Louna’s Baby Sister Is Here !

The long wait is over. Kyla finally decided to join us on the 22nd of September, 2008. She weighs 3.7 kg and measures 54 cm. Yes, as big as Louna, just 200 grams lighter. She’s being breastfed so she requires Maman’s presence almost every 2-3 hours. She had been monopolizing our time since we went home last Saturday but she’s more cooperative today, allowing us to do other chores than taking care of her. She’s currently sleeping so I have the time to gather my scattered thoughts and put them into writing.

Kyla’s Birth Story

We had a short walk around the park the day before. Louna was with her bike and I jokingly told her that at the speed she’s taking, it will never induce my labor. Then arriving at home, I helped L to fix our wallpaper. It was on purpose to induce labor naturally.

At 6:30 am the next day, I woke up with an excruciating, almost unbearable pain. I woke up L and told him that this must be it. We counted the regular contractions and in less than 10 minutes, we knew it was D Day. He hurriedly took his shower and busied himself preparing the remaining necessary stuffs to bring at the maternity clinic. I took my shower during that time, with a lot of difficulty of course.

At 7 am, Louna was already awake. We took our breakfast together and explained her that she will take her lunch at school and stay there the whole day. The school nursery opens at 7:30 am so a few minutes after that, Louna was already at school. It was the nanny who fetched her from school that day. She then stayed at the nanny’s place for the night.

We arrived at the maternity clinic at exactly 8 am. I was hurriedly examined and surprise! I was already 10 cm dilated. I was then transferred immediately at the delivery room. They asked me if I still wanted the epidural but since I was already 10 cm dilated and I knew that actual giving birth is nothing compared to contraction pains, I finally declined that option. I chose the side-lying position as I was too tired and too much in pain to try the semi-sitting position. Well, at least that was what I felt during that particular time.

At 8:40 am, my water bag was pierced. I pushed at each contraction and I could actually feel the baby coming. There was a little pause once the head was out since the umbilical cord was around her neck. The OB cut it at once and the delivery proceeded normally afterwards. I was even the one who took her out completely from my womb, taking her out and putting her on my chest. Isn’t that lovely?

At exactly 9:15 am, Kyla was already out and I didn’t suffer from episiotomy. Talking about fast and effective delivery!

A Delivery That Was Almost Perfect

Minutes after delivery, after they cleaned and examined Kyla, they brought her back to us so I could start breastfeeding. But the little girl wasn’t really hungry. She was calm and quiet – so adorable and looked remarkably the same as Louna.

I, on the other hand continued bleeding and my uterus refused to contract. They did a series of massage but each time they stopped, the bleeding continued forming blood clots inside my uterus. They then injected anaesthesia so they could examine if any part of placenta was left inside. Nothing.

They continued massaging my tummy making it real painful, as painful as the contractions. They also added 2 more perfusions, one to induce contractions, another for supplements, I think. They explained that if bleeding continues, they will be obliged to transfer me to the hospital for further interventions.

True enough, at 4 pm, I was transported to the hospital by an ambulance. They again examined me, checked my uterus, massaged my tummy and injected God-knows-what. At that time, I was already too tired and hardly conscious. I wasn’t allowed to take not even a drop of water.

After their intervention, I was again transported by an ambulance to another department, Radiology department. There, some veins of my uterus were apparently plugged to stop bleeding. The worst consequence of this kind of problem is the total removal of the uterus to which I was luckily spared.

At 2 am, I was transported back to my room, allowed to take dinner with the help of L and drink gallons of water. Whew!

That day, probably more than 20 people saw that most intimate part of me at its most unglamorous state. But I didn’t care. All I wanted was to get over and done with it so I could be with my family the soonest possible time.

I was back at the maternity clinic the next day, free from any complications. With the amount of blood I lost, I was lucky not to take any blood transfusion tho my hemoglobin count went down to 8 (normal is 12 – 16).

I was separated from my daughter for about 24 hours. Everybody in the clinic commended me for my courage to continue breastfeeding inspite that experience. I was supposed to be tired. The sole inconvenience I have right now is an allergy I got from one of the medicines they injected to me during the operation – my arms, back and tummy are itchy!!

