Maya has not changed much in the last week. Still spending quite a lot of time awake compare to the 'norm' and she's still sleeping beautifully at night. We had the longest sleep out of her to date last night 5.5 hours followed by a nearly 4 hour sleep after that. Though sadly I didnt manage to capitalize from this as I was up doing chores then went to lay beside her expecting her to wake for a feed but ended up nodding off because I couldn't keep awake any longer!
She's got a cold and cough that Matthew had kindly infected us all with, but she's still nursing well and hasn't affected her much apart from being congested. Breastmilk is the best to help her get over her cold as it contains antibodies that my body has produced to fight off my cold.
Maya turning 6 weeks also means that its been a week since my mum left to head home to Sydney after spending 3 weeks with us to help. I'm so thankful to have had her around to help me out and Matthew missed his Poh Poh.
The last week managing Maya and Matthew solo has had both ups and downs. We've only had one bad day when Matthew refused to walk to the car, refused to get in the car and then refused to put his seat belt on and decided to throw the biggest tantrum in the car which of course set Maya crying too. Listening to two crying kids in car is very stressful! But what I have learned is that I can do the 20 metre dash to the car carrying 20kg of kids and bags all on my own. I can feed, bath and put both of them to bed too and did this twice last week on my own last week. I can (breast)feed one and spoon feed the other. I can put Maya in a sling and bath Matthew and still manage to stay relatively dry. I can pat one while singing 'itsy bitsy spider' complete with actions to the other. Oh and I still managed to cook every meal last week!
Just don't call me around 5pm, it's highly unlikely that I will answer :)
I have had to let some things slide like watching helplessly while Matthew wiped his snotty nose on the couch, finding a suspicious smelling puddle of 'water' in Matthew's room and finding Milo splattered on the wall (then wondering if it was poo or choc)
It's tiring, but fun.
Matthew is doing fantastically, he's not only talking lots and forming complex sentences but asking questions and 'debating' with us. You will have to have a chat with him to begin to grasp the leap in development that's happened in the past few weeks. Gone is my little baby boy.
For example we had a little play on words one Sunday morning,
Matthew: (eating a slice of toast)
Me: Matthew, can Mummy have some toast?
Matthew: Yes, Mummy eat the toast.
Me: (pretending to munch on Matthew's toes)
Matthew: No Mummy! no toes, TOAST!!
Me: Yes Matthew, Mummy would like to eat toes.
Matthew: (thinking for a second before replying sternly) No, Mummy eat the bread, not toes.
He's mastered his alphabet and counting to ten and more complex shapes eg pentagon vs hexagon etc. Through learning phonics at school and at home, Matthew can remember the sound each letter makes and will often refer to the letter 'F' as the sound 'Fuh'. We are working on counting to twenty and beyond and especially love 'twoteen' (for twelve) and 'threeteen' (for thirteen). It tells us that he is thinking about the numbers and not simply memorizing. He knows how to spell his name and recognise his name when written. He also recognises the word 'Daddy', 'Mummy', 'Maya' and sadly also the word 'Loading' (as in an App is loading on the iPad). We are working on his writing skills and simple math next - I'm thinking (although I've been told it is quite ambitious) of teaching him simple fractions.
Matthew is also picking up words and phrases in Mandarin which he will interchange with English in conversation sometimes. He surprise my Mum by saying 'Baby is sleeping' in Mandarin randomly one afternoon - I would have missed it if it werent for my Mum being there as I would not have understood him.
Thanks pretty much it for my Matthew and Maya brag for now :)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Maya 5 weeks old
take a look at how much difference a month can make.
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| The picture on the left was taken a couple of days ago (5kgs) and the one on the right when Maya was 5 days old (3.4kg). |
Friday, October 7, 2011
Happy Children's Day!
Yesterday we were invited to attended Matthew's first school concert, it was a 'Wild Wild West' themed concert. All the kids look so very adorable in their outfits - as pint sized Mexicans, Red Indians and Cowboys. Matthew was dressed as a Sheriff and was wonderful on stage and we are very proud parents. We've got a couple of videos to post which I will do sometime soon on YouTube.
In the meantime, enjoy some of the pictures taken after Matty's concert.
In the meantime, enjoy some of the pictures taken after Matty's concert.
