2 weeks Post Partum: Jaundice & Breastfeeding Journey

Today marks 14 days of newborn life with Audria.
Her jaundice has dropped from 256 to 220 to 203 to 206 then 160 today.
She was discharged from MAH at 145.
So it peaked from day 5 onwards.
BF and confinement food (ginger, red dates, the likes) contributes to it.
So staying away from the above ingredients helped a great deal.
With the help from morning sun from 8-10am daily.

What a great test of faith the past 2 weeks!
Next saturday is the review, am confident it will fall below 100 this time.
I don't like her to be pricked all the time =/

We are using Huggies Just Born sizing for diapering.
Realised Huggies Newborn is too big and Goo.N (small) is extraordinary huge.

Huggies have smaller cutting, extra back leak guard for poop explosion, urine indicator turns blue, holds pee/poop well and more importantly, its thin and therefore breathable.
We use an average of 8 diapers a day.
Rather change once its soiled than to risk her getting skin allergies and going to the PD.

I am an exclusive breastfeeding mum.
The first 2 days at hospital with FM and just suckling on my breasts but i doubt my milk has come in yet.
Her stay at KKH was a mixture of FM and breastmilk.
After which, when i came home, i was battling with getting the correct latch and also with my engorgement thus we shuffled between cup feeding and bottle feeding her.
With bottle feeding, i used my SpeCtra S1 pump, yielded about 100-120ml by Day 6.
Right now, I'm not too sure how much I'm producing but i alternate between right and left, 15mins each.

About the engorgement, we hired a lactation expert to help me at home.
She charged about $140 for 90mins.
She taught me how to use my pump, correct latch, how to massage my breasts and how to clear engorgement.
I benefitted greatly from the 2 hours session.
But i still struggled a bit the day after.
From week 2 onwards, the BF journey was way easier when my engorgement cleared.
No more hot compress and all those jazz.

Now i have soft and nice breasts for feeding (:
Gotta maintain it though.
If you need her contacts, please feel free to reach out to me.
She is God-sent!

With my nursing cover, i can easily nurse her anytime, anywhere.
No need to wash bottles, pump parts, sterilise, warm up frozen milk.
Audria have fresh milk on demand!

Am currently nursing her 2-3hourly.
Sometimes i accidentally oversleep and she doesn't wake up crying for milk either haha.
Will decrease the hours, or demand-latch when she is completely cleared from jaundice.
For now, i need her to feed regularly so she can pass out the bilirubin through her urine/stools.

Those days when my breasts was engorged and my milk supply was miserably low, i was super upset and depressed.
I had to hand express the milk and i was afraid she wasn't getting enough cause she is used to having FM during her hospital stays.
Ultra panic mode for me. I nearly caved in to FM on so many occasions.
But the moment i decided to relax and command my brain/body to produce milk for her, the milk flow just multiplied that very day.
God is so so good!!

We do not use pacifier to soothe her.
She is a pretty good baby.
Once she had sufficient milk, she either falls asleep or plays by herself in her CocoonAbaby.

Sorry for the lengthy post, my breastfeeding journey wasn't exactly that straightforward for me.
It was nothing like what i imagined it to be.
Hope this post will encourage you guys to do BF for as long as you can because the benefits are way bigger than all our obstacles and lack of quality sleep right now.

You got this!

2 weeks Post Partum: Gynae checkup

Today marks 13 days post partum and my first gynae follow up.
Wound is healing well.
I weight 45.8kg as of today.

So thankful we have Dr Poon on this journey with us.
He has been nothing but wonderful, patient and professional (:

You see some spots and darkening of skin due to hormones during pregnancy and also from the usage of Bio oil.
My tummy is almost flattened from breastfeeding but not as toned as before.
I'm definitely not in a rush to get back in shape.

Baby's umbilical cord dropped off on Day 12.
Looking forward to giving her a good warm shower once its completely dried up.

I have requests to show whats in the Mount Alvernia Hospital goodie bag.
What came along with it was a special 55th anniversary Nestle pack too.
I don't have a clear photo but here are a few things they gave:

-changing mats
-nursing cover
-magazine
-vouchers
-Avent breast pads
-Komodo and JJB travel size shampoo etc
-the free bath tub as well (it cracked on the 2nd day after discharge as my mum went down to have it exchanged)

Thinking back, i really enjoyed my 3D2N stay at MAH.
Big and new room, a pity i didn't get to use the shower but my husband enjoyed his 1N stay too (:

Next post will share more on my breastfeeding journey and post natal depression.

Bows and Ribbons Photography review

If you are looking at doing a newborn shoot, we highly recommend you engage them.
They only shoot on weekends and slots are extremely limited so book fast!

We engaged Tim & Yuyeth (husband wife team) for Audria's shoot.

She was 7 days young then.

The only reason why i chose them was because they use natural lightings and Yuyeth is a natural when it comes to pacifying a baby (:

We opted for the Luxe package and they aim to complete the shoot with 3-5 hours.

