2 and half Months!

Posted May 14th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 6 Comments »

Oh boy…  it’s been very busy around here.  I feel like I’m working 2 full-time jobs!  I really need to do something with my hair and face….  ah, I need massage and facial (><).

Hiro is doing ok, he seems to know that night time is the sleeping time.  After each feed he goes to sleep straight away and doesn’t wake up for 3 ~ 4 hours.  …oh, sometimes he makes some noise or a cry “ogya-!” “aa—n…!”  then I rush to the cot room, but he is asleep!  Is he dreaming?

He likes when I undress him to change a nappy or clothes – he used to cry a lot before, but now he just can’t stop smiling.  His smile is so funny… and cute.  And, he sticks his tongue out when we do that in front of him.  He copies!

… I notice I show photos of Hiro with same clothes over and over a lot :p   And on a same play mat.   Many many similar shots…

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been busy and feeling some stress, but my breast milk supply is decreasing! 🙁  I know it because I express milk and can see how much I made on the bottle. I do eat lots of sweets lately (maybe because I’m tired), and I hear eating sweets slows down the breast milk supply.  I don’t know if it’s true though.  Some people say eating chocolate and relaxing is a good thing to do in order to produce more milk…  Confusing!  I feel hungry but don’t know what I want to eat, plus I sometimes don’t feel like cooking, so I keep munching on bread with spreads and cookies/chocolate…  I should be eating proper food.  Ummm I hope it’s just a temporary thing and my milk supply will come back when things around me go slow down.



Another Rabbit

Posted May 11th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh….!!
I just received a great news from D!
Hiro is going to have another nephew / niece at the end of this year… 😀

D’s sister is 11weeks pregnant.  I wonder how it was when I was at week 11.  Was I already feeling strange??
Then I looked at my scrap book to find out. I was already feeling tiredness and sleepiness long before week 11.  Week 11 was when I visited my OB the first time, and saw a little peanut on the screen. 🙂

It’s so exciting!  I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that it may be a girl…!

Yesterday was my first day of mother’s group gathering, and I was surprised to see Hiro to be the biggest baby in the room.  All other babies were so young and tiny!

Watching these babies reminded me of baby Hiro…  and how I was struggling to even hold him and feed him during the first few weeks.  I never thought I would feel this way, but I miss all of those struggles. And, I miss being pregnant! (wow)  It was a long time of giving-up-things period, but now I miss the kicks I felt in my tummy and the excitement for the birth of a new baby.

By the way, here is how D described our reaction when we heard that sister is pregnant … ↓↓↓


Happy Mother’s Day 2011

Posted May 9th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »

It was my first ever mother’s day since Hiro was born.  I still receive a strange feeling when someone calls me “mum”.  …. Oh, Hiro doesn’t call me that yet (of course), just D and my friends calling me “mum” instead of my name!

D made me some yummy breakfast.  I know the croissant is little burnt and the hash brown is just a frozen one, but everything was lovely.  His scrambled eggs is getting better and better. 😀  He didn’t even know how to make it few years ago!

It was a perfect Sunday – the weather was pretty, but we didn’t go out.  We were going to, but we lost track of time :p

These days, Hiro sleeps well during the night (yey!) and wakes up when the sun is out.  We did lots of play time and tummy time.

He can lift up this head pretty good now.

His face changes in every angle!  The faces when he is asleep and awake are different too.


May 5, Children’s Day

Posted May 7th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | No Comments »

I have a photo of 2-weeks-old Hiro in the room, and the photo makes me realize how small he was once and how big he has grown in the last 2 months. In this photo he is sooo tiny!

