Eat, drink and be married!

I had ideals in my head for parenthood - in the most cliche manner ever. I wanted to breastfeed exclusively, build a bond so strong through that and...well, save some pennies with breastmilk. Plus, it helps lose weight.

Then I realized that ideals do not exist. They are ideals for a reason and the last thing actually in parenthood is for things to go according to plan.

I did what everyone else said I should do, the textbooks, gynae and graduate mommies. 

Skin to skin contact 

I made it a point upfront to tell my gynae I wanted skin to skin contact. For him to nurse to get the colostrum flowing. And that was perhaps the only thing that went right after birth.

Liquid gold is colostrum

My colostrum did not arrive till Day 2 or 3, each time the nurses came to mutilate my nipples, I was in pain. Nothing came out, zilch. Fine, I got the pump to stimulate and latched the baby too. Repeatedly.

And yes, newborns do have a reserve that lasts 1-2 days but afterwhich nobody quite prepares you for the kind of milk intake they want. Wrong latch, sore nipples, engorgement and a wailing baby plagued me for my 3 day hospital stay. I succumbed to supplementing with the first 15ml of formula at 5am in the morning and then victoriously extracted my first 1.3ml of colostrum after 2 hours of man handling my nipples.

When I was extracting amounts in single digits, here comes the damned PD saying that his intake should be at 30ml per feed. Hallelujah? It felt like I would never catch up.

Lactation consultants

I saw the in house lactation consultant, returned for help even and also hired an external one from another hospital to help me out. Thank god for the house call we paid for, blocked ducts is real and rock boobs are a reality.

Pump, latch and be a cow

They all say demand begets supply. At 4 weeks post partum my supply hadn't soared by leaps and bounds yet. Heck, I already lost out in this race to even meet his demands...let's not talk about excess even. Yes, I cannot produce enough to feed my son and that was the truth.

Pump and latch regularly to empty the boobs?
Domperidone to up supply?
Fenugreek supplements?
Lactation cookies?

Done all of that. And no, I am still no where near storing enough for rainy day.

The truth hurts

That there will be some mummies who naturally do not have oversupply, rather under supply and I beat myself up horrible on most days for having to rely on formula. The guilt from day one - having to see him lose more than 10% of his bodyweight and then get diagnosed with breastmilk jaundice, kills.

Breast milk jaundice is one of the pathological reasons behind jaundice and the more breastmilk he takes, his levels soar. What an irony.

Bottle? Syringe? Cup?

And on top of the stress of already not producing enough milk, here comes the next hurdle - how to feed him? I resisted the bottle for a good 4 weeks, because of nipple confusion. I hated having him cry until my nipples drip yet it did signal I had some form of a supply.

Syringing is not for everyone - my son in particular refused the syringe from me but would lap it up when Grandma did the honours. Here in lies the biggest problem, Grandma works and when she does...he goes nuts because the boobs do not feed him as well as Grandma's finger does! The science behind the syringe is - using a finger to stimulate the nipple and syringe to inject the milkflow.

I wish...

The happy problem of oversupply was mine to worry about. But the grass would always be greener on the opposite pastures.

He knew how much I'd have wanted him to be exclusively breastfed.

I tried to the best I could have, and more even.

C and our lucky score - a mesh tula to add to the collection! I'm not sure if he understands Tula - at least he doesn't wriggle and squirm like he first did.

I used to think Tula was just another brand, nabbing one was obviously not easy and every collection is still as tempting. Until the wave of magic dust hits C like magic and puts him down for a nap so easily did I fall in love with it too.

Three tulas later, I have not given up on expanding the collection and the Hubba I swear is almost rolling his eyes at me. They are young this once (only!) and how long more would he allow me to cuddle him so close!?

Dear Cyrus,

"Where did all the time go?" is a question that I repeatedly asked myself since the day you arrived. It does seem that time fly by a lot faster...and I try to keep track of your milestones (and that scrapbook that's been collecting dust), update your social media accounts (by the time all these make sense to you, it'd have been a thing of the past! The bane of technology.

Five months old today and you are the apple of everyone's eyes - truth be told, Momma never thought you'd fill my heart with so much happiness, and to think I planned to be away from you during the pregnancy already and when these trips happen I guilt trip myself on those milestones I have missed and will be missing.

