Being in confinement,.

Wellll...not exactly. My nanny isnt really the strict kind..she said from Day 1 that now a days, times hv changed and people dont really follow strict confinement rules anymore :p..so I take baths every day and wash hair every other day and dress in shorts..I hope I dont regret this!! :P

On the other hand, she does make me good soups which keep my milk supply up . Her cooking's really good - very little oil and tasty. She used to open a food stall and ran the business for 19 years! So far, some of the non confinement dishes she has created were : curry laksa, curry chicken, yong tau fo, hakka soon kueh, hakka abacus dish, pumpkin dessert..

And she decided to pack and freeze marinated meat for me in the freezer so that I can use when in 3rd month of maternity leave..so nice of her :) and better still, Sophie adores her!

3.5 weeks old, 4.48kgs!

Our little Sophie bean in no longer little! we took her to see the doc today as I noticed the heat rash on her face seemed to be spreading. Doc told the unwise mummy that it's not heat rash but baby acne :(..and me putting the calendula cream on her face probably worsen the condition..sigh! Doc gave us an antibiotic cream and tea tree oil for her face instead.

Then the doc mentioned that that baby's a bit overweight for a 3.5 week old. actually by one month, they shld only put on 1 kg..sophie has put on 1.5 kgs and she's not even 1 mth yet! My baby's FAT! and I kinda blame the confinement nanny who always insist that baby drinks more. So now, drastic measures..baby needs to eat less..to do so, I try to pump out some milk before letting her latch on. That way, she does not drink soo much and choke, cough and vomit out extra milk :) and here's our chubby double (triple?) chin baby girl!

This evening, we managed to take sophie for her 1st walk in her bugaboo basinet. She wore a blue dress which made her look soo sweet despite her boyish looks ;) and she enjoyed the park and the walk.

Everyday zooms by so fast, I have lost track of all the baby first..overall, am really happy with Sophie as she's a good baby..she sleeps consistently 3 hours after every feed and only cries when she wants milk. When she's lonely, she makes one off "eeks" to call for company..when Jin carries her, she whimpers softly - he is the only one she whimpers to. She loves to be carried and is happiest when the air cond's on and she's carried to sleep. She can sleep for hours in our arms but the minute she's put down, she wakes and frets. We are truly spoiling her..but I tell myself, she's still an infant and deserves some spoiling :)

14 days of being a parent

How time flies..my little Sophie is now 14 days old..and it seems that we have had her a lot longer than that. I now understand why we are given maternity leave..there's just soo much to do and before I know it, I am exhausted by the time my head hits the pillow..and this is with the help of a confinement nanny..what am I going to do when she goes off? here's our daily routine :

730am : am woken up by her soft cries. Aunty changes her diaper and brings her to me for her morning feed.

8am : after 3 oz of milk and 3 burping sessions, she is taken by Jin who will play with her while I clean up and get ready for the day.

830am : I have my breakfast and see Jin off. Sophie is usually asleep. I take the time to catch up on emails and bath.

1030 am : She wakes up and cries for her feed. Has her bath time which she loves

1130 am : refuses to sleep so it's a busy time trying to entertain her..aunty does not like her to rock so it's a challenge to get her to sleep. Have to sing to her and carry her around the house. She likes to be cuddled and hates being put down when she's cranky. She's a very curious child and hates missing out on the action so she will do small cat naps and I hv to keep feeding her at funny intervals just to pacify her crankiness.

2pm : nap time for me. I wake up an hour later and try to clear mundane admin stuff as well as entertain Sophie as aunty needs her nap time too.

530 pm : this is usually walk walk time around the condo pool. Sophie enjoys the outdoors. Aunty prepares dinner.

630 pm : dinner time and at this point, Sophie's usually sleeping or having her evening wipe down

9pm : Jin gets back from work and I watch him have his dinner and catch up with him on his day

10 30pm : Sophie wakes up for her night feed and goes back to sleep

130 am : Sophie is brought in for her mid night feed..I usually find it hard to go back to sleep after this..and only sleep again at 3 or 4am

5am : Sophie comes in for her early morning feed..I am very sleepy.

Despite the tiredness, all is forgotten when my little one gives me her sweet smiles. Here are some of my fav pix of Sophie Lim in her 1st 14 days...

And baby Sophie makes her entrance

Our birth story :

July 1st


9.30am : Dr Chin said I was 1cm dilated..asked if I could be induced..I said : Why not? ..next thing I know, a pill was popped in to make my cervix more dilated..

1130am : Lunch at Au Petit at Dempsey. I had the yummy duck confit and seeing I did not have to monitor my glucose levels anymore, I enjoyed and savoured my choux buns dessert.

1pm : went for mid-day walk at Hort Park. Cloudy day and it was nice. Still did not feel any pain.

2.30pm : reached home and went to sleep

3.30pm : felt some pain but did not think much of it..watched Hell's kitchen

4.30pm : felt pain every 5 minutes..decided to take a bath

5pm : told jin about pain..he panic and said better go hospital cos he did not want me to be 7 cm dilated and then no epi and sure he will "suffer"

6.30pm : reached hospital, checked into labour ward

7pm : nurse said I only 2.5 cm dilated :p..anyway, we checked in and Dr Chin said I can have my epi if i wanted

830pm : decided that if I am going to have epi in the end, why not take it early? :D..requested for my epi

9pm : Dr Dicky Tay administered a perfect epi (perfect cos no pain!)..and I was a happy bunny

11pm : Dr Chin came and said I was still 2.5 cm dilated..what? :P..she broke my water bag

July 2nd

2am : 7cm dilated

4am : 9cm dilated..finally managed to fall asleep

6am : nurse Yang came in and turned on all the lights. She said, she wants me to try pushing..I asked where was Dr Chin, she said Dr Chin to try pushing first..err,,OK.


Next 30 minutes : Pushed and Jin could see baby's crown. At 6.30am, nurse says to stop pushing and wait for Dr to come...dum de dum dum.


6.40am : Dr Chin makes her entrance, asked me to push. Gave me an episiotomy. Jin saw it all and wonderfully did not faint!


6.51am : Baby Sophie Lim makes her entrance at 3.44 kgs, 50 cm long on July 2nd, 2008. I can't believe this little one was in me for 9 whole months developing..She's perfect :)