Jaundice

Chantal 1st visit to doctor Malathi which supposed to be her regular visit turn to nightmare, She has to be admitted for Jaundice.

I knew that something happen to her, when on the second day i looked at her, and she had this yellowish color on her nose and chick, then i asked my mother about it, but she told me that it was nothing and that she has to drink more. I heard about this jaundice, and it is commonly happen to a premature baby, but chantal was born normal, not premature though.

The only reason that i could think of behind her jaundice was the weather condition in Singapore, it's been quiet unhealthy since a couple weeks ago, thanks to the burning forest in Indonesia, which gave such a bad haze to Singapore. Thus, she has to be treated under UV lights, and because she is on total breast feeding, i will need to stay with her.

So we both were admitted on the same day, and she is straight away being placed in one of those horrible bed. First, she was crying her heart out, due to her being strapped with only diaper on, and being placed on flat surface which made from acrylic material. Then, the good nurse, came back with the nicer bed, made by Medela, it has a rubber surface which made it a little bit comfy for the baby.

As soon as she was placed on that bed, i couldn't help myself to cry, she had those eyeband, and was so hopeless. I know that everybody trying to comfort me by saying, it was common, and within 1 day, the yellowish will be gone. All mother will feel the same way i did when they child has to be hospitalized.

The night that we spend in the hospital was hard, i couldn't sleep, i kept looking at her, and try to wake her up every 3 hours, to fed her. I have to monitor her passing motions, and how her feeding. The good thing is her appetide has stayed the same, she still drink plenty of milk, and passed motion regulary.

The second day, her condition is getting so much better, can't hardly see the yellow, though the doctor said it is advisable to stay for another night. Her blood test came out that her Bilirubin are 195 which usually normal.

I was just so happy and couldn't wait to be discharge from the hospital, the 3rd day when the doctor came and check on her, she said chantal look perfectly fine now and can go home.

Chantal Nauli Setyoko

The Happiest Day

16th October would be the happiest day of my life,
The day when our precious one come to the world..
We named her Chantal Nauli Setyoko..
She was born at East Shore Hospital with the weight of 2.9 kg and height 49 cm at precisely 16:30 pm Singapore time.

I was in labor for 4 and half hours, the first 4 hours was painful though I was on epidural since the time I was admitted to the labor room.
The specialist who did the epidural asked me how's the pain in a a count of 1 to 10, and I said it was still bearable , so he only put 5 cc on the machine and told me I will be able to feel a little bit of pain for the 'pushing' phase.

As the dilation went bigger and the pain came more frequently,
i was squeezing my dear hands so tight that I think I might be damaging his fingers,
then when the midwives came to check my dilation, and saw that I was in pain, she called the doctor and asked whether she can increase my dose to help me with the pain.

However, when she did increase my dose to 13 cc, I was already 9-10 cm, and she jokingly told I suppose to be smiling when I am on epidural, not holding my face like that.

She asked me to exercise some pushing before my gynea came, and said i am ready to push but have to wait a little more for my gynea.

When he arrived, everything suddenly went very fast, at first i could still push my heart out, but then because i haven't had enough sleep the nite before, and i haven't had a any meal since morning, I'm totally exhausted when its time to push more.

They kept saying one more push, even my dear was encouraging me to push by saying "dikit lagi sayang.." and trying to be strong to hold my hands, wiping my face..but i guess i didn't push enough, so doctor said he will use vacuum to help speed up the process.

Then at 16:29 pm, she came out, and the first thing that i heard was my dear saying "udah sayang...cantik sekali anak kita, look..cantik sayang...kayak mama". Then i opened my eyes to look at her, and indeed she is so beautiful, and i can feel the tears came out from my eyes, as i said to my self, Thank You God, for the best gift He had just given me.

A new camcorder

Last couple of weeks ago, when we were browsing around at the Best Denki, we came upon a camcorder stall, then realized that we will be needed one of those camcorder for the new arrival. But what to choose? there are so many of them, and we didn't know which one will be sufficient enough with the right price for our pocket.

We then, look around and find this particular brand with function that we think should be sufficient enough for daily use. It was this Canon DC100, and it was on special (promotion). My dear said, that we should buy that instead of those expensive one.

However, when i went to buy the camcorder, the sales person who attend to my interest was so presistant that i should get the newest model instead. It was the DC20,as he showed me the different between them, i called my dear and said that we should take the DC20 as the price is on promotion and mind as well get the best one if we want to keep it for quiet sometime.

So there it is, we have a camcorder for our new arrival. It was already tested by my dear, he took some shoot and pics when we were at the Clark quay on saturday.

39 Weeks

I am now 39 weeksill hasn't feel any major contraction, my weight now is 62.8 kg and my blood preasue falls in normal 70/120. She is now approx 3.1 kg. We did another baby monitoring again, and she was doing the movement again.

