Day 5 at Mount Alvernia – Aleric 沈坊锦

We were anxiously waiting for the call from hospital to inform us if Aleric could checkout on the Saturday. We received the first name analysis report from Master Wu on the recommendation for Aleric’s Chinese name. After some deliberation, we chose 沈坊锦.   His daddy hoped that he could lead a wonderful and meaningful route of life in the future.

We rushed to the hospital early to register his birth as the birth registration ended at 11 30pm. We planned to visit him in the nursery if he still could not checkout of hospital. While waiting for our queue to register for the birth, we received the call that he could checkout. : ) After registering his birth and settling the bills, we set off back home.  Finally, the whole family was home.

Day 4 at Mount Alvernia – Mummy’s Checkout

Day 4 was supposed to be the checkout / go-home day for Mrs and Aleric. But, at the last moment, we were informed that Aleric’s Jaundice reading was high and he had to stay for 1 more day in the hospital. His grandparents and Mrs were disappointed and worried. I felt so initially too but I guessed it would be good to get all stuffs prepared before he goes home, hopefully the next day.

Back home, we started preparing all the stuffs, taking out all stuffs which he would need and sterilizing all his equipment.

Day 3 at Mount Alvernia – The Turnabout

I slept longer on Day 3 and reached hospital at around 9am. It was the day of the turnabout of negative feelings as I saw Mrs getting a lot better. She managed to walk to the toilet herself even at night. Aleric’s baguette head has much recovered. However, the paediatrician tested him to have Jaundice. So, he got to be left in the nursery for the UV ray treatment most of the time.

Day 2 At Mount Alvernia – The Hard Truth

Since I was not allowed to stay in the hospital, I woke up early on Wednesday morning and drove to hospital early. I was hoping that I would be the first person Mrs see when she woke up. However, Mrs was already awake using her iphone when I reached her ward.

I felt very negative in Day 2 as I saw Mrs seemed to be a lot weaker. She could not move her legs well to get off the bed herself and had problem urinating. It was the day when It struck me if we were really happy welcoming Aleric and if we would want a second child.

As novice parents, we were very anxious about Aleric. He cried really loudly in the night before I left and we were both lost of what to do. We were lucky, with the help of a nurse; he managed to latch onto mummy for breast feeding. The hard truth about having a baby was that it really took a lot of effort, sacrifices and commitment. 

2nd Special Week of Our Life

This week is the 2nd special week of our life as we stepped into parenthood. Baby Aleric was born on 14 May 2013 at 8 19 pm after delayed for 11 days and unsuccessful induction for natural birth.

 

 

Mrs Shen and I woke up at about 5 30am on 14 May, had Mac breakfast before leaving for Mount Alvernia. The check in was fast and soon Mrs Shen was on the induce medicine. I was hoping that it will take about 5 hours (around noon time) and baby boy will be out by then. Midway at around 10am, dear felt very uneasy and I could see her really in pain. It was really hurtful to see your loved one in in pain yet you could not offered any help. In the end, we decided to inject epidural to ease the pain.

 

We waited 12 hours till 7pm and the dilation was not as flavourable. Mrs Shen tried a few pushes but the gynae still could not access to the baby and it was too dangerous to vaccum the baby out. I saw quite a fair bit of blood flowing out of dear too. I decided that we would go for the C section to get the baby out and helped mummy got off the pain.

 

The nurse asked me if I would want to accompany my Mrs in the operating theatre (OT). I just did not want to leave her alone. So, I changed into the OT suit. The doctors tried to talk to me before the operation but I guessed I was too distracted to communicate with them. The operation was grossing. I sort of saw the doctor taking some stuffs out from Mrs and putting it back later. I guessed the doctors were proficient. Soon, I saw the gyane pulling baby Aleric out. He wasn't crying initially. Mrs was in a daze and I had to tell her that Aleric was out. Soon, we heard his loud cries. When I took a close look at Aleric in the OT, I was very worried to see a big lump on his head. His head is like a baguette. My heart sunk as I thought he had a odd shaped head which prevented him from normal delivery. I asked the nurse if it was alright and she assured me it was a normal feature for newborns. The feeling when I saw Aleric out of the womb, his odd shape head and Mrs enduring the pain, lying on the operating theatre was really too overwhelming. Too much for me to handle despite being trained to keep a cool head in OCS. The nurse tried to bring Aleric for Mrs to take a look but she was feeling too cold, probably due to the loss of blood. Thus, the doctor had to order to bring Aleric away and give her warmer to keep her warm. 

 

I followed the nurse to the nursery when the nurse conducted baisc checks on the baby to see that he was normal.  He was big and long as compared to other newborns, weighing 3.72 kg and 51cm long. Mrs Shen was very amused by this photo which I took. She said that Aleric looked surprised to find his baby neighbour so small size. Probably, he did not realise that he was a baby giant.

 

 

I saw the pediatrician in the nursery while waiting for Mrs to be wheeled out of the OT. She reassured me that the head lump was normal and his head would grew back to normal in time. Mrs was finally wheeled out and I met her outside the lift. She told me she saw me though there was a big group of Indian family standing near to the lift. I was very proud of Mrs and I told her baby was fine as she laid tiredly resting on the bed. She wanted to take a look at the baby but the nurse had to clean up baby Aleric before bringing to her for breast feeding. 

 

We started the day 14 May 2013 early at 5 30am with 2 of us and we ended the day welcoming the additional member Aleric to our family. Love Shenlafamille.

Starhub Home Hub Classic vs Singtel MioHome

So, which plan should we choose?

Renovation Week 2 Report

HDB has completed their screeding for the 3 rooms. I was told that we have to wait for a week for the water in the screed to evaporate before laying the laminated flooring. The worker has also completed the touching up of the new kitchen entrance, the living room tiles with skirting and also the washing stump in the service yard. So, all the tiles works are almost done. Hope we can complete laying the laminated flooring, install the window grills and starts the carpentry works next week.

I took a photo of the work at the ground level which is still cordon off from public access. It seemed like the main contractor still have quite a lot of outstanding works. I was wondering it would probably take another 6 more months for the main contractor to finish up all the works.

Renovation Week 1 Report

We started our renovation last week. These 2 weeks will be busy as I need to juggle with exam, appointment with gynae (baby boy will be due anytime), work and renovation.

On Monday, Uncle brought in the sand and tiles and hack off the kitchen wall too. I went down on Tuesday to coordinate for the air con installation. It was my longest stay in our home since we got the keys from 10 am to 5 pm. I thought the installation would take less than 5 hours. I was quite impressed by the Gain City installers. They were professional and they skipped their lunch to complete the work by 5pm. In the end, with the advise of the installer, I decided to thicken the insulation of our air con pipes.

 

 

 

Since I was at our home for almost the whole day, I took a handful of photos of the surrounding. These 2 places in front and behind our block would likely be my baby boy's favourite in the future.

 

 

 

On Thursday,  I met dear after exam before heading to IMM to purchase the last few outstanding home items - 2 toilet mirrors and 2 toilet fittings.

 

I went back home to take a look on Friday evening after work. The workers are still working on lying the tiles when I reached there. The tiles, withour skirting, are almost completed. HDB has brought in the materials for the screeding of the 3 rooms. I guess they will start the screeding in the coming week. Hopefully, the flooring of the home will be completed by next week.