Rainbow connection

Megan has a very exciting weekend, she woke up by a bad dream. Daddy hugged her for 5 mins but she's crying up. Once I took her back and sang Rainbow Connection, the only song we played during pregnancy, she immediately calmed down. 

Very amazing!! 

Day 5

I think my right breast is getting better and better. It becomes much softer after pumping. In 20 mins, the milk volume from the right breast has reached 45ml. 

For the left breast, the situation is still more or less the same. I only got 15ml after squeezing by hand. 

I had another painful breast massage to clear the blocked milk ducts. The situation has improved once again! Yay! 

Hope everything will be fine soon. Afterall, it's only Day 5!!

Last but not least, I had received a bunch of flowers from Liz who is also on maternity leave. They are so beautiful. 

Day 4

Not sure if it's caused by hormones, I was really touched when I could finally take Megan home. When I saw Ah Lun holding his mini-me, I got tears in my eyes. 

We had no time to get the car seat, so I was holding Megan in the car. Quite dangerous I found it later. Baby was wearing the swaddling blanket from Joanne! 

Upon arrival, confinement lady jenny is about to come. She cooked a late lunch for us and showed some techniques of taking care of the baby. We found out that Megan loves bathing (basin sponsored by my family). Normally babies will cry when we drop them into water. But Megan enjoyed it so much!! 

Jenny left us at 8pm, and the real challenge came after this. Both of us were so tired, but we need to wait for baby to wake up to feed her. Since it's the first night in a new place, the baby cried so much and so loud that she was awake from midnight to 4am......

Terrible 1st night with baby. Since ah Lun needs to work at 5am and he had been exhausted taking care of me in the last few days, I looked after the baby on the first night. Quite a brand new experience for me!! We are not defeated, just need more time to understand our Megan. 

Day 3

Oh Megan! I love your facial expressions! 

It's taken at the first breastfeeding session. Must feel contented after getting milk. 

Waiting for Megan at the baby bonding session. He said 洗手、洗手、洗手

Baby Megan fell asleep during this 20 minutes. 

Another cute photo, looks like she's singing. Her mouth is in M shaped too. Funny. 

Well, i just briefly heard that breast feeding is tough. I regret that I did not read too much about this at my last trimester. I have got engorged breasts on Day 3. Doctor asked me to warm them up with hot towels. After I tried several times, the situation gets worse. I was told to use cold pads to cool down the milk ducts and let the milk out by hands. It's such a painful experience, but nothing will stop me. I just need more patience. 

So, this is what I have got after one hour at 3:30am and the sleepless motherhood will officially kicked off from now on. 

Day 2

Everyone says she looks like Ah Lun. So I decided to add an eye glasses here to see the touched up effect. Its 98% alike on Day 2. By the way, this was secretly taken at my first breast feeding session. 

Before breast feeding, I will need to cross check if this is my baby. I almost could not recognize Megan because her look is changing so quickly. 

Oh this is so touching. Ah Lun is holding Megan for the first time. Because she wanted to let me rest on the first day, he is not going to attend the baby visiting session exclusive for parents for the first day. But he is waiting me until the second day, ie 28 hours after baby birth. 

Finally, we had our first family photo on Day 2, Oct 8.

Baby born on October is described as creative, intelligent and witty, and also rebellious!!! A challenging baby meets cheeky parents, let's see how's the development. 

Got some gifts from company yesterday. They have been so sweet. The book is from Albert and I heard this is a gift for every new mom in the office. ;)

In the evening, my sisters and BFF had visited us. They met Megan the first time from the window, and she wanted to have milk again. Hey, we just finished the feeding session half hour ago!! 

Welcome! (Part 3)

While Megan has not yet arrived, we were trying to have some fun. We ordered food to kill time, and actually the food quality here is great. 

After dinner, Ah yea gave me a surprise visit. The interval of the contraction was 10 minutes around that time. I still have some energy to play with Ah Yea and Ah Lun. 

After that, I took a shower and try to get some sleep. In the end, I did not get any because I was so nervous! Ah Lun was sent back home but he could not sleep either. 

At 12:30mid night, suddenly a nurse asked me to go back to the waiting room to do one more round of test. After telling Ah Lun, he was back to the hospital again to stay with me. At this point of time, I was finally asked to get changed. I look like people in the moomin village. 

We were still wondering when will we get changed a few hours ago. Feeling nervous after getting changed. 

In that mid night, we are chatting and killing time. From 4am onwards, the contraction is getting more serious but that's not too regular. 

Nurse informed us that the induction will take place from 8:30am. So we had a good breakfast before the battle started. 