You've achieved so much and never seem to stop marveling us every single day. When you were so tiny, G-ma and I were afraid to shower you and would make do with just wiping down and coming up with a hundred and one reasons why you need not have a shower that day - sorry baby, your head really smelt so bad during those early days!

Let me try to list your achievements to date;

You've been sucha chatty little bub, Dadda would engage you in serious conversations before dinner..we vaguely heard ar-lo, bo-bui and mama amidst all that babbles. Dinner with us is almost a daily affair where you get propped up in that baby seat of yours with full view of our dinners, you remind us to include you in our conversations every now and then and tried to sit up by doing crunches. Haha! Too cute, baby boy.

Tummy time is your nemesis, you feigned sleep before, wailed your lungs out and got so horribly upset with us for cursing tummy time on you. And then one fine day, you flipped and landed quite proudly on your tummy. Since, trying to crawl is your nemesis than tumtum time. Haha, the irony! Your perseverance impressed all of us, the incessant practising that went on for hours, days and weeks just so you can roll over with ease..
 
Your face recognition skills amaze me, pry you away from G-ma and that cues meltdown. Your order of preference goes as follows - G-ma, momma, dadda and Gong Gong. We all get a treat of gummy smiles when you see us at the end of the day, the same smile that pulls down all walls of resistance when you get naughty.

Tula-time is your favouritest, it keeps you snug and makes nap times happy. Except, you've gotten so chubby, we are all feeling the weight (literally).

I'm thankful you aren't fussy - formula, ebm, fbm...you lap them all up with a vengeance. The only grouse is, you've begun to have a preference for warmer milk once it gets slightly colder than it should.

Impatience is what you've inherited from us both - and boy, you are a screamer. No amount of cajoling can come between you and your milk (but really, the milk is warming up! We aren't going to harm you.)

You are our water baby, shower times can be teary affairs when you are hungry but splashing in the water always makes you grin with such delight.

Recently, you learned to laugh. Your mirror reflections and peekaboo games elicit that cute laughter that got us all laughing with you.

You used to scream to get your diapers changed pronto - and those were the days where we made it through more than 10 diapers a day. Dadda cannot blame momma for morphing into a cent-scrimping auntie!

Those ceiling lights are your best friend - since day one. Going into a lighting showroom is one hell of a treat above all other favourites. And secretly, we wish Santa would grant you lights in your present this year.

You know the existence of the camera, and would humour both me and my camera if your mood is right.

Car rides are fun and you love going into tunnels - must be those lights again. 

Crowds intimidate you sometimes, and you prefer to take a cat nap in the baby carrier. Devoid of all noises.

Your fingers and fists have made their way into your tiny mouth, doesn't having your face wiped with saliva gross you out? Because you proceed to feed my face with it too.

I can go on forever listing the smallest and biggest achievements really and it won't stop. We love you to the moon and back and thank you for coming into our lives. Just don't grow up so fast please? As I tick the months off and you go from not being a newborn and soon not a baby anymore...where did the time go when I wished you'd exit from the womb quick?

Elizabeth Stone said, “Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ”

I used to tell your G-ma, what is there to worry about me? I'm grown up and can fend for myself and...until I became a parent myself, this journey is lifelong. I became a worry wart. Leave the worrying to me baby boy, just be healthy, happy and dadda and momma have got you covered.

I am in sucha severe backlog of posts, sometimes I wish time would stop for me to complete all these jumbled updates. Here's a post written quite awhile ago, our musings which still crack me up. 



14 WEEKS

Today you turn 14 weeks, the size of a lemon and the app says you start to grow peach fuzz all over!

Momma and Dadda had a talk about pairing you with a dear friend's son - the assumption is, if you are a girl! Then I joked about how Dadda would be super protective and follow you on your first date. And if anyone dares to break your heart, he will punch them.

*At the point, tears well up and I blame nothing but the hormones*

16 WEEKS

Momma made her first purchase for you this week -  it's a lightbox!!! I think I'm more excited than anyone else about this box...which will be featured in all photography sessions...think baby styling and all the cutesy stuff.

Dadda thinks I'm bonkers when I go gaga over baby moccasins and even a baby teepee for your stuffed toys. He says maybe you won't like to wear shoes. Hurhur.
 
Then comes the eternal debate of how we want you to look like - Mommy's eyes, Daddy's nose and lips that are an in between. AND Daddy says that looks like Mr Potato. =_="""" Momma is not impressed.

