Sorry?

"Mummy, Sophie beat me! She beat my back!"

"Sophie, did you beat jie jie? You don't beat jie jie! Say 'sorry'!"

Sophie's reply: "I said 'sorry' when I was beating her!"

Moo...

The cow is resurrected. This time with the all-powerful Avent double electric pump, thanks to SIL.

The usual stressors arise: How's today's yield? How much time do I have before needing to feed/express? Should baby get formula supplements? IS SHE GETTING ENOUGH TO EAT????

Answer to the last question is of course a big resounding "NO!" according to both grandmothers. "Not growing!" "Not enough!" "Must give her more!"

Luckily, doctor is satisfied. And so the can of formula remains on standby, unopened. (Although I know my mom is just dying to take a knife to the foil seal and shake up 8 oz bottles à la Tom Cruise in ''Cocktail''.)

The trouble with supplementing is that it's not guaranteed entirely harmless. OK, harmless to baby, but potentially harmful to mom's supply. Baby is given formula, baby feeds less from mom, mom's supply drops, baby needs more formula, baby feeds even less from mom, mom's supply drops further... From past experience, a week of this can wipe supply out entirely.

Considering that Rachel has three older sublings bringing home germs that they lovingly rub into her hair and hands on a daily basis while cooing "Rachel! Rachel!" in funny high-pitched voices, germs as well as crumbs and other manner of sticky comestibles, thank you Sophie, Rachel seriously needs all the immunity she can get. As well as a thorough shampooing and washing up in her inflatable bath tub at bedtime every night, of course.

The Hand We've Been Dealt

I have been back at work for three days now. Rachel is 3 months and 1 week old. Consuelo is managing fine at home, so everyone's relieved.

On the last day of maternity leave (24 Aug), Rachel had her second NF1 doctor's visit at NUH. The ultrasound scan showed no spine or kidney abnormalities. Her weight gain and overall development also look all right after all. But the recently discovered lump on her left hip may need surgery under GA to be removed - BCG adenitis, a swelling of the lymph nodes as a result of immunization. She'll have to be seen again next Monday. We also picked up the copy of her MRI scan images.

Last Friday (21 Aug), her eye pressure was an acceptable 16, so her eye doctor at SNEC is pleased with the way the implant is working. But she advised us to obtain a copy of the MRI scan images from NUH.

Five weeks ago (17 July), Rachel had her third eye operation under GA to put in the Ahmed glaucoma implant . Everything went smoothly and she came out of the anaesthesia well so she could go home that evening. That was a Friday, after spending Thursday night at home on home-leave from the hospital.

On the Wednesday (15 July) before the surgery, she had her MRI scan under sedation. Although we didn't intend to stay overnight after the scan, she didn't come out of sedation well - got agitated and had to be given the antidote and then monitored for some time after that, so we spent Wednesday night in hospital. Since we were coming back on Friday for the operation the hospital didn't discharge her but they let her go on home-leave for Thursday night. The MRI scan showed a tumour (benign growth) in her head and around the right eye.

On the Monday (13 July) before the MRI scan, Rachel had her first NF1 doctor's visit at NUH. The doctor examined her over all and we spoke at some length about the likely NF1 or neurofibromatosis type 1 diagnosis. Doctor also ordered the MRI scan since the area around her right eye was (and still is) slightly swollen and the scan results would be able to better confirm the diagnosis.

Two weeks before her first NUH visit, we took Rachel to the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) for a second opinion (30 June) where her second eye doctor advised putting in the Ahmed implant to which we agreed. Her first eye doctor was also in favour of this since her second eye operation under GA, a repeat trabeculectomy (12 June), once again proved unsuccessful. Her first eye doctor suspected that her swollen eye area could be a plexiform neurofibroma, considering her multiple café au lait spots.

Rachel had her first eye operation under GA on 25 May when she was exactly one week old. However, the trabeculectomy and trabeculotomy were not successful as her eye pressure crept up again although it was fine shortly after the operation.

When Rachel was handed to me upon delivery, I immediately noticed that her right eye was significantly larger than her left eye. The paediatrician called in an eye specialist who examined her and diagnosed congenital glaucoma. It all started from here and hasn't stopped since. Thankfully the intensity of visits (like see eye doctor 2-3 times a week for the first month of her life) has dropped and we're now generally at the home monitoring phase which will go on for the rest of her life. We just stand ready to deal with anything that crops up, if at all. Hopefully not.
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1 Sep 2009 ETA: Doc found that the BCG lump thing has diminished slightly so she's happy to wait for it to go off on its own. So are we! Just have to check that it doesn't get bigger or boggy. Phew.

Beef Horfun - nice or not?

For a change, we ta pao'd dinner from the tze char stall downstairs. Sarah had beef horfun.