I still can smile...

Induction started at 9am after check-up by Dr Connie Yuen. 

In the following 3.5 hours, it's a tough battle. In the first place, I was trying to delay my reliance on the medicine. After sometime, I requested for Entonox. Very lucky that Ah Lun was very cooperative in this process. We worked like a winning team since the injection on my left hand was so painful, while my right hand had to hold onto the bed rail when the contraction came. Ah Lun helped to instruct me when to inhale and exhale. When I requested for the pain killer injection, it was already 3-4 degrees opened. After a short period of time (may be quite long already), its 9 degrees already. I lost consciousness by that time and all nurses were so anxious because the baby is coming out soon. I was moved to the delivery room in a split of second. 

I was taught how to push my legs and pulled my hands, but I always got it wrong. Thanks to my strong hands, I pushed my baby out at 12:29pm. My legs suck, how can they be so weak after doing so many squat exercises?!

We were so exhausted after the delivery because the baby size was big and heavy (8.3lbs). Thank you Ah Lun for giving me this lovely baby but also his support during the delivery. He is such a supportive husband and I m so glad that he's not afraid of blood. There's really lots of blood. 

Baby Megan, we will meet you after taking some rest. 

Welcome! (Part 2)

It takes lots of patience to wait for red bean to arrive. After some serious cramps in the morning, the progress is not as fast as we expected. 

We decided to wait for one more day and if red bean is not coming tonight, we will use medicine to induce labour. 

After 3pm, I was sent to my 2-pax room for a good rest. But all of our neighbour's guests had been very noisy. Even though some guests try to keep their voice down, their chat still keeps me awake. 

I woke up at 3am this morning, and definitely I need some sleep. Ah Lun has left me so I could take a good rest. Sigh! But I could not sleep now and no one chats with me. 

In the waiting room, checking the baby's heart rate and contraction. 

Left: heart rate of baby

Right: index of contraction

我問阿倫，現在子宮收縮的度數多少？

佢好認真地話成萬幾了，我真係大笑出來！(當時應該在50之間左右）

呢部機的聲音也好古怪，阿倫又扮，又話裡面有隻白鴿在叫。真係幫我分散不少注意力。

阿倫話指數越高，頭髮會企起。可唔可以唔玩我住？？

這個活像引爆炸藥的按鈕，其實係記錄胎動

After second doctor check-up, I was sent to my room for rest. It's 557A. 

Settling in at the room. 

I am buying the thickest ladies magazines to kill time. 

Welcome! (Part 1)

Today is Oct 6, Monday. 

When I woke up at 3am to visit the bathroom, I found signal of labour. It's actually a surprise because my due date is supposed to be Oct 13, exactly one week earlier. I think the squat exercise last night was inducing the labour...

I was quite calm at that point because I learnt about the information from books and friends. I quietly woke Ah Lun up, but his response was so funny. I had never seen him waking up so quickly. I would say he was fully awake in just one second and sit up right at 90 degrees. 

I finished packing the last bit of my hospital bag while Ah Lun was freshening  up. We left a note to Tin Tin on the blackboard wall, and I said good bye to Kailan before I left home. 

Ah Lun drove me to Union Hospital on deserted roads. But we did not talk much, may be we were a bit anxious, excited and everything. 

After one hour of monitoring, nurse allowed me to check into the hospital because they found there's a pattern of contractions. 

Well it's not too painful by that time, and Ah Lun is joking at every minute, so time passed so quickly. At around 6am, I sent Ah Lun back home to take some rest. He also needs to cancel his jobs today too. Thanks his buddy for covering him this week. 

I took advantage of this morning quiet time to work on my last task - reviewing a PowerPoint deck. I managed to finish it before 9am and sent back my comments to office. Just on time! 

Now, I am so free now, trying to distract myself by writing a blog to get rid of the cramps. 

Red Bean, hopefully I can see you soon. 

Taken our first photo at the waiting room! 

Start of maternity leave

I worked until 11:30pm on Sep 30, but I still have not finished all the tasks. Officially I started my maternity leave on Oct 1, but I have to finish some more work before the baby arrives. 

Oct 3 is the second last antenatal check-up. Again, doctor is complaining of the big size of baby. She said the baby needs to come out soon! 

I have scheduled my last acupunture appointment on Oct 4. According to Dr Chain, the treatment will induce labour in a few days so I am feeling quite nervous now. 

Before I met my doctor today, I just realized my feet were so swollen! The left photo showed my leg without bloating! The photo on the right needs parental guidance seriously!! 

