Breastfeeding

With the birth of Baby Rae-anne, I thought that breastfeeding would be a breeze because I have successfully breastfed my two other children but it was not as smooth sailing as I thought it would be.

Rae-anne is the biggest baby at birth among my children. She weighed in at 3.93kg; Ariel at 2.835kg and Rachel at 3.655kg. (somehow mummies seemed to have super memory when it comes to remembering such figures!!)

She seemed to want to drink more and I placed her at my breast whenever she wants to suckle (feeding on demand). But that suckling need seemed to go on and on... In the day it was alright as I have my parents to stand in if I needed a toilet break or a rest from carrying her.... but comes night time, I am all alone. It was very tough the first night I got home from hospital. I didn't sleep a wink as she was very cranky and wanting to suckle. I couldn't place her in her cot to sleep as she will awake minutes later. I couldn't rest and was exhausted.

I know that lack of rest will affect my milk supply so I decided to top up with formula milk for the night feed. It went on alright for the next couple of days. I managed to rest and more milk came in. I stopped the topping up of formula milk for another two days and she started to be cranky again in the night. In the end, I thought to myself that I would top up the night feed with formula milk and get some rest.

The recommended feeding of formula milk is 120ml for a month old baby every 4 hourly. (That means you can feed her that amount of milk 6 times in a day). I fed Rae-anne 60ml at night. I thought that if that amount could last her 2 hours, it would be enough for me to catch some rest. That was what I did and so far, she managed to sleep for 3 hours with 60ml of formula milk. The rest of the feeds are all breast milk.

I am taking fenugreek supplement pills to help boost my milk supply. My mum also makes papaya fish soup for me (lunch & dinner) and I am downing that red date longan drink every day. 

I am looking forward to seeing Rae-anne getting more and more puffed up. Her two siblings can't wait for her to grow up so that she can join in the fun (or nonsense) with them. 

I can't wait for confinement to be over!! I need my cold shower! 

Day 7 (16 Sep 2011)

I am due for my one week check up with Dr Lai today.
We decided to make a trip to Mt Alvernia to register baby's birth prior to my appointment.
Somehow naming our children has been an uphill task after Rachel's birth. We took quite a while to name Ariel and we still couldn't decide on our third child's name on the day of the registration.

After much deliberation, we narrowed our selection to a few names and we finally decided on naming our third baby:

Lee Yen Rae-anne 李嫣

Rae (Hebrew origin) is a short form of Rachel which means "ewe" (female sheep).
Anne (Hebrew origin) is a short form of Hannah which means "grace; favor".

I wanted a name that sound similar to Rachel, hence Rae-anne.

The chinese name 嫣 means "captivating".

Rae-anne's umbilical cord dropped out today (Day 7); the quickest among the three of them.
Rachel dropped hers on Day 12 while Ariel on Day 10.

Day 6 (15 Sep 2011)

The past two nights have been manageable. I am feeding baby with the best milk ever, my MILK!!
It's bye bye to Formula Milk and I am so thankful that baby is able to sleep an average of 2 hours in between each feed. That allows me to gain some rest and hence produce more milk.

Here's a shot of her on Day 6.

Confinement

11 Sep 2011
I was discharged from Mount Alvernia Hospital and it marks the beginning of a one month confinement period for mothers who have just given birth.
This first night at home with my new baby is something that I was totally not prepared for.
Baby fussed at my breast and cried the whole night through. She could barely fall asleep and at the very most only slept for half an hour in my arms or my mother's arms.
My mother and I took turns to pacify her as I was totally exhausted.
(at this point, I think I am still having colostrum and my baby's growing appetite is not met.)

12 Sep 2011
I decided to buy a can of formula milk (FM) to stand by in case she fussed at my breast again tonight. I will top up the night feed with FM. My milk came in a little bit more but my baby is still not satisfied.
I fed her 60ml of FM at 1045pm and she gave me a very puzzling look.
The top up feed made her sleep for 3 hours and it gave me much needed rest.
I nursed her for the rest of the night and she managed to sleep for another 2 hours.

13 Sep 2011
I was wondering if I should give her FM tonight. My gut feel is not to as I find her getting increasingly impatient at the breast and seemed to be waiting for the bottle teat. Amazingly smart babies.. as I only fed her once at night and another time in the day. If I give in to FM tonight, I would jeopardize my breastfeeding endeavor so once again, I go to my Lord Jesus Christ. I cast all my cares on Him and I asked Him to supply all the milk that my baby needs.

My milk came in much more and baby could nurse less impatiently and she ended up sleeping about 2 hours after each feed. She also enjoyed my mother's cradle and would fall asleep rather quickly when my mother carried her. I am so thankful for my mum's help.

My Third & Possibly Final Birth

I finally gave birth today.
After having endured a mild slipped disc at 32nd week, a false labour at 36th week, celebrated my 35th birthday with family at 38th week, stood 2 hours in queue at the Borders Expo Book Sale at 39th week, ate my favourite Peony Jade Yam mooncakes, Raffles Hotel snow skin cognac truffle, watched Cars 2 at 40th week with Rachel & Ling...

My baby was induced on 9 Sep 2011 at 917pm. Dr Lai ruptured my water bag to bring on the labour and 1.5hrs later, my baby was born (au natural) at 1047pm.

She weighed a hefty 3.93kg (the biggest among my three children), measured 52cm long with a head circumference of 35cm.

I sighed a great relief after intense bearing down. Halfway through pushing, I thought that I was not able to make it. I was on the verge of giving up. How could labour be so unbearable?
It was at that moment that my focus was on the Lord.
This is your labour Lord... not mine. You give me the strength to see this through. Within seconds, I found renewed courage and strength and kept saying, "i can do this... i can do this...." until my baby's head emerged and the rest was history.

Ling massaged my back the whole time I was in labour and he proudly caught the baby and cut the umbilical cord in a much reassuring manner as compared to Ariel's unexpected home birth back in 2009.

This is a miraculous labour. Great glory to our Lord.
The nurses were all very impressed with the peaceful manner in which I gave birth. They said I didn't scream and everything happened so calmly and neatly. I didn't soil much of the delivery suite. (and i can tell that the cleaner auntie was glad.) One of the nurses thanked me for giving her the privilege to witness such a birth and asked me to have more babies. I told her this is probably the last one.
Back in the ward, the nurses who attended to me and baby commented that usually such babies ended up in a emergency c-sect.

All credit goes to my Lord Jesus Christ. I prayed for a safe, fast and pain free labour. This birth could not have ended this way without His divine intervention.