Long Haul Flight to Glasgow

This Christmas was Eilidh’s first Christmas I Scotland!

I have never seen her so cheerful, I suspect because she is so stimulated by so many around her back home! My Singapore relatives are not as engaging as compared to my Scottish ones.

We flew with British Airways, and I got to say the flight experience was marvelous. The crew was so accommodating towards Eilidh and it was definitely a baby friendly flight.

I had to strap her to my seat belt during take off and landing, but honest Eilidh was an angel throughout. She slept in her bassinet in front of our seats through most of it other than waking up for her feeds. Never really cried unless she wanted our attention 😂.

What I had in my hand carry:

1. Nursing Pillow 2. Nappies 3. Wetwipes 4. Portable Bottle Warmer 5. 2 sets of clothes 6. 2 dummies 7. Milk Stash 8. 2 blankets 9. 2 Muslins 10. 2 face Towels 11. 2 bips 12. Moby baby carrier

The Moby Carrier was a godsent when rushing through the airport without a pram.

Getting good Seats

We got pretty good seats in both our flights. This was because we called BA to make the booking and reserved a bassinet ASAP. Best to do that as the bassinets are on a first come first serve basis.

Security Check

The best advise for this is probably to  get to the airport at least half an hour early because this is what will slow you down.

Changi’s check was a breeze. All I did was declared that I was holding a milk bag full of baby milk, and had my infant with me. They let me through without hassle or checking my milk bag. This was helpful because it gave me less stress and less packing to do with my child in my hand and barely any free hands to pack.

However when we were in the UK, both Heathrow and Glasgow Airport, was a fucking nightmare. Both Heathrow and Glasgow took out my milk bag (allowing my cooler bag to heat up), and swipped every single one of them. I was at my highest stress threshold worrying about contamination of the bags. Above all, they did not even have the decency to pack it all back for me. Heathrow took one of my ice block, as if them letting my cooler bag warm wasn’t bad enough. In Glasgow airport, they almost confisicated my entire milk stash. The level of stress is so god damn high and at THE SLOW SPEED they took!!!!! I almost screamed.

And not to mention we missed our connecting flight because of how slow London’s immigration was, and how long it took for the staff to guide us to the next connecting flight. I swear to God the staff in Heathrow is sleeping half the time.

One is so uptight, one us so understand. And which is the one with the terrorist problem? #justsayin 😑😑

On the bright side, so was Eilidh so she was sleeping while we were undergoing all this stress 😂.

Pumping on the Plane

I chose a window seat and also I am using the Spectra handsfree pump, so that came in handing while I pump. I pump every 4 hours which is approximately 3 times on the flight. Everyone was really calm about it maybe because it’s hidden away under my blouse.

Washing and Sterilizing

I brought in a bottle of washing detergent for washing my pump parts and Eilidh’s bottles. I washed it in the plane’s toilet, but I asked for boiling water to wash and sterilize the parts in a big Tupperware. You are allowed up to 2l worth of liquid, so the washing detergent was part of what I had in my carry on.

All in all, our flight (other than the likes of the Heathrow staff) was fantastic! Eilidh definitely enjoyed it and got to spend Christmas with her family in Scotland!!

8 Weeks Update

It’s been 8 weeks since we have welcome Eilidh into the world!

Eilidh is now 8 weeks old! Time really flies when you’re having fun!

Well not entirely.

While I have been enjoying taking care of here, there are some moment I feel so lost and useless that I could almost give up. The feeling when you feel you baby might not be feeding enough or might not be happy, cranky, or that there is not a thing in the world that could cheer your little one up.

Post Natal Depression

When she spits up, vomit, or cry because of gas, and you worry that something is terribly wrong with her. Wishing someone could give you an answer, help, or even a word of comfort and assurance that everything is going to be okay.

Yes people, I had a feeling I was going through postpartum depression the first month of Eilidh’s birth. I felt alone. Although I was getting all the love and concern from my hubby and my in-laws, it just felt that no one was understanding my stress and it was overwhelming.

The Milk Intake Anxiety

I have been exclusively expressing breast milk for her, because I was so anxious she wasn’t feeding enough. My OCD simply wanted to keep track of her daily intake to know if she has been taking too much or too little. Eilidh is a very light drinker, and with her gassy tummy, she is barely drinking 70-90ml per day and only 60 in the wee hours. This added up to only 500-600ml per day. This is when Google, isn’t your best friend.

There has been conflicting advices on the internet. It was said that to calculate the amount of milk your little one is required to drink per day, just take her weight times 150, and you have that amount. Which meant every week her intake had to increase!!! At her weight at one month (4.3 kg), it meant she needed to drink 645ml!!!!!! That I had to achieve with lots of force feeding at the time which stressed me out. I got so stressed when she wouldn’t finish her bottle to the point that I was begging her crying, to finish it. Yes, baby wasn’t crying, I was. 😥😥

Of course I turned to my mummy’s chatgroup, and some said as long as she is drinking 600 it’s fine. So everyday that was the challenge to make sure she feed 600ml.

Understanding my Baby

This became a challenge. I learnt to find out areas that made her comfortable to feed. That she wouldn’t drink properly when she had a soil or wet diaper. How to read her reflux or her gassy tummy. How to pacify her to finish her bottle, or when to stop when she is completely full.

I downloaded an app to help me, called Baby Tracker. You could track pumping times, number of wet and soil diapers per day and her feed. It would even show u in a graph format so you could see a summary.

In all the app has been very helpful. At the same time I tried to stop worrying about her feeds and relax. I have realize my worries caused my breast milk supply to drop. I refused to leave the house because I was worried I would mess up her feeding schedule, that she wouldn’t feed properly outside. I caged my baby and I indoors so much that it because mentally draining for me and my baby girl.