How are you inside? I choked on my own saliva and ended up coughing till I nearly puked - Grandma says it must have felt like tornado inside with these thunderous sounds up above. We already look forward to meeting you in July...now will it come quick?

21 WEEKS

I cried because the expectations of impending parenthood proved a bit too much to bear, and dadda was away for most of the month. The things that your grandparents do so selflessly for us - and grandma says these are the things I will do for you next time.

*tap starts running again*

What if we aren't good enough parents? What if this and that and...argh, the hormones.

23 WEEKS

Dadda made me laugh so hard when I asked him why pregnancy isn't for men -

1. Men are pussies when it comes to pain
2. Men will eat more shit than women during pregnancy
3. If men get constipated during pregnancy, their assholes will be ripped apart when they finally shit

Talk about sacrifices all for you, this tiny human being. And the sweetest moment came when he said for Momma he will be up for pregnancy. CHEY! hahaha...better than naught since it is biologically impossible anyway.

24 WEEKS

Deciding on your name. I always thought Gabriel would have been ideal but somehow that did not materialize eventually.

30 WEEKS

The rage of "Descendants of the Sun" was still high, so high that the IN thing now was to have DOTS-theemed pre-wedding shoots and I joked with the Hubba about having a themed maternity shoot and he responded quite plainly,

"But we are having the Descendence of the SON."

"...." And I very much wanted to strangle him alive with a comment like that.

Nestle Mums gave a voucher for a free photography session with Baby U and I wish I used it much earlier for his newborn days - but better late than never!

By the time I made it past the first month of maternity leave, I was begging for it to end. I may possibly offend half the community of sahms or more, but this one job not meant for everyone. 

30 days whizzed by so fast, I felt at some point that I was trapped in some time machine and truth be told, planning for his full month occurred way before that - when I had all the frivolity and time in the world to think about theme, food....candy table and more. Leaving me to just handle confirming my choices during confinement. Overplanning, is never a bad thing I realised. 

 

The star of the day all dressed in bananas. My original outfit could not get delivered in time, bummer! Thank goodness I found something in time.



Frivolous momma had nails to match too!


Buffet Caterer - Yeh Lai Siang



I've heard good reviews about Yeh Lai Siang and decided to engage them for his full month! Honestly, I was tempted by the hainanese chicken rice and steamed chicken that was part of the menu but ended up not even ordering either.



Portions are big and fed more than 70 people with my 50 pax order.



Stir Fry Gui Hua Noodle
Yeh’s Curry Chicken, Potato Spice





Yeh’s Homemade Bun with Stewed Meat



Sliced Fish with Celery Concoction



Traditional Teochew Braised Duck



Prawns with Sambal Glazing



Vegetables in Yam Basket


Packet drinks that we added on to supplement the refreshing lemonade that came with the buffet.


Candy Table - DIY

I went a little over bananas with my theme of bananas - so punny.





Jara Petit Cheese Cups



Sucresdelices Steamed Cakes

Banana Milk

Banana Chocolate Pocky



Chocolate cake by Awfully Chocolate



Ang Ku Kueh



Bananas
Banana choco pocky




Kettle corn

Decor - Taobao

I refused to pay $15-20 per balloon so it was off to Taobao again for the foil balloons and then rented a helium tank to fill them! #effortmax

Full Month Packages - DIY

For the special team of doctors and nurses who made such a huge difference in our lives. While our journey was not smooth sailing but here's to our unsung heroes of National University Hospital.



Instead of the regular full month packages, I wanted something more meaningful for this Sin-HK by product.

I sourced for the steamers from Taobao and the various vendors for different elements in the package.


Homemade red eggs!





Glutinous rice sushi anyone?



In its full glory! 

 

With that the precious bub turned one month old - thankfully he slept through the rara whilst his parents and grandparents were mad tired. Onward to more milestones!

In this world of parenthood, the range of products for every single thing is endless. And for us new parents, it was an entire learning journey altogether - what to get, where to get, when to get and most importantly which one to get. 

Sterilizing is a must - no matter which method used. When it comes to dealing with the little human being, we have to be extra careful because their immune systems are not fully developed and neither has they been fully vaccinated so paying for a peace of mind is always my mantra when it comes to considering products for his usage.

Why UV Sterilizer?

