Our first wedding anniversary photo

We took our 1st wedding anniversary photo shoot complimentary from SWC on 16th Dec 2007 which is exactly 1 year after our wedding. The photographer took about 20-30 shots for us and since i was 9 mths pregnant then, she suggest to take some extra shots to show my nice tummy - thanks to the anti-stretch mark massage cream that i have been diligently applying every nite! ;-) Since we are given only 1 complimentary photo, we have to select the best pic out of all cos we don't want to spend extra $ to buy the extra pics too. Well, we collected our photo last saturday and very glad with the chosen pic. A very interesting way to remember how big my tummy used to be! Ha... My tummy has shrunk since delivered but still have lah. I still need to shed 10 kg cos i put on 30 kg in total and only managed to loose 20kg naturally without malay massage. Hopefully can loose all before i go back to work else all my old clothes cannot wear ah... So sad! :(

Life back to normal

Finally my confinement end! Unofficially it ended on 16th Feb while my mum insist that confinement must be 40days which is 25th Feb.. hehee. :-p Anyway, behind her back, i started to eat normal food except seafood like prawn, crab on 17th Feb cos we went to our friend house warming and they catered muslim food which is very yummy!! That day, we also dressed up princess as a pink pooh cos we were given a pooh bear baby gift set that cover her from head to toe! Look at that cute hat! ;)

Other than my dieting went back to normal, we are back @ cell group too! We went last friday for the first time and our little princess is quite cooperative except when it hit her feeding time and she woke up crying! Oh ya, we also attend saturday service or rather we went to the nursery room @ church during service time. I have to confess that i didn't pay attention to the sermon cos met a few old friends @ nursery room and was busy catching up with one another throughout the 1.5 hours... :-p After service, we went to suntec carrefour to buy diaper cos they are having sale! Good Buy Must Buy! When we reach suntec carpark, it was really close to adelle feeding time so i quickly head for the nursery aka feeding room @ suntec level 3. There are 2 changing mat for diaper changing and 2 small rooms that are for breastfeeding session. Well to save the trouble of warming up the EBM and i haven't expressed out for 6hrs, we decided to breastfeed her directly. Without much struggle from princess, she was sucking happily away with tonnes of milk spilling @ her face! Well it was a messy feeding cos the milk flow very fast since it was over-stock for so many hours.. haha! After her happy feed, she poo immediately and we changed her diaper before proceeding to shop @ carrefour! Within 1hr, we bought all the things that we need and she was dazing and staring away in her pram. Well, so far our experience to bring her out shopping is still a good one. Hope it will keep it that way and hopefully there are more nursing room in shopping malls or places that we go! :)

On sunday, my secondary school friends came to our house to see princess so i thought of dressing her up. I dig out a baby clothes gift set that my friend Karen Pan give to us but it seem to be a little tight fit for my chubby girl. :-p Anyway i have promised Karen that i will send her pic when princess wear the clothes. Here it is!

Princess is officially 1 month old on 16th Feb

Yesh! Finally on 16th Feb, my darling princess is 1 month old and it's our first shopping trip together after 1month. We went to Ikea Tampines for dinner and then we went over to Giant Tampines to buy some groceries. Our little princess was very cooperative throughout the car ride there and even when we are having out dinner @ ikea. We thought we will leave the place in time for her feeding but who knows we were still at Giant when it hit the hour! No need to say she is crying for MILK! Oh no... what to do?!?!! Hubby told me to either go toilet to direct feed her or go to the car since it also takes at least 15mins to reach home. I tried to go to the toilet to see if there is any nursing room but no luck and toilet stink so I quickly bring her to the carpark but can't find the car!!!. :-( Finally, hubby paid for the stuff and came to carpark. Once i saw the car, i hopped into it and *thank god* our princess did not reject to latch on again after 3 weeks of bottle feeding. So she was happily sucking the milk all the way home! .... :-)

