One Tradition That I Cannot Get Behind

Traditionally, the month after a woman gives birth in China is considered very important.  The term is "Zuo Yue Zi" literal translation would be "Doing (or Sitting) the Month."  Within that month, the woman isn't supposed to bathe, brush her teeth, touch water, drink cold fluids, eat fruits or veggies, or basically do anything but stay in bed.  She needs to cover up, wear a jacket (even if it's 80+ degrees outside), and wear long sleeves, pants, and socks indoors. She's also supposed to eat tons of fried eggs and chicken soup cooked with wine.  All this stems from the balance of "qi" or energy.  When she gives birth, she loses blood and other "hot" energy leaving her with a "cold" balance.  So during the month, she is fed "hot" food to bring her back into balance.

My mom is very adamant about this month.  I am just as opposed.  Together, I think we've found a semi happy medium.  She tells me what to do... or rather what NOT to do which would be everything.  And I say "ok" and keep doing what I want.  She brings over quarts after quarts of chicken soup and sweet rice porridge expecting me to eat them about  7 times a day everyday.  I eat what I can (after adding fiber powder), and trash the rest cuz more is coming.  Don't get me wrong, the food is really tasty.  I love this stuff growing up.  However, a better balance of energy should probably start with a more balanced diet.  I'm still eating my fruits and veggies.... and ice creams and pies and cookies... and sodas and ice water... :-P   As for staying in bed... I've been in bed for over a month.  I was up and about the day I gave birth... even if it still hurt.  But I felt good.

Here's a good article about the tradition.  http://www.womenofchina.cn/Lifestyle/Health/209151.jsp

Gas-y Smile?

From Alex After Bath

Jaundice Update

So the doctor called us back and said that her bili level was actually higher than what they would have normally started treatment for. Since it was after hours, she would need to go to the ER. So Ryan's mom and I packed her up and headed to the hospital since Ryan went mountain biking.

Let me just say that the hardest part of this whole ordeal... was when they had to put an IV in her tiny little arm. They had to do it twice since the first time they accidentally hit an artery instead of a vein. The poor thing bawled like crazy, I almost bawled like crazy. I thought it was done but then they told me they had to do it again. My poor baby. After being admitted into the in-patient side, they put her in a preemie incubator and started the photo-therapy part. It's pretty funny how much she seems to enjoy it. But then, it's nice and toasty in there and of course, she's passed out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfndbelO3XA


Well Ryan and I both spent the night on the most uncomfortable couch that extends... but not fold out. Why don't they make hospital guest beds more comfortable? The doctor this morning said that she may have to stay another night. Thank goodness they came back and said that her level was much lower and we could probably go home this afternoon. They'll draw her blood again at 2PM and we'll see if it's still good then. It'll be nice to sleep in my own bed...even if we still had to get up every 3 hours to feed her.

I like this hospital... but I've seen it 2 times too many right now.

Jaundice

Alexandra has jaundice, so we're headed back for another doctor's appointment. She had normal bilirubin levels while at the hospital. She got steadily more yellow, and they did another check when we went for her first pediatric appt on Monday. The level came back higher, but still not something that would be treated. So we're just going to get it screened again. Hopefully it has peaked and she won't require any treatments.

Jaundice is a pretty common occurance in newborns. But since she's of Far East Asian descent, a preemie, low birth weight, and our blood types probably do not match since I'm O+, all of these makes her a high risk case. Sorry babe, you were dealt a sore card for this. :)

Meanwhile, the little one has been sleeping none stop. That's another result of her early birth. We have to wake her up every 3 hours to feed otherwise she'll just starve herself by sleeping. Occasionally she'll open her eyes and fuss a bit when it's time to eat, but once we pick her up she's back to being completely passed out. It's nearly impossible to wake her up. Today would be 36 weeks. I can't believe she's almost a week old. Already she's got her mommy and daddy wrapped around her tiny little fingers.

Hello World!

