Congratulation

Remember? my earlier post about my blog follower gave me a fridge. She is not Dr. Prashant's patient but got pregnant and has recently gave birth to a little baby girl on 27th Oct.

Congratulation, PJ! Hope you recover well and bless the health and growth of your little angel!

The Birth - Cesarean Section (C-Section)

I can only share with you the experience of C-section delivery as all of my babies were delivered via C-Section.

Cesarean section is delivery a baby through a surgical incision in the mother's abdomen. This can be scheduled in advance or done in response to an unforeseen complication. A C-section is major abdominal surgery, so it is riskier than vaginal delivery.

Conditions that may require a planned C-Section: -

• you may have a previous delivery via C-section
• you have some other kind of invasive uterine surgery
• you are carrying more than one baby
• You are expecting a large baby (especially if you are diabetic)
• Your baby is in breech position
• You have placenta previa (placenta is very low in the uterus)
• The baby has illness
• You are HIV positive

Conditions that may require an unplanned C-section :

• Your cervix stop dilating or your baby stop moving down the canal
• Your baby's heart rate is of concern
• The umbilical cord slips through your cervix
• Your baby is not getting enough oxygen
• You have a genital herpes outbreak

My first born was in breach position and I were having twins for my 2nd pregnancy. Those were the reasons for my C-section.

Before checking into the hospital, you should prepare  a backpack comprises of the following basic stuff:-

For yourself

• Sanitary Pad (hospital will provide some, included in the bill anyway)
• Disposal panties ( I find this useful, in case of 'accident' as you are having problem moving around)
• A pair of going home clothes
• Your glasses (in case you are wearing contact lenses, You need to remove them during the C-Section)
• General cleaning stuffs (e.g toothbrush, toothpaste, facial cleanser and etc.)

For the baby

• Wrap cloth / blanket (for bringing home the baby)
• Bring home baby clothes (including socks/booties and mitten, hat, diapers)
• Small tin of formula and feeding bottles(just in case you can't produce milk or some pediatrician will provide you some sample)
• handkerchief

and of course the camera

Before C-Section

• Signed a consent form
• Check into the hospital earlier (upto a day). You will need to pay deposit. You will be taken to the room of your choice (depend on your budget)
• The top section of your pubic hair is shaved.
• Change into the clothes provided by the hospital (this include your husband, if he is going in with you to the operation theater)
• You will be moved to an operating room.
• Anesthesiologist will give you and epidural (usually) or general anesthesia
• Your husband can now enter the room and sit or stand beside you while the doctor performs the operation.

I know you will be so anxious and worry. Trust me, time could pass so fast. You will be hearing your baby's cry soon enough and there you go, tears are already in your eyes.

You will have a chance to see the baby briefly before he is handed off to a nurse. While the staff is examining your newborn, the doctor will deliver your placenta and begin closing you up.

After the baby has been examined, the nurse may hand him to your husband, who can hold him right next to you so you can admire and kiss him while you are being stitched up. This procedure usually takes about 30 minutes.

After the surgery is complete, you will be wheeled into a recovery area/room and you be closely monitored for 1-2 hours before moving you back into your room. Unless you are so drug-up by the anesthesia, you will be so impatient and looking forward to go back to your room to see your baby and husband.

My husband was worried that the nurse will  get mix up of his baby with others. So he will usually follow the nurse to see through himself his babies being bathed, dried and checked by the pediatrician and hold the babies himself till I got back to the room.

You are expected to stay in the hospital for 3 days before going home. By the time you are back to the room, you may feel drowsy and on off, the nurse will bring your baby for you to try to breastfeed.

The nurses are usually helpful and will try to teach you to breastfeed. You will feel a tightening effect on your stomach but trust me, try to get up and walk on the 2nd day. It will be hard. It is hard the 1st time, the 2nd time even the 3rd time. It will definitely get easier. After all, you need to be strong for your baby. If you really can't do that, please do consult your doctor.

So, after all, it is not that hard. Taken so long to carry a baby but so short time to get him out.

Now, you can enjoy admiring, holding and kissing your baby all the time!!!

Shopping for Your Baby to Come

• If you are a first time parent, it is amazing how much equipment and how many items that are needed to prepare for the arrival of a new born. I would suggest you to start shopping before entering into your 7th month of pregnancy, just in case you may ended up in early labour or by then, you may be too fat to walk around and trying to catch your breath.

Again, if you have kind friends or relatives who is offering you used stuff, I would say, take them. First of all, baby grown up fast and second, you could really safe money.

