Denson is 1 month old today!

Dear Uncles and Aunties,

My darling boy, Denson Ho, is 1 month old today! Accordingly to the Lunar Calendar, he was 1 month old 2 days ago, so go figure!

Anyways, the confinement lady is gone, which means that its all us from now onwards till we decide where denson goes when mummy starts working again in December 2009.. anyone with suitable contacts for nannies (7am-7pm neg kind) or infant care, do let us know, you should have our numbers, if you don't, then perhaps this blog wasn't even meant for you..haha

as you can see, the lack of sleep is affecting the usual flow of content on this page.. Spending much of the day's 24hours trying to pacify a baby, keeping an alert ear for cries, constant cleaning, boiling of hot water, warming and storing milk, has more or less taken its toil.. but every minute and every last ounce of strength left is worth it, because we were part of denson's growing up phase where we have cared for him to the best of our abilities.

Mummy has started bathing denson while daddy is still kept in the observer mode. Daddy needs to do more, can't wait for the weekends to come again.. maybe i should start taking more leave to spend more time with mother and child..

Denson also had his hair cut today, so for those of you who had seen him in recent days, you got to imagine him with not much hair, we took them all off his head for a good reason, that reason is best explained in pictures so lets wait for that..

Meanwhile, mummy should and would be too busy to post pictures update of denson(esp with his new hairstyle, or lack of it).. so hang in tight, daddy will update when we have periods of peace like now.. time to do another power-nap before the bio-alarm for milk sounds off around 12.30am.

Good night all, thank you for the well wishes, gifts and angbaos. Babby sleep tight, uncles aunties good nite.


Daddy Den Outz

Denson on 20Aug

Mummy is getting abit disappointed in breastfeeding ler..

after so long, mummy finally convinced Auntie to let Mummy breastfeed Denson directly..

was Mummy's lunchtime, it is oso Denson's feeding time.. but Auntie wan mummy to finish lunch first..

stupid Auntie to make Denson so hungry, she tinks that when he is hungry he can suckle better?? he will be more impatient..

btw auntie duno football hold.. she say she fight w her kids when it comes to breastfeedin on the right side..

when mummy latch Denson on, he suckle abit n feel asleep.. mummy could get him to open his mouth at all.. so after tryin to force open his mouth for 10min, mummy gav up..

Auntie took Denson away to sleep on his rocker.. Auntie say breastfeed oso nd to burp.. but antenatal class say NO NEED.. Auntie say Denson puke milk cos i didnt burp him.. less than 20mins, Denson crying for milk ler.. Mummy try to latch Denson on, less than 5mins, he is off aslp again.. tis time round, mummy got to force open his mouth again.. so bad that he got frustrated w mummy n start wailing loudly.. he is hungry but he is angry w mummy at the same time.. whenever mummy position him for feeding he will cry very very loudly.. mummy no choice but got to carry him n comfort him n immediately he is okie.. mummy tried so many times till mummy gav up n ask Auntie to warm up the milk..

haiz.. mummy will try again w daddy's help tonite..

only less than 3 weeks n Denson got the nipple confusion syndrome.. lucky the weekend is coming, Daddy can be ard to help out.. rather than the auntie stand there n just kip forcing Denson's mouth to Mummy's breast.. *ANGRY*

Denson's 3 week old...

Denson is 3 weeks old.. n today is supposed to be his EDD too.. playful him to play w the umbilical cord, otherwise he need not be induced so early..

life was initially a breeze w him around.. someone to cook and wash for us.. but it turn out to b a nitemare when she is so insistent on her ways..
managed to show her our unhappiness, somehow she is abit more relax on us now..

but ytd she just gav mummy n daddy a shock.. she asked mummy where are the bird's nest, so mummy showed her.. she told mummy that she will cook SOME for denson w some pao sheng cos Denson is having some heat rash so she wan to give something to cool him down.. she said SOME, but she soaked ALL the bird's nest mummy has, which is like 4pcs mummy left w.. Daddy bot it for mummy when she is pregnant.. mummy tot of slowly taking it since she has neber took it b4 she was preggy.. but the AUNTIE juz soak everything like tat.. after mummy told daddy abt it, daddy say dont give Denson the bird's nest so early first.. too much protein, Denson might not be able to take it, worse it might cause allergy.. so mummy went to tell auntie abt it.. surprisingly, she wasnt agressive abt it, n say up to u all loh.. i guess she oso felt abit too much to finish all the bird's nest like that..
next sun will be auntie's last day here... daddy can finally hav his bed back.. poor daddy has been struggling w the sofa the last 3 weeks.. daddy, hang on there..

