Almost there..

Ha, what else can I be talking about here?! I really can't wait for the irritating confinement to be over! 2 weeks has past, and I haven't grown to love or enjoy the horrifying period at all! Which girl would, anyway!

All the rigid rules about I can't sit upright all day long, can't have the fan blowing at me day or night, can't even drink a single sip of water (i mean pure H2O), and not being able to bath with water from the heater! They are driving me crazy as each day comes.. Even my body is putting up a protest towards these unreasonable treatments, with pimples popping out at the most unexpected spots - back and sides of my neck, behind my ears, on my butt and even down my cleavage!! But the worst of all, is my face.. the gross zits have infested and totally ruined my 'money-earning' asset! There are so many of them, that they can even form a straight line on top of my upper lip.. Pimply lip-liner?? Yucks!!

Tell ya'all, I am so going to hate red dates after my confinement! And whatever that goes into the red dates tea that I have to drink all day and night! To me, it is a sweet drink that fails to quench my thirst, and a superb wind-expellent.. not very sexy, I know. How can it be thirst-quenching like water does?! Sad to say, my mum believes it to be..

I have a secret which I am going to bring to my coffin.. something I did which my mum has forbidden me to do. That aside, I think I am still the most disclipined person in confinement so far. Do tell me when there's someone who has broken my record of not showering in 5 days, ya?!


Look at the amount of ginger on my finished plate! Morbid isn't it?!

Pacify me..

My little princess is now a Singapore citizen. Her birth certificate is finally done, on the 13th day of her birth; which so happens to be Papa D's birthday..

I wonder did Papa D have a memorable celebration? But I am happy that at least Rianne's birth cert is issued on her daddy's birthday, and that date will stay with her for the rest of her life. Consider that as a tribute to Papa D..

The most awaited shall be revealed now.. Rianne, officially known as Rianne Hudson Lim; taking Papa D's family name as her middle name, is also Lin Yu Yao. I decided on this name against the other hot favourites (Yu Xuan was the name that got the most votes!), as this is the easiest to write and will never get mispronnunced. The 2 chinese characters means rain (Water), and precious jade (Gold); which are the 2 elements that Rianne needs more in her life.

At the registry, I made a single mum's declaration to say that I am not legally married and is declaring Rianne to be my child and Papa D, being Rianne's natural father. His particulars are not on Rianne's certificate now as he is not here to make an oath with me. However, if I need to insert them onto the cert in future, it will be subjected to a DNA test, statuory declaration and approval by the registry. It also meant that I am not eligible for the baby bonus, and the government cash match-up scheme. Bye bye, $$!!

Today, I took the most risky move - giving Rianne a taste of the pacifier for the first time. This thought has been on my mind for the last few days when she was already fed but still looking like she wants milk. As a result, she threw up after I forced my boobs onto her, when she had her fill less than a hour ago. I decided this is not the right way, so I rather pacify her than have her puking!

Well, the pacifying does work and I am glad she isn't too clingy with it now. When she fall asleep, the sucking will stop and the pacifier will just fall out of her mouth, and onto the bed. Now, that is a clever girl.. =)

A Mother's Diary

For those of you who has the 'Travel & Living' channel at home, you probably would have seen this program during one of the weekday mornings - 'JON & KATE PLUS 8'.

I am a massive fan of this show!! The couple, Jon & Kate, are the luckiest people in the world! Imagine knowing that you are expecting triplets, you & your husband would probably deafen the gynae/ultrasound technician with screams of joy and excitement! Hear this, Kate was expecting 2 sets of triplets!! 6 babies in one stomach! Ok, now SCREAMMMMM....

They already had a set of girl twins, and with 2 more sets of triplets (1 set boys, 1 set girls); they are an enormous family of 10! The mother, Kate, had to leave her job as a nurse and stay home full-time to care for the 8 kids. I guess non-mothers would never know how darn tedious it is to care for 1 baby, and 8? A challenge, both emotionally & physically!