After dinner, I asked her, "Did you like the horfun today, Sarah?"

"Yes," she replied.

"How did you find the beef?" I asked.

She took a while to consider this. Finally, she said, "It was on top."

Rachel's Here

Finally!

I arrived at hospital on Sunday at 11:30 pm, found to be 7cm. Yay! This should be quick! Doc Paul Tseng came and we agreed to have the waterbag broken to speed things up further.

But, after 3.5 hrs, STILL 7cm! Doc had gone home after waiting around for 2+ hours. By then I was getting very tired of the whole thing and asked for epidural. Super midwife Ms Susan Lim said "No need! You're going to deliver any time already!" and had me use the gas instead.

To save me from further suffering, with each contraction she literally took things into her own hands and helped me stretch. At one point I told her "Stop it! No contractions!" but she said "Don't worry, I'm just helping you," and continued to help me stretch. In less than 30min I was 9.5cm!

They called the doc back, and I was asked to push. Didn't feel any urge to push at all but oh well, no harm trying, and baby actually started descending! With a lot of encouragement from doc and midwife, eventually baby's head crowned. That's when doc said STOP pushing. By then, that was hard! But it was totally worth it because he could ease her head out, followed by a little more pushing on my part to get her shoulders clear which doc assisted with great skill, and there she was, all 3.54kg, and I didn't need any stitches!

I guess it can be considered a straightforward and relatively quick thing, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been possible without the wonderful help of midwife Ms Susan Lim and doc Paul Tseng at Thomson Medical Centre. I didn't need any "recovery", was pretty much back to normal other than feeling overall tiredness from pushing, and sleepy from staying up till 4am.

Oh, and Rachel has a headful of curls. Looks very much like her kor kor at birth. Very hairy all over, even her shoulders and ears!

Nesting

Otherwise known as an excuse to shop. No, really! See, Rachel is going to need:

Muslin squares for swaddling and catching burp-ups,











a nursing cover for discreet feeds anywhere,

















a carrier for hands-free transport,















buttonless sleep gowns for night-time diaper changes,











and of course a tote for lugging everything around in.













No prizes for guessing which one item didn't come off ebay!

Home Improving

OK looks like there's getting to be a trend here. Shortly before Sophie was born, we had stuff done to the house to make better use of the existing space.


This time round, we're replacing the water-warped and delaminated kitchen countertop with a single solid-surface stretch complete with undermounted black granite sink and glass cooker hob. Cabinet door hinges to be replaced as well, and a minor leak in a bathroom kerb to be fixed. As I speak they're dismantling the existing kitchen stuff and I hope to find it all done before next Friday.


We've also stacked up the girls' beds and Sarah has the top bunk with Sophie "downstairs". Pink and white flower-shaped wall lamps with green wiring each cosy up their own little nooks. Sophie has been surprisingly good about not being the one on top, although she did assure herself, "Next time when I'm big girl and Jiejie is small girl I can sleep on top." We have also on occasions found both girls zonked out on the top bunk! All to make space for Matt who'll be giving up his room to Rachel until she sleeps through, and then there'll be another round of rearrangements to come.

It's a lot closer this time - four more weeks to Rachel's estimated due date. Very happily, the firm has agreed to let me take a 12 week stretch followed by slightly shorter hours (9am-4pm) thereafter, until the end of the year. I'm now putting away whatever I can and trying not to take on anything that will require substantial following up when I'm away.

Sarah Says...

We were talking about tummy sizes in the car and Sarah remembered a lady we saw last year.

"Her tummy was very big! She was having twins!"

"We can't be sure Sarah, but it's possible. She must have given birth by now."

"My teacher told me about a mummy with five babies."

"Is that five children or five babies at once?"

"Five babies at once!"

"Do you know what that's called? They're quintuplets. Can you say that?"

"Quintuplets."

"Good. And one baby is a singleton. What do you call two babies at once?"

Sarah thought for a while and ventured, "Doubleton?"

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"Picasso!", I cried, when we drove past a Citroen Picasso at the mall. I've heard of this car as a family-friendly thing but never seen one so far.

"Picasso?", said Sarah. "That's a famous artist!"
She'd been learning about famous artists in school.

"Yup," I said. "Do you know what's his first name?"

She thought for a while and said, "Pika?"

Sophie and School

She's started! Pre-nursery, 8:30-noon. It's the same school that Sarah has been going to since last year but Sophie says, "Jie jie is going to my school."

Unfortunately she's still crying. I know it's only the first week, but it's ridiculous - she's crying because she doesn't want to come home! She cries either at school when she has to leave, or in the school bus all the way back. But in the mornings she happily sets off together with Sarah.