Look at him now!  Is this a same baby??  He is wearing the same clothes.  His face, arms and legs are round and chunky!  My mum calls him “little piggy”.
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He now wears the size 000, and newborn nappies are getting tight. You know, he was too small for size 0000 clothes and newborn nappies were too big for him when he was born.  In-laws bought him lots of clothes at size 000 – 00, and I used to think “when will he be able to fit in these huge outfits?!” Now he wears infant size nappies, and those huge-used-to-be clothes are just right size for him. Looking at the size0000 clothes made me miss the tiny legs and arms…  Baby grows so fast! (><)

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Now I’m looking at size 0 clothes and thinking when he will be able to fit in these huge T-shirt. The day might Not be too far away.
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5th of May is Children’s Day in Japan, and is part of the Golden Week (national long weekend). It is a day set aside to respect children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness.
The day was originally called Tango no Sekku, and traditionally families with boys celebrate this day by displaying kabuto (traditional Japanese armour as worn by samurai) and raising koinobori (carp-shaped flags).
(http://www.jpn-miyabi.com/Vol.21/sekku-e.html)


It was Hiro’s first Tango no Sekku. Although I didn’t have koinobori or kabuto to display, I made a little one just to celebrate this day.

Be a strong, healthy boy, Hiro!


May in Autumn

Posted May 4th, 2011 in Eat Out in Perth - Japanese Food -, Ume and Baby | 4 Comments »

I just realised that it’s May already…!  It’s the middle of Golden Week (long weekend with public holidays) in Japan.  Sakura should be all gone by now (in the main island / south), and it should be getting warmer and warmer soon over there.  I haven’t heard from my family (dad and bro side) for a while so I emailed my bro to see what they are up to.  I thought bro would be enjoying this long weekend, but he said he and dad have been working all-day at their rice fields.  It’s that season already.

I haven’t been back to Japan during summer for almost 6 years now (because I don’t like hot & humid climate), but I remember I helped working in the rice fields a lot while I was there during my homecoming in 2005.  I helped weeding (using a machine), bringing lunch to them, harvesting the rice, and bringing all the crops to the mill.  The job is hard, but it’s very interesting.  I like doing that type of physical work.  Sometimes I took Mimi (our dog) to the rice field, and watched dad and bro working from the side of the rice field with her.

Ah, I miss eating our rice!

Back to Perth : It’s very cold at night and morning, but the temperature goes up to mid-20’s (or close to 30℃) during the day.  I need to dress Hiro twice.

One of D’s sister has been visiting here from Jakarta, and yesterday was her last day here.  She comes here quite often so we didn’t do anything special – besides she likes watching tv all the time at home.  But yesterday I had to buy some stuff from Fremantle so we all went out for a quick drive.

We picked up some sushi from Oceans in the Woolstores on the way back.  It was actually my first time to try their food.  I go to Fremantle quite often, but I’ve never had a chance to buy anything from there.  I believe the owner is Japanese (my friend used to work there before), and the location is good – close to the train station and car parks.  We bought some mixed sushi rolls which were already packed for take-away.  The sushi was not bad and I enjoyed it.  Much better than Sushi Sushi


Coral Moon

Posted April 28th, 2011 in Japan, Ume and Baby | No Comments »

The other day we went out to get passport photo taken.  He (no, I) chose to wear the  UNIQLO suit we got from Hokkaido friend.  It was still little too big for Hiro, but it could fit.

Oh my gosh, I should have called up the photo place beforehand so that they could have prepared for the photo shoot for a newborn…. There’s only one staff there, and she took about 20 minutes to look for a white cloth and decide where to take photos.  Anyway, after several tries and milk spitting up, we could manage to take one ok photo.

As Hokkaido friend’s son(my former student)’s birthday is coming up, I have been searching for a nice gift – a birthday present, and also to say thanks for the gift for Hiro. The last email I received from her said that she uses Australian brand cosmetic called “Coral Moon”.  I’ve never heard the brand before, but after searching online I found that this brand is pretty famous in Japan (more search results in Japanese than in English).

