When the tree fell down...

Ok. It wasn't a tree, but it was a very BIG branch! We live in an extremely green area with lots of trees in our suburb. Many of the trees have been around for god knows how long. So, naturally, alot of the trees are tall and have extremely big and heavy branches. We came home one evening to find a note on our gate from a very kind neighbour who said she had witnessed a branch fall from a tree belonging to a restaurant on the other side of our fence fall into our backyard! It was late, so we couldn't see a thing. But the next morning, to our horror, this was what we saw.

The branch was obviously getting too heavy, and with the winds we had that week when it happened, it was no wonder this happened. It was no one's fault really. But I was annoyed because we are actually in the midst of selling our property and our perfectly manicured hedging is now all ruined! So were the fence and lattice.

But it was a relief when the owner of the restaurant took action almost immediately when informed about the damage. Within an hour of a quote, the tree people came, chopped off the monstrosity into blocks and took it away. And then it looked like this...

Open inspection was in a day and it wasn't a great way to showcase our backyard (which is big, and honestly part of the feature of our property). The fence guy who got the job from the restaurant owner didn't have enough materials to start work right away, but toddled off to get some wood from somewhere ( I suspect Bunnings from around the corner), came back to our place and quickly patched it up for us. It isn't the best job, but it will have to do for the time being!

*Inhale*. *Exhale*. Things happen for a reason.... happy thoughts... happy thoughts...

Just chilling out

Having a moment

People ask me how I am coping everytime they see me. I say fine and mean it too. Most of the times anyway. But with a new baby to cope with, things aren't always rosy. 

Right after Kayden was born, I was lucky enough to have my parents and aunt to help me out around the house. But they have since gone back home, and hubby has returned to work after the holiday season break too.

Sometimes I think "hey! I've recovered from the labour! I can jump, I can bend down,  and I can somewhat run again!". So I go about doing all the housework despite warnings from my mom and aunt (they were here to help me out during confinement) totally forgetting that the doc said it takes up to 3 months before I may fully recover from it all.

There was a night feed where I felt nothing seem to be going the right way. I was exhausted and Kayden was struggling as I was feeding him. Naturally all that wriggling brought up quite a bit of his feed which spilled onto his clothes, my clothes, the chair and the floor. Then I saw annoying baby spiders in the corners of the room as I was burping him. And just as I was putting him back into his cot, his cot door slided up and I was having difficulty pushing it back down, so I pushed and I pushed and all that noise woke hubby up and he came into the room.

I broke into tears. Nothing is going right!!! Everything is just wrong wrong wrong! Why is he puking so much? Why are there so many spiders in his room all of a sudden? What is wrong with the stupid cot door! Waaaa!!!!!

But my lovin husband immediately hugged and consoled me, telling me it is all part of having a new baby. There are many other first time moms out there who are trying to cope with it all too. I also know it is also due to my hormones settling down after the pregnancy.

Feeling reassured about it all, we both went back to our bed. Leaving Kayden soundly asleep in his cot, after all that commotion from before. He didn't stir one bit! Ahhhh... life of a baby...

Bath time

It has been just over 2 months since Kayden was born. I am still learning how to care for him and I think I have a touch and feel for most things so far. Except for the one thing. His bath! I have had a bad back for the past couple of years which required regular visits to the chiropractor's. I have only bathed him possibly just 5 times or less so far. Bending over while carrying him strained my back too much, so we are still thinking about solutions on how to improve this!

So hubby now gives him most of bath, it is great bonding time for father and son. He used to scream and squirm but now, the little man is as relaxed as he can be whenever he is in his little tub. He gives contented little sighs and kicks around,in the water and coos. He only lets out a little cry of annoyance when he is lifted out!

My happy Mr Chucker

Oh yes, he chucks up that much we usually have more than 1 piece of hanky/cloth on standby!

Happy New Year 2010

Greeting from hot and sunny Melbourne! It has been hot most of this week! My favourite way to start the new year! Whatever you are doing, I hope you are doing something nice with your loved ones!

Eat, drink and be merry! Happy new year 2010, from my family to yours!

Kayden 8 weeks - 2 months

Kayden is 2 months old! He now weighs 5.2kgs, that's almost a kilo since we weighed him at his health check 3 weeks ago. But I am not expecting him to keep gaining weight like this. Most breastfed babies gain lots during the first couple of months, then the weight gains slows down.

He has since hit several milestones of his age too. Mr Bobble Head is able to lift his head up momentarily when perched up on my shoulder. He smiles spontaneously (he smiles to himself or to the toys on his cot mobile) and responsively (when spoken to). Sometimes, I even catch him giggling in his sleep! Adorable when that happens!

