Year 00: Doctor, doctor

it had been tiring for both ting yee and the confinement lady with deng yun constantly waking up and wanting to be fed. things did not go too well when ting yee discovered that she was bleeding a lot today and had to see her gynae. at the same time, deng yun was brought over to NUH to see if they were able to do something about his eye discharge.

anyway all was well with ting yee's bleeding as the gynae told her that when more than 10 pads were used in a day, then there would be cause for concern. since this had not happened, ting yee was told to return home after 2 hours of waiting.

then at home, little deng yun was rather active in the evening. this was taken before he pooed:


this was taken after he pooed and before he cried continuously:


ting yee and the confinement lady had to feed him more milk before he eventually stopped crying and went to sleep.

"deng yun was more active today, opening both his eyes on more than one occasion..." - TheAvt

Year 00: Surprise Visits

what seemed to be a lazy day turned out to be a day of visitation. first, ting yee's eldest uncle and his family came over to see ting yee and deng yun. after a rest, ting yee's second uncle's wife: auntie and her eldest daughter visited. no wonder deng yun was awake and alert today:

"since deng yun was a very good boy today, mummy and daddy finally got to watch a movie at home after dinner." - TheAvt

Year 00: Multiple Feeders and Short Road Trip

first saturday i spent at home with deng yun, and the first thing i did was to feed him. of course, ting yee fed him everyday, so i cannot compare... just look at his satisfied face:


anyway, because we needed to replenish and get more things for deng yun, ting yee and i had to leave our home for a while in the care of the confinement lady to journey to many places.

first trip, we opened deng yun's first bank account. then we bought more baby consumables at Watson's and also bought two unique side tables at Ikea (among other things). oh, when we were at Ikea, we noticed a place where they actually put all children together when their parents shopped. i called it a children's dungeon:


the children were forced to wear "numbers" so that when they parents came and "claimed" them, the "dungeon-keepers" only had to call out the numbers and the children would be "delivered" to the counter. really!

in the evening, ting yee's sister came over to feed deng yun and one hour later, my mother came over to feed deng yun too! deng yun sure was lucky to have so many people to care about and feed him! in both feeds, he was slowly opening his eyes:


"hmm... baby avatar is stealing all the spotlight!" - TheAvt

Year 00: 1 week old!

deng yun was one week old today! he was now able to last as long as 4.5 hours until the next feeding time, which i fed him before ting yee was awaken by deng yun's crying. she took over with breast milk.

but the thing that bothered me was that deng yun's right eye had yellowish discharge once in a while. right now, we just cleaned the eye with cotton ball dipped in water. but if this persisted, we would need to bring him to see a doctor or paediatrician.

for now, feed, poo and pee were the main three things...

"happy one week old, baby avatar!" - TheAvt

Year 00: Mummy's first breast pump

first, my mother came over to visit ting yee and deng yun, and also to drop off some "tea leaf" eggs for us. she said deng yun looked like me when i was his age!

then in the late afternoon, ting yee decided to try out the following breast pump:


she managed to store about 80ml, before deng yun swallowed it all. then she did 40ml, but still deng yun's appetite was too great that we still had to use formula milk.

of course, i had the leisure in feeding deng yun twice: once with formula milk, and once with breast milk. after that, because deng yun pooed too much, he dirtied his romper and i had the pleasure to change a new romper on him. and then he couldn't get back to sleep! take a look:


"i think my wife is a cow... squeeze... splash... squeeze... splash... yummy..." - TheAvt

Year 00: Umbilical Cord fell off and eyes opened longer

a rather normal day for ting yee with deng yun being a very nice boy... in the afternoon that is! ting yee told me that he was a terror in the night, disrupting her sleep.

during lunch, ting yee and i tried to do a msn video conference so that i could see ting yee and deng yun while i was at work. unfortunately, there was no connection.

ting yee's auntie and her twin cousins paid a visit to our place to see deng yun. they absolutely loved deng yun!