Her reason being: Sarah gets to stay on for lunch and afternoon enrichment activities like art, gym, speech and drama, while she has to go home for her lunch and nap. Actually we'd be very happy for her to stay on too, but the afternoon activities are only for the K1 and K2 kids.

Oh well. I'm just praying she'll be happy and learn lots and expend her energy there, and not clobber anyone. Yes, she's that kind. Even the gynae, when she came with us for one of baby's routine checks, commented that she seems the chilli padi sort. Oh dear!

"You wait, OK?"

Sophie has this thing where she'll sort of pump a chubby little high-five hand at people and tell them "You wait, OK?", before running off to get something that she wants to show them.

This morning, I was sitting down having breakfast in the living room with her and mentioned something about Rachel, the baby that we're all waiting to have born in May.

Sophie suddenly went, "Rachel, you wait, OK, wait in the tummy," while showing her hand to the bump. She then ran off and came back trailing a bunch of leftover balloons (from Sarah's party over the weekend) that she proceeded to carefully drape over my tummy!

A few weeks back, when a set of newborn baby rompers that I had won on ebay finally arrived in the mail, after explaining to Sophie that they were meant for the baby, she then pushed up my T-shirt and tried to shove them into my belly, saying, "Give Rachel!"

I really pray she will be as loving and generous when Rachel finally arrives. I remember how we thought that Matthew was already very well prepared for Sarah's arrival, and yet he still suddenly came over and pushed her head far away from me while I was feeding her one time, declaring as he did so, "Don't need milk!"

Apart from my dismay at his jealousy, the other thing was that Sarah remained latched on the whole time she got pushed away so it was a nasty stretch and back for me. :P

How Sarah sometimes sees the world

Sarah saw me throwing away boxes of candy from the cupboard and asked me why I was doing it.

"They're already expired, Sarah. You can't keep them for one year."

"Hu-uh? Then what about our baby when she's one year old? Can we still keep her?"

-------------

We were sitting in church one day and I turned the hymn book to a page that had a nice song for Sarah to try reading by herself. She seemed very absorbed. Curious to know if she was really reading, I asked her to whisper the words to me.

She started softly, and I was impressed! All went very well until she came to the refrain and continued aloud,

"Avenue, avenue, avenue Maria."

I had a very hard time trying to be as quiet as a mouse while explaining to her that "Ave" didn't stand for "avenue" in this case.

--------------

When traffic is clear, Sean likes driving briskly on the extreme right lane of the expressways. Along some stretches, the plants grow lush and tall. It feels especially cool and tropical when they're bank after bank of large wavy palms.

As the cars swish by ahead of us, the little vacuums they create "pull" the palm fronds right into the lane with a rippling effect. None of us were particularly paying any attention to this until Sarah said,

"Look, it's like the plants are cheering who's first!"

And then we realized it really did look like the spectator plants were waving us towards a chequered flag.

Chinese New Year...

...and the kids open their ang pow.

Happy New Wheels

Fresh from Sarah's newfound freedom on pedals, we took a good look at the equipment the kids had - it wasn't pretty.


Matt's right pedal had been broken to a stump following a few crashes, and Sarah's, while a good size for learning, was starting to prove too small for her growing frame. Besides, both had worn out bearings and dodgy brakes.


Time for 'proper' bikes then. A quick trip to Takashima later (involving some creative packaging in the boot), two new Diamondbacks have found their home with us. Pretty obvious which one belongs to whom...

Sarah's Turn

Must be a magic age - two months short of six years. That's when Matt and now Sarah went from four wheels to two.

The signs were there: we observed that she was riding steadily enough not to rely on the training wheels; and that her legs were strong enough to take the sustained pedalling required to maintain balance.

So off came the side wheels (once again), and with with one hand on the handlebar and the other gently supporting her shoulders, I gave the push off.

And Sarah quickly learnt, first just pedalling straight, then making gentle turns and finally starting on her own. That's it - cycling in three days.

Halfway There!

What with email and facebook, we've totally forgotten to say anything on this blog until now and I'm already 20 weeks gone!

After a precarious first trimester with full blown influenza, spotting, bed-rest and patent agent exams in London to cap it all with, things have settled down, thankfully. But wriggles, punches and kicks have picked up, especially when I'm trying to get to sleep.

The kids are real sweeties and never forget to give the bump goodnight pats and kisses, as well as random hugs. I hope they'll continue to be as loving after the birth in May, especially Sophie.

We'll be checking for major anomalies next Monday with a detailed ultrasound scan. Hope to know if it's a boy or a girl too. Matt wants a boy very much. I personally can't decide between wanting a boy to even things out or a girl for generally being less stressful to bring up. It's also been much easier to choose a girl's name while we can't seem to find a boy's one that we like that isn't already taken by somebody we know well.