Here is the basic shopping list for a Newborn Baby:-

1. CLOTHES

• tops (for day wear) - short sleeve and those perforated type (really good for Malaysia weather-Carefour and Jusco's are cheap)

• pyjamas / rompers

• blankets

• socks/booties

• mittens (again perforated type are good to enable air circulation. Some prefer not to use this. I personally do not used this often. As long as you are able to maintain/keep your baby's nails short, you can actually do without it. The main purpose is just to prevent them from scratching their face. But again, this apply in Malaysia)

• lots of handkerchiefs

• Cloth Diapers (some people like to just used those disposable type. I like to use this as this allow some ventilation/circulation of air and able to prevent rashes, also to do a bit for the earth as they are washable and reusable.)

• Disposable Diapers (Mammy Poko is expensive but it is the best for night use. You can find something cheaper for day use)

• Of course, also some nice go outing clothes

2. FEEDING AND BATHING

• Bottles (the selection depends on your budget or whether you are a health freak)

• Bottle Brush

• Cleaning detergent

• Sterilizer kit (steamer/sterilizing pills method)

• Breast Pump (depends on your need)

• 1 small bottle of formula (just in case you are not able to produce breast milk)

• Bathtub

• Anti-slip mat

• Towels

• Baby bath ( I will suggest that you just get a small one. You will end up owning dozens of them from the fullmoon gift pack)

• Baby shampoo (as above)

• Baby lotion (as above)

• Ru Yi oil (usually rub on baby's belly button to get rid of wind. Use only after the baby cord fell)

• Lots of baby wipes

3. BEDDING AND TRAVELLING

• Baby Cot / Play pen

• Cot mattress

• Side protection cushion

• Bedsheet c/w pillow case and bolster

• Changing mat

• Bouncer chair

• Car Seat / Infant Seat

• Front/Back carrier or Baby sling ( I find this very useful. It is like a hands free kit. You can carry your baby and carrying other shopping stuff at the same time)

• Stroller

• Diaper Bag

There are items like walker, baby chair and etc. you will need to get when the child is older.

The above are basic stuffs that you need to get. My suggestion is do not try to over buy anything. If you are leaving in a small space, you will end up with a very clutter place or losing a certain space of your room and become storage of your baby stuff.

So, enjoy shopping!!!!

If you have done all your shopping, the birth date must be near approaching. I will talk about the birth in my next post.

Monitoring Baby Development

When you are carrying your child, you will be so eager to know of their development. There are lots of website which offer the week by week pregnancy calender. The calender will give you the idea of your baby's each week development.

What I did was, I printed out the week by week calender and bound them into a book. I will write a short note of my baby's growth, weight and movement, the date of my visit to the Doctor. I even jotted down the payment involved in each of my visit. I continued using the same book during my 2nd pregnancy with my twins. At the end, I was able to compare the growth of my 3 babies and also noted the increase in price of consultation and medication charges by the Doctor!!!. Call me sad, I think this is a very precious piece of information that you could keep and pass on to your children later. I know, they may think this is useless. Never mind, if nobody appreciate it, you can sit in your rocking chair, looking at it when you are old, and think back of all these money you have spent!!!

The Risk-Test for Down Syndrome

Once you received news about your pregnancy, you will be so delighted and started to set plans, visualize the happy moment and eagerly waiting for the little one. However, the journey of pregnancy does not come easy as you think especially when you conceived in your thirties.

When my doctor said I need to go and have a check for down syndrome, that worried me. I was worried whether the baby will be ok and thinking what if it is not, what will I do next. I knew with my age, the risk of having a down syndrome baby is higher.

This is a test to be done around 11-13 weeks of your pregnancy.

The risk of Down syndrome is increased with increasing age. The risk is also increased if there is history of Down syndrome in the family.

Table of Risk:-

Age of Mother Risk of Trisomy 21 Risk of all

Chromosomal Abnormality

twenties 1 in 1000-1700 1 in 380-500

thirties 1 in 170 - 1000 1 in 100-380

forties 1 in less than 100 1 in less than 60

There are 2 types of test available; screening tests and diagnostic tests. Screening tests include biochemical tests and ultrasound scan. This involves taking a blood sample from the mother to measure certain protein or chemicals in the blood. The ultrasound takes measurement of the nuchal translucency of fluid beneath the skin of the fetal neck and look at the presence of the nasal bone.

Diagnostic tests area 'invasive' involves sampling with a needle tubing. There is a procedure-related risk of miscarriage between 0.5% to 1%.

With the advancing laboratory techniques and high resolution ultrasound, many doctors will recommend for the non-invasive tests for down syndrome.

I thank GOD that the results of my 2 pregnancies turned out to be ok and I need not go for the invasive test.