Have you seen the memory box and thumb drive?

They way the end product is presented to their customers SOLD ME COMPLETELY.

Do check out their gallery on Instagram or Facebook.

There are many other companies which i did consider such as Ashley Low, The Studio Loft, Cottony Photography, P.S. I Love You, Koji, but Bows and Ribbons Photography stood out to me.

Some props they brought along for the shoot.

They provide clothes/props for the Mother and baby.

Below are some behind the scenes, Yuyeth changed her diapers, soothed and fed her in between shoots when she gets hungry.

We got to sit around, have lunch and just rest.

Trust me, your baby is in extremely good hands.

Yuyeth was really patient and friendly from the time i contacted her right up till the day we met for the shoot. Did i mention, she is really pretty too? (:

Can't wait to get our birth announcement and also password to the online gallery!

Below is a sneak peak, do book them early! 

Post Partum: The Labor & Delivery

As you all might have guessed, i popped last Saturday!
I'm juggling with baby and lack of rest so this entry will be a short and sweet one until i find the time to update.

If there're 2 things you need for post partum, its a nursing cover and a breast pump.
I'm using spectra S1 and currently producing 100ml of breastmilk, every 3 hourly.
Of course what i really need now is more milk for the LO and quality rest. Haha.

Timeline from labor to delivery:

3.43am leakage in the middle of the night during sleep.

6.00am waterbag burst.

7.25am admin Mount A.

8.08am doctor visited me to check dilation. He confirmed my water bag broke through ultrasound. Baby's head wasn't engaged at this point.

9.22am had hospital breakfast.

10.00am more gooey stuff coming out of my you-know-where. Doctor instructed nurse to start me on fleet enema.

10.30am 1cm dilated only.  So he started me on a drip Syntocinon to get contractions started. He said no need to insert pill for induction cause cervix is soft. I was having contractions as per CTG but i couldn't feel it. So this drip is suppose to give me the "oomph" and get things going.

12.32pm 2cm dilated, menses cramp feeling but it was manageable cause i had laughing gas.

2.50pm couldn't take the sudden pain and decided to get Pethidine injection at my buttock.

3.15pm 5cm dilated.

4.00pm started feeling the urge to push. But my pushes were not efficient, doctor asked if i wanted vacuum since i was getting tired. We opted for it.

4ishpm birth of my baby girl. All the discomfort in the world disappeared when i saw how beautifully made she was (:

Weight of baby was rather close to what my gynae told me on the last visit; 2.2kg.

In short, this is an assisted natural delivery with no epidural. Overall a quick and smooth labor.
Afterwhich Dr Poon sew me up and i played with my placenta to kill time (1 cough was all it took for Stage 3).
Very thankful for a good gynae throughout my 37 weeks of pregnancy.
PD Terence Tan was checking on baby and Marcus was taking photos for me.
Rested, got skin to skin and wheeled up to St Michael's Ward.

It was peak period, so we got the last single suite available.
It was the largest room!

First night, i sent my husband home to set up the cot.
Second (final night), he slept over with me.
Food was ok, nurses were nice but lactation consultation didn't benefit me at all.
I found it so hard to latch.
Service was quick, the moment i call for nurse, they appeared in my room.

We had as many as 18 visitors in the suite at one time.
Thats how roomy it was as compared to the other St Michael's ward rooms.
Baby blessing was done after we checked out of the hospital.

All the food i ate/ordered during my stay:

Day 3 morning (Monday) was a hectic one cause husband had to do a lot of admin stuff (run to pharmacy, get birth cert done at business office....)
So if you have a choice, avoid giving birth on Sat.
I had to wait till Monday (for office to open also) for lactation consultant to see me, and PD was with baby so i didn't get any hands-on lesson with her. Sucks.

So during the stay, baby suckles on my breasts but she is fed with 20-25ml of formula milk.

Transition from hospital to home was pretty alright.
Everyone is trying to adapt.
My dog went mad and jealous haha expected.
She sleeps well with the CocoonAbaby.

I'm still working on the latch.
Till then, i just have to keep pumping since i will be engorged.
On the 4th day, i decided to engage Alice for BF home visitation.
She helped us so much, truly God-sent!
"Money well spent" Marcus said.

Day 5 was polyclinic checkup.
Her jaundice level rose to 256 so we admitted her into KKH for photo.
She is back with us now after 24 hours.
Meanwhile, i pumped at home and bring to hospital for her.
KKH supplemented with formula too, which i am ok with.

She is back home today, she latches on (tricky for me and her but we are trying) and we cup-feed her if she is still hungry. This avoids nipple confusion.

My precious little one (:
Please feel free to add us on instagram @bunchoffluff and follow us on our new journey.

We are so blessed to have her, and she is blessed to have Marcus has her Daddy.
He has been incredibly calm, encouraging and supportive.
Thank God for answering all our prayers, to God be the glory!

Will update again after my checkup.
Cant wait to find out my weight hehe (Day 10 post partum weight update: 46kg).