Sketches of Life|Life Lived in Simplicity

I dislike hearing complaints from maid especially when I am being too lenient with them. If I give you lots of work and no rest, always scold you and didn’t compensate for your hard-work then you go complaint about me I don’t mind.

Ini, I only give a few chores like sweep and mop the floor, wash toilets and bathrooms, wash my children’s school shoes and iron their school uniforms, she started “hinting” to my mom that I should employ a maid (you want to pay for me arh?), my children made the floor dirty again after she just mopped (kan dah nama children), why I must have so many children (my children does not call her for help when she’s around, so why bother) and if possible she does not want to come help me anymore (lazy mah, my mom’s house smaller).

Itupun, I did not open my mouth to her about how she sweeps the floor; she only sweeps the open area, under the cupboard and cushion chairs not swept at all. She did not do dusting at all; lizard shit on the chairs, under the window panes and tv cabinet untouched. She mopped very lightly, dried lizard shit and stain on the floor did not go away. She used too much Clorox and toilet cleaner; 2 times came, almost one bottle finished! Never put back the things that she used back to it’s place. Did not scrub the school shoes sole clean. Missed a few window panes when wiping them clean and did not wipe all of them clean; sure got some part tak kena wipe. That was the first time, when she came again the 2nd time, I did not ask her to wipe the windows.

Why I still want her to come help me for the 2nd time? Well, at that time, better than no help at all coz I have no energy to do all those.

Now that I have gained back my energy, she will not step foot in my house again. I penat tak apa, asalkan kuping gua tak sakit dengeh her complaints to my mom.

My 4th child is now 27 months old. Recently I got tired of breastfeeding 2 babies (my body can’t take it anymore – am listening to my body) and decided to wean my toddler. He wakes up 2-3 a night to nurse unlike his baby sister who wakes up only once after 6-8 hours of sleep. Due to it, I have been sleep deprived for more than 2 years.

How do I wean my toddler from breastfeeding? Well, I don’t like the old fashion way of weaning like putting ointment, spicy or bitter stuff on the nipples. I don’t like the idea of physically “torturing” my child. I want it to be as natural as possible and with lots of love. So I wean my Baby (I still call him Baby!) gradually. It takes time. Hey! I am not rushing to go anywhere, anyway.

So this is what I did and still doing. I try to distract him with food, toys and activities. When he is occupied with those stuff, he doesn’t think about mommy’s milk. At night, before bedtime, I normally give him 6oz of formula milk and sometimes, we ate supper together. When his tummy is full, he can sleep through the night.

He does wake up in the middle of the night, looking for mommy’s milk. Sometimes, I sternly tell him to go back to sleep. Sometimes, I tell him that his baby sister wants to drink at that time (you see, he loves his baby sister and always give in to her) and sometimes, I just let him nurse for comfort.

Now it is down to once a day, maximum. Last week, he didn’t even look for my milk for 3 days in a row. He was too occupied playing with his cousins for morning till night.

Last Sunday, when he sees another toddler his age drinking her mommy’s milk, he asked for his too! Even though I tell him “No”, he insisted because he sees that I am not busy with his baby sister. We were in the Mother’s Room in church you see. So, I gave.

I will still nurse him from time to time. Just to lepaskan gian.

My last post on breastfeeding was in February. Since then, nothing has change much about my breastfeeding journey. My 4th child turned 2 years old last month and he hardly drink formula milk. The most he will drink is an ounce! Whenever he sees that I am free from nursing his baby sister, he will hop on my lap and request for mommy’s milk. Even when I am still carrying his baby sister, he will ask me to put his sister down! At times when I am nursing his baby sister, he will help himself with the other boob if I allow him.

I think I “spoiled” him. During the first few days after giving birthday to his baby sister, every time my breast is engorged, I get him to suck it. Sometimes 2-3 times per night. He got so used to it and now he still wakes up 2-3 times every night to have a dose of mommy’s milk. Even though my newborn sleeps through the night for at least 8 hours before looking for mommy’s milk, I still can’t enjoy sleeping 6-8 hours straight. I have to wake up for my 2yo. If I don’t he will cry till he gets it.

