curious even though he could hardly see clearly. Here's the first few pics of my bub...

Both hubby and I have been waiting for this day to come, and here is our dearest bub. He looked so charming and sweet, doesn't he?

Once the nurse was done with Zaczac, I have requested to carry zaczac and let him start his first mission, i.e. learn to latch. To my surprise, Zaczac could find his way to my nipple and he latched on easily. Both hubby and I praised him! He is a fast learner, isn't he? The first few drops of the colostrum is very important for babies, that was why I insisted breastfeeding from day one.

The feeling of carrying Zaczac in my arms was so warm and sweet. He is here at last, I keep telling myself. I could see him at last, after a long wait!

The nurse took Zaczac away from me for thorough wash up, while the other nurse washed me. I felt too tired to move. After wheeling me back to my room, both hubby and I dozed off right away until Zaczac was pushed into my room fresh and clean. He was swaddled up and looked really cute. He was given BCG on the second day. The mark is still visible on his butt today.

I was in Gleneagles Hospital for 3 days 2 nights. Zaczac slept with me every night and that was the start of motherhood and sleepless nights. The nurse suggested that Zaczac could sleep in the nursery and pushed him over when he needed his feeds, but I wouldn't bear to separate from him, after all, he was in my womb for 9 months! I just wanted to bond with him as soon as possible.

After I was discharged from the hospital, both hubby and I moved to my parents' place for my confinement. I hate confinement, but I had to follow, thank goodness my mum allowed me to shower and wash my hair!

Hubby and I started our official parenthood and sleepless nights on that day. All I could remember my daily chores were breastfeed, express milk, wash bottles, change diapers, ... till today. There were a couple of time when my nipples were so sore from Zaczac's impatient latch. It bled. I had engorgement and it was very painful. I couldn't sleep and felt so stressful. Hubby encouraged me all the time and even took the effort to search for a lactation consultant to guide me through. I remembered having cabbage treatment, it felt really good. I was also glad that my friends were very encouraging, giving me all the advises and tips to guide me along. I told myself I will feed Zaczac breastmilk for at least 6 months!

Zaczac was on full breastmilk for 3 weeks, until my supply couldn't cope with his demand. That gave me alot of stress and that caused my supply to go down further. I was reluctant to supplement him with formula. In the end, I gave in and supplement him with enfalac. Somehow after supplementing him with formula, I was not as stressful as before and milk supply slowly increased. I only fed Zaczac formula at night, and full breastmilk during the day.

My mum bathed Zaczac every day, he was too fragile for me to handle him. I enjoyed seeing him bathe, he just love kicking in the water!

Zaczac gets startled easily. So to make him sleep better, we have decided to prone him, that is sleeping on his stomach. I was reluctant in the first place after reading from many guide books, but Zac seems to like sleeping in that position. We just had to be careful and observed him when he slept.

I remembered rocking him to sleep every night. After he was born, his bioclock was in chaos. He slept in the day and awake during the night. Hubby and I had to take turn to rock him to sleep. He would wail and wanted to be cuddled at all times. It was too early to train him, but somehow he adjusted his bioclock himself as the weeks went by. *phew*

Three weeks went by, it was time to register Zaczac's birth certificate. Before that, we had to give him a chinese name. That was a saga for his chinese name, which I shall not elaborate. As hubby is a hainanese, it is a tradition for the sons to follow a fixed middle name from the ancestor book. We were not very keen as the middle name was "氣". How the h**l are we going to name our son with such weird middle name!? But my father-in-law (FIL) insisted :| FIL came out with some names for us, I like NONE of them and decided we should let the fengshui master decides for us. And so through a friend's contact, we engaged a taiwanese fengshui master. He gave us a few options (睿，榮...) based on the number of strokes. We were quite happy with the name 睿 (pronounced as rui), it means smart, intelligent. I was quite surprised that the older generation had no clue about this word, while the new generation are naming their children with this word. After the saga, we insisted on this character, and Zaczac's official chinese name is 符氣睿.