The day before her 1 month, she had a bad outbreak of "pimple" (red spots) all over her face so we brought her to see PD to find out what's the problem. Dr Tan also not very certain what was the causes as the red spots only appear on her face, hands and legs, ie exposed area. We asked Dr Tan whether could it be insects bite as there are a lot of mosquitoes flying around at our house especially night time. Every night, we can kil about 5-10 mosquitoes, half are squshed flat with blood and the other half are bloodless. We are not sure where these mozzie came from but they are evil for sure. Aaaargh... i can't wait to move out from this old house to our new house! :-( Anyway, Dr Tan gave medicine for Adelle to consume and also a cream to apply on the red spots and it does help to subside the redness within the next few days... Oh ya, while we are at the clinic, we found out that Adelle was weighing at 4.6kg now. She has put on 1.2 kg since discharge from MT A.

14th Feb - Valentine day

We didn't celebrate this year valentine day cos i am still on confinement so cannot anyhow eat also... So sad... :-(

But hubby bought me a big bouquet of roses and left in the car to surprise me! :-)

It reminded me of the first big bouquet of lilies that he bought for me during our first valentine day & it was the day that hubby expressed his feeling for me... hehee... :-p So Valentine day is our dating anniversary! :-) How times flies and looking back we have very interesting valentine day record.

14th Feb 2005

Our first valentine day and also our dating anniversay! Hubby bought a big bouquet of lilies and we had dinner at Marche cos restuarants were all fully booked. We carried the heavy lilies from suntec and walk all the way to Fullerton. Told hubby that it is like a "punishment" when i think of it cos it's really heavy leh.... :-p

14th Feb 2006

No celebration as I was working full time in HK. I went out for a drink & dinner with Ben(my friend's ex-bf now) cos he was in HK for biz trip! Well, the dinner was at a hawker centre in HK and another friend of Ben joined us too!

14th Feb 2007

Our first valentine day after wedding. Hubby sent a small bouquet of roses with heart shape cushion to my ex-office and we had a romantic candle light dinner @ Conrad. Wine & Dine session.. ;-)

14th Feb 2008

No celebration again cos i am on confinement this time. Hubby bought a big bouquet of roses and left it in the car to surprise me. Thank U dear dear! :-)

14th Feb 2009

Well... look forward to a nice valentine day again.. wahahhahahaa... since we only get to celebrate alternate year leh..... :-p

Princess going home for CNY!

During the last 21 days, we stayed at my parents house & finally we are moving back HOME on cny eve! Yippee!! :-) We move over previously because we did not get any confinement lady so my mum offered to let us stay over for the confinement period so that she can help to cook for me & also take care of baby Adelle. Since it is CNY soon so i told mum that i want to bring princess home to get used to her baby cot & celebrate CNY @ home since we are 'forbid' to go house visiting & some superstitious old folks don't want to visit my parents house if i am still staying there! ;-)

Anyway, it was quite a miserable 21 days for me. Reason being there is no internet access for me so it is as good as living in a isolated world. Next, my parents house only have fan and we stayed at the stuffy room that i used to live in before married. Every nite, i perspire so much and becos of the stupid confinement rules, NO shower so i felt sticky, smelly & yucky! I only managed to convince my mum to let me 'dry clean' and wash my hair every other week. :-p As a result, i get dandruff wor and only managed to get rid of it b4 cny..

After cny eve reunion dinner, we packed all our barang barang (yes, tonnes of stuffs to bring home!) into the car & HOME SWEET HOME, here we come! :-)

Upon reaching our house, we told princess that this is your house, your new bed - baby cot and your friends - Hippo, BB Pooh, Elephant and Lamb! We are very happy that our little princess do like her new bed cos she slept throughout the night! Thank God... we didn't waste our $ to buy the mattress and full baby cot bedding set! Thus, from now on, she sleeps on her own bed and don't have to squeeze in the bed with us! ;-)

On the first day of CNY, it was our first time trying to bath our princess. We are glad that she is quite cooperative with us during shower time and we dressed her up to visit her paternal grandma! As mentioned previously that we are not suppose to go house visiting but no harm visit own parents mah.. rite? :-p Anyway we went! When we reached home, our nitemare started again! Princess eh-eh-eh the whole evening till 1am then she doze off to her dreamland...

