Both Adam & Aifah are finally asleep.
Time for some reprieve as I do some necessary online shopping.
And to blog and rant about how I’ve been coping as a mother of 2.

This time round, confinement has been thrown out of the window.
After about 2 days of staying at my mom’s overcrowded home,
both AH & I decided that we’d return to our own place, and shuttle daily
for me to have my urut (massage) session & for Adam to go to school.
Alhamdulillah (Thank God), my recovery has been on track so far.
Apart from sleep deprivation problems, I’m pretty much OK.
Just that maybe after my massage sessions have ended, I might stay at home quietly
with Aifah, while Adam spends the days at my mom’s.

Adam, our 2 1/2 yr old, dotes on Aifah…but, can be mean at times too.
So far, we’ve caught him shoving Aifah’s head (from the back, front, sides),
shaken Aifah’s cot/playpen/bouncer, thrown stuff onto Aifah’s face (towels, his shorts!!)
and covering Aifah’s mouth while saying, “Stop!” in an attempt to get her to stop crying.

*takes a deep breath*

Just today, he wanted to play with the broom and of course none of us allowed it.
And he cried, and whined and it just went on and on and on until I gave him one good smacking.
But of course, his whining didn’t stop until I told him, I won’t make his milk unless he stops crying.

I guess it takes some time for him to adjust. He has to deal with school,
then, deal with his little sis at the same time compete for attention. Then again I do
wonder if it’s just his personality to cry and whine and keep doing things although
we’ve said No for the hundredth time. or whether this is a phase. I hope it’s the latter
(though a part of me believes it’s the former :O)

At times I blame myself for leaving only about a 30-mth gap between them.
But what if we waited longer and he’d still be the same?
Yesterday’s bed time, however, gave me & AH some hope that Adam was able
to sleep quietly without waking Aifah up with his chattering and energy (even before bedtime).
I hope we’ll be able to repeat that regularly.
Luckily for us, Aifah seems to be able to sleep through all the noise. Probably conditioned already.
Survival for having a brother like Adam, I guess.

It has only been less than 2 weeks. Hopefully things get better and I don’t
end up having PND anytime soon.

I guess I need to remind myself that this is a test of my patience.
Kids are a test of parents’ patience. It’s tough, but
we’ll get through it somehow.

I’m glad I gave birth in end Dec 09. Like what Nad pointed out, the weather is much cooler.
AH was still having his holidays.
And also, Aifah arrived a week before Adam was due to begin school.
Which means, I got to send him to school when he began his first day of playgroup yesterday.

Adam would soon come to be known as the latecomer. Haha! I told AH
that we’re talking about a 2 1/2 yr old here! But of course, we’ll strive to improve on
punctuality as we go along. Hey, not easy getting a toddler ready & bathed by 7.30 am,
along with a baby whose schedule we’re still trying to get to know, and to beat the
traffic all the way from Changi to get to Eunos okay. OK, so that might seem like pure excuses
but seriously, for someone slow-mo like me, it can be quite a challenge. Plus, I am not as agile
given I’ve just undergone labour a week ago. Though I’m very glad & thankful that the labour
was pretty much straightforward and I’m almost back to normal now.

Neways, yesterday, Adam’s dad, great-grandad and mum, walked him to school.
He carried his cetak-rompak (non-authentic) Thomas bag and was
quite happy to go to school.

We got there, (late!) and saw some toddlers in the classroom with their moms.
2 of them began crying a while later. Adam still quite steady and was playing with the montessori
materials as I sat near him. Then AH signalled for me to leave. I was torn between letting Adam know
I was leaving, and sneaking out. I chose the latter. And barely 2 mins later, when he realised I was gone,
he…well, urm, turned quite hysterical and cried! I saw his small hands on the glass door and
it was amazing how the door shook as he tried to open it!

You gotta be cruel to be kind, so I left him crying.
Didn’t want him to think I’ll be there for him again tomorrow just because he cried.
But really lah, the heart damn soft man..
I went back to my mom’s to have my massage, while AH waited outside, peering inside occasionally, hehehe.

He stopped crying about half an hr later, or wait, perhaps more. By the time he was dismissed at 11 am,
he seemed alrite. No more tears.