I was counting down to the end of my confinement, and before I know it, its Zaczac's one month celebration! We celebrated his baby shower (full month) at Orchid Country Club on 9 August 2009. It was a lunch reception for 80 guests. Here's a picture of Zaczac with his great-grandfather (tai-gong). I love this picture, we have the oldest in the family cuddling the youngest in the family... how amazing! Read on for the progress in the second month...

Mummy in the making

I conceived Zaczac in October 2008. Both hubby and I thought it was time to start a family, so we decided to take it easy. After few months of trying, nothing happened, and so I thought I should not give myself too much stress and decided to change job. After joining Amex (GCC) for 3 months, I found myself pregnant with Zaczac. The moment I found the two strips appeared on the pregnancy test kit (thanks to hubby who bought the kit from Watson, I can remember clearly that it was Raffles City), I broke down in tears on my throne. I will always remember that faithful morning on 13 November 2008. I screamed for my hubby who was still in his sweet dreams. When he saw the test kit, he couldn't help but broke into laughter. I cried. No more wine, no hotspring and sashimi in my then Hokkaido holiday with my family, I am going to look ugly.. so on and so forth..

Thinking back, there were so many things I said and happened during my pregnancy were so foolish of me! 

Anyway, we bought another test kit (another brand) to test again during the weekend, and indeed the result showed two strips on the kit. We went to my OB, Dr Peter Chew, for a final confirmation. I still remembered Dr Chew's first reaction when he saw me, he was smiling from ear to ear and congratulated us. Its for real!

After all the prep talk by Dr Chew, he calculated my EDD will be 14 July 2009. That was also the beginning of being a pill popper (multi-vit, fish oil, calcium, folic acid....). I was given 2 weeks MC to stay home to rest (I was suppose to do NOTHING!)  

With the happy news, we shared with both our families and my team. We tried to keep it low profile until 1st trimester was over! 

 1st Trimester
Besides being a pill popper, not allowed to do strenuous exercise, I was also given a weekly hormonal jab. I am needle-phobic. The weekly jab was quite stressful for me but I got over it quickly, I knew it was for the good of the baby.

My trip to Hokkaido was an easy holiday. I do not have to carry any luggages (hubby was my bellboy), I was also reminded at all times that I have to walk carefully and slowly... it was all for my own good... :) Oh! I fed Zaczac with wagyu beef, that is also the beginning of my beef cravings..

 
During the 1st trimester scan, it was amazing to see the bub bounced about in my womb. Hubby saw bub was sucking his thumb during the scan. Everything went well, result was normal. *Phew* 1st trimester was over!

2nd Trimester
Both hubby and I looked forward to our visits to Dr Chew's clinic. That is the only time I can peep at my bub. I kept all the scan images for remembrance. It is amazing to see bub grows each time I see him in the ultrasound machine!

I have always hope for a daughter for the first child. When I was told that the bub is a boy, I broke down into tears and couldn't accept the fact. I knew I was silly then! Well, gender disappointment! There were many thoughts came running to my mind if I have a boy (I shall keep these thoughts to myself :X) Hubby tried to console me and said as long as the baby is healthy, any gender is ok! I still couldn't bring myself to accept the fact.

Time passed, I accepted the truth, and grew to love my bub. The moment I accepted the fact, hubby and I were going through the baby names books to look for an appropriate name for bub. After many thoughts, we decided to name bub, Zachary (other names considered were Kieron, Andre, Nathaniel), so that we can call him Zaczac in short. It should be easy for the older generation to call him as well... no funny pronounication at least!

I was always looking forward to the day I could feel Zaczac's movement in the womb. The butterfly feelings felt surreal at times!

I attended prenatal classes with hubby conducted by well-known Mrs Wong Boh Boi. It was very enriching, especially for first-time parents. Hubby and I enjoyed the classes very much and also learnt alot of tricks during those classes.

