The first week...

Photos of Anne on Monday, 11/8/08 @ 10.15pm; exactly a week after she was born :)

top left and right: 1 day after birth

bottom left and right : 1 week after birth :)

Yesterday (Wed, 13/8/08) marked the first week of us being new parents. Well, Monday and Tuesday not counted coz we only came back and started taking care of Anne ourselves on Wednesday.

Was discharged on Wednesday morning after Dr. Khoo (the padeatrician at Britannia) checked and confirm that everything's ok with Anne. We're to go back for further checkups and some injections for Anne after one month and I'm to see Dr. Tan after 2 months. The total bill came up to RM2,800. The original package for normal delivery was RM1,800. So added with epidural that cost RM680, the VIP room and all the other ting-ting-tang-tang, this delivery of mine came up to close to RM3k :p

So far, everything has been manageable, thanks to the grandma (that took leave for a week to come help), the Ah-Po (that's here for a month to help look-see and cook) and the Ah Yee and Grandpa that's always dropping by to teman me.

Anne has been showered with gifts from everybody on the very next day after birth. First to visit were Pakpak&Pakmou, followed by Fong and dearie' sister from Cheras and Couz Yee Rui. Then there was my godpa and then over the weekend, the entire clan from my dad's side arrived together with SL and HS. And when Dearie was back at office, the hampers and other gifts came in..

and for the mommy pulak, I got these flowers the very next day after delivery. So sweet of Leen and her siblings, Fong, Dearie's colleagues and most of all, the sweet hubby :)

and the following, is a pressie from da Ah Yee to Anne. Super cute...

So far, motherhood has been tolerable AND TIRING!

The biggest challenge is not knowing what the baby wants. The 2nd one is breastfeeding, which takes DAMN alot of determination, patience and will-power.

During the first two days, I couldnt express any milk yet as all that came was colestrum. I guess baby Anne didnt feel satisfied with just the colestrum, so she was sucking real realllyyyy hard till the milking points were all cracked, bleeding and sore. Luckily, come the 4th day, milk started accumulating and breastfeeding wasnt such a chore anymore.

But of course, breastfeeding is alot more work compared to formula milk feeding. Each feed takes about 45 minutes as Anne tends to fall asleep in my arms when she's feeding. But with formula milk, she finishes 1 oz in less than 5 minutes! It's just the burping part that takes a little more time. She now goes on a 80-20 breastfeeding : formula routine (taking Enfagrow A+ powder, samples curtosy of Britannia). I'll breastfeed her throughout the day, and during midnight, dearie makes the formula for her so that she last longer without whinning at night. The papa says I should sleep more and not just care about breastfeeding Anne. So he insisted that night time must be formula milk and not mommie's milk. (But hor, if she doesnt cry too loudly, I'll breastfeed her in the middle of the night as well.. hehe..shh) :P If solely thru breastfeed, she last for a max. of 2.5 hours.. but on formula, she can go for 4 hours without a cry.

and oh! have I mentioned that this daughter of mine inherited her mommy's St.John No. 1 commander's voice?! My gawd... when she cries at night, I swear she wakes the whole neighbourhood! Whenever she's hungry, when she's dirty (as in when she soils the diaper) and when she bathes, she screams at the top of her lungs!!!! And it comes without warning!!! No whinning or soft crying b4 hand.. once it comes, it's max. volume!!!

For the first 3 days at home, we had difficulty getting Anne to sleep at night... she just refuses to sleep even after we feed and change her diaper. Dearie and I were getting super stress and I was stressed till the point that I was afraid once night comes coz it's blardy tiring to be carrying and talking to her the entire night! (she softens and stops crying when I sing or talk to her while carrying her). Then we found the solution!!!!! The pacifier / dummy!! So now at night, after feeding and changing her, if she still cries, we'll give her the paci and she'll suck on it until it automatically drops off when she falls asleep. I guess the rationale of sucking the paci is that she feels like she's suckin her own hand. You see, when she sleeps at night, I wrap her up with a towel so that she'll feel secure and warm. And becoz she's wrapped, she cant bring up her hand to her mouth. We know she likes sucking her hand coz during pregnancy, all the scanned photos showed that she had her hand at her mouth. Even when I gave birth to her, her first position had her hand in her mouth as well!! So well, since she cant get to suck her hand at night, sucking the paci would be a good alternative kua...

The confinement lady started 'work' on Wednesday (6/8/08) and has been here every morning at 8am. She leaves after she has washed Anne/my clothes, bathe Anne and cook for me. I super beh suka her cooking, but luckily the Ah-Po is here to save the day. With her extra dishes and tunjuk-ajar to the CL, the dishes has improved slightly. But my-oh-my, I miss Mi's cooking, man!!!! Eating ginger everyday with everything is almost crazy! Not mentioning the herb and wine that I've got to swallow! I really rather eat the vitamins prescribed by the Doc during pregnancy!! At least that can sekali telan everything. THIS ONE?! bermangkuk -mangkuk banyak!!! The only thing that I happily drink is the red and black dates drink. That's very yummy :)

Oh! and Dearie has got Anne's birth cert and MyKid card done on Monday as well. Went to Jab. Pendaftaran at Perhentian Bas Bangi for the procedure. It was quite a quick one. Got both the documents within 2 hours (MyKid card will have to wait for awhile, we have the receipt for the card tho; just like our IC, but the birthcert was given on the spot.)

As tired as I may be, I'm 3000x sure that the Papa is equally tired. He needs to go to work in the morning. When he comes back in the evening, tho tired and pucat and all, he still needs to clean the house, wash the dishes and prepare the formula milk stuff for our lil' Anne. During the night when Anne wakes up, as I need to sooth her, so he wakes up to prepare the bottle. As far as I can, I try to let him sleep at night so that he can have more energy to work and have better concentration during the day... but this responsible Papa wakes up whenever Anne gives out a cry... :)