Season of Sickness

One day, there were 2 sick daughters at home.

After a trip to the polyclinic, we were told to take the Little One to KKH cos little ones under 3 months are not supposed to get fever and if they do, the fever should be managed by KKH.

So, there we were, Farah and I, enjoying our 2-day-1-night stay at KK Hotel. Honestly, it was a blissful stay because Farah is easy to take care of and it helped that her fever was gone by the time we got to KK (but she got admitted anyway because the letter from the polyclinic stated that her fever was 38.5 degrees).

So, that's it, Farah. You've got yourself a vacation at the hospital and there will be no more of these, okay?

Epilogue: Both Farah and Huda are no longer having fever. But the dreadful cough is still there. Sigh. If I ever have a #3, I'll put him/her in a bubble for the first three months away from the germ-friendly sisters.

 

Breastfeeding Revisited

 

This is a completely irrelevant picture of a little baldy.

 

Once when I was pregnant, I entered a mosque and saw a woman breastfeeding. At that point, the image stirred up a lot of emotions and I couldn't wait for Farah to be out so that we can start the breastfeeding journey all over again.

But, somehow, the first few weeks didn't turn out the way I imagined it to be. Farah was not drinking that much and I was engorged all the time. I pumped out the excess milk twice a day but that created a false demand for milk and so I was even more engorged and in pain.

Then the medela pump which I just bought became lousier and lousier. That was the third mini electric pump I had bought in my short breastfeeding career. The first two were during Huda's time. And after the second one, I swore I'll never buy medela again. My sister and I bought an ameda double pump but she unexpectedly got pregnant ahead of schedule and was still using the pump. I then planned to buy the avent manual pump after I heard lots of good stuff about it.

But, for whatever strange reasons, on the day I was discharged from the hospital, I went and got a medela mini electric instead. This pump disappointed me from the third week onwards. It simply could not draw out all that much milk anymore. I knew the breasts were not emptied and lumps of various sizes started appearing especially on the right side. Three quarters of the right breast was lumpy and each time I pumped from that side, I managed only a measly 10-20ml, as opposed to the 50-90ml I got from the other side (which also had lumps but not as bad as the right side).

I was going to see my gynae and the last thing I want is to be referred to a breast specialist (and subject myself to another biopsy). So, I started looking up the net for solutions to clogged ducts. I tried the hot towel treatment, ice pack treatment, cabbage treatment but none worked for me. I looked up more solutions and one, which seemed like a hair-brained idea when I first read it, suggested using a wide-tooth comb to comb the blocked ducts away.

And that's what I did. There was nothing to lose, anyway. So, I started combing the breasts each time I fed Farah. (Sounds crazy, doesn't it?)

Amazingly, by the next day, there were no more lumps! Even the super-stubborn lump that was around from Huda's breasfeeding days (the one that necessitated a biopsy) was gone!!

A comb! That's the answer to blocked ducts!

So, I'm now a happier breastfeeding mother.

There are some inconveniences, of course. The number one headache I'm facing is starting my driving lessons again. I would need to introduce Farah to the bottle if I have to be away from her for a few hours. And I am just too l-a-z-y to do that. But it has to be done because my target is to get my license by Hari Raya (then I can drive off with my father's car because I got no money to buy one myself).

Another inconvenience is, I cannot eat less. As I want to make sure that my milk has lots of good stuff for Farah, I have to eat and eat and eat. The way I control the size of my tummy is by eating less but if this option is not available, am I supposed to exercise the fats away? *gulps*

Back to breastfeeding - Unlike the first time, this time round, I'm not setting a long target. I am going to go on unpaid leave til the end of 2010 but that does not mean I'll be breastfeeding til then. If I can, I will. If for whatever reasons, I cannot, then, there's always formula milk. Absolutely no pressure on myself. (But, I think I'll breastfeed for a minimum of 6 months to a year because infant formula is very expensive.)

So this marks the beginning my second breastfeeding journey. I hope I'll enjoy it as much as I did the first time round.

Farah at 7 weeks

 

Farah's almost 2 months now.

She is gaining weight very well, 1.7kg has been added to her since birth. She's now slightly more than 4kg. Yipppeee!! Last week, she had an appointment with the doctor who saw her at birth and she passed everything with flying colours. (What does that mean - flying colours?)

She drinks lots of milk very frequently in the day, especially in the afternoon, all the way to about 10pm. I try to space out the milking session to at least 1.5hours apart. At night, she sleeps longer between feeds. There were 2 nights when she allowed me 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. But, there's only been two of such nights. Normally, she would give me 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night before crying for milk again.

I think she's able to distinguish between night and day because in the day, she sleeps in the playpen placed in the living room and at night, she sleeps in the cot in our bedroom. Or perhaps, the cot is a lot more comfortable than the playpen. In any case, the arrangement works out fine.

Her poo is mustard-yellow and unlike Huda's which looked more like pellets, hers is of the stringy variety. Hahaa! Is that a lot of information? I'm typing everything I could recall because my memory's been even lousier of late.

On some days, she looks a lot like Huda but at other times, she's her own person. She likes to be held upright and then she'll look up at me with the most nonchalant expression on her face. Which makes me want to bite her cheeks cos she seems to be saying - I'm too cute and even when I look so dao, you still can't resist me.

But of course, I can resist her when she cries. Heh. Cos, there are days when she just wants to show who's boss and demands to be carried every ten minutes or so. When there are many people around, I'll let her think she can boss us around and will pick her up. (Well, not me, normally. It will be all the other people whom she has managed to hoodwink.) But when it's just the both of us, she knows that I'm da boss and she better not cry.

We have not done anything about the Baby Bonus the good government will give us as soon as we hand in the forms. That's the problem - the forms. Ordinarily, I enjoy filling in forms and surveys and contests etc... but each time I look at the thick envelope, I just feel a strong urge to procrastinate a bit longer. (I've also been procrastinating a lot of things - going back to my workplace to clear my table, calling up KK and the polyclinic to make and change appointments, updating my multiply, posting Farah's photos and other similar non-routine stuff.)

 

Farah at 2 weeks with a head full of hair and cousins, Farouq and Haziq.

 

"Why is Kakak Huda always in the picture?"  - Farah, 7 weeks old, no hair