Third Trimester
Waiting for Zaczac arrival seems to be a long wait. I always tell hubby that I cannot wait to see Zaczac.. Seeing Zaczac from the ultrasound machine is the only thing I can look forward in Dr Chew's clinic. Zaczac loves to kick. He will kick me more than 300 times a day closer to delivery. I love those kicks!

I was looking forward to Zaczac's arrival, but not the iron jabs that I have to administer weekly during the last weeks. Well, I was diagnosed with low hemoglobin... despite all the iron pills that I was popping, it was still low.

14th of July seems to be a long wait... I was told that Zaczac was engaged by 35 weeks.. I may deliver early. And that makes me wonder when will that be? Every week passed, and Zac is still not ready to see the world. He must be quite comfortable in the womb :)

On the 13 July 2009, I went for my weekly checkup, did a ECG for Zaczac, and realised that the heartbeat was not beating regularly. Dr Chew wanted me to admit to hospital right away for observation and induction. And so I was admitted at 7pm that evening.

My legs went weak when I stepped into the delivery room. After the nurse gone through the administrative work and told me to change, I was strapped down on bed for ECG observation. I was told I cannot get out of bed. I have to alert the nurses if I need to go to the toilet. Hubby was there with me at all time, except those times when he had to go back home to pick up some stuff for me and grab some snacks along the way.

I had no idea when will I deliver Zaczac.. The nice nurses came in once a while to check that I am ok. I remembered asking the nurse when will I feel contraction, and the nurse replied that I will know when the contraction comes! And so I was waiting patiently. Time passed too slowly for me. At about midnight, I thought I felt slight contractions, soon enough, the contractions came every seven minutes, and then two minutes.... I was trying my best to endure the pain. I gave up and asked for epidural injection when contraction came when I was peeing. It was too painful to endure and I was crying in the toilet. I couldn't walk.

As I have requested for Dr Kenneth Phang to administer the epidural jab for me, the nurse had to call him back to the hospital after he knocked off from work in less than two hours. I felt bad waking him up and seeing the bloodshot eyes, but I couldn't endure anymore. It was quite a drama during the whole epidural administration, but it went well, before I knew it, no more contraction! I managed to get some rest, so was hubby in his leather armchair.

Few hours passed and Dr Chew came in to check on me at 9am, he said I have dilated but I needed 10cm before I could deliver. He said if I could not dilate 10cm by 5pm the same day, he may want me to go for c-sect. Geez, the moment I heard that, I was praying hard that Zaczac could come out soon... Waiting to deliver was like endless. Nurses came in every now and then to check on me. At about 1.15pm, Dr Chew came in again. I was then busy smsing with my sister, Annie, asking her to help me with some stuff at home. Before I knew it, Dr Chew was in full gear, the nurses raised my legs, and I was still holding on my phone.

My hubby thought it was not going to start so quickly, so he went to the loo. Dr Chew turned and asked me, "your husband not going to watch the whole process?" Everything happened too quickly. After hubby came out, Dr Chew told me to push, and before I knew it, after 5 pushes, my dearest Zaczac was born.

The moment I saw him on my tummy, I cried, for joy and relief. My bub is such a cute and handsome boy! Those gender disappointment moments were totally unnecessary! I carried him in my arms, the feeling of being a mummy was so wonderful!

Read the next blog from the day Zaczac was born...

Quick Facts:

Mummy's craving - beef
Mummy's total weight gain - 12kg
Zaczac's weight at birth - 2.95kg
Zaczac's length at birth - 51cm
Zaczac's head circumference at birth - 33cm

Here are some photos of my pregnancy:

 

 

Start of my blogging journey

It is never easy to write an introduction, at least for me. I never enjoy writing, except for work. My hubby encouraged me to start a blog after Zaczac was born, however, I never took a courage to do so.


As I was putting Zaczac to sleep half hour ago, something strike me that I should start to pen down everything about Zaczac. At least one day, I can share it with Zaczac when he grows up. I am going to pen down my experiences from pregnancy to growing old with Zaczac.. my sweet memories...