Post Delivery – Day 3

Breast fed baby at midnight and she passed motion and urine after that. Her weight has decreased to 2905gm. It is considered normal for newborn to lose 5-10% of body weight in the first week and then gain back from the second week onwards. 

As soon as the nurse took baby back to the nursery, I went to take a hot shower. The last time I showered was 2am on Monday… Since no elderly is around to nag at me, I had an enjoyable long shower. Finally got rid of the sweat, oil on face, and clean up the wound. I can’t imagine people who stick to the confinement rule of not bathing for the entire month. Gross max! 

Lochia discharge was still very heavy. Had to use new maternity pad every few hours. I didn’t use the disposable panties which I brought to the hospital, instead I use the disposable shorts (tight boxers-look-alike) which Joyce gave to me. It’s the same as the one provided by Mt Alvernia on the day of delivery. I stained the pair on the first day so I had to use new ones which I brought. It keeps the loop maternity pad in place. 

Baby breast fed for an hour at 4.40am. Then Dr Tho came in the morning, 7-ish am, to check on my wound before giving the green light to let me go home. My next review with him will be in a week’s time at his clinic. Stitches still hurts a little and I continued with the painkiller at twice a day. Dr Tho asked me to slowly taper it off. 

Breakfast was served. This time I had French toast with bacon and mushrooms~ Yummy~

I rushed to wash my hair before mum arrives at the hospital. Unfortunately, I was caught red handed… Got nagged again. Since I had natural delivery, I will only be staying in the hospital for 2 nights. Wednesday, 27 May 2016, is my discharge day, and we have to leave by 11am. The Husband packed the luggage and stuff while I breast fed baby. Once we are done, mum and I pushed baby, in her cot, to the nursery while the Husband went to load our stuff in his car and do the discharge paperwork. 

Mum was not allowed into the nursery so she waited outside. The nurse collected a set of baby’s clothes and swaddle from me and went in to change baby into the discharge outfit. My identity tags were verified and made sure that they matched with baby’s. She then went through nursery discharge paperwork with me and showed me how to clean baby’s umbilical cord. I noticed that the clip on her cord had been removed. Next, I was given 20 pieces of alcohol swab for cord cleaning and baby’s health booklet. Baby’s remaining diapers, wet wipes, bath tub and free gifts from the hospital were handled to me. The identity tags on my hand were removed while baby’s were left on her ankles for precaution purposes. 

Baby remained in nursery until the Husband finished the discharge paperwork and payment. The nurse then pushes the baby cot to the lobby with us. She made sure that everything was collected and baby is safe in the car before she left. 

Yeah~ Home sweet home!

This is the hospital bag from Mt Alvernia. It has a cooler bag, changing mat, and a blanket from Tolly Joy.

This is the bag that came with the Mt Alvernia ladies card. 

This is a bag of freebies received at the hospital. 

Welcome home Baby Chloe~

Post Delivery – Day 2

At 4.30am, the nurse brought baby back to my room for breast feeding. I got more practices for the football hold. I used a couple to pillows as support for the baby so that I only need to focus on holding the baby’s head and neck correctly. After feeding, baby was brought back to the nursery again.

Dr.Tho came at 7+am to check on my stitches. He prescribed me painkiller and antacid, 3 times a day. I really need that because the uterus contractions are too achy. Was told that the stitches will heal in 2 weeks time and the uterus will shrink back. Meanwhile I can only feel sore and achy.

For breakfast, I chose porridge from the Tuesday Chinese menu. Mt Alvernia has different menu for each day and you can choose from Chinese, Western, Muslim , Indian menu etc. For mine,  it comes with a bowl of fish porridge, a small jug of Milo, a packet of orange juice and a small bread. 

I remembered having the fish porridge last year when I had my day surgery and it was not bad. But this time, it’s quite tasteless. =(  Regretted porridge after seeing the husband’s omelette. Made up my mind to choose breakfast from the western menu for the next day. 

Since I stayed in the single room, the Husband could stay over with me with a fee of $80.25 per night (includes 3 meals. pillow and blanket are provided during the stay). My first day was spent in the delivery ward but the companion fee is still charged despite no proper meal was consumed. The single room has a spacious attached bathroom, wardrobe, mini fridge, TV, free WIFI, free local calls, in-room safe, dining table, and a sofa which can be used as a bed for the companion.  There are 17 TV channels and one of it is a replay video on breastfeeding and how to take care of newborn. I find this video very informative and helpful for first time mum. 

After breakfast at 8.40am, the nurse brought the baby back for breastfeeding. This time she taught me cradle hold. I find that the Football hold position is more comfy for me. Anyway, both positions required a few pillows as support for my arms and baby. Baby was too sleepy and not keen to feed. 

Look at her nice forehead and sharp chin. I think her mouth is too pointy. Gosh, I have can’t stop staring at her and admiring all her features. Am I going to become one of those obsessed mum on social media???

Auntie and cousins came to visit and they got me a cute baby girl balloon. I got out of bed at 10+am to wash up and put on basic make-up because more visitors are coming. Can’t look too shagged! 