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| Here he is seated next to his best friend Lynn. |
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| Can you tell that we are very proud parents?? |
Hypnobirthing in review (Marie Mongan Method)
It's been a month since D-Day and I thought I'd do a post birth post about my birth experience using Hypnobirthing. I came across Hypnobirthing when I started researching methods by which I could achieve a natural birth that was drug free and hopefully pain free as well. I talked about doing it 'natural and drug free' with Matthew's birth but in hindsight I didn't do much aside from pre-natal yoga and acupuncture to prepare me for a drug free (albeit persistent posterior) birth. So this time round I was much more motivated to achieving this goal and knew exactly the type of birth experience I'd wanted for Maya. My research into natural child birth and water births also brought me in contact with one of the most (if not the most) recognized pro-natural/pro-choice obstetricians in Singapore - Dr Lai FM, Ginny Phang of Four Trimesters and the lovely staff at Mt Alvernia. Both Ginny and Dr Lai were present for the first water births in Mt. A and NUH (National University Hospital). To understand why I went to these lengths to locate Dr Lai and Ginny, you'll have to keep in mind that caesarean rates are presently more than a third of all births and episiotomies are practiced in nearly all natural births in Singapore. Finding pro-natural/pro-choice obstetric care in Singapore is a rarity and finding the right support and being able to trust that they will respect your decision and wishes is an important part of the process.
I decided to take Hypnobirthing (or Calmbirth as it is also known in Australia) classes after meeting Ginny who teaches classes and having a chat to her about the type of birth experience I'd wanted. Ginny had been recommended to me by Dr Lai who I'd been seeing for since I was 6 weeks pregnant. I'd seen her Tedx and birth videos on YouTube and was suitably convinced that a 'Hypno water birth' was exactly what I was after. Hypnobirthing seemed to take the most calm and gentle approach to child birth. Quite a lot of the literature and foundation of Hypnobirthing is intended to purge your mind of any fear associated with child birth. It is widely accepted that FEAR creates tension which then creates PAIN when thus creates more FEAR and the cycle continues... It works on premise that the birthing mum prepare for comfortable easy birth through self hypnosis, relaxation and visualization. It does however also state quite clearly that it does not promise a pain free birth rather, when a mother is deeply relaxed child birth need not necessarily be painful and have shorter labours.
How does this differ from the information dished out at antenatal classes run my midwives everywhere? well it does go beyond just telling the Mother to remember to breath through the contractions. To get to this state of relaxation and to work on removing any lingering fear I may have had subconsciously I dutifully read my Hypnobirthing book, attended classes and spent weeks listening to two hypnobirthing recordings - birth 'affirmations' and 'rainbow relaxation' (from the Marie Mongan Institute). The affirmations track spoke of releasing/removing fear associated with child birth, looking forward to the birth of my baby, about birthing easily etc. The second track guided the listener through approximately 20 mins of breathing and self-relaxation for which I can only remember the first few minutes, the rest is blur. For some reason, without fail I'd fall asleep while listening and wake as soon as the track ended, apparently it's very common and is also a sign that at a conscious level I might have nodded off, my subconscious was still at work. I listened to the same two tracks most nights before bedtime as this is when the mind is supposed to be most receptive.
Was my labour short and not necessarily painful? Yes, my labour was very very short. I don't think my labour could be considered truly precipitous (less than 3 hours from start of labour to birth) as I did have contractions which began the day before Maya was born but could not feel them so I'm not sure whether they count? As to child birth being pain free, some women speak of the surges (that's the other thing, contractions are called 'surges' in hypnobirthing) as being very intense but not painful, I'd like to call a spade a spade, yes, during birth I experienced pain especially during transition but it was manageable pain.
Was my birth fear free? Yes. Maya birth was approached with much excitement and anticipation and joy. I certainly felt confident and relaxed as D-Day approached. It was often commented by friends and family how relaxed and laid back both Duncan and I were about Maya's birth and how 'prepared' we were. But the reality was that the only preparation needed was to simply accept that birth is a natural and a beautiful miracle rather than a medical event. We often talked (and I visualised) about how easy the birth was going to be, little did I know at the time that Maya would literally pop out. The only time fear or worry crept into my mind was when we had to decide when and whether to head to the hospital. I did not want Maya born somewhere between the apartment and the hospital.