Giving myself ME time, and not giving a fuck about confinement rules

I started taking breaks like going to the gym while my husband took care of Eilidh. Or even taking Eilidh down for walks to breath the fresh air despite disapproving faces by Chinese aunties for letting baby out.

Oh yes, if there was an advice I could give new mommies out there…

Do whatever makes you comfortable and never let confinement rules weigh you down.

Why? It is because I have red date tea being forced down my throat everyday and she would questioned me when it isn’t finished. When all I wanted, was water!!

At the same time, I realize water was also my milk booster. So I started pretending to take little sips of red date tea and throwing the excess away but gulping gallons of water.

Avoid anything that will cause an argument. Let the old folks give you all the advice they can, and you do not have to listen to them.

The Pumping Sessions

If anyone was wondering, I am using Spectra 9+ pump with their handsfree cups.

I had initially bought the Avent one but it just wasn’t really working out for me. I felt alot more comfortable with this Spectra pump and love the handsfree option which gave me the opportunity to eat and pump at the same time.

Still, it was tiring. I couldn’t carry Eilidh when I was pumping and schedule was tight. She was feeding every two hours so there were only so many time that I could pump. In order to maintain supply I really pumped as much as I could but could only really squeeze in 6 pumps a day, each pump lasting about 30-45 mins each. I am exhausted mainly from pumping. I do at the moment have more than enough milk for Eilidh, which I ain’t complaining. However I am considering dragging each pump to be 1hr long and cutting down to 5 pumps a day.

All in all, after 8 weeks I am getting comfortable with our routine, although I am not looking forward to the change of routine when I get back to work. Motherhood is tough to start with, but the look of content on your little one’s face makes it all worthwhile 😊😊.

Signing off,

Introducing Eilidh Gibson!

Ok so I have been laying low for the past month, only because I was recovering from my birth!

The Prolouge After losing my mucus plug on the Friday 21/09/18, I was expecting something to happen any minute. But I felt so normal! It didn’t feel like Krispy Kreme was coming at all. I had to lower my expectations for the time being. On Sunday night, I suddenly had insomnia and couldn’t get to sleep. But this was all part of the pregnancy symptoms yes? Wrong.

I suddenly felt a gush of sensation in my belly at 5am in the morning. Imagine a 1litre bottle filled with water with the cap facing down, and someone just released the cap causing waters to just start gushing through the opening with an unstoppable force. Initially I thought it was a huge kick by the baby, but when I saw waters trickling down my tighs, I knew.

It was time.

Making my way to the Hospital I immediately gave the Labour ward a call asking if I had to rush down without a minute to lose. But since I was not in any amount of pain, and my contractions haven’t begun, I was told I could go ahead and take a shower and have a good breakfast before I made my way down to the hospital. I took a cab to SGH at 6am like as if just going for one of my many prenatal check up. My husband on the other hand had the look of excitement on his face. Sure, he’s not the one pushing a human out ain’t it? 😑😑

The Waiting Game with a Diva waiting to be Born I was being put on the drip to bring on the contractions. I was only 4cm dilated, and had still 6cm more to go. This was when I started feeling some contractions and was getting increasingly uncomfortable.

EPIDURAL PLEASE!!

I did not know why I did not ask for the epidural sooner. I guess I thought it would run out until I was told the epidural never runs out… Infact it will be there as long as you need it! The moment I got on the epidural I was alot calmer… That’s because I was on level 10 of the drug!

By 10am, I was only dilated to 6cm. After 4hours!?!?!? It felt like it was going to be a long day. But it was den the speed of the dilation increased and was at 9cm by the time it was 11am. However I was told to hold it for awhile, because my baby’s heartbeat was dropping as she did not like the pressure my contractions was giving her. At the same time, the position of her head wasn’t ideal for a natural birth although was faced down ; her face wasn’t facing down but facing towards my right.

Let’s get the Party started This was when I was thankful I have Dr Tan Hak Koon as my gyne. I engaged him because I heard he is very good whenever there is a complication in a pregnancy, and boy was I in that very position. My baby’s heartbeat was dropping as he was attending to me, and he was recommending an emergency Cesarean Section. At that point I would have done anything to get my baby girl out safely, so I just told him I will agree to anything he says! Within minutes, he got all paper work done, support from hospital, and in an hour I went into the Operation Theatre and out with my baby girl on my chest!! Dr Tan did not even hesitate in any decision making and was very swift, which made me feel certain I was really I’m good hands.

I was overwhelmed with emotions that finally, Eilidh Hui-Zhen Gibson, has arrived.

It’s a very unexplainable feeling meeting your baby for the first time. Everything about her was beyond perfect, even her in perfect bent toes inherited from her father! 😍😍

In all, the birthing experience in SGH was fantastic. In stayed in B1 as a private patient in a government hospital, and the staff was very attentive and friendly. I certainly did not feel like a patient during my stay.

The Jaundice Scare I was discharged within 4 days, however Eilidh wasn’t. Like most babies she has mild jaundice, at a level of 210 when it was time to be discharged. She had to stay in the hospital for observation – one of the worst fears for any new parent, to go home without their baby!! 😭😭

However it was for her own good, and Stuart and I came back everyday to see her with my pumped out breast milk. (Gotta keep them supply flowing yo!)

Thankfully it was only for 2 days, and she was back with us by the weekend! She came home at a level of 170, and it took her 3 weeks for her to come down to a level of 84 for her to be given the all clear of jaundice.

BRING ON MOTHERHOOD! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO READY IN MY LIFE!!