Trust me when we had endless discussions what kind of sterilizer to get - I was even contemplating resorting to the timeless method of boiling to sterilize when a dear mummy friend reminded me that boiling can melt parts and trying to sterilize in the middle of the night is in no means of fun or feasible. Turns out we had our share of using boiling water and I ended up buying spare parts for my pump within a week!

Steam sterilizing was the other option but the limited storage spaces of the sterilizers was a concern. Plus, the anal me was particular about having another container to store the sterilized items. Or, the water from the sterilized items would be dripping and I still had to wring the items in the open to clear the water droplets and spark off another debate about bacteria in the air.

Truly you can never sterilizer anything 100% but the UV sterilizer alternative appealed most because I was not restricted by the size of my items and not only could I sterilize baby's items, I could do so for our own things too! Instead of having to wash his toys, I could just throw them into the UV sterilizer. Granted that this technology is relatively new in the market but hospitals have been using this method to sterilize nearly everything!

1. Internationally acclaimed brand for baby products - This is super important for us because everything else is hearsay and trusted brands are the only way of discerning which brand to get!
2. The world's first sterilizer on bluetooth system! More about the benefits of that later. 
3. The compatibility of it that fits nearly every kitchen or bedroom. Its compact size makes it easy to fit nearly anywhere.
4. Storage size: It is considered a portable storage kit of its own taking up to 16 Milk Bottles, Teats, Pacifier, Breast Pump Accessories, Teether, Soft Toys, even household products like Spoon, Bowl, Toothbrush and Comb!

•  Touch button system
• Userfriendly touch system and LED lights
• 4 different modes: Auto (Drying and Sterilizing), Sterilizing, Drying, Sterilization Storage 
• Bluetooth system
• This made my sterilizer the smartest device in the household! 
• Through the Haenim App, I could control the sterilizer from literally anywhere in the house - SO convenient. Plus I get a notification when to replace the UV Lamps too. SOLD. 
• Sterilization Storage Function
• Continuous sterilizing is possible 4 times with 2 hourly intervals.
• Dual Ventilation and Heater Fan System
• This is key in ensuring that the sterilized items do not have residual smells thereafter.
• PTC Heater which offers excellent drying power, which is tops for thermal efficiency too!
• Dual UV Lamp
• With this, 99.9% of the bacteria is sterilized!
• Low Noise System
•  Late night sterilizing is possible without waking anyone up.
• Automatic Temperature Sensor
• Once temperatures soar higher than 45 degrees celcius, the sterilizer stops working. 

• SUS304 Super Mirror
• Excellent reflective power for sterilizing. 
• Air Cleaning Filter System
• Easy to clean under running water.

• COLOURS
•  Black, Blue, Pink, Green, Grey, Metal Silver
   
•  Yes I am frivolous like that, we opted for the metal silver in the end. Doesn't it look so sleek and forward looking??? 

Now, seeing it in action!



The instruction manual unlike my korean car seat is as idiot proof as it can get - simplicity rules.


 

I've got space for more! 
 


Easy to calibrate and use! All in a single press of the auto button.





Turns red when it's busy drying the contents.



And a cool blue to denote sterilizing!



Sterilized and dried bottles all done in 30 minutes! Easy, just got easier.





And if inconvenience gets the better of me, I can remotely activate the UV Sterilizer with a click of a button using the Haenim app!



Oh me, oh my, this convenience is one huge saving grace especially in the middle of the night where I need not fiddle in the dark and that crazed state of fatigue to activate the sterilizer. 


 
Our lives have been made easier with this and truth be told, even before being asked to review this we were already going to purchase one! Sleepless nights just got more bearable with my Haenim UV Sterilizer. 

So having said all about what I love about the product, what did I not totally like? 

There is still a mild smell that lingers after sterilization is complete - though they had already pre-empted!

It is a must to wring dry the bottles or teats prior to sterilizing otherwise the water droplets end up leaving water marks on the bottom of the sterilizer. 

 


Well they say, happy baby, happy mommy!

For my readers,  

Get $70 off the latest 3rd Gen Haenim UV Steriliser! Discount Code: themarriedchapter. Shop at www.TLO.com.sg (Valid only at the online store till 30 August 2016. Not valid at fairs or showroom.)

A Haenim 3rd Gen UV Sterilizer was given for review. No monetary compensation has been received.  All thoughts and comments are purely our own.