Did it work for me? Well I think my birth experience with Maya speaks for itself. For the most part, for the parts which I was able to labour on my own and put into practice the weeks and weeks of breathing and relaxation conditioning I was perfectly comfortable. It was hard to maintain relaxation and focus while moving around from the apartment to the car to the hospital, in hindsight we should have probably head to the hospital a tad earlier or had Maya at home.
Is birthing easy? Yes, the way nature intended it to be, intervention free and drug free. I do acknowledge that in some cases medical intervention is required, but this does not mean that birthing is not easy and the birthing experience need be a negative one because of it. Matthew's birth is a perfect example of this, quite different from Maya's (synthetic oxytocin/pitocin, epidural and episiotomy) but a wonderful cherished experience nonetheless. The best part about an easy natural birth is a quick recovery and being able to bond immediately with Maya and the benefits of skin to skin is well documented. I was up and about within hours and discharged from the hospital the next day. By the 3rd day I was out grocery shopping with Maya.
Would I use hypnobirthing again? Yes. Although I must give credit to the support of Dr Lai and Ginny in helping me carry out my birth plan. Besides feeling confident and relaxed about birthing, the added side effect I've found from using the relaxation tracks is that falling asleep after Maya's nocturnal feeds is much quicker and the end result is a much more relaxed and less sleep deprived mother during the day!
I decided to take Hypnobirthing (or Calmbirth as it is also known in Australia) classes after meeting Ginny who teaches classes and having a chat to her about the type of birth experience I'd wanted. Ginny had been recommended to me by Dr Lai who I'd been seeing for since I was 6 weeks pregnant. I'd seen her Tedx and birth videos on YouTube and was suitably convinced that a 'Hypno water birth' was exactly what I was after. Hypnobirthing seemed to take the most calm and gentle approach to child birth. Quite a lot of the literature and foundation of Hypnobirthing is intended to purge your mind of any fear associated with child birth. It is widely accepted that FEAR creates tension which then creates PAIN when thus creates more FEAR and the cycle continues... It works on premise that the birthing mum prepare for comfortable easy birth through self hypnosis, relaxation and visualization. It does however also state quite clearly that it does not promise a pain free birth rather, when a mother is deeply relaxed child birth need not necessarily be painful and have shorter labours.
How does this differ from the information dished out at antenatal classes run my midwives everywhere? well it does go beyond just telling the Mother to remember to breath through the contractions. To get to this state of relaxation and to work on removing any lingering fear I may have had subconsciously I dutifully read my Hypnobirthing book, attended classes and spent weeks listening to two hypnobirthing recordings - birth 'affirmations' and 'rainbow relaxation' (from the Marie Mongan Institute). The affirmations track spoke of releasing/removing fear associated with child birth, looking forward to the birth of my baby, about birthing easily etc. The second track guided the listener through approximately 20 mins of breathing and self-relaxation for which I can only remember the first few minutes, the rest is blur. For some reason, without fail I'd fall asleep while listening and wake as soon as the track ended, apparently it's very common and is also a sign that at a conscious level I might have nodded off, my subconscious was still at work. I listened to the same two tracks most nights before bedtime as this is when the mind is supposed to be most receptive.
Was my labour short and not necessarily painful? Yes, my labour was very very short. I don't think my labour could be considered truly precipitous (less than 3 hours from start of labour to birth) as I did have contractions which began the day before Maya was born but could not feel them so I'm not sure whether they count? As to child birth being pain free, some women speak of the surges (that's the other thing, contractions are called 'surges' in hypnobirthing) as being very intense but not painful, I'd like to call a spade a spade, yes, during birth I experienced pain especially during transition but it was manageable pain.
Was my birth fear free? Yes. Maya birth was approached with much excitement and anticipation and joy. I certainly felt confident and relaxed as D-Day approached. It was often commented by friends and family how relaxed and laid back both Duncan and I were about Maya's birth and how 'prepared' we were. But the reality was that the only preparation needed was to simply accept that birth is a natural and a beautiful miracle rather than a medical event. We often talked (and I visualised) about how easy the birth was going to be, little did I know at the time that Maya would literally pop out. The only time fear or worry crept into my mind was when we had to decide when and whether to head to the hospital. I did not want Maya born somewhere between the apartment and the hospital.