in the evening, i came back and fed deng yun. during feeding time, he smiled, then opened his eyes! that was one of the happiest moment in my life! check out those eyes:


then, his umbilical cord fell off and i freaked out! ting yee told me to calm down and the confinement lady took the plastic thingy that was holding on to the umbilical cord and will sun it tomorrow so that we can keep it as a remembrance.

after that, we found one of my baby photos (almost 30 years old!) and compared it with deng yun. what do you think:


"they said beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder... i say beautiful eyes!" - TheAvt

Year 00: First Pram Ride and First Bump on the head to Daddy's chest

ting yee and deng yun had an appointment with the doctor to check on deng yun's status. doctor told ting yee that everything with deng yun was alright! he had low risk of jaundice!

also, today was the first time deng yun used his pram! check it out:

other than that, i came back home and fed him twice. he seemed to be less noisy this evening:


but deng yun got louder after i fed him again close to midnight. i accidentally let his head fall onto my chest and he had been crying for a long time. i really really wished nothing will happen to him due to my negligence...

"i feel that i may not be a good father after all..." - TheAvt

Year 00: Second Day at Home

i wasn't sure what happened today at home because unfortunately, i had to attend a stupid training. apparently, ting yee and the confinement lady worked together to make sure deng yun was well fed, clean and rested.

after i got home, i fed deng yun thrice: once before and once after i bathe, and once before i go to bed. it was one of the most fulfilling duties of a father...

this was deng yun in his "quiet" mode:


this was deng yun in his "noisy" mode:


"yes, i am becoming like one of those fathers who has dozens of pictures of his children in his wallet. but the difference is i keep the pictures digitally..." - TheAvt

Year 00: Discharge from NUH and First Day at Home!

after 3 days and 3 nights at NUH, we were all prepared to head on home. but little deng yun didn't seem keen to go back:


eventually, ting yee's sister came and drove our family back to our home. along the way, i was dropped off at novena square to pick up the confinement lady. meanwhile, ting yee and her sister made their way back and placed little deng yun in his cot:


but at night, deng yun was crying and crying because there wasn't enough milk from ting yee to feed him. we had to give in and feed him formula milk. only then did he sleep, but not before he awaken both ting yee and the confinement lady at 4am, 5am 6am the next morning...

"cry, suck and sleep. repeat." - TheAvt

Year 00: Visitation

after a hectic day yesterday, things seem to slow down. at 10.30am, a nurse came and checked to see if deng yun can hear as per normal. yes he can! but actually, the other hectic thing had started: visitors.



visitors ranging from relatives to friends came in droves, and we had to entertain, while at the same time, ting yee was breast-feeding. we really appreciate everyone who came to see our little bundle of joy. thank you, you know who you are!

the following video clip is dedicated to all our relatives and friends:


tomorrow, it will be the first time deng yun steps, or rather "is being carried" into our home, his home...

"all i see are pee and poo..." - TheAvt

Year 00: The Arrival of Baby Avatar

12.30am - injection made to relive contraction pains

1.30am - both of us tried to sleep but were awaken an hour later

2.35am - injection not effective, laughing gas administered

3.50am - laughing gas was crap, epidural administered (professional fees waived!)

4.20am - pee bag thus administered

4.45am - cervix @ 4cm

5.00am - finally managed to sleep for 2.5 hours

7.30am - gynae broke the membrane (water broke!). cervix @ 7cm

9.15am - cervix @ 9cm

10.20am - cervix @ 10cm, gynae and midwives gather for the birth of baby

10.46am - birth of our baby boy, leong deng yun （梁定玄）! he weighed 3.315kg!



10.48am - i cut the umbilical cord!

11.10am - collection of cord blood for stemcord

11.15am - purging of placenta

12.32pm - first breast-feeding for deng yun

1.45pm - back to normal ward

2.30pm - deng yun was bought to us in a baby mobile

3.30pm - ting yee's colleagues started coming in batches

after that, it was just as per normal, only that now in our lives, we have a new member in the family!