Fear not! I have arrived. I know you were all greatly anticipating my arrival, but here I am! Ready to parrrtttayy! Right after I sleep for a few weeks. Frankly, I thought the outside world would be much more interesting since I tried to come out 9 weeks early, but mommy and daddy put a stop to that real quick. Unfortunately that put mommy on bed rest hoping that I would stay put for another 6 or 7 weeks. That's wayyy too long to stay cramped up in there. So I bid my time, waited a few more weeks.... and this time they couldn't stop my escape! There's nothing that can stop a determined woman ready to explore.. I finally made mommy realize that she really needed to call the doctor Friday morning since she ignored (she was really in denial) all of my signs the day before. The nice lady doctor checked mommy, said she was 3cm dialated and sent her right to the hospital where they were thinking about trying to stop my attempt... but I beat them again cuz by that time mommy was 4cm. The pretty doctor said we'll all just have to wait it out now cuz mommy's not going home without me... outside that is. Apparently they all thought it might take a while... like a day or so because mommy wasn't really in labor since she wasn't feeling any pain, but little did they know. The water broke after a few more centimeters when the doctor checked mommy, but she had to rush out right away cuz another lady had her baby right down the hall without waiting for the doctor. (The nurse said that other mommy was planning on leaving her baby boy at the hospital cuz she didn't wanted him. Poor baby boy.) Anyway, this is where my daddy was afraid to say anything cuz mommy wasn't happy at all. He thought she was going to break the bed rail cuz I made her hurt so much. But they got another nice doctor to come quickly to give her the epidural and that made her very happy cuz she didn't hurt anymore. They pretty lady doctor came to check her a couple hours later and was really surprised cuz I was ready to come out, but first she had to go take care of another baby down the hall then she'll come back and get me out. But I couldn't wait for her to come back, so the nurse told mommy if she felt me pushing, then it was time to push. Except the drug that mommy had gotten was very good and mommy didn't realize that my head was already there. Daddy helped the nurse help mommy push. Thanks goodness the doctor came back in time cuz they said my heart rate was decreasing... even though they've only been pushing for a few contractions. The doctor helped me out by using this suction thing on my head and I had this really funny bump on my head when I came out. Mommy was worried about the bump, but the doctor said it'll go away real quickly. Apparently I had gotten the cord wrapped around my neck twice! Everyone was surprised at my size! What's wrong with a healthy weight woman?! The doctor told mommy that it might have been a good thing that I came so early, cuz other wise she would have to be cut open to get me out if I had waited.

Love,

Alexandra Ma Li Blace
5 lbs 7.5 oz
7:43 PM
18.5 in

Alexandra's First Doctor's Visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm0sujbw6mQ

Sleeping Baby and Furbabies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eptMzMFt4I

Alexandra Ma Li Blace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9mu69dCWQE

5lbs 7.5oz
August 21, 2009, 7:30ish PM. (5 weeks early)
Apparently she really likes to sleep. :)

Thanks for the Baby Shower

Nancy and Karen threw and awesome baby shower for us yesterday. From the homemade three tiered cake with different flavors, baby item sugar cookies, diaper cake, onesies bouquet, cards, games, etc... it was outstanding! Thanks to everyone else who provided the food and the Tangs for letting us crash their house. I regret not taking pictures of everything, but I only carried around the camcorder. Hopefully people will post some pictures of the goods on FB.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLQmdzYr-ik
I apologize for the shakiness of the filming, was trying not to laugh to hard. It was a great game. All the soon-to-be daddies (Ryan, Pat, Jim, Vincent) at the shower and Nate trying to guess baby food flavors.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlwztjI70l4
The results of the game. I think they're all gonna think twice when they buy baby foods from now on.

Thanks guys, we had a great time!

Chugging Along

In a way, this confinement is getting easier. I go to bed late, and wake up even later. Each day is either spent on the couch or on top of the bed. Most of the day is dedicated to working on my cross-stitch project since it requires quite a bit of concentration not to mess up, occasionally mixed in is a little bit of TV and a lot of random web surfing. The kitties and Daisy lounge with me and keep me company. I just wish I could get up and do stuff. Unfortunately the nesting urges have kicked in. The bathrooms needs to be cleaned, the dust and pet fur is impossible to control but the urge to dust is overwhelming. Not only that, I really wanna bake something.

Flip!

Testing out the new Flip Ultra HD. Mini playing fetch with her favorite toy.

Jail Break

Counting the hospital, I've been on bed rest for a week. Now I'm not the most energetic or active person there is... Ryan would probably even say restful (lazy), but even the modicum of activity keeps me in a relatively peaceful and cheery mood. I usually get a headache if I don't leave the house at least once a day. I also consider myself fairly calm and logical about things, so it wasn't that surprising to me that the whole pregnancy mood swing business didn't really show its head for the past 8 months.