Just a few days into motherhood, and I am already feeling it.. Bathing the baby as soon as you just got out of bed, no, actually, feeding the baby before you even wake up, checking and changing diapers regularly, feeding the baby again every 2-3hourly, giving gripe water or plain water, burping the baby, and then repeating everything else again in a routine of 24-7.

Rianne seems to be having the runs today, or rather, since the day Mama R had super peppery pig intestine soup made by granny. I had the joy of changing 3 diapers at one time, because she was staining every new diaper I laid her bottoms on. And the poo, was the colour of my favourite song by COLDPLAY - 'Yellow'. "It was all yellow.."

I hope those are the jaundice substance (bilirublin) present inside Rianne, and she's finally working them out of her body! Way to go, Junior! =)

Can't resist showing all of you the below pictures of Rianne all covered up, all showered and 'fisting' around!

Children really grow so quickly..

It may sound silly, but it is really fascinating to see how small children grow ever so quickly.. just like my two precious nephews, Joaquin & Jayden.

Both were born respectively in March and April last year, which means they are turning 1 very soon. After the birth of my sister's No. 2, my family will then comprise of 2 one year olds, and 2 newborns.. 2 boys and 2 girls! Such a handful of children..

With my brother and his wife not together anymore, we are seeing lesser of Joaquin. But luckily we are very much on talking terms with my sister-in-law still, or rather, my sister-in-law is still so concerned about that heartless brother of mine. Apart from letting his wife down, my brother had also made everyone in his family worried and disappointed, time & time again! His latest arrest has landed himself a 15mths imprisonment & 8 strokes of cane sentence. I wish I could help him.. Going under the cane for 8 strokes is really a hefty punishment, for an underdog like my brother. What did he do? Not the mastermind of a robbery, nor is he the triad leader who loan out bucks to people.. just a small fry, and yet have to be punished that heavily.

I feel bad that I am unable to go visit my brother until I finish my confinement. I have so much to share with him, especially my story about baby Rianne. My brother loves kids as much as everyone else in my family, so I know he will definitely adore Rianne.. I am pretty sure that he will miss very much another important person of his life - his son, Joaquin. He is one of the inspirations for this post, when he and his mummy came visiting me on Sunday; and he is such a big boy now!


This baby is now a big boy who can clap his hands, do the 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' opening and clenching his fists, and move really quickly on the floor..

The other big guy is Jayden.. I was surprised at how much he has grown since the last time I saw him, which was just before I had given birth. He was wearing the polo-tee I bought for him from UK, and it fitted so well; like a small adult!

Hmmmm, to conclude, children grow up fast and people age like water flowing from a fountain. I am honestly contented with what I have at the age of 31 - a progressing career, a family who cares and love one another, a bunch of best friends, and my most precious darling - Rianne.

Home Sweet Home..

Finally, my little princess is home after a long week spent in the hospital! We have her bed (with a pink heart-shaped balloon tied to it, compliments from J Quek), and everything else all ready for her..

She wasn't too difficult to handle (hah, better not speak too soon!), only a little tricky to get her to wake up for milk. She was sleeping and sleeping, maybe to make up for the loss of it when she was in hospital having injections & blood drawn everytime. So when she's sleeping beyond her feeding time, I have to express milk and store it in the freezer/fridge (if I am confident she will consume it within 48hrs).

The irregular feeding and a little pee & poo, got me & my mum sleeping at only 3am last night! Boy, we were so tired and I had overslept til 5am when my alarm was supposed to wake me up at 4.30am to feed Rianne! I have to feed her with pre-expressed milk (a whopping amount of 50ml!) which was faster, as the problem with Rianne's breastfeeding is, she always fall asleep after a while of suckling. And that I mean, she really falls into deep slumber.. No matter how I tried to wake her up, or tease her with the 'milk tap'; she just wouldn't respond.

I'm glad I gave her the 50ml of pre-expressed milk last night, coz we (mother & daughter) slept like logs after that! Talking about kinship, I can't help but find it amazing that me & my darling are really connected.. A few ocassions she was yawning, and I follow suit. Or else, it was me who yawned first and she did next. Sorry to be crude, but we are even farting consecutively one after another! What an amazing bonding of the gases, Hahahaha..