The last treatment was different from the previous ones. Dr chain put two needles on my last toes, which is supposed for facilitating the womb contraction. 

After the doctor visit, we made our last visit to Harbour City because I wanted to buy a new wallet. I admitted that I was too impulsive to buy the last one, it's not really what I like and I just wanted to spend some money due to stress. This time, I am planning to buy a nice one. We went to Mulberry in the end. 

Thank you Ah Lun!! I wanted to buy back a gift to this dad-to-be, but he has been giving me lots of excuses and resistance!! 

We had our cream puff at city super as usual. Feeling contented. So it's time to go home now. 

Harbour city was not affected by the Occupy Movement. We could not even squeeze into Pacific Coffee so we have to drink my sparkling juice on our way back to the car park. 

Well, I like this photo because I still looked pretty slim in this outfit. 

第N次

進入最後幾星期，每日坐地鐵都有人讓座給我，非常感動！今天是我返工的最後一天，肚皮真的超大呀！今日也是佔中第二天，交通比較繁忙，所以我特地遲點返，避開人潮。

回公司的途中，有趣的事發生了。我行至最後車卡的時候，同時間兩位男士起來，於是我連忙說多謝thank you，然後就坐在一位比較年輕男士讓出來的座位上。 

好感動的早上，謝謝兩位先生！

That pillow!!

Yes, we are using the same crown-shaped baby pillow. 

Are we ready?

Today, I am 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I need to work for 4 more days, Then I will start my maternity leave "possibly" for 6 months. Just thinking about this is nerve-wracking. 

The handover at work is taking place...I also just knew that my company is paying staff 100% during their maternity leave (10 weeks). And my family will still enjoy the medical benefit. Such a great company!! 

I am glad that the maid is settling well in the first week. She has kept my flat so clean and that's lovely. Her sense of cooking is there, but she needs some more training. May be pui yuet Jie Jie can teach her some great dishes later. 

My hospital bag is not finished yet, so as my state-of-mind. Kailan, are you ready too? 

Gift from Joanne

Joanne has sent a few gifts to me through her mom. They are all very nice gifts. 

The marimekko milk bottle is great, and cannot be purchased in HK! 

I also love the milk powder container too, as this could be the coolest design I have ever seen. 

Love the colour palette of all products as they are not too feminine. 

Leg Cramp #3

It's not as serious as the last leg cramp but still very painful. Because of my big bump, my hands cannot reach out to my legs, so what I could do is just to scream. I really did not want to wake up Ah Lun but I was so helpless and could not do anything by myself. 

四個字！

皇恩浩蕩！

我得到Haagen Dazs雪榚！

Gym at 35 weeks

After getting back some sleep after the exhausting overnight trip with BFF, we are heading to the gym for some exercises. 

I had been lazy lately becoz of busy work schedule and tiredness caused by my ever-expanding belly. Finally I made up my mind to go to the gym with him, feeling great after a section though I did not do a lot of exercises. 

I cannot push myself too much especially when I am going to deliver very soon. 

我可以食西瓜啦啦啦

好開心！從未發覺西瓜咁清甜！

同時，我也在飲清胎毒的中藥了。

Busy Sunday

We are counting down the days. Just 6 weeks to go, but I still have not got everything prepared. 

Finally we had this Sunday to complete most of the tasks (not all).Feeling happy that we have accomplished so much yesterday. 

We had our brunch again at Ocio as we can park our car nearby the restaurant. Ah Lun announced that he was still feeling hungry after he had finished 70% of his all day breakfast. I know he won't feel full after finishing my carbonara leftover, so we had a banana pancake. 

Everything is yum and we are going to start our home / bb purchase. 

We bought toilet seat cover (replacement), flower pot for his mint leaves, flowers for me, breast milk pump and many outstanding bb items. 

My house is full of bb stuff in boxes and bags. Finally we have time to sort things out. 

We also tested our crib and assembled stokke Tripp trapp high chair. Well, a very busy Sunday! 

Next week, we will re-arrange things in the kitchen to make milk bottle sterilization procedure a smooth one. 

Sigh! Preparation work never ends but it's quite fun anyway. 

First time buying lotus! $20 for 3. 

The pot is so lovely that we have to bring it home. Hopefully that it's easy to look after that tiny flower. 

第十八次

今次係一位叔叔讓座

上兩次都是女士

現在條腿都經常累，謝謝你們

Leg cramp #2

Ouch! It's so painful. 

This time, Ah Lun was with me last night. And I think he was terrified by my scream. 

Even I wake up now, the muscles are still aching!