Today his Ayah & Yot sent him there. Yot’s verrrry free, you see, so he doesn’t mind hanging around the school even if Adam has no clue he was outside. The good news is, Adam didn’t cry today! Whoopeee! SO
glad for that! I hope this will continue everyday.

He got home today & brought a completed ‘Join-the-dots’ worksheet. I saw some lines scrawled
through the dots, forming the pic of a van. Importantly, he was cheerful when he got home, although
he turned quite cranky after lunch, possibly due to fatigue.

He’s still adjusting and I hope things will get better by the day. Once again, am sooo glad we could
be there for him as he began school. Can’t imagine how it would be like if I popped on my EDD (3 Jan) and
Adam had to begin school the next day. Such blessings. Syukur.

We’re officially parents of 2!
And Adam is officially a Big Brother

Little Aifah arrived at 2020 hrs on 28 Dec 09.
Hmm, I guess I’m about to type out her birth story now.

Dr A actually was on an overseas holiday over the Xmas weekend.
He said he’d be back on Monday, but if anything happened, all we had
to do was to go to the hospital and his covering colleague
would attend to us. Thinking back, I recalled praying, “Dear God,
It’d be nice if Dr A were to be there when little one pops, but
whatever it is, I accept what’s best for us”.

And then Monday came. I was ecstatic! Baby still wasn’t out and
Dr was already back! Great, I no longer had to go in bed wondering
who’d deliver me.

And on the same Monday, while all of us were still in bed at 8 am,
I felt 2 cramps about 30 mins apart. By 10 am,
they were about 15 mins apart. Earlier on AH had told me he dreamt
I went into labour so he said he wouldn’t be going to work that day (haha!).
It was only later that I told him I was having those contractions and
he almost jumped out of his seat.
Thing is, I didn’t have much other signs apart from those regular contractions,
so I didn’t really want to rush to the hospital with a false alarm.

So we called Dr A. And got an overseas ringtone. We hung up, but he called us back.
He was landing at 4 pm, not earlier as I’d thought.
He asked if I was in severe pain and I told him I wasn’t.
I could go to the hospital at around 3 pm, then he’d meet us when
he got back. But *if* the pains were realllllly bad, I needed to go asap and shouldn’t
wait for him. (duh).

Ok-kaaayy….

Finished up the last bits of laundry, cleaned the kitchen up a bit,
did the dishes etc, and got ready. We trooped down to my mom’s place
(who was out for lunch with a friend at Vivocity) to drop Adam off there before
going to the hospital. By 3-ish, my mom was back. She decided to come along
to the hospital with us too, with Adam in tow. (How my heart broke when
Adam cried coz he wished to come with us to the labour ward. Which would be ridiculous of course).

Neways, we got to the hospital by 4 pm.
And the part I hated came.
The VE. Or the dilation check.
I was already about 4 cm dilated by 4-ish.
Then the contractions kinda remained slow – every 5 mins till about 6 pm.
The pain…wasn’t so bad then but I worried about having to have my
contractions hastened like during the time I gave birth to Adam. That hurt big time

Well they did induce the contractions further,
I seriously wondered why I got myself into this situation again.
Pain was inexplicable and my whole life flashed across my mind.
Yes, dramatic but that was how I felt. I thought about
Adam, all the things I’ve done right and wrong, thought about everything -
all within a few seconds.

By 7-ish pm, the midwife wanted to do another VE but with my
tendency to clamp up each time the contraction pains came,
I think I kinda annoyed her, hehehe. But she said she really needed to check so
she could call Dr A. Thinking back, she must’ve been really experienced.
She probably knew I was going to give birth anytime just by looking at my
facial expression. The check was just procedure, or iso compliance

So she checked.
And called Dr A by slightly before 8 pm. Urgent she said.
And by the time Dr A arrived, I think it took less than 20 mins
for the whole ordeal to be over. I was scolded for tensing my muscles
and wanting to close my knees. And by that time, I think my husband
had been swung around the labour bed a few times coz God knows
how strongly I held on to his shirt.

3-4 pushes and our little girl was out, all 3 kg, 50 cm of her.
With cries loud enough to wake the whole Telok Kurau neighbourhood up.
Alhamdulillah (that she was born, not for having cries enough to wake the neighbourhood).

