Colic

We think Jeremy may be colic. Went to see the doctor who prescribed Dentinox, an anti-colic medication. So far combined with 'Yur Yee' oil, it has been working quite well. Don't need to carry him so much anymore, he seems able to settle himself to sleep with minimal rocking and also play at least 15 mins on his own. He also enjoys nursery rhymes on the cd player.
He is now 51cm and weighs 4.3 kgs. Surprisingly has not put on that much over the month. He has 8 feeds a day (every 2.5-3hours), totaling around 20-23 ozs. He has yet to sleep through the night but I think we are getting there. Bowel movement is usually once every two days on no particular time (some thing else we have to work on).
At this moment we are still unsure if we will go back to OUG at the end of this week as it would mark 6 weeks or to go back when he is 2 months (after his second immunization). We'll have to see how we progress this week and hopefully we wont get another unpleasant visit from my sis in-law (bro's wife).

Jeremy's Full Moon

Jeremy is officially, 1 month, 1 day old. The confinement lady has left and I am left to take care of him by myself. There are some habits I would like to 'un-train' such as wanting to be picked up all the time and to be rocked to sleep. I would like him to learn some independence and play on his own till he sleeps ( just like his cousin Kate-Lyn). This is important so that when I return to OUG, I am able to do some household chores without needing to carry him around or entertaining him all the time!
On his full moon (on 10th July), we didn't have any fancy celebration. Woke up early, took him to in-laws for morning prayers, delivered some full moon boxes of goodies (prepared by Ah Fah) and back to Ampang for lunch, followed by more deliveries. It was pretty hectic but finally every box (15 in all) were delivered by 630pm.
Upon returning we had a kind visit from Mr Durai (my aunt's chauffeur), his daughter and family. They brought gifts of cakes from Secret Recipe, baby clothes and a Johnson & Johnson hamper. We were exhausted and called it a day by 9pm.

10 Amazing facts about Jeremy

Here are some of Jeremy's amazing milestones thus far:

1) Born with a shocking head full of hair and weighed 3.6kgs to relatively petite mum and dad
2) Umbilical cord dried and dropped off at just 4 days
3) Able to lift head and turn from left to right at less than 3 weeks old while on his tummy (loves sleeping on tummy)
4) Ability to heal amazingly fast and well (especially scratches on face)
5) Able to recognise confinement lady by voice and smell
6) Able to see faces and track snapping fingers at 3 weeks old
7) Grunts and stretches a lot during sleep
8) Has major, giant poos
9) Tries to talk bag by gurgling and making baby sounds and sighs
10) Major sighs ('Hai') after sneezing and some times says 'ah choo'

More sleeping, less carrying

I am waiting for the day that Jeremy will play after a feed and fall asleep without having to be carried and rocked! Impatient mummy... He has developed quite a regular routine. Has his feed at 7am, plays till 9am. Has another feed and a poo before bath time at 845am. Another small feed at 915am and back to sleep till 1045-11am and then fed every 1.5 hrs-2hrs after that. He poos regularly twice a day around 6am-945am and 430pm-6pm. Confinement lady has asked me to purchase a small potty when he is 3 months old to train him to poo in it!
Last night was the first night in a week he did not kick up a fuss before sleeping. He didn't need to be carried for 2 hours till being put down. Hopefully he maintains this 'good behavior' indefinitely... No more feelings of missing the womb!!

Will he ever settle?

Baby Jeremy is turning out to be quite a handful, especially being settled before a feed. He seems to only like being fed either by the confinement lady or hubby (he also loves hubby's snoring at night). He really chucks a mental when I try to feed him...which makes me feel so disappointed and frustrated (what am I going to do when I am left on my own to care for him). I hope he grows out of this phase soon, otherwise he has to just get used to the way mummy does things!!
He has developed a pattern of being fed at 7am and keeping awake till 12pm. At this rate I may never get anything done before noon! I think it's from all the pampering and spoiling by daddy and 'lau koh' who love picking him up at the slightest whimper.
Today I gave him a bath and it was quite a task as he is getting heavier by the day. I am unable to bathe him the 'expert' way (confinement lady style) and will have to opt for a slower step by step approach of swaddling him first with nappy on before wiping face and washing head. This is then followed by a proper bath. Bathing him will eventually get easier once his neck is stronger and he is able to sit up.
On the one hand I can't wait for him to develop these skills but on the other I don't want him to grow up so fast. It seems like only yesterday that he was still in my tummy and I was anticipating his arrival! Babies are truly babies only for a short time and I guess we should really appreciate and enjoy what time we have with them....

Cameron Highlands Update

I think I failed to mention in my blog that we did make it to Cameron Highlands on the final weekend in March (my seventh month of pregnancy). We were there for 3 days 2 nights (Friday, Sat & Sun). Some of the highlights were of course the ever sweet sweetcorn, strawberries and vegetables (although my mum in-law said the prices were not any cheaper than in KL).

We bought 30 ears of corn between the both of us and ate it all within 2 weeks. The sweet potatoes were a disappointment as they were full of worms by the second week. Cherry tomatoes were yummy and so were all the honey we bought!
We visited the 'Boh' tea plantation and even got to visit a waterfall (got to get the name from hubby). Also bought a 'labu' for keeping chilled water naturally, which we have yet to put into good use.

It was a refreshing change to go there for the weekend and it cost us around RM800 for the 2 nights stay at Strawberry Park which included dinner vouchers worth RM200. I wonder when will we have our next holiday. Thinking about holidays make me miss my carefree days as a single and couple. Now we have to think of Jeremy before deciding on a destination!

Jeremy is two weeks old

Jeremy turns 2 weeks today. He has grown since then but I haven't got a machine to weigh him. Currently he likes to sleep on his right side (like me). He sleeps more in the day than night. Wakes up about every 2 hours for a feed and has to be cuddled more before sleeping at night. The poor confinement lady has to bear the brunt of sleepless nights for now. Hope he sleeps through when I take over! Overall he is an ok baby to take care of...
He feeds 13 times a day on about 23-25 oz of milk. Daddy will have to work harder to buy more milk powder ;-) I have taken to logging in how many times he eats and poos to pass the time. He loves to stretch and makes lots of 'cooing' sounds. Many think he is advanced for a 2 week old, comparing him to a 2 month old instead!

So far I have successfully bottle fed him a couple of times, change his clothes and diapers. The main challenge would be to give him a bath without too much crying.

As for me I am still recuperating from my cesarean wound. The pain is more bearable but still there especially when I get out of bed at night. This is probably due to poor circulation when lying down for long durations of time. I pray that by the end of confinement all will be fine and I can move around pain-free... Have slight fluid retention in my feet and calves. Will need to be more diligent with joint exercises. My in-laws think it's because I am on my feet too much. They think I spoil the confinement lady by washing bottles and being so pro-active with Jeremy. That I should take this opportunity to rest completely. But I think I'll go crazy with boredom plus I need to learn more as I will be taking care of him on my own plus housework and Daisy (our dog).

These past two weeks can really be described as 'falling through the days'. Some times I lose track of what day it is. Guess this comes with being a new mum.