Sick again

Some kids in the childcare are running around with running nose and cough. I really think parents should be more considerate and keep their sick children at home. As a result, our little one is sick again.

She first started to cough and have running nose. Over the weekends, the fever came. Yeye and Mahmah had to bring her all the way from Clementi to AMK to see Dr Chong on Monday, which happened to be Yeye's birthday.

Her fever came on and off, which worried all of us. Finally, the fever completely subsided after we faithfully fed her paracetamol and ibuprofen. But the cough and running nose persisted.

Yeye and Mahmah suffered the most when Tessa is ill, as I am now in no condition to take care of her at night. Tessa sleeps with them at night and thus they are the ones to suffer from sleeplessness. Poor them.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sorry for the lack of updates.

We celebrated Mother's Day and Yeye's birthday on 7 May with a delicious tze char dinner at our favourite Malu Malu tze char stall. We had black pepper crab and chilli crab. Yummy!

Although we did not have a birthday cake for Yeye, Tessa still sings Yeye the birthday song, help Yeye make his wish, pretends to blow out candles, cut the cake and eat it. She knows the sequence of the birthday-cake-cutting ceremony so well that she wants to repeat it for every one in the family.

Mommy receives a heartwarming "Happy Mother's Day" from Tessa once she woke up on Sunday morning. Sweet Daddy is getting Mommy her new Iphone. What a blessed mommy am I.

Conversations with Tessa

The little one is learning words at an amazing pace and she is beginning to speak in sentences. She never fails to amaze and amuse us with her speech development.

One morning, she came over to my room after she woke up. She strode across the room and picked up my mobile phone. Looking at the photo of her and her Dad on the phone, she said, "Papa, morning." Then she passed the phone to me and said, "Mimi, phone, call Papa." I told her that Papa is at work and we'll call him later tonight.

She looked a little disappointed. Then she put the mobile phone to her ear and started her make-pretend conversation with her Dad. After a while, she put the phone to her mouth and give loud kisses before putting the phone back to her ear and said, "Bye bye Papa."

She then turned to me and said, "Papa working. Papa come home tonight."

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Since very young, Tessa has developed a special interest in mobile phones. We gave her a spoilt mobile phone so that she will have her own phone and will leave ours alone.

One morning, refusing to drink her milk, Yeye wanted to pretend to call meimei and asked if meimei wants to drink the milk instead (a tactic Yeye used to bluff the little one to obey him). So Yeye picked up her phone which Tessa quickly snatched away from him.

Tessa: Not yours! My one!
Yeye: 借我一下，我打电话给妹妹。
Tessa: No! Not yours, my one!
Yeye: ........

Cycling with Papa @East Coast Park

Today is Labour Day, so Daddy said a little exercise will do us good.


Putting on sunblock to get ready to head out in the sun.


All buckled up and ready!


Yeah yeah!!


OK, I'm the pillion rider, Daddy is the cyclist.

All set, can we go now?

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!!

Today we celebrate Tessa's birthday. She turns 2 today. If you ask her how old she is, she'll tell you "Meimei 1, Me 2".

She had her Barney triple chocolate cake. She even learnt to make a wish before blowing the candles. This time round, she managed to blow out the candles without any help.

Mommy will upload photos of the cake cutting ceremony later. After we have all enjoyed the delicious cake, Daddy and Mommy took her to KidsAmaze at Safra Jurong where the little one and Daddy had a good workout climbing up and down.

It's amazing how fast Tessa is growing. I can still clearly remember the day she was born and when I first held her in my arms. I can't believe that 2 years have passed since. All that we wish for is that she is healthy and happy.

Happy birthday baby.


A beautiful Barney birthday cake


A not-so-happy birthday girl at first


Daddy & his little girl


Waiting to eat her cake


Yum yum, a satisfied little girl now

Daddy in China, Ah Mah in Hong Kong

Both Daddy & Ah Mah were not in Singapore these few days. Daddy has gone to China on a business trip and Ah Mah is on holiday in Hong Kong with her friends. Tessa is left to the care of Mommy and Yeye.