Coral Moon is operated in Noosa, Queensland, producing the natural skin care and aromatherapy products.  I wonder if there is any shop selling Coral Moon products in Perth.  Their products looks good, I may want to try one. 🙂

I’m pretty sure I’ll buy one or two Coral Moon items for my friend, but I’ve gotta think about the gift for her son too.  He is turning 12 (I believe) this year….  Wow I can’t believe it.  He was so little when I was teaching English to him in Japan!

I think I will look for something Australian or English related item.  I wonder how good his English is… I know it’s very hard to keep track of other languages if you don’t use them.  But, Hakodate is a famous city in Hokkaido and I’m sure there’re many foreign people living/traveling around the area.  Maybe he’s got one or two English-speaking friend? 🙂  Hope to see them in Hokkaido or Perth sometime in near future.


Photos..

Posted April 27th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 6 Comments »

When he is calm and quiet….

Sleeping in the capsule at Child Health Centre…

A friend sent a yukata from Japan.  It’s still too big for him, but I think he can wear it next summer 🙂

(He is not crying because he doesn’t like the yukata!)

Wrapped scones.  I use jute strings, and the recycled paper I make myself at home 🙂

Craving for chips…  so I made roasted potatoes instead.  Nice and crunchy!


6 Weeks Past

Posted April 20th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 4 Comments »

We were wearing summer clothes just few weeks ago, but…

now, thick long sleeves and a blanket is a must at night. (He looks grumpy, I know!  He just woke up… )

Someone says that the baby will start to settle down after 6 weeks.  Hiro has been ok, he wakes up every 3~4 hours now, and drinks more milk.  At 6th week check-up, he weighed 4.4 kg.  He smiles sometimes, and he knows it’s a feeding time when we put a bib on his neck.  (he changes his mouth/lips into a sucking-shape)

Since he was born, we tried to make a routine – we wanted him to know that the night time is a sleeping time.  We bath him around 7pm every night, then dress him in pj, feed, and put him to sleep in the cot in a dark room.  During the day, we let him sleep in the living room.

But, he doesn’t want to go to sleep at night sometimes – and when we’re tired we just want to take him to the living room and let him sit on a rocking chair.  That’s what D did the other day, and that caused an argument between us.

After 7pm feed, Hiro didn’t want to sleep and kept crying in the cot.  D took him from the cot and brought him to the noisy living room, trying to settle him down.  Hiro wasn’t sleepy, his eyes were wide open, so D left him in the living room.  I thought “ok, just until his next feed”.  At 10pm Hiro was hungry again, and D fed him in the living room.  Then, without trying, D left Hiro in the chair in front of the tv.  I know D was just tired and wanted to go back watching tv and doing some work on the computer in the living room, but I didn’t want Hiro to be surrounded by the noise from tv and the blight light at night.

We argued, but then I started to wonder if it’s really necessary to make a routine – and make him stay in the dark and quiet room at night.  I sought for the answer, and yes, it’s actually important to let him know the difference between night and day.  So what we have been doing was right, after all.

It’s sometimes hard – he cries, and just doesn’t want to sleep sometimes.  And, I’m a tv person, but I haven’t been in front of tv enjoying the drama/movies at night for weeks.  I need to be impatient, I know, and now I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.  Hiro started to sleep by himself  if I leave him in the cot after settling down.  I think he is learning…!  and so am I.


Baby Sculpture

Posted March 23rd, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »

The other day we packed our diaper bag and headed to Tiny Treasures‘s atelier to get Hiro’s hands and foot sculpture.  I was curious to find out how they’re going to mold the shape of baby’s hands and foot.

The lady was really friendly and I loved her atelier.  She also does sculpture for pets too.

This is how she did.  She made some mixture, and wrapped it around Hiro’s feet and hand.

I thought he was going to cry, but he was very quiet.  🙂

Sculpture will be done in 4 weeks…  It will remind us in few years time that he used to be this tiny.


First Week

Posted March 12th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 6 Comments »

My first week with MIHIRO (we call him “hiro” or “hiro-chan”) was … full of things and pain.  I feel like it’t been few weeks already, as there were so many things happened.  Very concentrated 7 days.

