Welcome, Baby Joelle!!

I had brought Rianne to the hospital for her checkup at the specialist last Wednesday. It is to affirm if she has the NF disorder that Papa D's mum passed down to him and his other siblings.

Doctor says Rianne has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the same nerve disorder, but right now there are no visible signs of it from her body. However, it is said that the signs could also develop later in the affected's life.. by the age of 8, the doctor would be able to confirm the existence of NF in a child.

Anyway, my sister phoned us that day to inform of her unusual spotting problem. She, in her 37 weeks of pregnancy, shouldn't be bleeding at all. I knew then that she would be going into labour. We couldn't stay with her in the labour ward, but as promised, I was there to mentally cheer her on..

My brave sister gritted her teeth through the 5+hrs labour, and no epidural was required; just like I didn't have one too. She took my advice to use the 'laughing gas', which helped her overcome the anixety and pain(a little, at least). She finally delivered baby Joelle at 1936hrs, and that little one weighed 2.324kg!

Presenting to you, my sister's bundle of joy!!


Cute right?!! =)

Me, Rianne and milk

After the visit to the doctor's on Easter Day, me and my mum are extremely careful now about feeding Rianne..

Doctor examined Rianne and found her to have some nasal congestion. I agree, coz Rianne always sounded 'croaky' when she cry. There are also phlegm in her vomit, and disgustingly, in her poop too.

The explanation for the endless release of gases from Rianne's tiny stommie, is wind. It seems that she has swallowed wind during her feeds on my expressed milk, and that is also why she threw up on the past few occasions. Initally Annie Mummy still believe that it is better for Rianne to drink from the bottle, as that allows the milk to be warmed which she thinks is good for babies to drink milk hot. Actually that is true.. but looking at how Rianne take the milk down and then out from her mouth & nose, we rather her have body temperature milk that is healthy enough.

Right now, I have been breastfeeding Rianne directly, day in day out, every 2 hourly. Sometimes when she's tired, she might wake up a little past 2 hours to drink. But all in all, her milk routine is still quite regular; so I could figure out when to get ready. Having said that, it means Rianne and me will be stuck with each other, for millk transactions.. Hahahaha!!

Well, I have already pushed back the idea of having a haircut, facial and my nails done. This means that I am looking completely unpolished and yes, unshapely too. Baggy tees and loosely-hung drawstring pants are my daily ensemble nowadays. These attires make it easier for me to breastfeed Rianne, especially when she is starving and cannot wait to drink.

The clock ticks so quickly as I write this, and now I have to go replenish both energy and milk, to supply to my little princess in a while later. Ciao for now, people..

Sleeping no more..

What would you do when you laid yourself on bed, ready for a good night's rest, only to be woken up by incessant baby cries?! It's cool, coz you ain't even asleep yet.. just soothe the disturbed baby quickly and you can get your sleep in no time.

What would you do again when you finally managed to catch some shut-eye, but the baby's still wailing? You drag yourself up to pick up the baby, and try to rock her back to her dreamland as quickly as possible.

What would you do this time when this little creature starts to bawl inconsolably in high-pitch cries, and gonna wake the whole neighbourhood up at 5am in the morning? You are rather pissed now, and stomp over to the baby cot and demand an explanation for all that noise! Ha, of course not.. but you are genuinely fed up, as it is almost dawn and you haven't even slept! You ask yourself, how long more is this going on?!! The answer - all the way until the baby gives up sobbing due to over-exhaustion..

I say, maybe the poor adult will die of exhaustion first even before the baby does; and this can very jolly happen to me soon..

Rianne has been cranky and crying her guts out everyday since the start of this week. She was basically screaming, as there were no tears; and struggling so much! It seem like she's in much discomfort, but her diaper has been changed and she wasn't hungry too. Only one thing will come to our mind in such a scenerio, apply the 'RU-YI' oil onto her stommie. I did! Well, I had deduced that Rianne's problem could be there are too much gases stuck in her little stomach, and that, is causing her to be so uncomfortable.

