Cukur Jambul Ceremony for Keira

Earlier this morning, we held a cukur jambul ceremony for our little one-month-old dumpling at our family home. It was a small affair in attendance of immediate family only. 

For those not familiar with the term, cukur jambul is kinda like the baby's first official haircut, done in accordance with our Malay tradition. Some snip off a few locks, while others call for the baby's hair to be completely shaved. Both are acceptable of course, but for Kevin and I, we agreed to the latter.

The ceremony started with prayers...

 

Followed by feeding of "something sweet" and trimming of a lock of hair as syarat...

   

Our family members also had their chance to participate...

Then it's photo time with Keira, before her flock of hair gets shaved off...

 

 

And now it's time, to say goodbye, to the flock of Keira's hair... Off with her hair!

 

At the halfway mark... Now, let's go all the way - shave it all off!

 

And it's done!

 

It's mandi bunga (flower bath) time, to get her refreshed! 

And of course we had the nasi kunyit (sticky rice) ready for makan time!

Bringing Baby Home - Eight Days After Birth

Yay!!! I received green light from my Ob/Gyn for my discharge today. So did baby Keira Eliza ~ her paed gave the go ahead to take her home today since her jaundice level has subsided (<100). 

This is definitely great news, especially since we've been cooped up in the hospital for about a week already, and all baby has "seen" during the first eight days of her life were what lied within the hospital walls.

"We're taking you home today, baby!", was what we whispered in her ear as we checked her out of the nursery this afternoon. 

All babies have their own Health Record Book and this one's baby Keira Eliza's, given to me during check out.

I must say that I'm very, very impressed with the book as it is so detailed and enables tracking of all baby's injections, developments etc. Apparently, this book needs to be brought to every checkup and also presented to the government nurses for when they do their routine baby checks/visits to the house for them to fill out at every visit.

It took us a while to get her checked out as all the nurses on the 1st floor wanted to say bid their farewell to her. They have all grown fond and attached to her during the past week ... A real princess I tell you, and that's what they all call her "Princess Keira".

According to the nurses, she is the only one (of the nine babies in total at the nursery) that is so well behaved - made no fuss (except when she's hungry) and is always smiling at the nursery. Hence, she was the iconic baby to be placed at the labor room window during the baby display time as people will just crowd around and look at her adoringly. Oh, my daughter's good! She's been well trained by mommy from inside the womb - definitely princess material! :) If only we had known of this, we would have charged them for displaying our baby by the hour *lol*

As if farewells at the nursery weren't enough, we were stopped by many other hospital staff along the way to the carpark too. Once we got to the car, the coast was clear and we headed straight home... our temporary home (my mom's place/our family home), that is - at least until I'm done with my 44 day confinement...

Sound asleep like a little angel in her bassinet on her 1st night back (at Grandma's during mommy's confinement).

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Two little hands,
Two little feet.
We're happy to announce
Now our family of three is complete!

  

 JUST THE THREE OF US!
Our first family of three photo taken today, just as we checked baby Keira Eliza out of the hospital's nursery to take her home! :)
[Pardon my greasy hair look as I was told to not wash my hair until after I got home from hospital... Ish, of course I bathed (everyday too) - it was only my hair that I could not wash for the week.]

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Got Milk?!?

Nope! Unfortunately for me, my boobies a.k.a. "the twins" did not get the memo to start producing milk, and lots of it immediately after delivery, pronto. 

Colostrum, high in fat and densely packed with nutrients/antibodies, which is suppose to be sufficient for a newborn's first few meals, was already hard enough for my baby to suckle directly or for me to express manually into a cup or syringe.

Baby Keira and I spent the past week, post delivery, at the hospital as I had high blood pressure (due to the aftershock of having to undergo natural birth) and she had jaundice (280+) and had to be under phototherapy at the nursery. During this entire time, the nursery took care of her most of the time and only pushed her up to my Executive Suite (which is one floor above the labor ward and nursery) only for feeding and bonding time.

I am actually suppose to be placed in the labor ward like other moms, but because the hospital has strict ruling that no male overnight companions at the labor ward as it's room sharing... then where is my hubby suppose to stay? Hence we took the single Executive Suite. Slightly further for the nurses on duty to transport her to mommy during feeding time, but it works as I have the room all to myself (and of course Kevin can bunk in overnight as well). Yay!

Anyhoo, my first breastfeeding session (more of a breast stimulating session actually) begun 2 hours after her birth on May 28, 2013 as I wanted them to clean her up first. She did not really know how to suckle though; she just wanted to be held in mommy's arms at that point in time I guess.

My second breastfeeding session commenced about 5 hours later (once my blood pressure stabilized and after they had thoroughly "processed" her in the nursery).

At that point, she was royally wheeled to my Executive Suite at the hospital for feeding, after they had checked and cleaned her. She was super hungry when she arrived and was crying hysterically... 

I tried again... I calmly cradled her close to my chest and let her stimulate and suckle on the twins (starting with the left one first, then the right), winching from the pain of raw nipples for what seemed like forever. 

For a first time mother and one who has not had real life practice when it comes to breastfeeding, of course I did not get the hang of it, and it felt weird... really, really weird and hurt oh so much... Even then, I don't think anything came out yet again... Sigh!... But the nurse said not to worry as the suckling will help with the milk production. Must not give up ~ think positive, Julie!

I still consider myself lucky as the nurse, Neesha (who was on duty that night) stayed with us throughout the feeding time to provide assistance. I am so thankful as she was so helpful and supportive, guiding me patiently on how to properly breastfeed my crying child... on the breastfeeding positions, proper way to massage my breasts for feeding, manual expressing of colostrum/milk etc.

But even with guidance, I still could not master the art of "self expressing" - I just could not do it. It came to the point where Kevin had to step in to help me "hand express" the twins and collect whatever milk that could come out into a little cup so that we can feed our daughter. With his help, at least we got something...

2ml colostrum yield per session is simply miserable, but it is better than nothing, right? My breasts and nipples swelled and hurt like crazy after every session, but I had to stay strong and endure the pain because our baby had to eat.

It was Neesha who later suggested to try pumping as it may help speed up stimulation since I was really struggling. Thankfully we had already bought the Philips Avent Electric Breast Pump much earlier, so all I had to do was ask my hubby to go home to get it. Pumping was worth a shot! 

With the pump, I managed to get 2.0oz the first time (it took me two hours okay, but it was a huge breakthrough!) and the twins were sore and dried out by the time I was done. As if that was not enough, my blood pressure also shot up to 200+ and I bled heavily immediately after. These "side effects" stayed true after every one of my pumping sessions, yet 2.0oz remains as the best milk yield benchmark yet. Double sigh!!

At least I still have until tomorrow (I should be discharged then since my blood pressure level is currently stable due to less pumping activity; just need confirmation on baby Keira's jaundice level and clearance for release from her paed) to get the nurses to continue to guide me with direct breastfeeding and proper latching techniques to ensure I progress with my "milk factory production". 

Less pumping, more direct feeding attempts ya! In the meantime, I need to up my milk boosters and work on increasing milk supply...

Dear god, why is it so difficult for me to master breastfeeding? It should be a natural and beautiful thing - so why is it stressing me out??? Triple sigh!!!