Motherhood came 2 weeks early for me. Baby Chloe (who is due today) was born on 31 Oct (yes, she's a halloween baby, & she'd arrived 1 day after our 4th wedding anniversary).
It started with a regular visit to my gynae, realised that I'd lost 100g in a week & I'd commented that baby was a little quiet that morning. Turned out that the umblical cord was around her neck & I'm already 2cm dilated! (Didn't even know that I was in labour!)I'm one of the fortunate few, labour was fast for me, about 5hrs. My good friend, Maryann, was in labour for abt 12hrs for her first born (who also happens to be my godson). And baby Chloe popped out to see daddy & mummy, weighing 3.02kg, measuring 50cm in length.
It has been almost 2 weeks since Chloe's arrival. The 1st week was very stressful, especially for me as I wasn't prepared for her arrival & had to quickly adjust to attending to her needs. And she was hospitalised for a day for jaundice plus waking up several times at night to feed her but still have her crying. It's a good thing that Nic was with me, else I'd have a nervous breakdown as the addition of sleepless nights took a toll on me.
I'm fortunate to have a caring & supportive hubby and lots of concerned friends & colleagues who spent time helping Nic & me understand more about Chloe's needs.
So, into the 2nd week and I'm less of a basket case and have learnt not to react to her every whimper. Sometimes, it's good to let her cry a little, exercise for her lungs, or so I heard. And we've also managed to settle on Chloe's chinese name so Nic went to register her birth today. Hooray, Chloe has a birth cert now!
It's amazing, the new discoveries I make everyday abt Chloe's behaviour/character/actions, etc. Everytime I look at her, I can't believe that this cute little fella had been in my womb for 38 weeks & is now a part of me. Everyone's telling me that the 1st few months will be tough but it'll get easier so I'll just have to patiently go thru this initial phase. It's a lifetime commitment and I'm partly responsible for her so will do my best to bring up this tiny life.
[Comment from baby Chloe: I'm almost 2 weeks old & I've given daddy & mummy quite a few headaches, what with my screams (which they don't seem to understand) & cries and me being a "London baby", cos I'm awake at night. I think the biggest scare that I'd given mummy was my hospitalisation last Thur for my jaundice. Mummy cried at the hospital admission counter. Daddy had to console mummy. Dr Ong, my pediatrician, said that 1 of the reasons I had jaundice was because I wasn't getting enough breastmilk from mummy. And it didn't help that I only liked her right breast!
I hated the cold plastic container that they placed me in for the phototherapy treatment for my jaundice & screamed real loudly. I'm not surprised that made daddy & mummy even sadder but they had to make me go thru it so that I can recover from my jaundice.
Daddy & mummy visited me in the evening and mummy breastfed me and I sucked on her for about 30 mins! Thankfully, it was only a 1 night stay (I heard mummy & daddy were glad to have a break from my night 'activities' so that they can recharge themselves) and I was home by the next afternoon.
Eversince my discharge, daddy & mummy are not taking any chances with underfeeding me, they supplement my meals with formula as well. I'm happy as long as I'm fed. I love sleeping so much that I can even sleep in my own poo! heh heh... ok, yawn.... back to my beauty sleep, I hope mummy doesn't wake me up too soon]
As baby Chloe grows, I've begun to discover many cute traits about her. Such as she's quite a messy sleeper, like me. ie her hands are spread out and she's begun to turn from the original position where we place for her to sleep, almost a 90 degree turn. It's a good thing that the cot is still big enough for her to do her turns. And she'll raise both hands & legs when she's scared, sort of like saying "I surrender".