On the second day of CNY, we brought princess to visit maternal grandparents! A lot of my relatives are there and looking forward to see her! Everyone gave her angbaos so mummy took a picture of her angbaos collection for 2008 - Adelle first CNY! :-) Well, same thing happen again & princess eh-eh-eh the whole evening again... Sigh.... We are really worried if we should go out on 3rd day of CNY?!?!

On the third day of CNY, we brought princess to my brother's house. Well, her eh-eh-eh was shorted tonight! *Keep finger crossed*

On the fourth of CNY, we brought princess to my sister's house and also we celebrated her 1st month aka Man Yue in advance @ my sis condo function room. It was a simple lunch buffet & we invited our family members, my mum's relative & closed friends to attend! We are very glad with the over-whelming response (abt 90 pax in total) despite it is CNY period. But we also quite paiseh that the late comers got no food as there are some last minute turn up guests.... :-p Princess received lotsa gifts & angbaos! A BiG Thank U to All Uncles, Aunties, Kor Kor & Jie Jie who came on sunday and thanks for your gifts & blessings! :)

More pics @ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29291&l=96f41&id=646206041

Challenging moments...

During our 4D3N stay @ MT A, princess Adelle was a angel to me. ;-) Cos the moments we spent together was during her feeding time & visiting hours where she was happily carried around by many visitors. However, the 'BEST' is yet to take place!



Upon returning home, thats where the challenging moments and nitemare started!



Challenge #1

I have to struggle with breastfeeding. Dunno why she is forever hungry and need to be fed every 1 hour. Not only that she get impatient during latch on and i was bitten her so many times until i surrender! Also she will only suck for 15mins then doze off to her dream land & i thought she had enough. And who knows in less than 1 hr time, she will start her eh-eh-eh again & there goes her feeding time again! On the 6th day, I decided to express out the milk and only managed to get 60-80ml with the single electric Medela pump. Quite disappointed and worried with my supply.... As I am not sure what is her intake, so we attempt to start her @ 40ml. Well, this only managed to last her for 1.5-2hrs which is a good improvement in my view cos at least i can sleep for 1 hour & spent another 1 hour expressing out the milk. However, my supply was barely meeting her demand and started to feel depressed with my supply plus i have to feed her, change her diaper, etc day & nite - 24 hours! I need RESSSST and ZzZZzz!! I was kinda regret that i don't have confinement lady/maid to help out + my mum is anti-breastfeed so gave me extra pressure! Anyway I started to call SOS - friends who are breastfeeding or had breastfeed before for some tips. Thank God for supportive friends and i managed to loan duo pump - both Avent & Medela to try out! I find the medela is quieter though Avent one is definitely more comfortable. The duo pump really relieve my stress as it speed up the pumping process to only 15mins and i started to see more supply slowly increasing from 100ml to 180ml each time! During our first visit to the PD(Dr Allyson Tan), she told us that based on Adelle weight, she need about 60-80ml per feed. So the max is 550ml for 24hrs or 440ml for 24hrs. Based on this guideline, i work out that if we want a 3 hr feed, we will feed her abt 70ml. Of cos, that quantity is for last 10days and now baby Adelle is drinking 100ml per feed already. So i have to "work" even harder to meet her demand. Anyway, i on total EBM liao cos this way helps me to monitor her intake and also assured me of some peaceful sleep as well. .. have to confess that i am a lazy and sleepy mum! ;-)



