Caleb Gregory Halim

I wish your grandfather will hurry and decide on your chinese name. Introducing C......

{C, 3 days old}

Breastfeeding....

It is the third day since we came back from the hospital. Baby has been keeping me and RH up at night. I think I slept not more than 5 hours a day. Kinda tough since I am such a sleepyhead but somehow when I see C fussing and have to attend to him, I just dun feel sleepy anymore, probably the anxiety is keeping me up.

Sometimes, I can't believe that I am a MOM already. Having to take care of someone else 24/7 and to having to be responsible for another person's upbringing and character. Isn't it scary but I guess, we really need to depend on God more.

Breastfeeding is by far the greastest challenge for me now. Seems like baby is not incline to latch on properly, preferring the easy to suck bottle rather than sucking my breast which probably offers less milk. This sucks. It means that I need to pump out my milk in addition to feeding baby which is double time and pumping does not produce as much milk as if baby latches on. All in all, I really need baby to latch on. Will consider going to the lactation consultant for a visit. We will see as I have to be in TMC for baby's follow up check up on Monday.

Christmas Baby.....

After all the speculation from everyone how baby might come on Christmas Day, it really happened. C (decided to call him Caleb instead of Bakong now that he is born) is finally out of my tummy and out in the REAL world now. I really did not expect him this early since I had absolutely no symptoms of labor whatsoever before the day. In fact, I was really upset that he might be late.

Alas, God is ever faithful and C was indeed born during Christmas week. Even better than that, he was born Christmas Day, sharing the same birthday as the Lord, Jesus Christ. He was indeed a baby blessed by God.

It is a weird feeling now that he is born....we spent 9 months trying to imagine how he would look like and now, he is really here. We are able to touch him, see his features and everything. Way cool. Will update my birth story when I have settled down. Just came back from the hospital today and despite all the preparations that we have done, there are still missing items that we forgot to cater for and I am just in the middle of adjusting to a new home, new arrival of in-laws from Indo and of course a very new special gift: C.......

Still Here.....

And I think that baby is engaged cos I do feel more pronouced discomfort in my pelvic area now especially when I am walking. Need to continue to walk daily to induce baby. Hahaha. Any other suggestions on how to induce baby? A friend of mine suggested foot reflexology but I dunno any good shi fu and definitely do not want to risk baby's health with a no good shi fu.

Anyways, Dr. Tan has taught me to massage my breast. "To prepare for milk coming in", she says and I read somewhere that it helps to induce baby to come out. She told me if there is milk coming out, to just wipe it away. I think she thinks too highly of me. I have not seen even a single drop of milk. Urh, this probably also means that I would have to make extra effort to produce milk for the baby. I am so determined to breastfeed that I did not even buy any formula milk but have lots of milk bottles....hahaha, contradicting my determination. Oh well, we will see how it goes, I dun think I can bear to see baby crying for milk and non coming out of my breast.

Seeing that yesterday was a public holiday, I seek that very opportunity to tidy up Bakong's room. I vacuumed, wiped, mopped and sorted out all Bakong's things. Why does someone so little need so many things? It really baffles me!!!! I need to take pictures to show you.

Now, all RH and me and the rest of the world needs to do is just wait.....wait....and wait. Ok, Bakong, when are you coming out to face the world?

{Picture of my horrendously swollen feet}

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There is a new BORDERS at Parkway Parade.....hurray hurray. Love Borders for their large selection of books. In fact, I just bought a baby book. "What to expect, the first year!"

It is really quite an interesting read. The author thinks that babies should come with instruction manuals like most everything because then new parents will not have to buy any parenting books but they do not and instead of pulling out our hairs in frustration trying to decipher baby's cries, the author came up with a rather comprehensive book on baby's first year. Probably more useful for first time parents. So, if you are execting your first baby, consider buying the book for those "just in case" moments.

And another thing I found useful is of course to attend an antaenatal class. Don't sign up for one too early cos you will indefinitely forget most of the topics that were touched on.

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Dad's birthday was on the 19th Dec.....we had Korean BBQ dinner at home last night to celebrate his birthday. Of course, SY, our in house baker came up with a triple mousse cake for Dad. Deeeelllliiiiccciouuusss.......*smacking my lips"

My sisters are also back from USA for the holidays. Thanks DC, for the SOMO Scrapbook Kits....can't wait to scrap again but I guess I really gotta wait till I move to Starville this weekend. Luckily, FS is on holiday and she is loaning her maid to me. My own maid is gonna be late. The agent informed me that she will only arrive 7th Jan even though I requested for her to come in mid-dec and I purposely booked her in Nov so that the agent has plenty of time to process the whole thing.

Anyways, trying not to be upset and trying not to think how tired I will be without anyone helping me when baby is out. As usual, RH is in lala land and he does not realize how hard it will be for the two of us to cope on our own and how much tougher it will be when his parents are here.

