Getting back to Work - traveling, breastfeeding, etc

I returned to work on 11 August, 2 weeks before my maternity leave is over and started a part-time arrangement with my boss. I would work from Tuesdays to Thursdays and take my remaining maternity leave on Mondays and Fridays. This gave me a longer weekend to spend time with baby and family and at the same time, enabled me to get the hang of returning to my desk and coping with continuing to express breast milk for Werner while back to work.

On one hand, I feel I should spend some more time with Werner, on the other, I am worried about the sudden transition from the 3 months away to juggling full-time work and home all of a sudden. Additionally, one major trigger for making this decision is also due to the monotone of being a stay-home mom. Most people will think a stay-home mom has a good and relaxed life, but after 2 months plus, I really beg to differ.

It might be the strong sense of responsibility or the possessiveness or Werner being too much of a attention-seeker (Werner doesn’t seem to sleep long enough – 15 mins nap each time and he is up again, demanding attention), I suddenly felt stifled, can’t seem to have time for myself (where is my reading time? music time? grooming time? hair cut? facial?) and felt guilty whenever I had the urge to leave the house for the “frills” and leave baby at home or with my mom. All the above seems very frivolous as compared to the importance of mother-and-child bonding, but then again, aren’t all these little things important to make one feel happy and worthy? They are for me.

In order to try and balance my previous lifestyle with the addition of baby Werner, I started driving him out with me, strapping him in a carseat and off we will go on my facials, or off to meet friends for coffee. At times, he is a cooperative and inquisitive passenger, staring at the scenery that goes by. Once in a while, he starts squealing in the car and I try my best to pacify him while concentrating on the road. Sometimes I think I can be classified as a supermom! Haha..

Today, I am back to work full time and I’ve managed quite well so far. I carry my medela pump to work daily, provide more than sufficient milk for Werner by pumping milk at my desk 3 times a day (you should see what a multi-tasker I am at my desk), have traveled to and back from Guangzhou for Conference (pumping breast milk in the plane on my seat and bringing the chilled milk back in cooler box) and will be off to Turkey next week for a sales seminar (will be freezing the milk as it’s a 6 days trip – hope I will succeed). Overall, I am enjoying every moment.

Werner is 4 months plus now and weighing about 6.7kg when we brought him for his injection last week. He is flipping from front to back non-stop (eversince he acquired this skill last week), cooing and making so much “conversation” with us. It is simply a joy just to look at him. Every morning he wakes up, he gives me the smile that simply melts me. Makes me forget the night pumps I am waking up for. It makes my day. :)

From confinement to manyue

Before I give you all updates on my end, let me say thanks to God once again for giving us healthy little Werner. Joelle shared a blog with me today, of a couple who are not as fortunate - my heart goes out to them...

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It's been a long while since I updated my blog and so much has taken place eversince little Werner is here. Let me try to recall what's happened in the months that passed and pen them down as best as I can...

Really grateful I had my confinement at the comfort of my mom’s place. Confinement is a stressful month, no baths (though I did sneak some), no aircon (I didn’t manage that at night), confinement food which will not affect breast milk production or worsen jaundice (alcohol or no alcohol?), breastfeeding (including waking up numerous times at night, trying to fulfill baby’s appetite and trying to pump-up to a good production level). Having confinement at mom’s place means I did not have to worry about housework, kids’ homework and husband’s work while I concentrate on “how to manage baby”.

Werner screams whenever he is hungry – and I mean SCREAM!!!! At times, I felt inadequate, wondering if I am doing the correct thing (should we feed him formula instead as mom says?) but I really must thank my friend who has been with me through this tough time – PEIYU – a special thanks to you, for constantly calling and cheering me on with the breastfeeding. She’s pre-empted me on all the difficulties in this seemingly natural act of providing food for a baby and continued cheering me on in this tough journey even though she herself is almost due with her number 2. Everyone needs a friend who has “been there” when you plan on full breastfeeding. I’m glad I have you.

To my Mom, thank you too for being patient with me when I was in my worst possible moods in the month. I had my rules and how I want baby to be brought up - including do not rush to carry baby once he cries, NO to pacifier, MUST sleep on bed and NOT in sarongs, do NOT play with baby after 8pm, etc... All these rules made life difficult for me and Mom, but she let me be, though trying to persuade me otherwise with her “kind reminders” – “the pacifier is in the drawer if you need it”… “Daddy and I can put up a sarong swing bed anytime so that baby can sleep longer”… “Baby’s not having enough to eat, how can you get your life back with baby at your breast the whole day”… Eventually, I succumb to the pacifier, but no regrets to that.
Thanks Mom, for your love and patience and your eventual support of my breastfeeding efforts. Today, my mom is a strong advocate of breastfeeding, telling everyone who is pregnant they must buy a Medela Pump-In-Style (aka Mercedes) and breast milk is the best for baby.

If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma."
-- Theresa Bloomingdale

Check out the manyue party for Werner on 5 July! Godparents Jason and Tianhui helped with the party planning and execution while baby and I were in confinement.

Werner @ Week 3

The Arrival *30 May 08*

Werner is 2.36kg today!

After days of worry that little Werner is not growing enough, I am so relieved that the checkup with Dr Yvonne today shows that my efforts of eating more meals and laying down enough really helps!! Today we see a nice increase of his weight to 2.36kg from 1.77kg 10 days back! Doctor even jokingly tell me that I can cut down on durians now as baby is of a nice weight at last!


Opps.... we still have a box of durian from hubby's yesterday's purchase... hee... guess I will still take somemore before I stop.
:-P

Baby is of a reasonable size to be delivered anytime now, and from the scan, Dr Yvonne says it could happen in about 2 week's time, after Vesak Day Holiday. Let's see if little Werner's birthday will coincide with daddy's (26 May) or sis Joo's (24 May)...
Oh yah.. importantly, before or after the car arrives?....

Week 35

I'm now into week 35 of the pregnancy and baby Werner seems to be having lots of fun kicking and punching my ever-ballooning tummy, more so when there is food in the tummy.

He is a little underweight from our check-up last week though, at a mere 1.77kg (from 1.6kg 3 weeks ago) and I have been instructed to rest more so that he can gain the necessary weight to prepare himself for the world out here.

Daddy and the 3 kids at home have been very supportive. We have changed the daily dinner cooking to catering and the kids have been helping to cook the rice, wash the dishes, laundry (washing machine of course) and doing their own revision for examinations.

Before our next visit to the doctor's this coming Friday, Supermom will have to lay in bed more! (which is what I just did for the last 2 days!)

Monday, May 05, 2008

Baby cot arrived at my parent's place today and it finally made my confinement room complete! Mom has been really lovely, tailoring additional sets of baby's bedsheets, pillow cases, beansprout casings' pillows (oh, dad helped out too with this!), dark curtains for my room, and helping me to buy the stuff for baby's arrival and my confinement. Kudos to Mum & Dad!

Now I am looking forward to being pampered at my parents' place during confinement! Yummy food...

Oh yah... Wilson and I are also awaiting for the arrival of our new car, an 8-seater to fit the huge family... everyone's scolding us for procrastinating on the decision to change the car but then again, we have to live with our late decision for now... being car-less...

Goodbye to our sold Camry... 10 April 08

Hope our new car will come before little Werner does, so that his daddy and me can go for nice dinner dates + movies (& last minute shopping?) before the sleepless "confinement" nights comes in...

Wilson's comments... let's see if our baby is fated to take the car or take a cab.
I am crossing my fingers for the car.. haha...