Daddy will be back in Singapore today. Tessa and Mommy will be going to the airport to pick him up.The night before, Tessa woke up crying in the middle of the night and refused to go back to sleep. Mommy has to soothe her by telling her that she needs to have energy so that she can go to the airport the next day to see aeroplanes, wait for Daddy and eat chocolate cake. Upon hearing this, the little girl got back to sleep fairly quickly.

The next morning, she woke up and reminded Mommy that she wants to go to "airport" to "see planes", "wait for Papa" and "eat cake". It was amazing that she remembered every single detail Mommy told her.

After her own shower, the little one waited patiently for Mommy to finish her shower. Once Mommy stepped out of the bathroom, she ran to pick up her shoes and asked Yeye to help her wear her shoes as she is going to "see planes" and "wait for Papa".

As a result of her eagerness to leave the house, Mommy and Tessa reached the airport fairly early. So Mommy brought Tessa to Swenson's for ice-cream and french fries. Mommy let Tessa try the tartar sauce and she absolutely loves it. She was using her fries to pick up tartar sauce and then licked the sauce off the fries. She did this until she finished all the tartar sauce in the condiment dish.

Tessa was so happy to see Papa that she screamed "Papa" very loudly when Papa appeared at the belt to collect his luggage. She gave Papa a big hug and kisses to welcome him home.

Tessa @ School

Teacher Ingga and Teacher Zila set up a shutterfly website so that Mommy and Daddy can see photos and videos as well as read up on what we are doing in school every week.

Last week, we did a leaves project. We had to run around the basketball court to collect leaves, then paste them onto the paper using masking tape. It was alot of fun!

IUGR

Never have I ever thought that I would encounter any major problem in pregnancy. As much as I thought that those problems that I have (piles, constipation, SI joint pain) are bad enough, the news I received yesterday was way much worse.

Although Dr Anna reassured me that it is nothing major at this point that I should be worried, but hearing that there was reduced blood flow to baby made my heart sunk. I was suddenly very afraid. The more I googled on the topic, the more worried I get.

But I am sure my little boy is a warrior and he'll fight alongside with me. I will give my all to protect him from harm. I am sure both of us will emerge stronger from this battle. From now on, I'll have to eat well and rest well. Nothing is more important than keeping myself healthy so that I can provide the best for my little baby warrior inside me.

Some ways to improve blood flow to foetus:
(1) nutrition - Some studies have shown that increasing maternal nutrition may increase gestational weight gain and fetal growth.

(2) bedrest - Bedrest in the hospital or at home may help improve circulation to the fetus. Lying on your left will also help in blood flow to the foetus.

For those who are like me, unsure of the severity of the condition, you may be interested to read this article: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/UVAHealth/peds_hrpregnant/iugr.cfm

It's a...

Yesterday I went with Mommy and Mahmah for Mommy's antenatal visit at NUH.

Mommy was made to lie on the couch then the doctor puts this device on Mommy's tummy and immediately we can see baby! It's so amazing! I can see baby's head, body and legs. The sonographer points out baby's eyes and nostrils, as well as the heart and liver to us. The sonographer has to take many measurements to make sure that baby is growing and developing well.

Finally nearing the end of the scan, the sonographer announced that I am going to have a didi!! I am so happy that I have to announce it to Daddy once we stepped out of the scan room.

After the scan, we waited for Mommy's turn to see Dr Anna. Dr Anna looked through the scan report and informed Mommy that there seems to be reduced blood flow to the baby. She asked if there was a family history of high blood pressure, but there was none in our family. Dr Anna said that we'll have to monitor baby closely and she recommends another scan next month to make sure that baby's growing well. Dr Anna asked Mommy to eat well and rest as much as possible.

OK, no more walking around for Mommy, Mommy must be confined to the bed.

"Chronically" Ill Preggie

In my line, I come across many chronically ill patients. People with diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc.