Denson has been growing well.. did mummy mentioned the last we went for the follow up check at Dr Terence's clinic when baby is 1 week old, baby has oredi put on weight after the initial loss..

At birth: 2.590kg
3rd day: 2.395kg
7th day: 2.7kg

3rd week: 3.8kg

Thanks to Uncle Jake, otherwise mummy wun hav an idea of how to weigh Denson at home.. haha..

Mummy could tell Denson has been putting on weight when she carrys him.. his little cheeks has grew chubby too..

hmm.. Blogger is experiencing problem for photo upload..

hence come back again for photo feeds..

smiling in his sleep..

freshly after bath, lookin good n alert..

sleeping w hands up.. his fav sleeping position.. both mummy n daddy dont sleep like that though..

his cheeky mouth always making an O shape..

One more hands-up...

Another hands-up..

He and his ugly dummy...

Cute fitting sleepsuit..

cranky times...

n finally 3week old...

Rants Update

Sorry if this is turning into a rant page.. bear with daddy for this few days alright..

basically daddy and mummy had more or less decided to speak to the auntie and ask her to leave.. but somehow, daddy and mummy just didn't do it and we will also mindful that an extra pair of hands at home was important..

daddy was more firm towards the auntie today, one incident that daddy was most aggressive was when the auntie force-feed denson when denson was crying.. daddy even saw the auntie shaking her legs resulting in denson being held with a jerking motion while the milk bottle was stuffed in denson's mouth while he was wailing..

daddy couldn't take it and snatch denson away from the auntie.. the express breastmilk was far to warm for denson to consume and thus he cried and the auntie instead that the milk was not too warm and daddy told the auntie off..

mummy was commenting also on how the auntie toned down abit after daddy showed her some colours..

now i guess daddy needs to continue playing the role of the baddie so that denson can get the best treatment from the auntie..

we are putting up with her for abit longer and let's see what happens as we go along..

One thing's for sure, daddy and mummy was always act in the best interest of denson, parental instincts in action, watch out baddies!

Dad's rants

Daddy is going to rant about the confinement lady..

Let's start with the good things.. she knows what's she's doing, isn't afraid to insist on what she feels is right, take controls of things and seriously has helped to improve the kitchen area and its cleanliness since the day she arrived... she's quite skillful with denson and is able to provide her inputs on matters apart from denson's welfare, commenting on mummy's confinement schedule, bathing schedule etc..

now the rants..

knowing what she is doing also meant that there seem to be little or no room for any negotiation.. no latch on for baby.. don't talk to him at night after certain hours, don't carry denson too much so that he doesn't get too used to immediate comfort.. so much more..

i guess at the end of the day she met well.. but what irritates daddy sometimes is how she makes it seem that it is daddy's fault that denson is crying instead of sleeping soundly.. denson cries, daddy and mummy try and comfort him, after awhile, he doesn't show any sign of settling down.. daddy suspects diaper change is due so picked denson up from the playpen onto the diaper changing mat to do a quick check.. auntie comes in and speak in such a way that daddy shouldn't have picked denson up and that denson is crying because he is trying to get some sleep..

so it's daddy's fault now uh?

mummy finished her longan drink tonight and auntie told mummy that she will brew for her again tomorrow.. so mummy got no longan drink when she wakes up twice at night?

Daddy is brewing longan drink for mummy but auntie was like so shocked to see the pot boiling.. if she cannot prepare enough for mummy, daddy will do it.. she still have the cheek to tell daddy that she has already told mummy that no more for tonight..

Daddy is keeping in all in and remaining cordial

Daddy (and mummy) is putting up with auntie for denson's sake.. daddy isn't at home during weekdays so daddy is well aware how much of a help the auntie is in taking care of denson, cooking for mummy etc..

Another 2 weeks plus before she goes.. on one hand, we can finally do things our way, using our parental instincts and knowledge from the books and antenatal class to good use.. on the other hand.. mummy will have to bear the full responsbility of looking after denson with little or no help and food quality is going to drop too..

sometimes daddy hope he can afford 2 months of no-pay to be with mummy and denson through this 2 months, but daddy needs to work to bring home the moolah

Be good denson

Daddy's Experience

Daddy hasn't blogged much, mummy has been doing most of the updates..

let daddy trace back to the hours before denson was born then:

2350 - Gynae did a check on mummy and it confirmed what daddy thought.. c-section was necessary.. there was some quick talk about going for epidural c-section so that mummy will know what's going on and hopefully daddy can be inside the operating theatre (OT) as well.. nurses came in and began preparing mummy for the procedure.. daddy was rushed to pick up the bags and get ready to move off..