One suspicion that is hovering over me now, is COLIC. The symptoms of COLIC fit exactly what Rianne is going through, except the crying pattern. It is said that babies with COLIC problem will cry for more than 3 hours at the same time daily, and this would go on for at least 3 days a week. Rianne hasn't been noisy at the same time the past few days, but it does go on for hours. I'm thinking to bring her to the doctor to assess whether she is really having COLIC. Oh, poor Rianne.. but even poorer, Mama R. =(

Rianne's first music video

Rianne's first ever music video, featuring Annie Mummy (vocals).. Enjoy!! =)

Worrying..

Babies may seem to be the world's cuddliest and lovable creatures.. That, is only half right. Many of you, especially the non-parents, are not aware of their dark sides. Well, me being a first time mother can't be sure myself, whether those traits of theirs are naturally in them, or caused by external factors. But, they are indeed worrying businesses that if you are a parent, cannot choose to ignore..

Rianne for example, is the typical frail baby who sneezes the minute her clothes are removed. This had my mum believe that Rianne is a baby who's afraid of the cold, and thus she's all covered up from head to toe; with her face & head the only flesh exposed to the environment. But a discovery the other day proved my mum's analysis to be wrong. I had found Rianne's pillow to be wet, and I took a sniff at it. It seem that Rianne has been perspiring, and that might lead to babies having rashes if they are not given enough ventilation. Since then, Rianne was allowed the fan and she was much cooler.

You know the muscle twitch we sometimes get during sleep? Our legs jerk when we subconciously thought we fell into a drain? Babies suffer from that too.. Rianne especially, is the most jerky little person I have ever seen. Her hands and legs twitched so much that she sometimes get woken up by it. I decided to hold her limbs down with a bean bag made from the shells of beansprouts. That kinda worked, but little did I expect Rianne to have so much force pushing her hands out from the bean bag. She had once struggled to get her hands out, and resulted in having her face covered by the beanie. I was almost scared to death, when I found her like that on my bed. It would have been disastraous if her nose got covered too long!

Last night I placed Rianne on my bed again with the bean bag, while I went to do the dishes (finally I am permitted to do the chores again!). My mum came to the kitchen chatting with me, and it was then we heard Rianne's loud cries. As my hands were still soapy with detergent, my mum attended to her. Guess what? Yes, Rianne had covered her own face with the bean bag again! I was mad at ourselves for our negligence, but at the same time I was relieved that Rianne alerted us on time.

The rest of my worries are equally nerve-breaking.. like the confusion Rianne's facing now between a pacifier, milk bottle teat and mummy's boobies. Then there is her throwing up of milk immediately after her feed, and hiccups that come when Rianne had a drop too much. Also the frustration Rianne has when she tries to pass out gas.. she turns red doing it. The list goes on and on, but my latest worry now is the red patch I saw on the back of Rianne's head. I am just hoping it isn't anything related to the genetric disorder which Papa D has, and that could only be affirmed when I bring Rianne to the specialist on the 21st.

COMFORT FOOD

God knows how long I have wanted to blog, but was always halted by Baby Rianne's cries for milk; or if not, attention.

I am glad I picked up the good practice of keeping a record book for Rianne's feeding times and the number of times she pooped or had a wet diaper. The book had shown how my little girl drinks her milk, at ragingly short intervals I mean. It is said to be normal for an infant like Rianne to feed every 2-3hourly, but this isn't what Rianne is doing! She is now hungry and asking for milk every 2 hours, or sometimes, 45 mins to 1hr's time.

My mum reckons I might not be supplying enough for Rianne, thus the frequent wailing for milk. But sometimes after giving her what she wants, she returns everything back to me by vomitting. This means she didn't exactly want the milk I thought she wanted. She could very possibly just need to suck on something to get her to sleep, and that was mistaken to be hunger.

Apart from the comforting effect it has for Rianne, breast milk is no doubt her staple food; and anyone should be able to understand that.. especially a mother-to-be. But for my sis, she was probably disturbed by the fact that we have to keep entering the nursing room at the shopping mall that day. I totally know why, as the nursery was on the 3rd floor, and both of us handling 2 babies plus a pram; just makes it cumbersome. Also, I have to speak for my preggie sis who's heavily pregnant, and with an active kid like Jayden; any expectant mum would have gone crazy!

Well, I do hope I don't turn crazy feeding and changing Rianne, before Annie Mummy stays home with us for good.

My comfort food - Bees on a doughnut!