I thank God that my body can still produce breast milk for 2 until this day. Never once my newborn did not have enough because her kor kor is drinking at the same time. The more kor kor drinks, the more milk mei mei will get. My newborn often cry not because she does not have enough but she is getting more than she wants. After she is full, she just wants to suckle to sleep but milk is still flowing out. She will cry out loud because she does not want anymore. At times, I was so tempted to give her the pacifier but I did not. What I did was, I get her kor kor to almost empty the side she wants to suckle then pass back to her. No more fast flowing milk and she will be happily suckles it to sleep.

I have no intention to wean my 2yo. As long as he wants my milk, I will let him drink. Breast milk is the best medicine too. When he had fever recently, he refused water, don’t even want 100Plus and hardly eat any solid. All he wants was my boobs. With some paracetamol syrup to bring down his temperature and breast milk almost the whole day, he got better the next day.

I got the feeling that he will “hang around” as long as I have milk in my boobs.

One of my mommy blogger friends is obsessed with body shaping. I am not so sure whether she takes any adipex to help her slim down after her 4th child but she did mention in FB that she heads the gym 4 times a week. Her tummy is so flat now and looks flawless too! She is aiming to get a body age of 10 years younger than her actual age.; she got 5 more years to go. Hmm…10 years younger. That would be at 27yo for me. My tummy wasn’t that flat when I was at 27yo. The flattest was when I was 17yo and after I got my 4th child.

Anyway, what happened to all the stretch marks??? I did get back my flat tummy after giving birth to my 4th child but the ugly stretch marks stayed. Must ask her on that.

As for me now, I can’t be obsessed with body shaping now because I am still breastfeeding, not one but 2 babies! Both mine but not twins; tandem nursing. Maybe I should start doing some stretching and sit ups while waiting for the eldest to wean off my boobs.

I am serious! I am planning to do threesome because both of them wants me at the same time. Dei! I’m talking about breastfeeding my babies lar.

I am tandem nursing my babies but one at the time. Lately both wants to nurse at the same time. So it has been, either one will be left crying while I nurse one of them (that is when hubby is at work) or hubby has to take one away and distract him/her until we are done.

I just browsed through the images of tandem nursing and I roughly got the idea of nursing both at the same time. The only way of nursing both at the same time is for me to sit down which I don’t really favor; tiring you know. I like to nurse lying down because I do not have to hold my baby and I can doze off too or play games on my mobile phone.

So, threesome or not? Let’s see how things go these few days.

Her due date according to Due Date Calculator by BabyCentre and also ultrasound at 12 weeks is 11.01.11. Oh! We really hope that she will be born on that special date. But the government clinic where I go for my monthly check up gave me another due date that is on the 15.01.11. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea how they calculate my due date. It could be that I was not sure whether my last period was dated on the 6th or on the 8th so I gave the later.

Anyway, she decided to come out on the 13th! It was kinda good that she chose that day because the labor ward was kinda empty. I was the last person to give birth during that hour so I got all the attention. During labor, I was attended by 4 midwives! Because everyone was so free. hehehe.

Let’s start from the very beginning…

11.01.11 – Hubby was very anxious the whole day coz nothing is happening to me. No sign of labor at all. He was home the whole day too doing nothing except asking me, “any pain yet?” “why not we just go to the hospital?” Hello! I’m going to give birth in a GH. No labor sign, they’ll kick me out. Lots of expecting mothers who are really in labor need the labor room.

12.01.11 – Still no sign of labor. Carry my day as usual. Get children ready for school, send them, fetch them and make sure they finished their homework. Somehow, I did not manage to breastfeed my 4th child at all today. I got the feeling that this baby gonna come tomorrow.

13.01.11 – The moment the clock strikes 12, I started to feel a very mild contraction; just like period cramp when I was about to sleep. I was contemplating whether to sleep it off or check myself in. The contraction interval was half an hour apart. I tried to sleep but every contraction woke me up. Since this is No.5 already and we are worried that this baby might come out faster and easier than the rest, we left home to GH at around 2am.