Now I feel like I'm also one of them, except I suffer from chronic pregnancy problems. Constipation, piles, headache, nausea, gastric bloatedness, SI joint pain, bad complexion; you name it, I probably have it.

So that makes me a "chronically" ill preggie.

Everyday when I reached home after work, all I want to do is to lie down and be confined to my bed. I will feel so guilty. I should be relieving my parents and take care of Tessa myself when I'm home. I want very much to sing songs with her, play flashcards with her, read to her and fool around with her or even take her downstairs for a walk, but I simply do not have the energy to do so. I am really glad that Daddy comes by every night to accompany Tessa.

I am sorry baby, Mommy will try my best to perk up, OK?

Pregnancy Piles

Constipation in pregnancy is one of the main causes of pregnancy piles. For me constipation has caused piles when I was pregnant with Tessa. Now it's happening again.

The last time after I delivered, I suffered serious pain down there because my episotomy wound was very close to my piles. This time round the piles problem seem to arrive even earlier.

It seemed like a never ending cycle. I’d get constipated and try to go to the bathroom, only to end up straining and making my piles problem worse. I experienced piles pain and nothing really seemed to help. I increased my water intake as well as tried to eat more fruits and vegetables. Doing these things helped get things moving for a while but then constipation would strike me again.

My bottom hurt while sitting and lying down. I had no idea how to get rid of piles but knew I could not just accept them as a normal part of being pregnant. And I was leery of trying over the counter creams and ointments. Dr Anna prescribed a gel which she has also given to me after I delivered Tessa, but the gel only helped to numb the pain a little but does not elevate the problem.

I am starting to get really worried about delivering this baby. I can't imagine the enormous amount of pain I would then have to go through. I am scared. So scared. I don't know how this is going to affect my postpartum recovery, but recalling the past experience that I have, I'm definitely not looking forward to it.

多人多乐趣

我们刚从普吉岛回来。难得的二人世界，但我们时时刻刻都在想念着家中的宝贝。她现在在做什么？公公婆婆有没有带她出去玩？她有没有想念我们？

我们总会不经意地说：要是宝贝在就好了；宝贝一定会好喜欢这里的泳池；宝贝一定会很喜欢这里的儿童游乐场和康乐活动；宝贝一定会吃得津津有味；宝贝……

原来，有了‘家’之后，二人世界变得不精彩了。二人世界其实可以很单调、很乏味；还是有宝贝的生活比较多姿多彩多乐趣。我想我们现在还是比较适合举家一起旅游，因为真的是多人多乐趣，虽然麻烦也会跟着多了，但当中的快乐足以弥补一切。

尽管如此，这一趟的旅行还是很愉快的。难得的二人世界、难得的舒适豪华度假方式、难得的蓝天碧海阳光沙滩、难得的美食和购物、难得的人文文化；让我们再次累积收藏了许多美好的回忆。

Home Sweet Home!

Our little girl was finally discharged and has been home the past 2 days. She is slowly regaining her appetite and is active and happy again.

It is such a blessing, not to mention simply blissful, to see her play on her own, mumbling to herself. So joyful, so innocent, so carefree and so adorable.

Mommy and Daddy will be going away to Phuket this weekend for a short getaway. We have intended to bring her along, but with her hospitalisation episode, we've decided to leave her in the good hands of Yeye and Mahmah. We really hate to leave her behind, but we know it is all for her own good.

We still have to feed her antibiotics twice a day. We still face much resistance from her whenever we want to feed her medicine, but as soon as we warn her about the possibility of going back to the hospital full of nurses and doctors, she will give in and open her mouth to receive the awful-tasting thick liquid. We are going back to NUH for her review tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, the doctor will declare that she can be taken off her antibiotics.

Tessa is Hospitalized

I have repeated this story many times to many different doctors, I will repeat it just this once again.

