Mar
08
Buffet in Kampachi courtesy of Hubby :D
mar

On Saturday, hubby, Ian, Beejay, Jane and I went to Kampachi for their lunch japanese buffet. It was rm62 per pax, plus additional 15% on top of that for service and government tax. Parking was rm5 but can be redeemed when paying the bills. I had been waiting for this buffet so such a long time. Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I stop eating sashimi, and was lusting after it each time we went to Japanese restaurant. So I made a pact with hubby, after my confinement is over, he is to bring me to Kampachi for buffet.  So this was our belated V-day celebration. hehe.. :D

Now many may wonder, why Kampachi?  There are plenty of other places serving Jap buffet. Well, for one I haven’t been to Kampachi before, so I’m obsessed with going over there cos I heard the food is good, and I read the online review which was equally good too.

So Beejay and Jane came over to our place at 11.30am, and we went in 1 car. Hubby drove although Beejay offered, because it is much convenient for hubby to drive as we need to bring Ian and a cartload of his stuff, even though EQ is just a stone throw’s from our place.Reached nearly 12, and all 4 of us were already hungry, so we digged into some salmon sushi and tempura. Yummy yummy! After that I went to get my miso soup, and hubby told me that they have tiramisu too!! you see, I have been salivating for tiramisu from EQ ever since the preggy days, so I took the opportunity on that day to ate a few spoonful. I can’t binge on it cos it has rum, therefore I only had a limited amount. One day when I finally stop BF, I am so gonna eat it like nobody’s business. Haha!

Had lots of salmon sashimi especially, and prawn tempura, miso soup and some sushi and also potato salad. The garlic rice was quite nice too. :D

In a nutshell, I had fun eating, and binging. I even told a pregnant lady her zipper is coming off at her back. :D

Beejay and Jane came in their nice couple shoes. Hehee.. and I think Jane had fun carrying Ian around. Lol!~

jane getting the practise she will need in the future. haha! ^^

Did not take much pictures cos was busy eating, and the ones I took are blurry because my hands are shaky. *shy*

basically i only took 3 pictures of the food ;p

the happy couple, Beejay & Jane ^^

my bundle of joy :D xoxo....

family photo :D

 

the 5 of us ^^

papa's boy... :D ian busy looking at Jane. lol!~

Category: Uncategorized  5 Comments
Mar
05
breastfeeding
mar

During my conversation with many mothers, somehow the issue of breasfeeding will popped up. Basically there are only 2 main groups of mothers, with another minority group in the shadow. The minority are those who do try to breast feed, and then give up because milk production dry up, and they did nothing to keep the supply going. The main 2 groups, are those who are pro on BF, and those who chose not to BF. Both groups will have their own reasons, such as the ones I listed below.

 Pro breast feeding:

  • The goodness and benefits of breast milk is evident. No matter how clever a scientist to concoct a milk powder formula, it will still come short as compared to BM.
  • BM has antibody, as opposed to milk powder. Especially the initial 2 days, the colostrum has the highest concentration of antibody.
  • BF encourages bonding between mother and baby. Just Google on the internet and there are endless research papers attesting to this.  
  • BM is easily digested by baby, hence resulting in no constipation as compared to milk powder, where babies will have to be fed water to avoid constipation and heatiness.
  • The satisfaction a mother feels when her baby drinks her milk :D (in my case, I am happy when Ian finishes my milk each time. Haha! Sounds lame huh? )

 Gave up on breast feeding:

  • Couldn’t cope with the fatigue, because need to be awake many times to feed baby, be it directly or through pumping.
  • Couldn’t cope with the emotional stress
  • Is not adamant on whether babies are fed milk powder or breast milk, as long as babies are fed milk, and growing healthily, it is fine.
  • Milk supply dried up, and did nothing much to kept it going. Hence the milk stopped.
  • Need to be away from baby (parents worked somewhere, baby are taken care by family in another state)

 Truth to be told, many a times I do feel like giving up too. When milk supply was low, I felt like Sahara Desert without a speck of rain. Or when I am tired, sick, stressed out. But somehow or rather, along the way, the more obstacle I dealt with, my determination got stronger. Up until the point when I had mastitis, I actually thought to myself, and God of course. “What the heck, just throw whatever u want in my way, and hell No, I am not giving up on breast feeding now”. (Suddenly sounded like Wonder Woman in the making. Perasan siot! :P )

 But I guess the main factor which has been my pillar of strength all this while is the love I have for Ian, is far greater than the love I have for myself. That is why I pushed myself to the limit, do what is best and what is within my power to ensure he has BM no matter what. I think that when you love someone more than yourself, you will sacrifice many things for them, totally eroding yourself of any hint of selfishness. I also felt that my milk is superior as opposed to milk powder (susu cap Marilyn). :P