2.25am – We arrived safely at the Labor Ward and I was told to change into the pink maternity gown. I don’t like wearing them; they are so huge especially the sarong.

2.45am – They need 1 hour to monitor the fetal heartbeat. New procedure I heard; they need the fetal heartbeat chart to prove that I came with an alive baby in my tummy. But then, if you come in pain; like very very painful, the doctor will check whether your OS has opened or not. Since I hardly show any sign of being in pain, they strap my tummy and left me alone listening to my baby’s heartbeat.

3.45am – After they got the reading then only the doctor inserted his thin and slender fingers (he is a skinny Indian male doctor) into you know what to check whether I have dilated or not. Opened already by 4cm. The nurse gave me enema then asked me to go clear my bowel. Then go get my stuff from the bag; baby’s clothing, diaper and pads. Then a nurse wheeled me off to Labor Room No.7. I can still walk but they insisted that I sit on the wheelchair. I think they do not want me to wander off peeping into other labor rooms. You think I want to see meh? Hear also I don’t want. Make myself even more terrified.

4.00am – A young Chinese doctor came in to clear my bladder. Thank God he was gentle and I hardly feel any pain. Then he broke my water bag to expedite the dilation of the OS. Then they called my hubby in to give me comfort when the real contraction pain starts to come.

5.00am – Started to feel some real contraction but the interval is like 20 minutes apart. OS opened by 6cm.

5.25am – The contraction is more intense but still bearable. Only need hubby’s hand to squeeze when the contraction come; 15mins interval. OS opened by 7cm already. The midwife told me to try to push whenever the contraction come to make the OS opens bigger. Then she left.

6.00am – Contraction gets more intense. I squeezed the metal railing beside my bed instead of hubby’s hand; don’t wanna his hand to turn blue black. hehehehe.

6.15am – After 3 rounds of squeezing the railing, I don’t want to bear the contraction pain anymore. Told hubby to call the midwife telling her that I wanna try to give birth. They came; 4 of them. Hubby was no where beside me coz one of the midwives is quite big size and hubby was made to stand behind her. Hubby was not able to get the full view of the birth process.

6.25am – A pale baby girl was born into this world after one continuous push. It was easy, fast and painless when she came out even though her head is 2cm bigger than her other siblings. I love the warm feeling when she slides out from my down under. This is the first time I did not cry after giving birth.

I really thank God for answering all our prayers. Fast and painless childbirth, perfectly healthy baby and extra ordinary strength to push the baby out. I also got a baby just like how I prayed that she will look like.

A few funny incident in the labor room and maternity ward which got to do with my Malay looking hubby.

1. When he entered the labor room, one of the nurses asked another nurse whether hubby is entering the correct room.

2. After I gave birth to our baby girl, one of the nurses/midwives showed hubby the toilet telling him that he can take his “air sembahyang” there to “Azan” his newborn. Hubby did not hear the nurse clearly and blur blur opened the toilet door thinking that the nurse asked him to help take something from there. After hubby left, all of them had a good laugh.

3. Before they send me to the maternity ward, we stopped at the registration counter at the labor ward to take my belongings. As hubby was carrying my bag out, the nurse at the counter asked; “Betul ke suami dia ni?”

4. At the maternity ward, one of the patients (Malay) did not believe when another patient (Malay) who has had a chat with me told her that my hubby look exactly like a Malay. When hubby came to visit, she came to take a closer look at hubby!

Anyway, this is not new to us. It happened each time I give birth there. They always got a surprised when they call out a Chinese name and a Malay man appeared.

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Here’s a link to the birth story of my other 4 children : The Birth Story of My Children.

And photos of my last 3. As for my 2 older girls, have not buy digital camera yet.

I am still breastfeeding when I discovered that I am pregnant with my 5th child. So, mommies out there, breastfeeding does not prevent you from getting pregnant!