Challenge #2

Our dear Princess is living in a different timezone from us!! She sleep peacefully in the day and eh-eh-eh so much in the nite continuously for the first 1.5 week. Her eh-eh hours start from 3am to 8am! So bopain, i have to carry her and walk around the house middle of the nite trying to stop her from crying. Once she stop and looks asleep, i attempt to put her on the bed and there her eh-eh-eh goes again! Really drive us nuts until hubby started to get irritated too! Well, we never know baby sitting is soooo challenging and tiring!! :-( I mentioned to friends + PD about the eh-eh-eh syndrome and found out that it may be colic or baby Adelle has not get used to day and night timezone. But it is the timezone problem for her and have to let her learn what is day and night loh. So every night before i sleep, i prayed that she will sleep throughout the nite! Thank God for answered prayers and now she sleeps throughout the nite and eh-eh-eh in the day time especially after her shower @ 8am till 11am and then her 'happy' hours goes again from 5pm to 10pm.... Looking on the brighter side, these hours are still ok as it is not sleeping time and i can still entertain her eh-eh-eh loh. :-p



Challenge #3

Her umbilical cord ozing out blood on the 9th day! Before the umbilical cord drop off, we noticed that there are some blood ozing out at the side. Hubby was worried that baby Adelle is infected or hurt & wanted to go MT A. But i told hubby to check with the PD first in case we are 'over-reacted'. As it is 9.10pm. PD clinic already closed so i called the emergency line & left message to ask Dr Allyson to call me back. At around 11pm, PD called and i told her abt the ozing blood. She told me that this quite normal for some babies and just need to use cord spirit to constantly keep the area clean. So it was a relieve for us. The next day we bought a big bottle of cord spirit as we are running out of the swab papers given by MT A. Thank God after another few days, the umbilical cord dropped off on 13th day and now her belly button is out. :)

16th Jan 2008 - Arrival of Princess Adelle

After 40 weeks of long waiting, our princess Adelle is born! Well we never expected that it is exactly 1 year & 1 month after our wedding. How interesting ya? ;-)

Okie here are my birth story :

As recommended by gynae, we decided to try out induce first to see if i can deliver naturally so was told to go to hospital @8am on 16th Jan.

08:30 - Admitted to MT A & change into the hospital attire and lie on the bed waiting...

09:30 - Dr Adrian came & was furious that the nurse did not start the CTG to monitor fetal heartbeat and nothing was done. Very quickly, the nurse went to get everything up and few minutes later Dr Adrian came back in and tell me that he will start to burst the waterbag. After several attempts, waterbag burst & it just keep flowing out non-stop until the bed was wet!!! I was also put on drip and started to monitor the CTG rate. He also checked the cervix & it was only 2cm dilated.

10:30 - I started to feel contractions coming in. It was ok & Dr Adrian did tell me that if i need epidural, do let the nurse know. Also he did tell me that he will return @3.30pm to check on my progress. If i don't dilate by 6-7cm, he will recommend me to proceed straight to c-section.

11:30 - Nurse came in & out at 30 minutes interval to check on me & change the protector sheet as it was really wet & some greenish color! She told me that she suspected that bb shit inside me?!?!?! Oh no... sign of danger.

13:30 - The pain is getting intense & i am getting a little irritated. Told the nurse if i can ask for epidural & one of them say No as it was instructed by gynae.

14:00 - Another nurse came in & i ask if i can have epidural & she say yes if i really want or she give other types of pain relief & whether i can stand the pain for now. So far still a little bearable. So she did a cervix check to see how much i was dilated & it is only 2.5cm..... SAD.... slow progress.... getting anxious.. i prayed real hard but sigh.....

14:30 - Another nurse came in & i told her i want epidural but she say gynae instructure no epidural as i might proceed to c-section due to the greenish water that i leak out earlier on. So bopian, she say why not wait for gynae to come & review on me. She also commented that my pain tolerance is very good cos i am having good & regular contractions.