And I wanted to give Ian the very best, therefore I am so gung ho on breast feeding. :D

I must say it is a very demanding job, being a working mum who is still breast feeding, because you need to slot in your pumping time in between your tasks. And sometimes, when I am too stressed out, milk can hardly come out at all during pumping! Huhu… but overall the satisfaction beats the hardship. :D now I’m googling and finding ways to increase my milk production, aside from pumping 6 to 7 times a day. :D it’s kind of sad that I need to top up with milk powder at times, but I felt that giving Ian partial BM is better than none at all. He is now 11weeks old, and has had BM for 8weeks. The other 3 weeks, I did not give my milk to him because I was on meds for different reasons, and had to throw my milk away. I will try my utmost to breastfeed for as long as possible. Gambate!~~ :D

 p/s: Ian, if this blog survives the 10 or 20yrs of your life, and you get to read all these posts, rest assure mommy and papa loves you very very much! :D   and darling hubby, I love you too!! :D muaks!

Category: baby  Tags:  4 Comments
Feb
25
sleepy!
mar

This morning Ian woke up at 3am and refused to sleep afterwards. I was pumping in the other room but I could hear his cries, and hubby was trying to console him. eventually, we figured he was hungry so we fed him what I pumped, and he stopped crying. After I was done pumping, I went to the room, saw hubby lying on the bed, exhausted, and Ian doing his air cycling all by himself. Seems to be in a happy state and was quite chatty. I played with him for awhile and then stop talking so that he will go to sleep, but he continued kicking and rubbing his eyes with his hands, and still refused to sleep. So I left him and try to get some shut eye, but after awhile he starts to whimper and then cry. So I turned him on his sides, and try to soothe him by patting his butt, hoping he will fall asleep but he still refused and cried intermittently. Ended up hubby took over and finally he went to sleep, but by then it was like 5am+ in the morning. I woke up at 630am, went to pump and then at 7am we sent Ian to babysitter, and finally has the time to get ready to work. But truth to be told, hubby and I are both extremely tired today cos of what happened this morning. Ian seldom kept us awake for such long hours but today he seems to be different. Probably because yesterday, the unit above the babysitter’s started their renovation again, hence him feeling cranky the whole day and not sleeping well. So I’m looking forward to the long weekend starting tomorrow, am hoping to catch up with my sleep in the afternoon when Ian has his. Fingers crossed!

 Am wondering whether to go to Kampachi this Saturday for the buffet that I have been dreaming off. Hmmn…

I’m feeling lovey dovey, so let me put a picture of me and hubby here. :D

at max for dim sum (habis la my diet plan)

Category: baby  4 Comments
Feb
25
bak kua + tomato omelette
mar

Yesterday I was super hungry after pumping in the morning, so I cooked some instant breakfast. I scrambled some eggs with bak kua and tomato, cutting corners because I was too hungry so I did not add some milk to the eggs. Initially also wanted to add some sliced button mushrooms too, but my tummy was growling impatiently. A little bit of cheese on top would make it taste nicer too I think. Anyways, I cooked 3 eggs with 1 piece of bak kua and 1 tomato, and halfway thru it, I honestly felt I could finish the whole plate. :P

But I left half of the portion for hubby, knowing I can always have additional breakfast in the office. Hubby seems to like it, but then again he likes anything with bak kua. :P no picture of the food because I was too hungry to be bothered. hehee..

 On the other hand, there’s still some broccoli and carrot in the fridge, and I have yet to cook them. Can’t find the time after work, and cant be bothered to spend additional time cooking in the kitchen. Most of the days, we tapao-ed and then either bath/pump milk first, or pick baby first depending on the time. Lately, Ian is getting chattier, and smarter. He has his favorite cuddling position and sometimes tricks us into carrying him. Naughty little fella. But when he is grumpy, my world is turned topsy turvy. Hubby and I will try our best to pacify him and to stop his cries. And he likes to sleep on his back, with his hand opened up at the sides of his big head. I think he is gaining weight at a slightly higher pace compared to the average statistics. But I still feel he is still not that chubby yet. Just the face is round and he looks even rounder with his bald head. :D

 Of late his favorite food seems to be his drumstick, and is now slowly progressing to “chicken feet” . I got a picture of him below enjoy his “drumstick”. :D

ian makan drumstick.. yay!

