1 week old

Vernon is one week old today! A few significant update:

1. Vernon was admitted to hospital yesterday (26 Jan) for treatment of jaundice. He is "Very jaundice" and needs to be put under the light. There is a tinge of sadness or guilt when i first heard about it. But i know that he will be put under great care, so i am fine. True enough, he was discharged this morning - earlier than expected. Restropectively, my baby is not feeding enough (according to the doc). He needs about 60 - 90ml per feed. I have to jia you on my production and thinking of ways on how to make him awake when feeding - so that he can drink more! After a stay in hospital (due to the regular feed of formula milk), he really have grown quite abit. He is more chubby!

2. We have registered the birth of my baby and baby bonus. His name is Tan Yue Yang Vernon. (Yue Fei de Yue; Tai Yang de Yang). All the previous versions of name are bad for my son - according to this master. Thanks all of you for your contribution to think about his name.

3. Lastly, an update about myself. I went to my gynae for a check and all is well. My wound is recovering as well. Curious, I went to the weighing machine to weigh myself. I weigh 61kg!!!! i was 51Kg before i am pregnant and 69kg just before giving birth. So I still have to shed more fats actively. I wanted to measure my waistline too, but sickening andy says there is no waistline to measure. I have to do more exercise after my 1st month confinement.

The experience during the first 3 days at home...

It has been 5 days. 2 toughest things about birth i think is 1) breastfeeding and 2)sleepless nights.

Never underestimate the effect of breastfeeding. I wanted to breastfeed my baby totally. However, there is no milk at all for the 1st 3 days and he cries everytime i force my nipple to him. I guess it is because i can't seem to get the right position for the baby to suckle my breast for milk stimulation. It was stressful as you know that the baby's food reserve in his body is running low and he has to be fed other things. It doesn't help when your in-law are concerned about his diet too and acts as a form of pressure about you having no milk - so i have to rely on a day of Similac formula milk. Finally, my milk came on 24 jan - but a whole new set of issues came.

My breast is totally engorged. It is really painful. I tried pumping it out, but my hand pump didnt work that well initially. My baby did not sulk well too to relieve my pain. But after much feeds and tries, he finally be able to suckle on my breast for food. But my breast is still engorged - i have to rely on the pump again... and while i am pumping on one breast, milk leaks out from the other... arghh... it is a messy situation. I have to pump for an hour for 30ml of milk..my nipples are sore as my baby sometimes bite on the nipples... argh... terrible terrible..

so interesting... i have no milk at all for the 1st 3 days, and overflowing of milk on my first day of having breast milk. However, things are better now... since engorgement should be gone soon.

About sleepless nights, i experienced it for 3 nights. First night, he woke up at 12am for food, 1am because he SHITS...3 am for food again... finally waking up at 6am for food again... drain... It is worse now that i breastfeed. He need to be fed every 1 hour+ to 2 hours depending on how long he suckles on your breast? He can takes about 45mins for each feed and needs a new feed every 2 hours. Or he can suckle for 15mins and he falls asleep - waking up 40mins later crying for milk? Can you imagine just putting him down for 45mins or so, and the cycle starts again? This is terrible - but at least he is drinking well... hope he is gaining weight.

So much of these big pains about birth, my baby boy is really adorable with his many small actions he can do..yawning...giving you those act blur look... dreamy looks....smiling in his sleep... but I still think that he looks the best when he suckles on my breast.. his satisfied and serene look.. hehehe...His favourite activity other than sleeping is to kick his legs and swining his arms agressively (i have video of this, do see it when you visit him).. He has lots of "guai pi" actions that you simple adores... very active kid. e.g. can you see where his hands when andy is trying to feed him? he really know how to enjoy by resting his arms on andy's stomach. hahah..

The birth of Vernon Tan - 20 Jan 2007

On 3am 20 Jan 2007, I felt some discharge trickling down... shortly after, i felt my pants are wet. Feeling amiss, i woke up to check and realised that alot of foreign liquid dripping non-stop. At that moment, i think my water bag burst and the call to my gynae confirmed that I need to check in to hospital for observation.

I quickly bathed and washed my hair and rushed myself to the hospital. Throughout the journey, the dripping has not stopped. It was disgusting. I was checked into my lovely single beded ward.

I waited and waited, at about 5am-ish, i felt some back pain, then followed by slight contraction. It seems to be what everybody described - menstrual cramp. The contractions come at a regular interval and get more intense and closer. At about 8am-ish, I felt it every 5 mins and the pain is rather immense that i have to groan and hold on to andy. The thoughts of epidural keeps visiting me. At that time, Dr ang came to give me a check too and said that my cervix have only dilated for 2 cm and it is still too early. He predicted that Baby will be out on in the afternoon or evening.

