Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I need more sleep!

Remember how I previously blogged about the little man sleeping through the night? That is sadly now a thing of the past! We'd finally gotten him to start napping during the day - one short nap and one longer nap in the afternoon for 2-3 hrs - and considering he never used to nap more than half an hour at a time, this was like a miracle! But strangely the better he napped in the day, the worst he slept at night!

For nearly a week now Nate's been waking every 3 hours in the night, turning mummy here into a walking zombie. We reckon he's probabably going through a growth spurt as well and so wanting to wake up to nurse. But surely a 4.5 month old baby doesn't need to feed every 3 hours in the night?!! It doesn't help that he's awake and wanting to play at 4am when both our brains are barely functioning.

Last night we tried to "dream feed" - waking him to nurse - just before we went to bed but that only gave us an extra hour of rest - he woke up 4 hrs later instead of his usual 3 hrs! Poor daddy who has been quite ill has been made even more exhausted by our little guy! While I'm, well, as alert and energetic as any sleep-deprived mum can be.

Now if he wasn't so darn cute, I would struggle a whole lot more!

(I'm biased, I know. But the mummy is allowed to be right?)

xoxo

Birthing Nathan

Just before I was due to deliver, I was very interested to read or hear other mummies' stories about how they had their babies. I guess it was because I wasn't sure what the signs of labour would be and just wanted to "check out the market" so to speak! Anyway I thought it would be nice to pen my own birth story so I never forget the funky details and also in case any mummy-to-be out there likes checking out birth stories like I did! :p

Most of my friends birthed at 38 weeks so there I was, bags packed, all psyched and ready to pop anytime after 37 weeks. I didn't go out much but just stayed home. You know, just to be safe. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in peak hour traffic on PIE with contractions!

The 38th week came and went. So did the 39th. Finally I decided I had enough about idling at home and went out shopping or meeting friends for most of the week that I was due. But still no baby! Shop assistants and strangers would look at me puzzled, your tummy is so huge you look like you're about to pop anytime! Shouldn't you be resting at home?!!

Exactly one week after my EDD, I woke up in the morning at 7am to pee and discovered I had what people call "the show". For some reason, a thick liquid kept trickling down my leg so I had to use a pad but it never occurred to me that my water bag had burst as well! My gynae appointment was at 830am and when I mentioned the liquid to the kind lady at the counter, she immediately put me at the front of the queue so I could see the doc straight away. And just as the gynae examined me for signs of labour, a whole load of liquid just gushed out of me and wet the bed!

At this point, I still had no contractions but was 1.5 cm dilated. The gynae warned me that if contractions did not begin naturally by that afternoon, I had to check into the hospital to be induced.

But we were assured that Nathan would come at God's appointed time without needing to be induced. So we took out some dimsum for breakfast at home and soon after I felt the first contractions! For some reason the time 3pm kept coming to me and I didn't want to be presumptuous and assume it was God's voice so we continued to monitor the frequency and duration of my contractions. By the time 3pm came, the contractions were 1 min long and 5 min apart! Time to go to the hospital!

At this point in time, I was 4.5 cm dilated. You could really feel the waves of contractions! They were starting to get more intense and obviously uncomfortable, but still manageable. The contractions picked up as the time past and each time it peaked, I had to close my eyes and squeeze Matt's hand while praying the scriptures I had memorised in preparation for labour. It was all ok if not for the fact the nurses kept coming in to persuade me to have pain relief! I had already stated in my birth plan that:

1) I wanted a birth plan as natural as possible without medical intervention unless necessary.
2) I did not want a pethidine jab or epidural. If I really needed it, all I would use was gas.
3) No episiotomy unless required.

They would go, oh you are obviously in distress, it's better for you to have pain relief. I was so annoyed! It didn't help when they said matter-of-factly that "the pain gets worse after you're 8cm dilated". Gee thanks!

Perhaps what the nurses said affected me, cos it really seemed that the contractions became so much stronger when I was 8 cm dilated! It was about 7pm and I had been in the hospital for about 4 hours. I was so tempted to ask for an epidural at this point! (Thankfully I did not, cos I would have been greatly upset to learn that you could only have an epidural before you're 5 cm dilated!)

It was also at this point that Nathan's heartbeat was showing signs of distress so I had to be put on oxygen. By then I gave in and decided to use the gas but no one told me you had to inhale as the contractions began, and not at the peak! The nurse said that it would be another 2 hours before I was ready to push but we trusted God to make sure it wouldn't be that long!

Soon enough, just 40 min later I felt a sudden urge to do a major poo! So this is how bearing down feels like! I quickly told Matt to go get the nurse and he was like, are you sure? Are you sure? I felt like screaming, yes I'm sure! Now go!

The nurse came in not believing I could be ready but when she examined and found me to be 10cm dilated, she quickly shouted for someone to get the doc cos it was time for me to push!

Then came the arduous part of pushing. I'd always imagined it would be a short time of intense pushing and then whoosh! The baby would be out. But no! I ended up pushing up for more than and hour and a half, sipping milo in between contractions for energy. Each time the nurse said oh we can see the baby's head! And I would be like, yes this is it! But I could not sustain the push and his head would withdraw inside me. These were the most exhausting moments of my life!