I am hoping she will came out as soon as possible, the doctor said he knows i want the baby to come out soon, but he suggest that we wait and let the nature do the rest. Azizah, the nurse told me to do some walking, i guess i didn't walk enough since my parents arrival. We always took cab and never walk to long or far enough.

So as soon as i get home, i ask father to accompany me to buy some congee down at the station (my dear have to work from home) and then walk again to mc donald to get my mom some french fries.

After that, i took some rest and take a nap, woke up, took a shower and took my mom to eat her dinner at sushi tei paragon. Then we take a cab to clarke quay for dinner. We ate at 'clarkquay riverside' restaurant.

38 Weeks

I am now in my 38 weeks, the baby still moving very actively, i haven't experienced any major contraction, only some here and there. Nothing to worry about, said my doctor, between now and 20th october it's the time for "wait and see".

We took some monitoring of the baby hearhbeat and monitoring whether there's some contraction. The test it self took 20 minutes, and it turns out that she is very active inside me, cannot stop moving, and her heartbeat seems to be perfectly normal - fast and steady.

My weight is 62.4 Kg, my baby's weight is approx 2.7 kg, my blood preasure fall in 70/120 - everything seems perfect.

A total fraud..what a liar...

I couldn't believed what my brother was telling me when he was here, i didn't notice that he did wrote a comment on my previous post about "a million little pieces" by james frey.

It turn out that he wasn't all true about his book, it was totally a made up stories, he didn't experience all that, let along was charged in 3 different stated in US.

And he told Oprah about this lies when he was interviewed by her in a national television across the nation and probably across the world for that matter.

There was an investigation by the smoking gun that reveal about his true lies. A complete report on how and what can be found in here.

A lady name Pauline

A lady name Pauline came to my place this morning to help me with some cleaning around the house, which also include some ironing. My hubby insist i look for a cleaning lady to help me cleaning the place once every week. I had her number from my dear friend Anne, who get her number from her other friend. The lady live in Pasir Ris, so she doesn't have to travel too far from where she live, and she is from Philippine, around 40ish and had apparently a singaporian citizen, so it is legal to hire her as a part-time helper.

As soon as she arrived, we had a small talk about the weather and how she get here, and then she is ready to start the day, she clean very well though...every single corner of my place was shiny and smell so fresh. Although my place wasn't that dirty to start from, i least from what i saw, she is rubbing everything, even the wire that attached to my rice cooker. :)
Uh and one other thing...she is a very happy lady, because while she clean the place, she always sings. This is a sign of a very happy person.

I am so glad that she is helping me with those small details. Thanks ms Pauline.

Kolak

Yesterday after discussing whether i should make my own kolak or look for a place where they sale them, i went to geylang serai and search patiently for kolak to saviour my sweet tooth.
disappointed, there were no kolak around, i ended up buying "paru balado" for my dear instead, hiks...Malaysian born singaporian didn't consume any "kolak" during fasting month in singapore.

So i took a courage to ask some help, i send an email to ISM and ask anyone who ever bought or saw a place where they sell kolak. And yes...within a couple of minutes, those nice mum in ISM come to my rescue. One mum told me they do sell 'em at jl pisang in bugis. Yihhiiiiii....at last, a bunch of thanks to ISM Mum...

PS: for those who doesn't know what kolak is, it is an indonesian sweet beverage made from coconut milk, palm sugar, bananas cutlet and "singkong", usually made during the month of Ramadhan. They are absolutely delicious , especially for people who love sweets foods.

A nice short visit

I have received an email from my older brother that he will be stopping by for a half day on his way to Kobe, Japan. At first i thought his flight was on 2nd oct, but when i received an sms from him this afternoon, i was shock that his flight was actually today arriving at 4pm in singapore, and his next flight to japan will be around 1 am at night, and that 2nd oct was the day of his meeting in Japan.
Luckyly we didn't have any plan for this afternoon, and beside the weather looks pretty gloomy,

i think it will rain quiet heavy today.

And...whoooalaaa...the rains pouring so heavy we have to close all the window in our apartment. (we does have a lot of windows in our apartment). So i sms my brother, telling him not to take mrt to our place, and ask him to take a cab instead.

When he arrived, it was already 4:30 pm, and the rain had finally stop. He does lose a bit of kilos, and kinda look skinny for that fact. And because his skin is always be the darkest from 4 of us siblings, after loosing that kilos, he is back to his original skin, which is tan or more likely dark! Hehehe sorry bro...

Around 5ish, we took a cab to orchard as my brother want to go to Kinokuniya, it is the only place that he had interest (yupe, he is such a book lover), we ended up buying 5 books too. Heehehehe.

After that we grab some dinner at Pepper lunch, and then we head to cosmopolitan at Wisma to drink some beer and chat. No..i didn't drink any of those beer if you guys wondering, a glass of ice chocolate milkshake for me please...:)