Monday, May 27, 2013
Chapter 432 - Lessons learnt from Baby Matthew
So anyway, you might have guessed - that our lives now revolve around Baby Matthew, with him being the centre of the universe. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing though. I think. ;p Just thougth I'd jot down some of my thoughts, and lessons learnt. 

 Lesson #1 - Be Patient 
One of the most important things to note when taking care of Baby Matthew is to be patient. For example, when you are tapping him to sleep at night, you have to be extremely patient to make sure that he's completely asleep (i know it's funny to say "completely" asleep, but well, babies have this funny ability to be semi-asleep that they actually are omni-sensing even when they look like they are asleep) before you can actually put him down in his cot, and walk away. Oh did I mention that even putting him down from your arms is a delicate skill - you need to do it in steps, so that he "thinks" that he's still being carried, and even when you've put him down, you need to be at bay to make sure that if he startles (oh no, where is daddy's hand?), you are able to assure him that he's safe and secure.

 Lesson #2 - Be Happy (always) Sometimes when Matthew is asleep, he smiles to himself - with such genuinity that you would really think he was having sweet dreams. I do often wonder what he dreams of though. (oh, and he does also "cry" in his sleep, and then stops and goes back to sleep - nightmares I presume. Perhaps milk shortage? ;p) But anyway, this point here is really to say that there's no point being angry - like when Matthew refuses to sleep (and gives you that most innocent looking face, looking about curiously at the room), or when Matthew decides to poop on you right after his shower. But yes, I guess that's all part of the whole parenthood package. You've just got to take it in its stride. 

 But all in all, good fun so far. Wish I could be more helpful with the night feeds (Matthew's being breastfed for now).
Posted by yellowlemonie at 4:32 AM | 0 comments
Monday, May 13, 2013
Chapter 431 - Reflections of a 1-month Old Father
(Just to clarify though - the title of this post just means that the father has only experienced fatherhood for 1 month and not a 1-month old who has fathered a child... ;p)

Anyway, so you may have heard, but Baby Matthew was born on 3 Apr 13 - the same birthday as me! I guess it's got to be the best birthday present for me and as my wife says, all she has to do is to wrap up Matthew every year as my "birthday present". (We'd joked about this during Esther's pregnancy since the estimated due date was supposed to be 2 Apr, but we had not thought that it would come true... Haha)

Baby Matthew was born after about 3 hours of labour. Esther had gone for a check-up on 2 Apr thinking our doctor would just ask us to wait for labour to occur naturally. But because her blood pressure was a little high and the baby was full term, the doctor decided to induce labour with prostaglandins... 

The first attempt on 2 Apr was not successful and the second attempt was on the morning of 3 Apr. And labour came fast and furious. So much so that by the time Esther had gone to the labour ward, she was too far on to have an epidural. And in the end, because baby Matthew was facing the wrong way (his face was facing forward instead of facing backwards), thus he had to be delivered assisted. By the use of forceps. And boy were the forceps huge! I describe it as distorted badminton rackets - the size anyway. Not quite your small science lab forceps you normally encounter. 

So anyway, after a long story, here's a photo of Baby Matthew:

Baby Matthew lying on mummy right after birth. I guess it's gotta be one of the best feelings in the world to finally look at your own child.

Soon after baby Matthew was born came many sleepless nights of which the first came on the night of 3rd Apr. (yes, the very first night). Matthew kept making noises every hour and would keep quiet only when we started talking to him. And we were cooing over every little noise he made and every action he made and I remember us remarking that he was cute even when he was crying! Haha. (Ok, maybe not so cute when it's in the middle of the night and when you're tired) 

And we have soon come to realise a few things:

1. The times when he is asleep are the "golden moments" and you should rest as much as you can
2. When the diaper is off is when sh*t happens. For that short period of time when the diaper is off is when the sh*t and the pee comes. Don't ask me why he doesn't pee or poo during the couple of hours when we don't change the diaper and only does it when we change the diaper. I guess it's his way of marking his territory perhaps? ;p 

Anyway, long post. Will stop for now. Here's another photo of him on a recent trip to Great World City.



Posted by yellowlemonie at 7:38 AM | 0 comments
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