My favourite would be that kayden has already started to 'baby talk'! He coos and babbles. We have 'conversations' in which he responds by going 'uhhhhhhh' 'ahhhhh' 'orrrrrrrrhhh' and then breaks into a wide toothless grin!

The not so favourite would be that he is already starting his drooling phase! Something I always thought would happen more at the 6 months mark where they are supposed to be teething (although some parenting materials I have read says it can start from the 3 month mark). U can see hin playing with the bubbles on his lips here!

Dirty laundry

Its amazing how much dirty laundry there is to do for a little person!!! The laundry rack is always being used these days. I have a little chucker on my hands. Kayden tends to throw up quite a bit of his feed most times. And not surprisingly, it ends up on his clothes. He goes through at least 2 to 3 change of clothes most days. Plus towels, handkerchiefs, socks and mittens!

On the side note, its true! That the sound of the kettle or washing machine lulls and soothes a baby to sleep. Some people even say that the AM channel of a radio station with that buzzing white noise does the trick too (if you can stand it). Kayden loves the sound of the washing machine doing its thing. He listens, and then dozes off.

Kayden at 7 weeks - Sleep deprivation

Kayden is 7 weeks old. And I am a walking zombie. Sleep? What is that? Gone were the days where I sleep for at least 6 hours! Going into REM mode for 2 hours is bliss these days! Kayden is still on 3 hourly feeds. It can take up to an hour or so to feed him at times. He suckles for about 30 minutes then I burp him. He tends to throw up abit of his feed most times, so I prop him up on my sholder for a little while more to make sure it all stays down. Otherwise, he will be grizzly again in 2 hours. And that, is exhausting. Because eg. it means, 2pm feed, finish at 3pm, and then at 4pm *waaaaa!!!!* and its feed time again. NOT fun. And makes mommy highly grouchy.



I have started him on formula feeds for night time in bid he sleeps longer (as formula takes longer to digest compared to breast milk). However, it still means that I am up hazy eyed twice during the night. Hazy eyed, legs, arms and eyes in auto pilot mode shuffling around and feeding him.

He has started sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches duringt he night this week. Its either the start of a sleeping pattern or that he is exhausted from all the X'mas festivities! The poor little man was so exhausted he managed to sleep through all the noise at the annual Christmas day dinner at a cousin's!


Edited to add: Oh my, I've read over this entry 7 months later. I was sleep deprived back then alright! All those spelling and grammatical errors! Haha! 

Merry Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas 2009 everyone! Best wishes for a joyous and feastful season.


My exhausted santa's little helper was exhausted after LOL!

Kayden 6 weeks

Baby Kayden has been keeping his mommy extremely busy! I am sneaking this post in before his next feed!

Firstly, a quick update from my previous post. As you can probably see, Kayden is no longer jaundiced. YAY! Another visit to his paeditrician told us that all is well, he just had prolonged neonatal jaundice. However, during the visit he had the snuffles, his doctor suspected he might have a blocked nasel passage further down in his throat, and so the poor little man had to have a catheter stuffed right into his throat via his nose. The doc assured us it was nog painful at all, the catheter was extremely soft and smooth, it would just be uncomfortable for him. But, it was so painful to watch! Hubby couldn't bear to see it close up so I had to hold his head still while the doc did her thing!

Our delightful little mini is now 6 weeks old and weighed 4.3kgs at his last checkup. I use past tense because he seems to weigh heavier than that now. It won't be too long before I am going to struggle carrying a wriggly baby in my arms.


He still wakes up for his feed every 3 hours or so. But, he is now starting to stay awake longer where he looks around the room. He looks at me with his big round eyes and is starting to respond to our little conversations by smiling! It is rare but when he does that toothless grin, it melts your heart!

Still jaundiced

As I posted in an earlier entry, Kayden was diagnosed with jaundice at 4 days old. He underwent phototherapy for 30 hours and seemed to be getting better. He is now almost 3 weeks old but still, I see the yellowness in his skin and definitely still in the whites of his eyes.

To top it off, he seems to be getting the sniffles and quite a bit of phlegm in his throat too. One night, he was even making those throat clearing sounds like an adult! My poor baby didn't sleep well that night.

His paediatrician has requested we go for his check up earlier, at 2 weeks rather than at the 6 week mark to check on his jaundice.

My only comfort is that he is still feeding extremely well, which helps to flush the bilirubin out of his jaundiced system. Still doing lots of wet and dirty nappies.

I wonder what his doctor will say? I get a feeling Kayden is going to need another heel prick, to do yet another blood test. I hate it when they do that to him, that pitiful cry that he makes and the whining he does after, is so heartbreaking! Hopefully the jaundice is not too serious, and he does not have to return to the hospital for more phototherapy. Of which, I might have to be warded too, so I can feed him during the treatment.

Hopefully we have some good news to start our weekend this week...