Category: bubbly  2 Comments
Feb
19
pictorial post: favorite dress (as of now ;p)
mar

This is the picture of my current favorite dress. I love it so much! The only downside to it is that is shows off clearly I have a “pregnant” tummy. But then again, since I loved it so much, who cares! Haha!! Sze woay, you asked for picture, so here goes. :P

i love the back of the dress!! best! ;p

but the neckline is kinda low, so need to be careful since nowadays i have cleavage ;p

Category: bubbly  4 Comments
Feb
18
Ian’s first injection and subsequent fever
mar

Time and again I had always mentioned that seeing Ian poops normally makes me happy, because it meant he eats and sleeps well. When he went for his 2nd vaccination on the 11th, the nurse told us to give him the fever syrup, because babies normally developed fever after injection. But I was hopeful that Ian would not develop fever, so I did not give him the fever syrup and both hubby and I dropped him off at the babysitter afterwards, telling her to give us a call if Ian is down with fever. When we went to pick him up, babysitter told us he had fever (never call us -_-) so we quickly brought him home, and fed him the syrup. Put wet towel on his head and put a patch of Kool Fever on his forehead. I even woke up and again try to bring his temperature down in the wee hours of the morning whenever I felt his head getting too hot.

Long story short, I was worried sick, and he doesn’t want to drink milk or water and is cranky all the time and did not poop for 2 days. I think he kind of lost weight or had a slow rate of weight gain during that week. The burning weather certainly did not help with the problem. He was better by the 2nd day of CNY, which I thank god for. His appetite picked up these few days, and his face starts to look around again. :D ah.. I’m so happy.

On a sad note, due to the fact his dad took care of him mostly during his sick days, cos I was sick too, he has officially became daddy’s boy. Sob sob… (mommy is jealous :( )

Category: baby  2 Comments
Feb
18
heck! i am not giving up so easily
mar

Unfortunately for hubby, on reunion day itself, I developed fever and dizzy spells due to breast infection. How did my breast get infected? Ha! Because of back to back meetings on Friday, I pump later than normal, and the engorgement led to infection. It was darn painful, and initially on Friday I thought it was just normal engorgement and will go away by itself, but by Saturday morning I was having fever and chills, so off I went to a gynae in Pantai Hospital because my usual gynae was on leave. The doctor from Pantai confirmed it was mastitis and she prescribed me with antibiotics. There are only 2 courses of treatments for mastitis; one is to take meds to stop the production of milk which is the easy way out because then I would not have to live with the pain, and do not have to cart my “black bag” for days without ends, but I want to continue breastfeeding, hence the antibiotics.

 Pumping was painful for the next few days, challenging because the milk duct seems to be blocked and milk could hardly come out, and yet I still need to pump and hand press but the breast is hard like stone at times. It came to a point when I was crying due to the pain and stress and fatigue because I need to pump every 3 to 4 hours to avoid further engorgement, but my head was dizzy and I was nursing a fever and feeling so exhausted. It never crossed my mind to take the meds to stop the milk production, so I did not regret my decision to go with the antibiotic. But I needed mental support during that time, and I was on the edge of breaking down each time while I need to pump. Hubby was busy taking care of Ian who is still cranky due to his fever, and I feel he had enough on his platter, so I did not talk to him on my feelings. I ended up calling Ira and crying over the phone, and she consoled me and told me it happened to her too, and asked me to take it easy. To not overdo the pumping and take care of myself foremost and breastfeeding comes second. If I feel like quitting, it is always alright, but she knows I am strong and can pull through. Heck, I know I can overcome that obstacle too, just that I needed to vent.

 Maybe I was too caught up in my obsession to breastfeed, so it never crossed my mind to quit. The only thing is to sustain it for as long as possible, in order to give Ian the best. Ian doesn’t like to drink plain water, so during the time when I was on rash meds and could not give him my breast milk, his poop became harder and his urine is yellow in colour which is not good. So best way is to give him breast milk so his water intake is enough. :D

Since I was on the antibiotic,  I discarded my milk from left breast for few days. He only gets the milk from the right breast, in pittance amount but something is better than nothing.

 I really feel like god is challenging me, stretching me to my limit to see how far he can push me before I throw in the towel. I am super gung ho on breastfeeding Ian (although partially cos I don’t have enough milk to go exclusive on him), but I kept being kicked to the left and right by unseen forces, falling sick ever so often and needing meds. I have never been so frequently sick in a year, but now I am needing meds every 2 weeks. Ian is only 9weeks old, and I have had literally a whole year of meds in my body; from the paralytic illness, to bum rash, to skin rash and now mastitis. Sometimes I feel like a sick joke is being played on me and even YK find it sadistically funny. -_-

But heck no, I am so not giving up on breast feeding, so I will strive on. Give me your best pitch and we shall see me hitting home run each time! Blek!

p/s: kudos to hubby for juggling me and Ian for few days while we both had fever… :D thanks love!