And once again, the pain miraculously disappeared once she was out.
I felt some tugging down there.
Breastfed her for a while after she was cleaned up. It surprised me
how she was able to latch on quite well.
I chose to TBF and silently muttered goodbye to sleep for the next
few months (if I was lucky).

We only settled on her name yesterday.
Her birth cert has yet to be settled due to the festive season.
And we’re back home over the new year weekend.
Yes, all 4 of us

Translation : Adam wants to be a Big Brother!

We began preparing him for his change in status, for brotherhood rather early.
He seems to understand there’s a little sibling in my tummy.
Initially, about 5-6 mths ago, he’d kick or hit my tummy at times,
especially when we’re all lazing in bed. That kicking phase has subsided a lot,
thank God, but he’d still hit my tummy once in a while. I notice it’ll
happen when he didn’t get his way with something.

So how did we prepare Adam for his younger sibling?
We told him that he was going to be a big brother (Abang)
and he kinda likes the sound of that. He has been repeating it,
“Adam nak jadi Abang!”. He’d stroke my tummy, and say that Adik or Baby’s
in there. And we’d reinforce that by saying, OK, Adam nak jadi Abang, no notty notty, okay?
To which he’d reply, “Oteyy…”
And recently we caught him saying it, “Adam nak jadi abang, No notty notty, otey!”

And of course, I think this book comes in very handy too.

I think he especially liked the page that says the baby drinks from a bottle but he, the big brother,
can drink from a cup. He’d ask me for a cup immediately, although most of the times
he wouldn’t drink from it. Action only.

I bought a few more books from Karen Katz too. And Adam loves all of them;
No Biting, No Hitting & I Can Share. He surprised me by identifying the titles correctly when
he picked them up for me to read to him. I wonder if he recognised the no of words, or
the pictures on the cover page.

Anyway, Abang-to-be (insya-Allah) is sleeping now. He’s still very much my baby, though.
At 31 mths, I personally think the gap is not too near for Adam to become a brother.
It’s just that… shrugs, some things are just hard to explain. Oh well Adam, I hope you’ll become the
Best Ever Big Brother, otey?!

Not mine though. This cutie is one of my colleagues’. We visited her a few days ago.

His birth was so short & quick! His mum started having contractions in the morning, cleared some work while having mild pain until we told her enough is enough and that we’d send her to the hospital at lunchtime. Talk about high threshold of pain!

We got to the hospital before her husband did, and when another friend of ours informed the nurse that “her friend was giving birth”, the nurse looked at both of us (I was standing rite beside my colleague who was in labour)
and asked, “Which one?” Haha!

We dropped her at the delivery suite at 2 pm, and baby was born by 4-ish pm! Was that a fast labour or what?
Such blessings!

—

Anyway, my labour is in a few days away too…. hmm… am praying for an easy one as well and hope all goes well.
Praying for a painless one would be ridiculous and although I’ve been through it, I’m still, well, scared!
At 37 weeks, baby is still not engaged, but her estimated weight is 2.9 kg. She kicks and stretches really hard still.
I guess we’re almost ready to receive her already. The playpen/bassinet has been set up, and there are a couple of newborn clothes ready for her. Later I just have to dig out the manual breastpump. Then again, I guess we won’t be needing that too soon rite? Worse come to worse, literally express manually lor.

When we were expecting Adam, I think by this time, his little baby cupboard was ready with his stuff.
Though, some strange reason, I didn’t buy any newborn diapers before his birth…neither did we prepare kain bedung. I recall
Mak went to get them from the supermarket and a small shop selling baby items in the makeshift
Geylang serai market.

Today, I finally brought stuff for the newborn to my mom’s place. 2 packs of diapers & plenty
of washed kain bedung. Clothes? Some are still in the washing machine. I suppose she could
wear Adam’s clothes for the time being. And though I’ve dug out the hand-me-downs from
my SIL (in the big tub we received in 2007), I think it won’t hurt if I got a few more rompers
from the sprees.

Talking about washing clothes, december is really a bad time for dryers to break down.
Actually our dryer had broken down since a couple of months ago,but somehow we managed
to survive. This time, I really need to use the dryer since I can’t find much space to dry our clothes.
I guess things will get rolling after Friday, when I get my pay. haha, teruk betul eh.