A different type of list

Some people have a little notebook that that jot down their baby's feed time, when baby does a wet/dirty nappy, just like at the hospital where they write it all down on the clipboard. So do I. But that's hardly interesting for u isn't it?


I have this sheet of paper stuck on my fridge ever since I got back to the hospital.







Its my drug list! I am on several analgesic (pain relief) ever since the delivery.I find it really hard to keep up with what I had. The pregnancy brain has been overtaken by the new mommy brain. So, to make sure that the drug doesn't wear off before the pain kicks in again, I had to keep track of what I have taken at what time! The drugs are to cope with the pain from the bruising and my stitches. I'm starting to come off it these days, but I was pretty much drugged up 24/7 at the very start.


Panadol is a must for my entree everytime, and depending on how I feel, Tremadol and Voltaren for breakfast lunch or dinner haha! I love it when the midwives used to come into my room and say, its time for your drugs! LOL!

My little piglet

Literally. What is the noise that pigs make? Grunts? Snorts? Whatever u call it, he makes that sound when he sleeps! Nobody told me until he was born, that babies are noisy sleepers!! He whimpers, sighs, sneezes, hiccups, stretches and then grunts and snorts in his sleep! Apparently most babies do!



I got frustrated and attempted to 'suck' out whatever was blocking his nasal passageway with this.

A baby mucous sucker.



But I found nothing! I was starting to wonder what was wrong, until the maternal nurse told me that it is normal, and babies do all that because their nasal passageway is so tiny. And they sneeze usually not because they have caught a cold but probably because of the lint from the linen.





But what about the hiccups? I forgot to ask. He STILL gets the hiccups! Its so cute to hear when he gets them, AND LOUD.

Growth spurt

All babies lose a percentage of their weight after birth. By the 3rd day, Kayden's weight was down to 2.8kgs. We were in hospital for a total of 6 nights. On day of discharge, I asked for him to be weighed again, but was gently told by the midwife that unless I really insist on it, she would prefer that we didn't. Being jaundiced, I was already naturally worried and she was concerned it would stress me out more if I knew he was losing more weight. So I left it as it is.


On his 7th day of life, the maternal nurse came for a routine check at home. He was clocked the scales at 2880gms.


When he was a week and 5 days old, the maternal nurse came again, and this time he weighed 3090gms and now measures 50cms!


My baby boy has grown! Kayden is fully on breastmilk, and because of that, I have no idea if he was getting enough. But he has been doing lots of wet and dirty nappies, which I am told is an extremely good sign of a well hydrated baby. The dirty nappies also helps flush the jaundice out of his system.






I was also told that a well fed baby settles and sleeps after a feed, which he does. He is being fed on demand and at the moment, it is every 2-4hours. The maternal nurse was extremely satisfied with his progress, and it gives me peace of mind knowing that I am adequately providing for my child.

My private solarium

Kayden's paediatrician diagnosed him moderately jaundiced on his 4th day of life. They wheeled in the phototherapy equipment into our room and Kayden was to be under treatment for 30 hours.

The little man LOVED it in there! He was mostly all curled up, snoozing away and giving little contented sighs every now and then.

Kayden's birth story

Be careful what you ask for because you might really get it! Baby Kayden came early like I was hoping he would. 13 days ahead of his due date.

Thursday. 5th November. 2.40pm.

Being pregnant can bring about constipation. I think you know where this is going. No need for embarassing public display of my waters breaking. No mess! And true to the fact, like they mentioned at the antenatal classes, contractions do not happen straight away once your waters break. I quickly called Hubby, my doctor and the hospital's emergency department who told me to get to the hospital as soon as I can.