Finally my gynae who had been most supportive of my birth plan said we could not wait any longer as Nathan's heartbeat continued to show signs of distress so I would need to have an assisted delivery by vaccum suction (which also meant having an episiotomy. sigh.). By this point, I was sapped of energy and really, I would have said yes to anything to have the baby delivered! A quiet prayer for extra strength, a final push and at long last we saw our baby boy!

Because I had only used the gas earlier, Nathan was a super alert baby whose eyes were opened straight away and he scored a 9 on the apgar scale! The nurses cleaned him up and gave him to me to nurse which he did so right away with gusto. While I was being stitched up, Matt had the audacity to ask me casually, "So, how many babies do we wanna have again?" The nerve!

Post-delivery I could not stand up straight for 3 days as I had over-exerted my lungs while pushing. And my bottom was sore for the longest time!! It took the whole month of confinement for me to feel normal again. All these while having to grapple with sleep deprivation and adjusting to a young baby! Looking back now, I still get the shivers and wonder if I would be able to go through the whole process again.

But we know God has a special way of making mummies forget the pain when they see their babies! And then it's hello to baby #2, baby #3, etc.

Now is that cool or what? :)

After reading what I wrote, I realised I had made it scarier than it actually was! I hope I haven't scared people off having babies haha! Childbirth is really a very special experience that only we as women are blessed with. The men will never get it! The miracle of life within you, the joy of birthing your child... I thank God for my short, complication-free and definitely easy delivery (6 hours from the time I was admitted to when Nathan was born) and for the strength He gave me during the labour process. Everyone knows I'm a wuss when it comes to pain so it definitely was not my own strength that got me through it!

Having a birth plan also helped me to be sure of what I wanted and did not want during delivery - like not having epidural (i didn't want drugs which could affect the baby) - so you don't get pressured into making difficult decisions when you have to focus on your contractions! And it helps to have a supportive loving hubby inside the delivery suite with you! Matt was a darling, he braved the ahem, smells and sights, and prayed with me through the 6 hours till his mouth was all dry.

I think, with all honesty, that by God's grace, I could, and I would go through this all over again :)

xoxo



P.S. It took me half a day to just write this one post in between changing nappies, nursing and getting a baby to sleep!! I feel so productive.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Summer Sorbets!

Summer is really here! I love it how bright and sunny days can lift up our moods so much! Here are some recently completed custom orders in yummy gummy fruity drop colours ~ I regret that I can only take on custom orders that I am confident of completing within a espectable time period so thank you for understanding! Being a full time mom means everything else comes second to the little man :)

Still, nothing can keep me away from quaint roses and pretty gemstones so do watch out for more lovelies coming up!
xoxo

Thursday, June 04, 2009

new Ophelia - SGD 49 - Sold


I have made more Ophelias available but as I am out of pink tourmaline brios, I have used larger pale pink faceted rose quartz brios instead. They are a beautiful soft blush pink! Unfortunately the colour is not well-captured in the photos so it comes across as lighter than it really is. All components remain goldfilled. Drop is slightly longer at 4.5cm ~

I am offering them at a promotional price (it is the GSS after all haa) while stocks last!

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

mobile watching


Isn't it nice how easily satisfied babies (sometimes) can be?

A good old-fashioned wooden aeroplane mobile can mesmerise Nate for, like 15 minutes, but 15 minutes is better than none at all! He'll lie there happily staring at the twirling colours and chuckling to himself but will begin to howl if they stop moving. So clever mummy places a strategically-placed little table fan nearby to keep the planes a twirling and then she can surf the net for, erm 15 minutes. Haha.

xoxo

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Memphis - SGD 49 - Sold


I get inspired by wedding colour schemes and this blush, moss and purple ensemble is one of them :) Pale pink rose cabochons, faceted amethyst, peridot and green tourmaline briolettes with rose quartz, garnet and amethyst rondelles. Drop is about 4cm from sterling hooks~

Darlene - SGD 45 - Sold


Rose cabochons in a deep pink shade, smooth rose quartz and faceted pale blue aquamarine briolettes with clusters of apatite, labradorite and iolite rondelles and pearls. Drop is about 4cm from sterling hooks~

Rhea - SGD 49 - Sold


The combination of rose quartz and apatite is my current obsession cos the seafoam blue of the apatite just makes the soft blush pink of rose quartz pop! You can expect to see these colours appear quite a bit :p

Simple swirly tubes cut a willowy figure with the smooth rose quartz briolettes and clusters of apatite, moonstone, labradorite and iolite rondelles. Drop is 4cm from goldfilled studs ~

Lucia - SGD 55 - Sold


The weather is crazy HOT!!! I've taken to taking off the bub's top cos he's like this little furnace who gets extra grouchy when the mercury rises! So here's a cool petite number of faceted blue topaz and clusters of moonstone, pearls and goldfilled nuggets. Drop is 2cm from cubic zirconia goldfilled studs ~

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