"finally, baby avatar has emerged from the depths of creation! all hail the next generation in the avatar line..." - TheAvt

Pregnancy Week 41: Admission to Delivery Suite

after a lunch buffet, we went to the gynae and she informed us that ting yee was to be admitted today, because of her bleeding since yesterday morning. the bleeding is not constant, but the gynae was being cautious, so here we are now in the hospital.

the following shows my regular updates from the hospital for today:

2.30pm - ting yee admitted into delivery suite so as to induce the birth

3.20pm - 1st pill inserted to induce contractions and thus labour

3.50pm - ting yee was put on the drip so as to hydrate our baby

6.30pm - ting yee was transferred to a normal ward to wait for labour

8.05pm - ting yee's contractions are getting more painful. below are the recorded times:

8.33pm - 30 secs (pain scale 5.5)
8.38pm - 1 min (pain scale 5.5)
8.41pm - 30 secs (pain scale 3)
8.45pm - 40 secs (pain scale 5.5)
(NOT RECORDED)
8.55pm - 40 secs (pain scale 6.5)
8.59pm - 40 secs (pain scale 4)
(NOT RECORDED THEREAFTER)

9.00pm - back to delivery suite

9.45pm - 2nd pill inserted to further induce contractions and thus labour

11.20pm - cervix still not dilated

"is there an end to this? seems like forever..." - TheAvt

Pregnancy Week 41: The "Show"

one day before our scheduled appointment with the gynae, the "show" presented itself in the morning at around 8.45 am. ting yee called the hospital labour hotline which advised her to admit into hospital when the contractions are 5 mins apart. however, ting yee's manager told her to go for a check-up anyway.

baby's heart-beat was as per normal, and ting yee went about her day as per normal. in the meantime, i was "sweating" in my pants at work! so we decided to take two days off (this Thursday and Friday) to prepare for the labour.

other than those mentioned, ting yee had mild contractions, which we really could not time. we may be staying over tomorrow night at the hospital, depending on whether our baby wants to come out or not.

"the show is here! next up, multiple contractions along with rupture of water bag..." - TheAvt

Pregnancy Week 40: 14th gynae appointment

here we are, and baby was still not out yet. so we went to the gynae and ting yee was strapped to a device to track her contractions and the heart-beat of our baby. the graphs look fine.

after that, the gynae told us to make an appointment with her this coming thursday. she said that if ting yee's water level in her stomach decreases, she will need to be warded on thursday and told us to prepare for birth.

after that, we had a vegetarian lunch at NUH, and went back home to rest. then at night, we went over to ting yee's ex-colleagues' wedding to give them a red packet and headed to Suntec for dinner. we had a vegetarian buffet dinner. so today was vegetarian day for us!

but the downside was that after paying for a dish-rack, we forgot to take it from the cashier and went back home. this is what i call, dumb and dumber...

"hope baby avatar is not dumberer..." - TheAvt

Pregnancy Week 40: 13th gynae appointment

same old same old... except that the gynae told ting yee that if our baby is not out by Saturday, we will need to see her on that day to check the heart-beat of our baby in ting yee's stomach.

"wait, wait and wait... mini-me is coming... soon..." - TheAvt

Pregnancy Week 40: Friend's Baby Blog

i found out today when i checked my emails that my friend is creating a blog for his baby too! here is the link: http://dracosweethome.blogspot.com/

i think my friend is still working on it, but it is a good start!

"active fathers are common as compared to our parents' time..." - TheAvt

Pregnancy Week 39: Baby Shopping Spree

at the end of this week, we went on, maybe, the final baby shopping spree before our baby is borne. we subscribed to the magazine "Motherhood" and took home many samples for mummy and baby. we also bought breast pumps, nursing clothes and nursing bras. all ready for our first born!

"breast pumps cost one arm, two legs, and a handful of ears..." - TheAvt

Pregnancy Week 39: 12th gynae appointment

same as last tuesday's post. gynae appointment, everything is fine.

"everyone is on full alert, any time now..." - TheAvt