Command center

Swe-cha woke up crying half an hour after he went to bed last night and he kept crying the whole night. This was louder and more scary than his usual cry, hubby says that it sounds as if he was hurting bad. I agreed and we took off his clothes to see if something was poking him or if he got bitten by an insect. Saw nothing.

We would get him to stop crying & sleep but he would start up again as soon as I try to put him down to bed. By 2am, I decided to just set up my "command center" again and just go to sleep with him in my arms as that seemed to work best in soothing him.

It did work on swe-cha, he slept really well last night - a little over 5 hours. I, on the other hand, wasn't too comfortable as I went to sleep in a sitting position with a baby in my arms. We started off with Swe-cha lying on my chest, he burped and later wiggled himself down. He cried, I fed him some more, he cried some more and eventually, we settled on a position where I was carrying him horizontally in my arms. Hubby arranged the pillows so that I could rest my arms on one for support.

So tiring!

I just put him down to bed again a few minutes ago. He woke up hungry at around 7am, I fed him and he fell asleep. Woke up crying again at 7:40am, I fed him the rest of his bottle and he fell asleep. It was time to pump milk so I tried putting him down on the bed. He did not cry but he kept whimpering. He's still whimpering every now and then as I write this blog while I am pumping. When Swe-Cha cries like this ? It's heartbreaking. He starts off strong and loud and his voice eventually goes down in volume as his lips quiver. Eventually, his voice starts to break, he shakes and tears start running down from the edge of his eye down his cheeks. Parang inaapi - as if naman, he's the king of our household!!! And me, I just want to gather him in my arms, hug him tight and get rid of whatever it is that is bothering him. I also find myself wishing I could take his pain and fears and suffer through it for him.

Sigh.

I read somewhere, some time ago, that baby gets extra fussy during growth spurts. After sharing that article with my husband, we explain every episode with Swe-Cha as "ah, growth spurt". I wonder if that is true ?

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* My command center consists of a couple of pillows thrown up against the wall / bed railings for support, a light blanket, a bottle of milk & the pacifier within the reach of my right hand, a bottle of water (for me) within reach to my left and a phone to call up my husband for support if he's not in the room.

Updates

Milk supply has been a little bit low these past few days, I've only been getting 10 oz each pumping session instead of the usual 12 and I think it may be because I have not been drinking as much water as I normally do. I have this 1.5 gallon water pitcher in the baby's room (where I stay too) and I usually fill this up with drinking water on a daily basis. Recently, I have been filling this up every other day. Sigh.

It also doesn't help that Swe-Cha has been extra fussy these past few days and would often wake up from his nap crying and interrupt my pumping sessions - tummyache, I think. I've been going over what I've eaten recently and there's nothing special or new so it must be the weather or it could also be that he's gulping down his milk when he feeds. We should make an extra effort to burp him after meals.

So during Swe-cha's daily walk today, I went and got a pack of ribs from the grocery store. I always like to buy a whole rack of ribs and then cut it up such that the rib tips get steamed, chinese style and the bones get boiled into a huge pot of plain old buto-buto soup which I love with macaroni thrown in.

I saw some watercress at the grocery store and thought about getting them to make watercress soup - which hubby has been dropping hints about recently - but they looked suspiciously old (lamog and lanta).

Oh and while we're at this, here's a bit of trivia: While I typically enjoy having soup as a viand (ulam) with rice, hubby is the typical Cantonese who drinks soup separate from the meal / rice.

I also inventoried our freezer and found some beef short ribs which will make yummy nilagang baka, I'll line this up for when we finish the pork bone soup I'm making today.

On the way to the grocery, I was sorely tempted to drop by my neighborhood Dunkin Donuts to grab a sandwich (love their croissant sandwiches and today is too cold for iced coffee). I have to give myself a pat on the back for resisting the urge and just buying a loaf of whole wheat bread instead. Swe-cha was sleeping (as he always does when we go on our walks) when we got home and I was able to make myself a grilled cheese and scrambled egg sandwich on wheat bread. I am not craving the DD sandwich anymore.

Date Night

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of 20th Century Fox. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's been a while since hubby and I had a date night and the way things are going (with the baby and all), I figure it's going to be a while more before we have a chance to get one. I'm hoping to get a baby sitter to take over baby duties every once in a while so that my husband and I could catch our breaths and possibly, catch a movie or something - hopefully, we get to have a day off in time to catch Date Night Movie on the big screen on its first release day on April 9, 2010. The movie stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey, both of whom are among my favorite actors.

Intrigued ? Check out the trailer below for a few laughs :D See you at the movies (hopefully) on opening night!

Normally, I pass over romantic comedies because I'm more of an suspense - action type of a girl but thankfully, I had a chance to watch the trailer and was so entertained because this one just has the right mix of everything ( romance, comedy and action )to make it entertaining for men and women of all ages. And gosh, I think I'm so hooked on Tina Fey's comedy too!