Oh yeah, back to my sisters. Really glad that they are back for the festive season. It really feels so good to catch up with my siblings. Even though we are never all at the same place at the same time, I think we really do cherish the moments when we are together.

38 weeks update

Went to the gynae on Monday and baby weighs a whooping 3.3kg. A 500g jump in just one week. I was so shocked, but gynae just went her usual casual manner declaring that baby is growing well. After registering my shock, she proceeded to say that since I am a tall gal, baby can grow up to 3.6 kg, no problem.

Imagine trying to push a 3.6kg baby.......the thought really distresses me. I was really hoping that Bakong will be a maximum 3 kg baby. I guess things do not always go your way. Same with the maid. She is only arriving in Singapore on the 7th Jan and we can only pick her up probably 10th or 11th Jan, way after baby is born. Now I am in a dilenma, should I ask baby to come out now or later? Hahahaha.........

However, I think baby is really comfortable inside although I am sure that with his size, he is currently very squeezed and probably can't move around too much. There have been absolutely no signs of labour yet. No contractions, little cramps, no waterbag leaking, no muscous plug out yet, cervix probably not soften yet and baby is not even engaged yet.........

All the baby stuff is bought and ready. Just need to do a final cleaning of his room this weekend. Actually, more like a cleaning of the whole house cos it is just so dusty already and my in-laws are coming.

I feel like a watering can!

I am visiting the toilet so frequently now. I would not have minded it so much if not for the fact that sometimes, I will feel the urge to go to the toilet 5 mins after I just relieved myself only to find that there is not much pee. It must be due to the bakong resting on my bladder.

He must have gotten lower now. It is so frustrating that I am unable to empty my bladder properly. I have to lean quite a distance forward in order to empty it completely. Sometimes, the flow will stop halfway and only start again after I lean forward. Hahaha....this is really cruel for pregnant women ya.

Anyways, am glad that Bakong is on his way down.....it means that labor day is near. Mom has been busy buying stuff for the baby. Frankly, I think she is addicted to shopping for the baby. Cos, everyday, I see bring some little stuff home (some stuff she buys even though I told her I got it already). However, I don't quite wanna "scold" her as SY wants me too cos I think she really enjoys shopping for the baby and it probably makes her happy. Just a few days ago, she bought a Winnie the Pooh clock that costs a whopping SGD$159. RH would not even pay that amount for a baby cot.

Anyways, I bought a lucky baby playpen yesterday. It was on offer naturally but we decided to buy one cos the one that FS gave us was really too big for our apartment and it is just obstructs human traffic anywhere we put it. First, we tried to fit it in my bedroom....it does not even fit without taking out RH's side table. Next, we placed it in Bakong's room but then there was no space to move. In the end, I decided to get a smaller playpen. I think it will defnitely useful for the times that Bakong have to sleep with us. Also, with my in-laws pending arrival in Singapore, will definitely come in handy. I also bought a thicker mattress to go into the playpen.

{Bakong's Playpen Safari Style}

{Top view of playpen}

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We went to our friend's daughter's baptism last week. Made them a scrapbook flower that I learnt how to make a few months back. I think it is quite nice. We were quite confused about what to buy.

{The proud parents with their daughter MJ}

{Our gift for them}

37 weeks....

Yup, I am still here. 37 weeks already. Been busy preparing for Bakong's arrival. We already have the first 2 words for his Chinese name and now require a third character. The first two characters are:

Lin2 Shi2 .....

So, any suggestions are welcome. I have appointed both grandfathers with the job of selecting a suitable name. Chinese names are definitely harder to choose. Besides having to sound nice, they have to also have good meanings.

Just visited the gynae today. Bakong is 2.8 kg.....rather big, I would say. What is disappointing is that the gynae says althought Bakong is in the head down position, he is not engaged yet which means that there is a possibility that he will be a late baby (this despite our prayers that he will be born during Christmas week). Dr. Tan says that I still have 3-4 weeks to go and now I am to visit her every week.

Actually, I am in a dilemna about whether I want Bakong to come out early. On the one hand, coming out earlier means that he is will not be a huge baby, he gets to join the 2007 batch for school and Ron can use his Christmas holidays to take leave and accompany us at home for 2 weeks. On the other hand, I dunno if I am ready for Bakong to come......having him inside my tummy will be very different than having him outside. Hehehe. Plus, I rather enjoy being pregnant and I am sure that I will miss being pregnant terribly.

However, I have prayed my prayers and I will leave it to God's timing. God has reassurred me through sermons and quiet time that He will always keep His promises and I believe that. I know that He is speaking to me but as to which promises He means, I am not sure. I just pray that He will enlighten me and for now, I am assuming the promise that I will have a supernatural birth.