15:30 - Dr Adrian came & did cervix check to confirm that i am only 3cm dilated.... Oh no... bad news.... super slow progress so Dr Adrian ask us for our decision on whether to continue to wait or proceed to c-section. Hubby felt that i have suffered enough so tell me to forgo the torture & go for c-section. I opt for c-section with epi than GA so that hubby can witness the birth of Adelle.

16:00 - I signed on the paper that i will go for c-section... SAD.. but what to do.. my baby so big & i got small pelvic bone so baby can't go down the birth canal.

16:15 - I was pushed into the operation theatre & was given epidural via my back. It was painful & i started shivering. I was on the bed & can see via the operation theatre lights that Dr Adrian holding the knife getting ready to cut me. The only thing on my mind at that moment was "where is my husband?"

16:17 - Hubby came in & i ask if he brought camera in. :-p Then, hubby saw Dr Adrian trying to get baby Adelle out and due to her size, Dr Adrian cut longer length and using a clipper to pull her out. Another assistant doctor was also helping to push baby out and commented that she is a big baby. Sigh..... What a big baby that i have!

16:41 - Baby crying sound was heard! It is our baby Adelle! Finally she is born after several hours of pain & agony. Tears of joy dropped down from my eyes and it was a mix feeling for me. Sad that i was being "CUT" but happy that she is born healthy & chubby! She was cleaned up by the midwife and i get to see her for the first time. We took a family photo though my hair was in a mess cause of the earlier struggle during the contraction.
17:00 - Hubby was told to follow the nurse to do the weight(3.745kg) & length(57cm) while i was being stitch up. After the operation, i was pushed to a common area & they monitor my blood pressure. The nurse commented that i have high blood pressure. After monitoring for 30 minutes, they pushed me back to the ward - 359B.

17:30 - Back at ward, i was still shivering and the nurse say my temperature is slightly high and blood pressure is still high so need to monitor closely. Shortly after, my hubby, mum & sis came to see me @ my ward.

19:00 - Baby Adelle is pushed to my ward & everyone get to cuddle her for the first time. As i was still on drip, i can't carry her and hubby put her next to my bed for a photo shoot.

During our 4D3N stay @ MT A, many friends & relatives came to visit us. Also we received many gifts, hampers, bird nest & chicken essence. We would to thank Serena, Florann, Jamie, Anne, Airrence colleagues, Suping & Jack, Lifang & Ryan, Meiying & Renhui, Jessica & Derrick, Monica, Eileen & Darren, Esther & Royy, Michelle & JinJun, Clara, Vozza & Trixie, Bingfu, Chris & Debbie colleagues for the gifts & visiting us!

Here are some pictures to share :

More pictures @

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27848&l=9b9d8&id=646206041

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27845&l=25fd9&id=646206041

False Alarm

Last sat(6th Jan), i felt stomach cramps from 5.45am to 8+am. Hubby woke up at 8+ & i told him that i m feeling pain so we are wondering could it be contractions? :-p Both of us are kinda excited and we decided to have breakfast first b4 calling my gynae to check if i need to go to MT A for delivery. So hubby went to the nearby hawker centre to buy carrot cake for me. While he was out, I was laying on the sofa & suddenly i doze off...... and by the time he was back, my pain suddenly disappear!! So we know it was a false alarm & we proceed to the weekly checkup @ gynae clinic at 1.30pm.

At the clinic, we told gynae what happen this morning & he did a check on bb adelle. She is fine inside so gynae ask if i want to induce her out. I was puzzle at a sec as i dont know what he mean by induce... i tot induce = cesarean? No loh... gynae say induce can be natural too but provided my cervix is open & ready for the induce. So he did a check & told me not ready so bopian, we have to go home & wait again... BB adelle is estimated at 3.35kg during this checkup & gynae didn't give any more pic liao cos probably he felt almost time for us to see our real bb so no need photo....