28 Feb - Tessa saw Dr Chin because she has been crying whenever she urinate. Daddy suspects urinary tract infection, so we decided to send her to the doctor. It was hard to collect Tessa's urine specimen, but Dr Chin prescribed a course of antibiotics (Ospamox) anyway for her UTI.

03 Mar - Tessa stopped crying whenever she urinates, but she started to develop a fever. As both Dr Chin and Dr Chong are not open for business on Wednesday nights. We had to bring her to another doctor. The doctor predicted that the fever is due to the UTI, but I had my reservations because fever usually comes together with UTI, not after it, especially Tessa is on the tier-end of her antibiotics treatment.

Tessa's fever continued throughout the week. It peaked at night and hovered between 38 to 39 degrees. We are all very concerned and did all we can to manage her fever. She was very cranky and refused to take her medicine.

By Saturday, her fever has subsided a little, although it's still high at night. We decided to keep her at home on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday (10 March), she was alot better, so we decided to let her go back to childcare. Who knows on Friday night (12 March), after we've went back to Sengkang, she was down with a burning fever, running nose and cough.

So on Saturday (13 March), we brought her to see Dr Tan. Dr Tan is concerned about her temperature and her cough. He said it's upper respiratory tract infection. So he prescribed another course of antibiotics (Zinnat) to get rid of the nasty bacteria.

Come Monday, Tessa is still having relatively high fever (above 38), so we decided to bring her to our regular family doctor Dr Chong. Dr Chong advised that if her fever does not subside by Wednesday, we should bring Tessa to KKH A&E for blood test and urine test.

For the next 2 days, Tessa's appetite got worse, she refused to drink milk (most likely because we've been adding medicine into her milk). Then on Wednesday late night, her fever came back very high (39.3) and we decided to rush her to NUH Children's Emergency.

At NUH, the doctor who saw her was concerned about her prolonged fever and cough (Tessa has been coughing on and off since end January). She decided to conduct a blood test, a chest Xray and a urine test.

Throughout the physical examination, blood test and chest X-ray, Tessa was very quiet and cooperative. She is such a brave girl, I'm so proud of her.

The nurse drawing her blood.

The blood test and Chest X-ray showed signs of bacteria infection. The doctor suspected a case of early pneumonia and Tessa will have to be admitted.

But there is one last test to be done - the H1N1 nose swap. It was heartwrenching to watch the nose shaft the long swap into her nostril. She cried due to the discomfort. The H1N1 results will take 12 hours so in the meantime, Tessa needs to be at an isolation ward.

The next few hours were torturous and traumatic for the little one. Numerous tests will required and many nurses and doctors came in and out of our room. Her fever is still high and they had to force feed her the fever medicine.

The senior consultant A/P Loke told us that there were white spots on her chest Xray, suggesting lung infection. But they still have to rule out UTI and therefore we have to collect her urine specimen. They pasted the urine bag on her, but it collected so little urine that they can't do a full urine test.

In the end, one of the doctors have to insert a catheter to draw urine from inside. It was a traumatic experience for all - the little girl, Yeye, Mahmah, Daddy and me. Grandma and I were crying along with Tessa.

The urine test came back negative - no UTI. So it's a lung infection causing the cough and high fever. A/P Loke prescribed a course of intra-venous antibiotics. They inserted the needle into her hand - again a traumatic experience for her and me.

Throughout the night, she drifted in and out of sleep, and was perpiring alot. Her hair was always wet with perspiration.

Now the good news is, after the antibiotics and an overnight drip to hydrate the little girl, she is now feeling much better. She is urinating normally and her appetite has improved a little. She is able to drink 120ml of milk this morning and ate a char siew bao and some rice for lunch. She is also more energetic and has started to ask to watch her favourite Barney.

As I was writing this, the nurse came to start another round of IV antibiotics drip. She discovered that there is resistance at the barrel, restricting the medicine flow. The bad news is, they'll have to insert the drip needle AGAIN on the other hand.

My poor baby! I am sorry to have put you through all these sufferings. Please let her get well soon.