Anyway, all we really pray for is a healthy normal child and a smooth and safe delivery. We'll be very grateful for your prayers too. Thanks!

Same form teacher, so...

We were told that Matt's P1 form teacher will be following them up to P2 for 2009. I asked Matt, "Do you think that will be good?"

He thought for a bit and replied, "Yes, because I'm already used to her scoldings."

Hong Kong 2008, December 7-12

Here goes:

• 24-seater bus from the airport for the 7 of us, Express by Holiday Inn at Causeway Bay, The Peak
• City Super (supermarket) at Times Square, Stanley Bay, Shek O, Causeway Bay Windsor House Tao Heung Restaurant
• Macdonnell Rd, Maxim's at City Hall (dim sum), MTR and shuttle bus to Disney - Hollywood Hotel, Disneyland
• Disneyland, back to Express by HI, McDonald's, short walkabout at Causeway Bay, MTR to Central Wellington Street Yung Kee Restaurant (roast goose), night ferry back from Kowloon
  
• Ocean Park

Photos here.

They don't make 'em...

Laptop's at the service centre, due to a malfunctioning keyboard. One fine day (thankfully after we got back from London), certain keys decided simultaneously to go on strike - "k", "\", down arrow, and most irritatingly, ".". You can imagine what these sentences would look like without the fullstop. The others matter less - "k" I've found to be surprisingly redundant. Except for, you know, words like keyboard.

So the Sony service centre guy calls and informs me that the keyboard is indeed fried (though he can't tell me how or why), and that a replacement will cost $120. Gulp. But ok, that I can take. After all, there are 86 moving components. I then gently enquire about the piece of plastic surrounding the keyboard, otherwise known as the palm rest, that Sophie decided to autograph one day - $145. Double gulp. Decision - replace keyboard, live with slightly off-coloured palm rest.

All this attention over a barely-year-and-a-half old computer led me to wonder about the other electronics items I take for granted that might suddenly die on me, and the impact their loss would have on my 'modern lifestyle' (W&G reference there).

Then I realised that my trusty Pioneer cd player is just about celebrating its eleventh anniversary! Sure, it's a little over-enthusiastic in retracting its tray these days, but that apart, the PD-S904 has worked faultlessly since I bought it as a poor but acoustically-fussy undergrad. During this decade of ownership, I have changed its plastic feet with styrofoam replacements, stuffed more styrofoam in the chassis as dampers, and occasionally prised open the optical mechanism to retrieve cds stuffed in by the kids two at a time. All without problems.

In fact, the rest of my audio system is holding out really well. Except for the subwoofer, all the components (from amplifier to speakers to DAC) have lasted eight years or more without showing the slightest wrinkle. And thank goodness for that. I guess some things don't have to change too often, 'mature' technology like audio, for example. So it's a good thing mine don't seem to be dying anytime soon.

Our crt television, on the other hand, is looking decidedly old-school in the face of the newer, slimmer screens, and I'm not sure if I'd be all that sad at its demise...

London 2008, 31 Oct - 9 Nov

Again, there’s too much to detail. Things to remember:

Piccadilly line, Oyster card, Russell Square, Lambs Conduit Street, Saco Apartments 405, Brunswick Square, Waitrose
Conduit Street Coffee House (Sid’s), bacon and eggs, toast no butter, tea, hot chocolate
Battersea Arts Centre 203, canned soups, crackers, Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, KOKA noodles with egg
St. Anselm & St. Cecilia, Holborn, Red Lion Street, The Dolphin, Boots, The Perseverance, The British Museum
Regent Street, Whittard, Oxford Street, Tie Rack, M&S, souvenir store, Gerrard Street, Golden Dragon dim sum (yum!!), Westminster Abbey, evensong, Abbey shop
St. Pauls, cathedral shop, Bank station, Monument Station, Tower of London, Yo! Sushi, Millennium Bridge, wind, rain, blown-out umbrella, Tate Modern
Knightsbridge, Harrods, Laduree, Café Rouge, Victoria & Albert Museum, Terminal 3

Photos here.

It was very intriguing and quite moving to experience the "motherland" from where Singaporean civic society originated. Things felt strangely familiar despite being also quite different. I’m very impressed considering how the Commonwealth countries now fare compared with many other places previously colonized by other European empires.

Mammals

One leisurely Saturday morning, at breakfast, Matthew suddenly said to me,

"Mommy, do you know that people also lived when there were prehistoric animals?"

"Yup. Like the woolly mammoth right?"

"Ya," Matt replied, "Humans were like apes. Humans are mammals. But boys are not mammals."

"Huh? What do you mean boys are not mammals?"

"Boys are not mammals! They can't give birth!"