Anyway, we are looking fwd to see bb adelle within the nxt few days. We hope bb adelle will be born on 8th Jan cos 08-01-08 nice number rite? But well, she doesn't like the date so we are back to the waiting game & just have to trust God in His perfect timing bah.... There is nothing that we can do but only to be patient. Also i have to continue to manage the on-&-off pain for how long leh?!?! sigh....dunno.... bb darling, when is the day that you will come out to see this beautiful world that God has created? :-)

False Alarm - Part II
On sunday (13th Jan), i experience pain from 4am till 9am. It started at 20mins interval and gradually become 8 to 10mins interval. So I was thinking this time should be real bah? However, it ended up a false alarm again!! When hubby woke up at 8+, he told me to wake him up if i want to go hospital & then dunno why, the pain gradually went away & then stop at 9am... Haiz....

The day b4 the 2nd false alarm, we went for checkup & gynae told us that cervix not open so cannot induce & last date will be this wed(16th jan). The est weight for bb adelle is 3.55kg. We are also told to go back for checkup on mon(14th Jan) which is her due date & gynae told us that bb adelle is engaged already & cervix finally open.. Happy! But only dilated 1 cm so better go home & wait for nature to take it courses...Sianz.. Now it become a waiting game for adelle to decide if she want to come out on her own will... We also discussed with gynae on what are the contingency plans & this is what he shared with us. By wed if nothing happen, we can try to induce adelle out via natural delivery. However, he told us that the success rate is 1 or 2 out of the 10 mums who have a big bb like me(adelle is est 3.7kg). If i fail to induce adelle out then have to proceed with cesarean & also means extra cost for us cos gotta pay natural delivery + cesarean + epidural fees!! So he leave the decision to us after analysising the situation with us...

Well, what can we say now? Really at a lost so i went to Life Bookshop to see if i can get some insights. I saw this book call Superrnatural Childbirth & i flip to the page on Delivery since it is more applicable for me at this stage. I read that we have to seek God's wisdom to know what's the safest method for bb to be born. Also there is a page on prayers for delivery! Wow didn't know there are so many things that can pray for delivery esp cooperation from baby, cervix, uterus, etc etc... After praying using the book, i felt much peace & assurance & faith increases! Now have to pray for wisdom to make the right decision but i know the best is cooperation from bb adelle to come out on her own then i can deliver her naturally!

11th Check up - 29th Dec 2007

Guess how big is our darling princess now? She is estimated to be 3.15 kg at 37 weeks. Within 2 weeks, she put on 260 grams though mummy didn't put on any extra weight this time. :-p *heng ah*..... Dr Adrian told us to get ready to call him if any emergency cos anytime can be possible for our princess to be born!

It is getting nearer & nearer to her EDD & we are hoping that she will be born on 1st Jan 2008.... ha... do u think it is possible?? ;-) since beginning of Dec, i have experience some crampy feelings on & off but not critical so not time yet i guess..... But now, we are kinda excited & nervous cos really dunno what to expect & whether we can cope with our darling asking for milk in the middle of the nite & etc stuffs.... we pray for extra strength & wisdom to know how to cope with the changes that will take place very soon.... :-) Do keep us in prayer & that our princess adelle will be born healthy & happy. Eewan said before that she dreamt of Adelle smiling when she was born! We'r looking fwd to see our bb soon!!

Soon Yeow wedding card & cake

I met Soon Yeow over the weekend to pass her a CD-ROM to do up her wedding montage & she gave me lotsa goodies & wanna share here cos really very nice!! :-)

- Customised wedding card (Something like a CD-ROM envelope & booklet(invitation text)

- Customised save the date magnet

- Customised wedding cake from Gobi (Yummy!)

There is also customised wedding favor but not shown here.. i will get from her next time if she got extra. :-p Anyway i can't attend her wedding banquet(on 21st Jan so i am on 'confinement') but i am glad that i have attend her ROM @ Villa Raintree Glass House. Hereby i wishes her & her hubby an everlasting love & blissful marriage!! :-)