And Life Goes On…

Louna is happy to have her little sister, even asking to hold her and give her the bottle. There are bouts of jealousy here and there but not at a worrying level. We take extra careful tho not to focus all our attention to Kyla. Balance is something we need to master at this particular moment. L is on paternity leave this week which helps a lot especially right now when Kyla has no fixed schedule yet. Organization at home starts to be settled little by little. It will be a long journey till we get back to our normal schedule. Nights are shorter and nap opportunities are too rare to be grabbed.

And all that .. is part of parenthood. These angels worth all the efforts and sleepless nights.

34th Month Update

Yay! Time flies. When was the last time I updated Louna's milestones? Since time immemorial? Can't even remember when. But that doesn't mean nothing interesting is happening to this active toddler. Or should I say, pre-schooler?

She's attending pre-school since two weeks now. Aside from the shy tears she shed on the first day, everything is going impeccably well now. She's excited to go to school everyday - you can't hear her complain. She already knows the direction going to and from her school which is just 2 blocks away from our place. She's attending morning classes now, 8:45 am to 11:45 am, while I'm on maternity leave. Then we will switch progressively to whole day classes as I approach the end of my leave which would be by the end of December. Teacher B remarked how disciplined she is and how attentive she gets when she's reading a story. I even witnessed it once when I arrived earlier to fetch her and watched the kids by the window. Louna was actually imitating Teacher B's geste, even doing hand movements even before her teacher executes.

She's talking quite a lot too, forming short but complete sentences with subject, verb and complement. But that's when she's in the mood to talk clearly. Because there are a lot of moments when she's in the mood to talk like a baby. She hadn't even mastered talking perfectly that she already starts to deteriorate her level, lol.

She likes helping with the household chores when she's in the mood (Well, in fact, she likes doing everything in just one condition - when she's in the mood to do a certain task). She likes staying in the kitchen with us so most of the time, she's the one arranging the utensils in the dishwasher then arrange them in their proper place afterwards.

Eating habit starts to be a little tricky. She starts to have her preferences, eats slowly but leaving quite a lot of mess on the table, doesn't like certain food and takes a lot of time to finish her glass of milk. She also likes to display her independence all the time, wanting to do everything on her own including cutting meat on her plate.



Well, so far, I have not much complain about her. She stays to be a model child to some friends who have hard-to-manage kids. She's also impatient to have her bébé soeur with her I think, basing on her reactions when she sees other babies around. Well, I hope it will be the case when the baby is physically around.

Picture attached is her first ID picture for school.

First Day of School

Today is Louna's first day at the pre-school. The night before, we were able to let her pronounce her teacher's name which is Barbara. The next day, everybody was up quite early, too excited maybe to prepare ourselves for the first day. Even Papa took his morning off to experience this special milestone with Louna.

Arriving there, some kids already started crying while Louna stared at them, holding our hands, quite teary-eyed herself. She was probably thinking if crying was SOP. Does she have to cry too? Then she started to try the new toys around, then moved from one table to another. She was even able to talk to another girl and asked her if she could take the toy camera. Then she started taking pictures till it was time for us to leave.

Teacher B took her hand trying to assure her that everything will be alright. She cried silently when we left. But like a spy, we peeked on the window before we left. There, she was already mingling with other kids. She in fact stopped crying in no time.

She was already smiling when we went back to fetch her. First day was a promise of a fruitful school year. Parents had worried faces when they brought their kids to school. But all those worried faces were replaced by happy faces, excited to know how their kids fared. My, still can't believe I'm one of those parents.

8th Month Visit

Almost there. Reaching the finish lane is the ultimate challenge. The road to D Day, especially now that I'm but a month away must be the longest and the hardest obstacle that I need to brave. Could you imagine a 14-kg balloon, the size of a football that I need to carry everywhere 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? That's exactly me nowadays.