I said “pain”, because my body was still sore from the delivery…  And probably the muscle ache from the lack of sleep and tiredness.  I was having little problem with my breastfeeding too (his mouth is too small and he can’t suck properly) for couples of days so I’ve been using an electric pump at the moment.  Lucky I had bought it beforehand!   I still try to breastfeed him, but need to have a top-up with pumped breast milk.

A nurse from Child Health Centre visited our house to check on Hiro during the week.  His weight had dropped about 6% of the birth weight, but it’s normal for newborn babies to drop around 10 %, so I’m not worried much.  I just hope he will catch up on weight gain soon.  To do so, I need to feed him well!

I knew people say that parenting is hard job, no time for yourself, etc etc.  I didn’t believe it was all true…  until I experience it.  But, it’s all normal and people are doing it, so I think I will manage it too.


Hello World…

Posted March 9th, 2011 in Ume and Baby, Ume's Pregnancy | 14 Comments »

Meet my first baby – he was born on March 4, 11 days before the due date.  2980 g / 49 cm

In the morning on 3rd (a day before delivery) I thought my water was leaking, so I called my OB and went to hospital to check.  It was not water from my uterus (it was just pee!) and I went back home.  But, around 7PM I had a huge gush of clear water come out while watching tv in the living room.  There was no doubt that my water had definitely broken.

I called hospital and went there with my hospital bag.  At the labour ward, midwives checked the water and confirmed that it was the water from my uterus.  I was 2 cm dilated.  There was little blood too.  They put something on my belly to check baby’s heartbeats and contractions.  It was around 8PM.

According to the monitor I was having mild contractions, but they weren’t painful.  I was thinking “maybe I can cope with the contraction pain without any pain relief”, but it started to be stronger around 9PM past.  It was like heavy period pain (I have very heavy period pain and the contraction was exactly like that).  Luckily D had asked midwives that I’d need epidural (we had talked about it earlier and he remembered it), and anesthesiologist was on the way.  By the time she arrived my room, the pain was super – I couldn’t talk and had to squeeze D’s hands every 2 minutes.  After the anesthesiologist explained all the risks and side effects of epidural to me, she inserted the needle on my back.  I was given IV by a midwife too, so there was a thick needle on my left wrist and a thin tube on my back.

Thanks to the epidural, the pain was gone few minutes later.  Around midnight, D and I fell asleep until 2:30AM.  I was awakened by the contraction pain.  I told midwife about it and I was hoping that she would top up more epidural to ease the pain, but she was worried that too much epidural might make me have no feeling when I have to push the baby.  She checked my cervix, and it was about 7~8 cm dilated.  She topped up with 10 ml of epidural first.

The 10ml didn’t make much difference.  The pain was not around my tummy, but around my bottom.  It was like a huge pressure around my anus – as if I was holding a big poop or gas.  Midwife told me “it’s not a poop, it’s a baby!”.  She told me NOT to push it.  It was really big pressure and having to hold it was quite hard.  I told midwife that it’s very painful – she checked with my OB and topped-up with more epidural.   My OB was on the way around this time.

The OB arrived just before 4AM, and he checked that my cervix was fully dilated.  Since the pain around my bottom was not as strong as before (because of the epidural top-up), OB and midwife assisted me when to push.  I tried to push when they told me to – no pain, but I could feel something was coming down.  I pushed 3 times on each contraction, and after several times I knew my baby was out!  First, a head, then shoulders… two big pressure (pain?).  It was 4:16AM.

Now I have my baby on my arms.  I can’t believe he was inside my belly, and my pregnancy was over.  He is the same person as the one I saw on the screen at my first ultrasound test.

His head is already covered with dark black hair.  I am so happy that he was born without any complication and unhealthy condition.  Now I’ve been super busy with this totally new life cycle.  As a first time mum, everything is new (I’ve never changed a diaper before) and I’m leaning bit by bit each day….