A walk in the park

Those who know me well know how much I hate being under the sun, however, baby and I have been taking long walks these past few days - a testament on how becoming a mother has changed my life.

Swe cha has gotten into the habit of taking these walks. My fault, really, as I had unwittingly introduced him to the pleasure during those times when he is fussy and I run out of things to do to pacify him. Now, it seems like part of his daily routine already. He will not nap in the afternoon - thus, becoming cranky - unless he is outside.

How I long for my husband to see how Swe-cha is when we are out walking, I try to take pictures but they don't do justice. The photos I take do not capture the baby's contentment or the way that he laughs whenever a breeze blows. Times like these make me thankful for the way that things turned out, that becoming a SAHM gives me the chance to enjoy these firsts with my son.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alvin and the Chipmunks. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have good news, Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel is now available on DVD. This would make a wonderful (belated) easter gift to my nephews - especially, Lyle, who loved the movie when we first watched it before and spent the next few weeks singing the songs in a very high chipmunky voice.

I can almost imagine his face when he opens the package and watches More Munk Mayhem. I'm going to buy it now from http://www.foxfamilyflicks.com as I love sending DVD movies to my nephews since they watch it over and over again.

I remember watching Alvin and the Chipmunks episodes with my brother when I was a child, we always did love the the antics of these three critters and my personal favorite has always been Theodore (he is Lyle's favorite too!). I look forward to watching this movie with my baby Swe-Cha when he's a little bit older too. I can imagine curling up on the sofa with my husband, baby in one hand and a bowl of freshly popped popcorn in the other hand. Hmm, that would feel like heaven! Super-family-bonding time, right ?

I wonder if I can make my Dad and Mom watch this with us when they come over for a visit in a couple of months ? After all, you are never too old for Alvin and the Chipmunks, right ?

On Demand Routine

So we've been having these discussions in an e-group about breastfeeding our babies and I find out that:

- for those who have over supply of breast milk in the first few months, the milk could taper off by the 5th month (eek!)

- pump every 2 to 3 hrs to increase supply, every 4 hrs to maintain supply and every 6 hrs to decrease supply

- that sadly, most establishments still do not have lactation rooms

First off, I (and my baby) have always enjoyed the abundance of my breastmilk. We've never had to cry over spilt or spoilt milk because there's always more where it came from. There were times when I even entertained the thought of throwing away the excess because we didn't have enough room in our refrigerator's freezer and I didn't want to buy more storage bags (kuripot ba ?). Hearing about the possibility of losing my supply in the discussions made me a bit more concerned and I had also been pumping less these past few days and ergo, got less milk stored - whereas before I would have 4 to 5 bags (6oz bags) of excess breastmilk for freezing, I was only getting 3 bags these past few days AND note that Swe-cha has been drinking less too.

So here I am, trying to establish a good supply again by being mindful of the pumping schedule. I'm trying to go from my usual 6 hr cycle to 5 hrs. It's not so easy sticking to a schedule because I have to take Swe-cha's schedule into consideration too. If he's awake and wants to be entertained, there's no way that I was going to be able to pump so the 6 hr wait suddenly becomes 7 or 8 hrs and my milk supply starts decreasing. I hope I can keep this up just until I fill up my deep freezer with milk, it shouldn't be long now as we're already past the halfway mark. When it's filled up, then I can see about milksharing again and probably donate a (ziploc) bag at a time - 54 oz) and I should be able to make that up eventually even if my production goes down. I do want to have a full freezer for when I eventually go back to working again, whenever that will be.

Coincidentally, I had just come across a magazine article about babies' sleep & nap requirements. Apparently Swe-cha is still supposed to nap 3 to 4 times a day (forgot how long each nap is but should be more than 20 minutes). Take note of the time he wakes up and his next time should be on or about 2 hrs after that. I never took any notice of his naps before and would just wait till he falls asleep, it never occurred to me that I could try and take control and establish a sleeping pattern for him as the article suggested. When people ask me about our daily routine, I always say that we go "on demand" - Swe cha demands, we follow. May pattern naman pala. I learn something new each day :)

So before, when I feel the need to pump, we'd go through a painful process of me forcing him to sleep and baby crying / fussing until he'd fall asleep from exhaustion. I'd be tired too because I'd usually have to sing, rock and lull him to sleep. Today, armed with the knowledge that he'd be napping in 2 hrs, I didn't even try to force him anymore and just waited for it to happen and it did! Swe-cha fell asleep on the dot. Saktong 2 hrs!

Now, I wonder how long this is going to be true ? My baby likes to keep me on my toes by changing his patterns just when I've gotten used to them or when they've gotten predictable. It's a game that he likes to play with mommy and daddy. Say, he's steadily feeding on a 4 hr cycle and you set an alarm for 3:30am to start heating his milk for his 4am feeding. He'll wake up screaming at 3 or 3:15am and mommy will have to rush about in a panic.

Motherhood is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. It's also the most fulfilling and the most wonderful.