I met my OB Gyne this morning and I expressed my worries about my bulging tummy which seems to be bigger than the first pregnancy (based on the graph, at 8th months, I already gained more than what I gained in 9 months during my first pregnancy). So she checked and re-checked but confirmed that the baby is just the normal size at 3.1 kg (well, more than the average but smaller than Louna). She did all the routine check afterwards then adviced us to wait and try to do it naturally since everything was A-ok - which I prefer by the way (Louna was induced at 38th week). She nonetheless told us that if at 38th week I feel exhausted and my tummy really starts to disturb me, we could then set an schedule.

Knowing that this must be my last pregnancy, I would prefer to experience giving birth the natural way. You know, natural effacement of the cervix, losing the amniotic fluid, having regular contractions, and all the other symptoms till the baby finally decides to move out.

Organization must be tough tho. We don't have any family nearby (unlike in the Philippines where my whole clan could be around me even 2 months before D Day) so we need to check on some friends who would be willing to take care of Louna in case D Day falls on a midnight. There are some volunteers but night-time organization doesn't stop there. Who would take care of Louna the next day (almost all our friends work)? Who would bring her to school? Would she understand all these urgencies and changes in organization?

I know that we will find the best solution. Induced labor is not yet out of the game in case organization deems to be really tough. That would be the most comfortable way out.

In the meantime, I need to wax my stretch-marked mega-tummy with a cream which I hope would work. My, these stretch marks had even attacked above my navel. I think I need to bid my final goodbye to two-piece swimsuits, really.

But well, these stretch marks would be the most beautiful scars I could have in my entire life. A loving souvenir of my two girls which I would keep with me for the rest of my life. So no complains (but well, if you have a miraculous solution to get rid of them, just let me know ;).

Summer Vacation 08

I'm still on vacation with my grandparents and my cousins for 2 more weeks. Just getting a long break before I start pre-school. Even toddlers need to unwind from everyday life, right?

But prior to that, I was already on vacation with my parents. We were at my uncle's house near the seaside where we enjoyed playing in the sand, riding a boat and eating ice cream. Maman's preggy condition didn't stop me from discovering new activities. First, a ride on a pony named Nougat. Oh, he was calm and gentle. I enjoyed the ride especially that I was able to chat with another girl who did the same adventure as me. I was too proud!
Next, I tried accro-branche - a monkey adventure I really loved! I was able to glide from one cord/path to another with just a little help from Papa. That was a really great experience for a pre-schooler like me!
Take a look at our vacation pictures here.

7th Month Update

7th month! That means only 2 months to go and I change my status from first-time-mom to mom-of-two! Life is beautiful.

I was in my birth class with two other moms yesterday. I had the biggest bump and yet I have the farthest due date. My tummy is a lot bigger than my first pregnancy, I feel a bit more tired and I experience quite a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions lately. So when my OB Gyne told me that my cervix is not at all dilated, I was assured to take my vacation this weekend.
At my 31st week of pregnancy, I already gained a disturbing 12.6 kg. It didn't seem to alarm my doctor though. She just told me that since it's my 2nd pregnancy, my belly has been stretched already so it's normal to be bigger. My baby is a bit bigger than the normal size but a bit smaller than Louna, so that's already a good thing. She is currently 2.137 kg with a heart working at 140 bpm. If she continues to follow the same development curve, she could be around 3.7 to 3.9 kg at birth. She's in head down position now. That explains those almost-painful jabs under my ribs.

Well, baby. Stay stuck till D Day, okay? Ate Louna will be patiently waiting for you.

Tu n'as que des Bonbons dans ta Tête

Translation: You always think about sweets/candies.
Word-by-word translation: You only have but sweets/candies in your head.

Scenario:

We were having breakfast and Louna only had her fruit juice and wouldn't want to finish her milk nor her bread so I asked her what she wanted. To which she answered: Bonbons (Candies). So I told her Tu n'as que des bonbons dans ta tête.

She immediately touched her head and looked at me with an inquisitive regard and said: Il n'y a rien. (There's nothing.)

Ngek. Oo nga naman.