You guys must have heard of people who got their names, not from their parents but from fortune-tellers or some prestigious geomancer. I have got a naming master to give Rianne a chinese name based on the date & time of her birth. The analysis of the Rianne's fortune says that she is born in the 'Water' element. However, her life does not consist of enough 'Water', plus another element - 'Gold'. Hence, the 5 top blessed names, and 2 sets of chinese characters which I can form them up myself, are of these 2 elements. Anyway, I like to thank my dear sister-in-law for the kind name suggestion 'LIM KIM ZUI'.. Thanks, but I rather go with one of these below! ;p

Lin Yu(3rd) Yao(2nd) - Like this because it sounds so poetic

Lin Yi(1st) Ting(2nd)

Lin Wan(3rd) Xuan(2nd) - My most liked so far

Lin Yu(4th) Han(2nd)

Lin Yu(4th/2nd) Xuan(2nd) - Like these two second best

Lin Yu(4th) Qi(2nd)

Not really going to poll for the most preferred name, but I am open to all your votes..

Latest picture of Rianne.. which of the above names best suit her?

Children grow so quickly!!

OK, a quick update of Rianne now before I talk about bigger kids..

My mum had visited her last night, and she has regained her birth weight; which by the doctor's words, would be fit enough to go home. But they (nurses & docs in SCN) spotted another problem with my girl. They found her to be repulsive to the milk she has taken in, kinda like gagging out the milk. HUH?! Isn't this normal for every baby? Especially when most of the time they are drinking milk in a lying down posture, it is not surprising if milk gets repelled out from their mouths right?

I decided that I would call and check on Rianne's discharge status, rather than wasting tens of dollars going straight down to the hospital. Nurse said the milk repulsion has stopped, but her weight has dropped by a tiny bit. WHAT?! Can they just stop tormenting the mother?! Just a few grams of weight loss and they want to keep the baby away from the mama?! I told the nurse that I am confident that Rianne would regain her weight when she gets home to her mum, as I would breastfeed her and my milk supply now; is quite substantial. *Latest collection of milk is at 30-40ml, a proud record I would say..

So now, I can only wait, wait for good news to come..

Folks, good news is finally here.. I am fetching baby Rianne from the hospital now!! Talk to you soon!! ;p

Kudos to Breastfeeding!

Nah, you haven't heard me wrong.. I am indeed all for breastfeeding!

Soon after Rianne's birth, she was put close to me and was feeding on mummy's milk for the first time. It felt incredible as Rianne suckled gently with her eyes closed, knowing that she is safe and warm, cuddled up in mama's arms. There was no pain when her little mouth latched onto my breasts, in fact, I feel wonderful..

However, I knew I wasn't producing milk quite enough in this early stage, so Rianne still need to take formula milk at the same time. But I didn't want to give up.. at least not so soon. The lactation nurses in KK Hospital were a helpful bunch, and with the hospital so strongly promoting breastfeeding; it was easy to pick up the techniques.

Mummy had videoed Rianne's breastfeeding time, and I have watched it in awe (of myself, of course!) several times already. My friends J, E, and Z who had visited me in the hospital saw me breastfeeding Rianne so 'non-discreetly', hahahaha!! I guess that's one of the maternal instincts I unknowingly developed..

With Rianne not by my side now, I have to 'express' (a nicer-sounding word than 'milking', 'squeezing' right?) milk regularly so that the milk production would not hence stop. Encouragement and tips from my best friend X, plus my determination to give Rianne the best food, marked my first step in milk expressing.

I do not want to sound like I'm an expert here, but actually I am quite pleased with how I managed to hand express (just droplets), and then express even easily with the use of a manual hand pump. Though the output wasn't a great amount, I am still happy.


The valuable colostrum, which is rich in antibodies to help babies fight against infection.

Mothers-to-be, I have never expected myself to be able to go through childbirth; nor have I imagined myself to be breastfeeding a baby. But all this happened, because I told myself "I can if I try, and if I can't, at least I tried.."