Did it work for me? Well I think my birth experience with Maya speaks for itself. For the most part, for the parts which I was able to labour on my own and put into practice the weeks and weeks of breathing and relaxation conditioning I was perfectly comfortable. It was hard to maintain relaxation and focus while moving around from the apartment to the car to the hospital, in hindsight we should have probably head to the hospital a tad earlier or had Maya at home.
Is birthing easy? Yes, the way nature intended it to be, intervention free and drug free. I do acknowledge that in some cases medical intervention is required, but this does not mean that birthing is not easy and the birthing experience need be a negative one because of it. Matthew's birth is a perfect example of this, quite different from Maya's (synthetic oxytocin/pitocin, epidural and episiotomy) but a wonderful cherished experience nonetheless. The best part about an easy natural birth is a quick recovery and being able to bond immediately with Maya and the benefits of skin to skin is well documented. I was up and about within hours and discharged from the hospital the next day. By the 3rd day I was out grocery shopping with Maya.
Would I use hypnobirthing again? Yes. Although I must give credit to the support of Dr Lai and Ginny in helping me carry out my birth plan. Besides feeling confident and relaxed about birthing, the added side effect I've found from using the relaxation tracks is that falling asleep after Maya's nocturnal feeds is much quicker and the end result is a much more relaxed and less sleep deprived mother during the day!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Maya's first month
Wow, wasn't that quick? Can't believe she'll be a month old tomorrow. She's settling well into life with us and we love her more each day if that's at all possible. To celebrate her first month we held a small gathering at our place, with all the yummy food catered by my Mum, including red eggs (hen eggs dyed red) which symbolizes harmony and fertility. Pictures have been posted on my Picasa album.
She's growing very quickly too, like all healthy babies her age, going through rapid growth in both physical and mental development. She no longer has skinny chicken legs but is filling out nicely. She also feels much heavier, I won't know how much exactly until her 6 week health check. At tummy time she can lift her head and turn from side to side. She loves to look at the light out the window and watch the flashing lights under her play gym. She's also starting to bat and kick the rattles that dangle from it. She's still rolling up on her side so we have to keep a close eye on her. Over the past week she's broken out in little spots all over her head, face and neck but it looks to be starting to clear up. I've put together a short photo compilation of Maya first month which can be view on my YouTube channel or by clicking here
Matthew is starting to get used to the idea of having Maya around. There's been a dramatic and positive change in his behaviour in the past few days. He's been giving Maya plenty of kisses and cuddles without prompting or suggestion from us. He's VERY polite, sweet and affectionate towards everyone including his friends at school. His teachers are suitably impressed and so are we. He's also showing concern over people's feelings eg. asking his Poh Poh 'are you happy Poh Poh?'
On other news, we've booked flights home to Sydney on the 22nd of Oct for 3 weeks and we are all very excited about the prospect of seeing family and friends and showing off our new addition. Maya looks incredibly cute in her new passport photo and Matthew is new a frequent flyer member.
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| Awee she's just gorgeous and so lovely to photograph! |
She's growing very quickly too, like all healthy babies her age, going through rapid growth in both physical and mental development. She no longer has skinny chicken legs but is filling out nicely. She also feels much heavier, I won't know how much exactly until her 6 week health check. At tummy time she can lift her head and turn from side to side. She loves to look at the light out the window and watch the flashing lights under her play gym. She's also starting to bat and kick the rattles that dangle from it. She's still rolling up on her side so we have to keep a close eye on her. Over the past week she's broken out in little spots all over her head, face and neck but it looks to be starting to clear up. I've put together a short photo compilation of Maya first month which can be view on my YouTube channel or by clicking here
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| I forgot to mention that Maya started smiling back at us a couple of weeks ago, real smiles and not the ones brought on involuntarily in newborns by gas/wind ;) |
On other news, we've booked flights home to Sydney on the 22nd of Oct for 3 weeks and we are all very excited about the prospect of seeing family and friends and showing off our new addition. Maya looks incredibly cute in her new passport photo and Matthew is new a frequent flyer member.
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