2355 - daddy felt that the atmosphere was being made tense.. yes, its was considererd an emergency c-section but it was more like urgent than actually emergency.. but the nurses just made the whole situation seem so hectic.. as daddy followed mummy out of the Operating Theatre, Gynae was nowhere to be seen, just 2 nurses escorting mummy on the OT bed and another directing daddy to wait outside the WARD. WARD?! daddy wanted to be with there and mummy.. mummy was whisked off into the lift and daddy didn't even have a chance to say anything to mummy!

0000 - daddy told nurse that daddy wanted to be inside the OT but nurse informed that Dr gave no instructions, daddy had to asked nurse to help daddy ask Dr if daddy could get in.. daddy really wanted to be there to see denson's first moments and more importantly, to provide suppport for mummy after all the things that mummy had to go through before we head to the OT.. but the nurse just told daddy.. "i will ask doctor, if ok, i will come out and bring you in, if not, the next time you see me is when i bring your baby out liao".. daddy was left alone at the lift lobby just outside the Operating area.. no clue where he was, no clue where mummy and baby is doing, no clue if daddy will be able to get it.. all sort of thoughts ran through daddy's mind.. worrying about mummy, worrying about denson..

0015 - still no word, still no sight.. daddy getting edgy.. very worried, abit angry at how all this went and how he was not around mummy, letting mummy go through the c-section alone.. is mummy ok? is denson ok? how long will this take?

0025 - daddy quite certain that daddy wouldn't get to go in.. every sound and every moment in the quite lift lobby area alerted daddy.. daddy stood outside the door area which led to another 3 doors and 1 corridor.. 1 of the door stated Operating Theatres.. daddy didn't even know which one.. silence accompanies daddy.. only the constant click of the analog clock kept daddy aware of each passing second...

0035 - still no word.. daddy gets more worried by the minute.. why is this taking so long? will daddy get to hear denson cry from the outside? what happens if daddy goes pass beyond the line and ventures into restricted zone? is the security camera on top of the entrance working? will someone stop daddy? daddy walks away from the door entrance and sits down for a rest, tired from the wait and anxiety..

0035-0045 Daddy was alerted by a sound and rushed to the door entrance.. the nurse that last spoke to daddy finally appeared after so long, daddy had no sense of time except to ask the nurse if both mother and son are alright.. daddy was relieved when he say denson and was informed by nurse that denson was fine.. a quick check by daddy on denson and we quickly proceed down to the maternity ward

0048 - Daddy is down with nurse at the maternity ward, denson is put on the weighin scale and records 2.59kg.. daddy and nurse check through denson's fingers and genitals.. denson is wrapped up and placed under the warmer.. nurse informs daddy of denson's birth time and that mummy underwent GA

0110 - Daddy informed that mummy will be kept under observation before sending her down.. daddy can place the bags in the ward but must come out immediately since there's another lady in the ward.. daddy and mummy wanted single-bedded ward but there weren't any left when denson was born.. had to make do with 2-bedded ward..

0120 - Daddy spoke with neighbouring lady to apologies for the inconvenience and that daddy is waiting for mummy to be back from OT.. daddy went outside to sit at the couch in the corridor to wait for mummy to come down..

Not sure what time - Daddy was very tired yet very worried about mummy.. nurses in nursery informed daddy that he cannot keep going into the nursery at such late hour.. daddy saw mummy coming out from the lift while standing outside nursery.. nurses settled mummy down

Ard 0200 - Daddy tried talking to mummy but mummy was groggy... daddy felt so worried and sad to see mummy was groggy but was also relieved that mummy is fine now.. daddy tried to speak to mummy to check with her if she can hear him.. mummy could only nod and shake head to answer.. daddy know that it will take some time before mummy gets more awake..

0230-0300 - Daddy took his supper and breakfast of milo and milo outside the delivery suite and say hi to the nurses.. daddy headed back to the maternity ward and made another attempt to sneak into the nursery to take another look at denson.. nurses were uneasy but let daddy have his way..

0300-0320 - Daddy spoke to mummy and mummy could finally answer.. daddy showed mummy some pictures of denson on the camera and assured mummy that denson is okie.. daddy was relieved that mummy could open her eyes and speak coherently.. daddy told mum to rest and that he will be back in the early morning as he was not allowed to stay.. nurses had reminded daddy at least 4 times that he cannot stay over by now..

0335 - Daddy took one last look at denson (again irritating the nurses) before leaving.. denson took cab to grandma's workplace to update her on what happened and show her denson's pictures..

0350 - Daddy headed home for a quick shower and nap after being at the hospital for some 27hours..

0700 - Daddy is back at the hospital and saying hi to the same nurses that he saw some 4hours ago.. mummy is resting well and denson already looks slightly different from the earlier pictures..

The rest, they say, is history..