11.35am: Baby is breast fed and this time she sucks well. SZ came to visit me and just nice that baby is left in my room. I could still remember visiting SZ in NUH when she gave birth 8 months ago, and I was only in my first trimester then. Wow, how time flies!

Soon, lunch was served. Took picture of the half eaten meal because I was so hungry then!

I chose fish for lunch from the Tuesday confinement food menu. The meal came with stir fried broccoli, steamed fish, chicken soup, fresh pear, and orange juice. The food tastes great! Cousin Minmin was eyeing at the dishes so I let her try some. She likes it too. I guess hospital food isn’t always bad. Felt so wasted that I didn’t get to eat yesterday because I spent almost all the time in the delivery suite. 

This is the husband’s lunch. He chose chicken chop from the western menu. 

After lunch, I elaborated the story of my delivery to the cousins. And Cousin Minmin was surprised that the delivery suite is a single room. She always had the idea that delivery suite would have several preggies and all screaming in pain together. =__=” Sounds like horror movie to me. 

After lunch, Joyce came with baby Will to visit. Baby Will is almost 1 year old already! I came to visit Joyce in the same hospital last year. Omg, how time flies again! 

4.30pm, 6.30pm, and 7.30pm, baby fed well. She was with us in the room from afternoon till 8+pm. MIL and SIL came to visit too. Since I had to breast feed, most of the visitors (excluding my friends) have officially watched the feeding show FOC and mostly without permission. Thanks. You all just made me feel like the animal in the zoo. Even though you are female and older, it doesn’t mean you are entitled to watch me breast feed. Thanks for intruding my privacy. +1 post natal depression factor. 

And commenting on whether I have milk isn’t an appropriate thing to do as well. +1 post-natal depression factor. 

Dinner was served and this time I chose to have pork.

This time I was served with stir fried veggies, sesame oil pork, winter melon pork rib soup, fresh orange, and green apple juice.

Mum and MIL said that I could not eat the lettuce because it’s too “cooling”, so I had to give it to the Husband. =(   Other than that, food is yummy~ The Husband had western meal again for dinner. Didn’t bother to take a picture of his food because I was already hungry.

Finally all the visitors left by 8.30pm (end of visiting hours) and baby was brought back to the nursery. The Husband and I could finally rest. He went to sleep with 2 blankets while I was feeling very warm. My body was still generating a lot of heat just like pre-natal. Made the tough trip to the toilet to pee and clean up the stitches area with hexodane wound wash. I have never expected toilet trips to be even worse after delivery. After that I could finally lie down and rest. Been sitting on the bed for the entire day already.

And this pretty much sums up day 2 post delivery.

Post Delivery – First Hours

Baby’s cry was a bit gentle. Even after injection, she only cried for a short while. Such a brave little girl. 

After cleaning me up, the baby was passed to me and we had to stay in the delivery ward for 1 hour. I thought of trying to breastfeed her but I didn’t know how and was too tired. So I ended up carrying and observing her. 

She was really alert for the next 1+hours. She kept looking at me when I spoke to her and then looked at the surrounding. 

She responds well to sound and movements near her eyes. 

Her face was still quite swollen so I can’t tell who she looks like. I noticed her double eyelids, short lashes, big nose and ugly pointy mouth. 

After 1+ hours, the Husband went to get the Nurses. I was cleaned up again, given fresh hospital gown, transferred to a moving bed. Baby was placed in her cot and pushed by the Husband, while the nurse and Mum pushed me to my single room in St. Raphael’s ward room 361. The lady’s ward was full so I couldn’t get my desired room.

Baby was pushed to the nursery and the MIL and SIL followed the baby. Yeah.. Who cares about me when there’s a baby, right? Only my mum is more concerned and worried about me than the baby. This is why mum is always the best and in-laws will forever be in-laws. 

My mum, MIL and SIL stayed till 10-ish pm before going home. News then spread like fire. Before I knew it, the entire family clan has been informed of my delivery. 

Baby was sent to the nursery to clean up. While I rested on the bed and received hospital orientation from another nurse. My stomach cramps started becoming uncomfortable. It’s sore and achy and crampy. I requested for painkiller immediately. 

I also asked for food because it’s been over 14 hours since I last ate. I felt a bit nausea which I don’t know if it’s epidural side effect or just hunger. 

That’s all we had because of the late hours. =(

I had some Milo before I took my medicine. Then I rested because tummy was too crampy for me to eat. The backache was terrible too. 

The nurse then brought baby back at 11.30pm and taught me how to breastfeed. Did the football hold because I still have my IV plug on. 

Baby latches well. But she was a bit sleepy so I had to keep waking her up to continue sucking. 

A while later, the pediatrician, Dr Simon Ng, came to check on baby. He said that baby is well. The Husband then went to sign consent for baby to do the optional hearing test and metabolic test. We just want to be play safe. Baby then latched for another 20 mins before she went back to the nursery. 

At 2+am, the nurse came to remove my IV plug. Finally~ One less pain. My wounds are getting sore and uncomfortable again. Guess the painkiller wears off. Was made to pee. Gosh… It was like a crime scene, or the war scene in the movie: 300. Shan’t elaborate further. 

Now it’s 3.45am. I shall try to get some sleep while the crampy feeling returns.