The first question that came to my mind was, can I continue to breastfeed my 4th child who is just 1yo then? I asked other breastfeeding mommies. Most of them gradually wean their baby within the first trimester. My mom thinks that I might risk the baby in my tummy health. Church members shared that baby will come out tiny and smaller than normal newborn baby and their growth spurt will be slower than normal baby. The nurses at the clinic advised me to wean before if I started feeling contraction when I breastfeed. They worried that I’ll have a premature baby.

Since I have set my mind to breastfeed my 4th child till he is 24mo, I did some research online and most articles mentioned that breastfeeding during pregnancy is possible. Listen to you body, eat more nutritious food and drink lots of water. I did just that and leave the rest to God. I persistently prayed that God will blessed me with a perfect and healthy baby without any handicap. We do not have medicare supplement plans like Allsup here.

Praise God, I started to feel some contraction during breastfeeding 2 days before I give birth. Just a day before I give birth, I did not breastfeed my 21mo baby and the real contraction came a day after that. I gave birth to a perfect and healthy baby girl weighing at 3.1kg. She is heavier than her sisters at birth!

Since my breastmilk supplier is already there, she does not have to work hard to suck the milk out from my boobs like her other siblings! She is so blessed.

I have stopped sewing for more than 2 weeks due to my girl’s school examination. Now that she has brought back her Report Card, I have nothing else to look forward to except to start sewing again and see the end result of my sewing. Her exam result percentage is lower than mid term (not much revision was done this time around) but her position in class is up by one placement. I guess the exam was tougher for everyone too.

I still have a few not so urgent pending orders. I still have a few bags unsold which I have already put up in Mudah. Check it out here: http://mudah.com.my/michmaylee. I hope there will be buyer soon coz I need some cash to buy hubby a birthday present; a Bluetooth headset would be nice.

I still need to sew a blanky, a nursing cover and more cloth pad for myself. Due to laziness to sew the buttons on the cloth pad, I bought a set of pantyliners from Mamapatch! Her flannel material is of better quality than mine (wash many time also tak berbulu) since I need to use pantyliners every day unlike cloth pad; only once a month.

I better go cut up some materials now.

I am not a flower person. Hubby can never forget how I scolded him for wasting his money to buy me an expensive bouquet of flowers on our marriage registration day. hahaha. Why do you need to bring flower on the ROM day? We need to sign papers you know. Not to pose here and there at the marriage registrar office. Later I found out that the registrar who was also our church member told hubby to buy flowers for me! At least, tell me lar right?

But I don’t mind receiving flowers once in a blue moon. I still remember how my hubby (my then boyfriend) surprised me with a bouquet of roses while I was working at a jewelry shop at MP. I still have 3 stalk of roses (dried up) which hubby gave me after his trip to Cameron Highland more than a decade ago. My blogger mommies made my day by sending flowers online on my birthday.

I hope I will get a bouquet of flowers this coming birthday. It has been a long, long time since I receive any (excluding those wild flowers that my children pick for me when they play outdoor. hehe).

I guess this would be my last post on Challenges in Breastfeeding series.

I have finally decided to wean my now 13mo baby. As much as I want to breastfeeding him until he is 24mo, my health does not permit it.

Most mothers would try to take away their baby source of comfort abruptly by putting spicy stuff or bitter food on their nipples to stop their baby from latching. My mom did the same to me. She applied Minyak Cap Kapak and I stopped wanting her nipples after tasting that hot and minty ointment. I was cranky and refused to drink from the bottle after that. So, I told myself that I do not want to trouble myself having a cranky baby and “torture” my baby.

So, how am I do it?

Firstly, I slowly introduce formula milk to my baby. He loves it partly because all his sisters and brother are still drinking from the bottles. He wants to join the fun too. For every 4oz of his milk, I add 1oz of his older siblings’ chocolate milk. So, formula milk is chocolaty and tasty.

I will only give him formula milk before he sleeps. So, with a full tummy, he drinks very little from me and then doze off. In this way, my milk supply will definitely reduce. Soon, my boobs will be his source of comfort or “pacifier” to put him to sleep. I am ok with it coz as long as he does not extract much milk from me, I will be up and running.

Weaning is going to be a slow process for us but we have all the time that we want.