It’s just the 3 of us & baby in tummy this weekend.

My parents have gone to KL with my aunts & the in-laws have gone to
HK for a 9-day trip. I’ll be on leave on Monday & Tuesday too, so I can
take care of Adam till my parents return & get enough rest.

Long weekend huh?

Well, Saturday passed by as fast as I thought. We went to the airport in the morning.
By 11 am we were at Adam’s school, registering him for his 2010 playgroup. I still find it
amusing that a 3 yr old will be going to school next year, even if it’s only for 3 hours. What to pack in bag? A diaper, maybe a milk bottle. I’m hoping I would give birth sometime in end Dec 09 so I could
walk over and accompany Adam for school. Let’s see…

By about 12-ish, we were at an aunt’s place for an engagement ceremony. I didn’t want to go but ended up going in the end. You may disagree, but somehow I’ve always not thought much of engagement parties
and have never viewed them as important or necessary at all. After that, we went home & AH went to
get his brake pads changed coz the car was making some strange sounds.

We had all kinds of Indian food that night, dinner bought by AH.
Murtabak, sup kambing, mee goreng. Gee. I felt guilty eating the calories &
also felt sorry for Adam who couldn’t enjoy the feast coz he slept by 6 pm.
Probably too tired as he didn’t nap at all yesterday.

Today’s not as “happening”. We just have a wedding to go to,
a pink baby bouncer to collect & a baby sale to go to.

Tomorrow? Ayah’s working, so I guess Adam & I will just spend the time at home.
I intend to wash the remaining baby clothing. Our dryer’s spoilt & seriously,
December is just a bad time for dryers to be spoilt.

My nesting instinct has kicked in already but there are just too many things left to be settled.
I hope I can clear all this before baby pops! One of the things I plan to do is also to pack the bag. Yes, the
hospital bag. Let’s see if I can achieve even half of what I’ve planned.

At 35 weeks, baby’s weight is estimated to be between 2.5kg to 2.7kg.
Still not engaged & no blockage around cervix area.
I’m hoping to go natural again, insya-Allah.
The doc will be on leave quite close to our EDD but then again, these
things are beyond our control, so I guess we can only pray.
I’ll be seeing the doc again in 2 weeks’ time. I wonder if
I can make it this time round, coz during Adam’s time, that little boy
just couldn’t wait!

I have some thoughts about baby’s sleeping arrangement,
sleeping habits, latching on habits & other baby-related stuff which
I feel like penning down. But I just don’t think I can do that right now.
Later perhaps. When I’m done with the visits & whatever paperwork I’m left with.
One of my greatest fears is not being able to clear work before I go.
2-4 casefiles are OK, just not like, 15 of them. Paiseh lah.

Someone very close to us gave birth to her baby boy 11 weeks early.
This has made me think a lot about the miracles of life. It’s really amazing!
Mother’s well and baby’s still in NICU. Everyday we pray for baby to grow well enough and have little complications, so that one day he’ll be back home where he belongs, and some day, join his other baby cousins for some playtime.

Just a site I found while I did a raw google search on preemies.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/growing/preemies.html

I should be in my 34th week now. I intend to work till my EDD which has changed from 3 Jan 2010 to end Dec 2009. I hope I can last till then.

I feel a bit nervous now actually because during the pat 2-3 hrs I’ve been having these tummy aches. I don’t think they’re contractions lah, but they still scare me quite a bit. I *really* want to clear my work before I go!

My tummy is quite big now and though I’ve not gotten much backaches and my hands / feet have not swelled up as badly as when I was expecting Adam, I get tired quite often these days. I feel like slouching alllll the time. I can still touch my toes though. I still carry Adam once in a while too coz he still needs some babying sometimes.

One of my fears previously was not being able to attend to Adam during my 2nd pregnancy. I’m glad it’s not as bad as I imagined lah. I’m happy we still have good times with Adam & still get to bathe him, play with him, read to him etc. But Adam’s got a bit of a tummy upset again. I wonder why

That’s why I’m having mixed feelings. Nervous, excited, worried, happy, all at once. It’s hard to explain. It’s just in me this time round. Hmmm…