That was the deciding point for epidural. I can bear the pain, but not for possibly another 8 -10 hours. I was then sent to the Observation room at 9am - and they asked me to clear my vowels (big and small), etc and inject the epidural. It was quite painful and nervous process. But after the epidural was injected at 9.40am, it was really so relief. I don't feel anything at all, i am literally lying on my bed without any feeling and wait for the time. The nurse checked my cervix at 11.30am and told me it is still 3cm. My first thought is - so slow?!!! luckily, i have epidural.
I was so sleepy and i think i dozed off here and there till 2am when my epidural starts to wear off before they can replace another pack. Being too gang ho, i did not alert the nurse.. the pain starts to be really really bad and by the time i alerted the nurse and for them to change, i was quite in distress.

That was about 3pm - when Dr Ang came and checked on my cervix and oh mine, it was so painful (as the new pack of epidural has not taken its effect yet). He said that my baby is a "OB baby" - meaning that the face of the baby is facing up. He told the nurse that i can be sent in to push already. Finally, it was 10cm dilated.

After that, i was told that i have pushed very hard as OB baby is harder to come out. In the event that it takes too long, i have to go for C-section. It will be likely to be an assisted delivery. I pushed with all my might - no pain though - trying to squeeze out the baby with the help of the nurse and my hubby. They encouraged me saying that they can see the baby head pushing out - that i realised that i have pushed correctly. I continued with all my might.. and shortly after, Dr ang came in... I don't know what happened. All i knew was that i pushed alot and there alot of movement below - and finally my baby arrived.

My hubby was asked to cut the umblical cord of the baby. Shortly after, I was asked to carry him. He looks cute and i saw his "small chi chi".. hahah... I was still feeling very energised and asked alot of the questions. I realised that my baby was vacummed out - as such his head is abit pointed - but it will be rounder after a few days...:p

I was lying there be stitched, while baby was happy cleaning up and weighing himself, while the overwhelmed daddy is happy cuddling him and taking photos of him.

That the birth of my baby Aquarius /baby dog....

[cant upload any photos, :( ]

dad's entry

we're just back from the gynae.... wifey's a little disappointed abt the visit that she's not in the mood to blog abt it.... we had such high hopes of receiving little vernon this week... for all the coaxing, brain-washing and encouragement we've showered upon him over the past week.... he had other plans.... must be living the high life in his mummy's tummy....

overall the report is that all's well and he's gaining weight in accordance with his "age"... he's now 2.9kg and we're not likely to be seeing his gorgeous face in the next 7 days.... so dun hold ur breath.... more next week....

Itchy Mummy

My tummy itches like hell!!!! No matter how you scratch, it is still very very itchy. arghh!!!

False alarm

Lately, I have some warning signs and FEEL that my baby will come out soon... this week or so... but not sure how accurate is my FEEL... hehehe

For the past 2 days, i had this unusual brown discharge, which i don't regard as show. Last night, I had contractions for awhile. Went to the web and searched and found out that what i experienced is false contraction since mine went away after awhile. My foot was swollen... so i have this strong feeling that baby may be out anytime soon... feeling so so excited.

When i told my colleagues today, they kept telling me to see a doctor immediately since i might be in labour anytime soon. though i don't think so, but i am keen to know the status. What an anti-climax! After a check by Dr ang, it was a false alarm. My cervix has not dilated at all.

I don't think he is even engaged since Dr ang did not mention at all. However, my baby has grown to 2.7kg, which i think it is a reasonable size. :P Oh, i was put on a CDG machine which monitors my baby heart beat for 15mins to ensure that he is healthy as i complained that my baby movement can be quite mild at times. All is well. Andy says that baby is running inside (haha, because his heartbeat is rather fast)

Counting down....

Choice of Chinese Name

After much help from my father in law and my dear friend - xiuzhen (thanks to you) which is quite good in chinese, Vernon's chinese name has been zoomed down into 1 name but various combination for us to decide:

1) Chen Yu Jie - 陈宇捷
2) Chen Yu Jie - 陈宇杰
3) Chen Jie Yu - 陈捷宇
4) Chen Jie Yu - 陈杰宇

the meaning of the characters are:
捷- victorious, agile, quick-minded
杰- Outstanding
宇- Universe:meaning very big.... (cos he is the eldest child of the generation, which is the same for his dad and grandad... so very big).. hahah

Both my father and mother in law like Jie Yu as they find it sounds better and my father in law thinks that this 捷 is better than this 杰. So the choice for the grandparents is No. 3

whereas andy and I like No. 2 as we find that Yu Jie is better to pronounce and 捷 may have some negative connoation - as taking shortcut... So the choice for the parents is No. 2

so quite undivided now. so any wise opinion from anyone?