Category: angst  2 Comments
Feb
09
pump & dump: the misadventures of motherhood
mar

The first time baby Ian’s cries broke my heart was when I accidently nicked him while cutting his nails. He wailed non stop going all red and tears starts to stream down his face, and I felt awfully guilty I cried there and then too. Hubby was the one needing to comfort the small baby, and also me. After that I spent 1 or 2 hours away from him, just in case he remembers me for hurting him. :( And afterwards when I went to play with him and he smiled, I went all warm inside, but still wrecked with guilt.

 The 2nd time, when I cuddled him, the pacifier cover got stuck in between my elbow and his head, and he bawled too. And then only I realized something was stuck there because of the angle of my elbow, I cant feel the cover of the pacifier. Took me sometime to console him; and yes, the incident scared me too.

The 3rd time happened for no reason on a Sunday afternoon, while hubby was out cutting his hair. (To note, his hairdo is really awesome, and he looked very handsome :D , but lets go back to baby Ian for now shall we?). I was cuddling him, because he refused to be put down, and don’t want to sleep, and suddenly out of the blue he just cried and screamed really loud. I don’t know what to do and I keep comforting him but he continued to cry at the top of his lungs, until tears start streaming down his face and he is really red. And he looked so agitated, as if he is in pain, but I cant find anywhere where I could have hurt him. :( I nearly panic and call hubby home, but after spending sometime with Ian, he calmed down, and I cuddled him even harder because I don’t know what triggers him off, but I definitely would not want to see him ever like that anymore, if I can help it. Sigh…

 On Sunday, he starts to drink milk in a slower way, playing with the last 1ounce as if he doesn’t want it, and seems to have lower energy level. I did not suspect anything yet at that moment, and towards night he gets more difficult and doesn’t want to sleep. Hubby and I knew he wasn’t feeling well, but we checked for fever and he seems alrite.

 Fast forward to yesterday (Monday), after work we went to get him, and baby sitter told us he hasn’t pooped (that makes it 2 days), had difficulties urinating and refuses to drink milk most of the time. He looked drowsy too. so we took him to the doctor, suspecting that my breast feeding coupled with my rash meds messed up his system. I nearly want to cry seeing how stoned baby Ian looked like yesterday. :(

The pediatrician confirmed our suspicion on the meds which I was taking and gave baby Ian enema so that he can poop, and I had stopped my meds completely, now pump and dump now to clear my system off the steroids. I am really pissed and upset by the fact that the GP in Pan Medic assured me the meds are safe although I kept asking her on whether it would affect my baby as I am breastfeeding. Now I had to feed baby Ian formula, since yesterday, and today too. Will only resume giving him breast milk by tonight, and hopefully its all cleared of drugs. Sigh.. :(  

 Thank god when we reached home yesterday, baby Ian pooped twice, and towards the later stages of the night, he regained his old self back and starts to be chatty again. I couldn’t thank god enough, but then he refused to be put down on the bed and wants to be cuddled all the time. So hubby and I took turns, and at one point, as usual I wanted to let him sleep on my chest, but he spits up some milk, so I turned him over and lets him sleep on my chest with his face facing upwards.

Halfway through, I was jerked away by the fact that baby Ian had rolled off me onto the bed, and I got a shock and quickly turned his body to face upwards, feeling extremely guilty at the same time. I am never going to let him sleep on my chest facing upwards from then onwards, because it’s too dangerous if I fall asleep. If he sleeps with his tummy on my chest, he won’t roll off even though if I fall asleep. But sleeping by facing upwards poses higher risk because he wasn’t balanced properly on me. The only thing crossing my mind was what if he rolled off on the other side, nearer to the edge of the bed and straight to the floor? :( I can’t even start to imagine. :(

Category: baby  Leave a Comment
Feb
08
Fruitful saturday
mar

Due to generosity of Ira, last Saturday hubby and I managed to bring Ian out for longer hours than possible (aside from having to time check because I need to go home and pump). Well, previously our shopping strategy is, I carry Ian and hubby just goes into the shop/mall to grab a few items and then off we went home. But because we have a stroller so I can take my own sweet time to shop for CNY. Yahoo… :D

 Let me veer off the topic for a while. The story of the stroller is really long. We ordered our stroller + car seat, and the guy who is supposed to bring it back with his shipment last November got his trip in US extended to January 2010. And then in January, he told us it got pushed till end of April this year! OMG, so now we are basically stroller-less and car seat-less.