This morning was different. I woke up feeling sorry for myself and couldn't talk myself out of it. Regardless that the confinement was necessary for the baby's well being, the knowledge that this is barely the beginning was very depressing. A mental breakdown was long overdue. I think it shook Ryan up a bit since he's probably never seen me like that, so he suggested that we could go for a drive. One better, he agreed to go eat an early dinner a Chinese restaurant, Asian Court in Ellicott City. The food was pretty good... I ordered 5 dishes for the two of us. When they brought us the food, the server commented on the amount and said that we must really like to eat. Later the boss lady walked by and saw me rubbing my belly and said, "Oh! That's why! Good good, eat more." Then she asked if I was eating for 2 or 3.... lol. Anyhow, at least now I have food for a few days while Ryan's at work.

It's a wonder what a short trip will do.... mentally. Unfortunately, by the time we got home the physical exertion got to me. One week of no activity makes a big difference. I'm back in bed now. And am somewhat glad to be. I think I'm good for another week until I can talk my way into another outting... that doesn't involve the hospital or Dr's office.

Shopping List

3 Notes in 1 day and I've only been awake for less than 2 hours!

I think I've taken care of the necessities to prepare for Alex.
- The crib and mattress came, but still needs to be put together.
- Car seat purchased, will be delivered next week.
- First round of diapers ordered, will be delivered next week.
- I guess I need some wipes too... that can wait.
- Basic baby clothing taken cared of by Nana.

I know there should be other stuff but for now I think this is good if Alex should decide to vacate her home for the past 8 months early.

Next would be to work on the 'wants' right?
- HD camcorder.
- My 'gift' :)

Is it tradition that the new mommy gets a gift for giving birth? Well it doesn't matter, but I already told Ryan what I wanted. :-P

Car Seat... Done!

I finally decided on a car seat. After getting some good suggestions and reading reviews, I ended up buying the Graco Birkshire. Actually, my criteria included ease of cleaning, weight limit (up to 30lbs), color/design, and if it'll fit into one of those stroller frames. I wanted a light and neutral design since that way we can use it for more than one baby, and so that it wouldn't get too hot if it was sitting in the sun all day. A lot of the fabrics had dark colors, too pink, too blue, or just plain ugly. This one is rated for babies from 5lbs to 30lbs... which is good cuz at this point who knows how big or small Alex is going to come out at. Many of the reviews say that it is a bit bulkier and heavier than other carseats... but that's not too big of a deal with me. I probably won't be carrying it w/o the stroller frame anyhow. Actually, any carseat with a baby in it would potentially be too heavy for me anyhow.

Once Alex outgrows this, we'll probably look into getting a Britax.

2 Days Down....

Two days down and how many more to go? My daily routine right now is to get up late (after noon), shower & toileteries, go downstairs and plop myself on the couch. If Ryan's home he'll set me up with food and drinks and pretty much anything else I need. Otherwise I'll get it myself before I get to the couch. I get yelled at if I get up for anything other than the bathroom. So far, I've seen a lot of Food Network, TLC, Travel Channel and NatGeo, a couple episodes of Bones, stared at the ceiling, and shopping on the internet. Actually, Day 1 was by far the worse since Ryan wasn't home. Day 2, he stayed home but was working downstairs the whole time. Karen and Cynthia came to visit so the day was much more interesting.

I think our goal right now is to make it to 36 weeks, 38 weeks would be even better. I'll have to double check with the doc on Monday. But have you ever noticed that if something was to go wrong, it tends to happen when it's the least convenient? Last night I ended up calling the doc around 3:30AM for indigestion. It had started around 10ish and slowly build until it was unbearable after midnight. After downing some baking soda water and Tums, it went around away and I thought it was good to go. But after about 30 minutes I felt it coming back again and that's when I got confused. Usually once it went away it stayed gone, but it came back. Unfortunately the doc didn't know either so I didn't bother going to the hospital. Walking around helped a bit, so I just kept pacing for about an hour until it felt a bit better. But by that time, the contractions had started again.... probably due to the walking and pain caused by the indigestion. In the end, I decided to try to sleep around 5:30AM and hopefully the contractions would have stopped by the time I got up for my first potty break.

Sigh... I wonder if this is a precursor to the baby's temperament. Will she be a problem child? Or maybe the complete opposite... all this trouble in utero and a complete angel outside? :) One can always hope. She's still one active bugger... especially at night.