We grabbed my bags and quickly left for the hospital as soon as Hubby got home from work. By 4pm, I was already having regular contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. Whatever happened to the contractions that were supposed to start gradually starting from 30 minutes apart? Liars I thought to myself! At that point, I was coping with the pains, which felt alot like period cramps, which I used to have severe cases of.
This was only the start of a looOOooong night ahead of us.
Time : 4pm.
Got the hospital, still smiling and coping. Midwife strapped me onto the machine that tracks my contractions and baby's galloping heartbeat. She officially tells me I am now in labour.
Obstetrician was with another patient delivering her baby, so I had to wait until he was done. Meanwhile, while waiting, my contractions were getting stronger. And the pain was getting to me. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, Hubby keeps reminding me.
Time: 7.30pm
Obstetrician finally arrives and tells me I am 3cm dialated. We took a slow short walk to my birthing suite. Midwife settles me into the calm and serene room, dimmed the lights and brought out a fit ball and a beanbag and tells me what positions I can use to help with the pain. But, all I could think of was I feel soooo feral. Waters still trickling and all I wanted was a shower. So I did. I must have been in there for the longest time. The 2 shower jets designed for the birthing suite aimed at my belly, and my lower back gave me some relief at last. Still, the contractions were getting even stronger. Back in the birthing suite, midwife asked if I wanted to try some of the gas to take my mind off the pain. It helped.
Until around 10.30pm.
After 3 agonizing hours, I was devastated when my obstetrician checks and tells me that I am 4cm dilated now. What!?!? After all that and only 1cm!!?? Arrrrrrrrrrrgh! I was ready to strangle someone. He suggested I go for an epidural. I declined but somehow ended up with a pethidine injection. It lasts about 3 hours he tells me and we are still a long way from delivering baby, so it will not affect baby when he arrives. (Pethidine makes the baby drowsy and hard to feed after delivery). I say yes, just do it already.
My anesthesist who was on standby this whole time, comes into the birthing suite to tell me he lives 1/2hour away. And he is going home to rest for the night. He asks me if I wanted the epidural now. I said no. Not yet. GO! Do whatever u want to do and leave me alone!! Obstetrician later tells me I didn't want to talk to anyone then LOL!
Friday. 6th November. 1am.
Not coping with the contractions anymore. I told hubby lets do the epidural. From there things happened fast. Anesthesist quickly returns and performs the insertion of the epidural. By 2am, I was pain free!!! I finally relaxed and managed to get some rest. Extremely strong contractions were still happening, but I was numb from chest down. Midwife had to keep an extremely close eye on me from then. I was only meant to be numb from waist down with even a little feeling in my feet. They were afraid it would seize my lungs up and cause me to stop breathing. I was extremely sensitive to the epidural.
8am.
Obstetriciam returns and tells me I am now 9cm dilated. YAY! Instructs the midwives to get ready for baby's delivery at 9am and I was to start pushing then.
9.24am.
Baby Kayden's cries filled the birthing suite. Hubby cuts the cord and Kayden was promptly handed to me bright and alert. He weighs 3.05kgs, head 33cm and 48cms in length. Midwife assisted me at breastfeeding shortly after. He was a natural at suckling at the breast , I heard some babies don't know how to.
Kayden is an averaged sized baby, but was considered large for my small frame. Obstetrician describes his birth like a train that came crashing through me. He told me shortly after that he had to perform an episiotomy, and that I was badly bruised internally because of his size. My long labour lasted 19 hours. Boy! Do I have a story to tell him when he is older!
The delivery was considered very successful, and the medical team left us 3 to bond.

Welcome to our world my baby boy!

Baby Kayden

Our little mini, Kayden, born 6th November at 9.24am.

Birth story to come soon....

37 weeks pregnant

On the home run! Another 2 more weeks or so to my due date and I can hardly wait! Bring on the soiled nappies and sleepless nights! I am ready! I am looking forward to being able to see and paint my toenailstoes, rid of my clumsiness, turn over in bed without heaving and panting after, be able to moisturize my legs more effectively, get rid of the soreness on my butt when I sit, go out for walks without feeling exhausted only after 1/2 of leaving the house, and this increasing pressure down there where baby feels like he is going to fall out!

But more importantly, to hold and cuddle a healthy mini me, after carrying him for 40 weeks. I whinge about all these pregnancy discomforts now, but I think somehow, I will miss having him inside of me. Sometimes it feels like I have a little friend I have with me all the time, where ever I am. Have him finally meet everyone around us who have been so generous with their caring words, help and gifts!

This week, I have been experiencing even more frequent Braxton Hicks contractions. They used to only happen mostly at night, but I am now even feeling them in the mornings. To date, I have put on about 11kgs. There is a slight backache that comes on and off throughout the day too. Groin pain is still there, but lesser, probably because I am eased off being on my feet. But that's probably what is causing the backache.

I try and sit on the fit ball more often, firstly, because it is more comfortable and it encourages an open position for the cervix which will help in an easier labour later on. I try to also sit cross legged whenever I can for the same reason.

Just playing the waiting game now....

What do u think?

Antenatal classes, friends and people I have met have told me there are a few ways u can soothe a crying baby. One of the ways include strapping baby in the baby capsule and driving around in circles for abit. The motion is supposedly meant to calm a distressed child down.

I get a very strong feeling that may not work for my mini.

Whenever I am in the car, baby really active. He starts wriggling and I feel his arm/leg/back pressing extremely hard against my skin. U know that maneuver in cartoons where dogs and cats are so terrified and they stretch out all 4 limbs against the 4 corners of the box or whatever they are contained in? I hope you know what I mean here. But that's exactly how I imagine or rather feel baby is doing whenever I am in a moving vehicle! I imagine him with his eyes opened startled and wide, arms and legs stretched in front of him, trying to steady himself!!!

He's either loving or hating the car rides. I am guessing the latter.