 And last weekend, Ira came to the rescue. She said Afiq had outgrown his car seat, and don’t fancy sitting in the stroller, so she lent me both items. And that is HOW I managed to do my CNY shopping last Saturday. Hubby takes care of baby Ian, and I get to try on outfits and show him. Haha! Of course sometimes baby Ian throws a fit and demands to be carried. But it really was convenient during lunch time especially! :D We had our lunch in Chilies and then I bought another polo T from FOS. Sad to say, I had really upgraded to M size. :(

 Btw, I had heck of fun time in Dorothy Perkins. 20% sales off on all items for member, and it’s a 3 day promotion. Thank god I was in Gurney last Saturday. I got 2 loose top and 1 shorts from there. I like the bootcut jeans of theirs, but the color puts me off, so I had not purchase it. Well, in my opinion, DP beats Topshop hands down anytime. Their items don’t cost an arm and a leg, services are excellent, sales girls are very friendly and helpful compared to cocky mothersuckers from Topshop, and. I always wonder how that can be since they came from the same upper management, together with Miss Selfridge. Too bad PG does not have MS. Tsk tsk…

 Anyways, I am seriously fat around the tummy area. Moreover when I tried on skinny jeans when the sales girl suggested, hubby gave a sheepish look that says it all. “You are fat!”. -_- and one of flowery top I bought shows off my flabby spare tire as hubby pointed out, but I bought it anyways because I liked it. Haha! I mean everyone knows I have spare tire (all my colleagues pointed it out. Duh! -_-) so I guess it doesn’t matter that much to me anyways. One day I’m going to get rid of it! (Just that I don’t know when. Haha! ;p).

 p/s: Woo~~ I love my ditsy bow tie top :D

Category: bubbly  Leave a Comment
Feb
08
meds galore
mar

I had some mild rash some weeks back, and at one point it got worse and starts to itch, to a bearable extend. Hubby pester me to see the doctor, but I kept putting it off until one day the itchness reached an annoying stage. So off I went to the doctor and she prescribed some Loradine for me, taken in the morning and Piriton at night. Due to the nature of Piriton which causes drowsiness, I asked the doctor to gave me non drowsy ones (Loradine) and she said its ok to just take 1 tablet a day in the morning.

Fast forward a couple of days later, the rash got worse, spreading to my upper thigh and arm, and maybe some mild patches on my body, and it itches like hell! So again I went to the same clinic and this round, the doctor went on offensive, and gave me a bunch of tablets. -_-

  • First 2 days, 4 tablets (2x – morning & night) of Prednisolone, 1 Loratadine in the morning, 1 Piriton at night, and 1 Cetirizine at night for itchness.
  • Next 2 days, 2 tablets (2x – morning & night) of Prednisolone, 1 Loratadine in the morning, 1 Piriton at night, and 1 Cetirizine at night for itchness.
  • Last 2 days, 1tablet (2x – morning & night) of Prednisolone, 1 Loratadine in the morning, 1 Piriton at night, and 1 Cetirizine at night for itchness.

 Due to my status in fb, Joo Lee gave me some feedback regarding Piriton and Cetirizine, and I have stop taking them as the itch isn’t so bad. Patches on my hand starting to fade, but my legs especially my calf still looks bad. -_-

Truth to be told, I’m sick of taking tablets ever since the delivery up until this moment. Since pregnancy, my skin seems to succumbed more easily to rash, a problem I had never had to bother about before this. During a certain period of pregnancy, shrimps make me itch and gave me rash around my tummy, and then it stopped. After labour, was inflicted with bum rash and had to take antibiotic for it (like seriously! Who takes antibiotic for bum rash?). But it was really painful so, I guess it’s my own fault for not noticing earlier the pain came from rash, not episiotomy wound. Tsk tsk….

And during confinement, due to the food consumed and the weather, I had some heat rash too, something that Ian also had. I am not sure whether I passed it to him or not, but eventually his went away after he was bathed with Guinness, while mine is not seriously as long as I don’t sweat too much and stay under the fan in a ventilated room (yes, I know during confinement you are not supposed to be directly under the fan, but hey the weather is crazy k?).

 So pretty much in 2 months time, my body had been pumped with various meds, I am really scared my liver is going to have a hard time clearing it all in the long run. The 5 days hospital stay was the worse, with multiple injections everyday and tablets to be swallowed, followed by 5 days of antibiotic course on the bum rash, and now 3/4days of Loratadine only and another 6 of the combination of meds aforementioned. Crazy life!!! I do hope this would not impact baby Ian in the long run. Tsk tsk…

Category: Uncategorized  One Comment
« Previous Entries