Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

I had a terrible case of runny nose from 31st Dec to 2nd Jan – got well just in time for work on the Monday.

Bryan’s itchy rash, which started on his thigh in mid Dec, spread to his legs, torso and arms.

Bradley is down with fever and the flu since Monday night.

Brandon is naughty and mischevious – hey, that’s a sickness too, isn’t it?

VT has been busy at work, leaving me to fend me 3 very cranky kids alone at night. Last night, I’d barely slept as Bryan and Bradley kept waking up. And then to spend 10 painful hours at work today.

I guess than the rest of the 360 days this year can only get better!

I am at the Accident & Emergency area of DSH quite a bit, in my opinion. We are always there at night – but of course, if it was during the day, we wouldn’t have to resort to going to A&E, correct?

The ocassions we were there:

- births of all the 3 Bs; the births were all in the early morning so the contractions always started past 10pm and that was when we would zoom to the A&E;

- Bryan’s hot water accident

- bad case of nappy rash (Bryan – 1x; Brandon – 1x)

- swollen eye after waking up from nap (Bryan – 1x)

- high fever/ tummy ache/ diarrhoea/ dengue test (Bryan – 2x; Brandon – 1x)

 Last night, when I got home from work, Brandon was crying. Apparently, while my FIL was trying to give him a piggy-back ride, he yanked his arm and then Brandon started crying and complained that he couldn’t move his left forearm. We decided to whisk him to the hospital because even though we suspected a muscle pull, we didn’t think he could sleep at night due to the pain. So our main intention was to actually get some painkiller prescribed and let the muscle pull heal on its own.

Luckily, the queue wasn’t too bad. The medical officer in-charge sent Brandon for an x-ray just to eliminate broken bones. Brandon is an extremely brave boy. He showed little fear at the hospital. During the x-ray, the radiologist moved his arm into 3 different positions – (1) palm facing down; (2) palm in perpendicular state; and finally when he tried to move Brandon’s arm so that the palm faced upwards, Brandon let go a small cry.

We were then ushered back to see a pead (thankfully, a paed was on duty that night). The paed examined Brandon’s arm b y moving it up, down, forward, backward and couldn’t find anything wrong. Brandon didn’t wince a bit. Then the paed told us that it was the case that the elbow joint was partially dislocated hence he was initially in pain, and by luck, when the radiologist moved his arm, he had moved the joint back into position!! Brandon was back to his chirpy self 5 minutes later. The first thing he did when he got home, was to push Bradley down. Hence, we knew he was ok and back to his normal, cheeky self. It was a good thing we decided to take him to the hospital else the poor little fella would had been in pain for a very long while!

Phew, another close call!!! No more please!!!!!!

I have been cooking, baking and even cake-decorating. I love being in the kitchen and whipping up food. I’m motivated by my own love to eat. Now that the kids are a bit older and can play with each other, it leaves me a bit more time to hide myself in the kitchen. Plus we installed a kitchen door which can be locked from the inside so that I can cook in peace (although there are often poundings on the door but I choose to ignore!).

Last Monday, I went for a basic fondant decorating class in Jaya 33. I had always been curious about how to work with fondant.

Still early into the class, the eager-beaver smoothing the fondant

It was a 4-hour class which started at 6:30pm and by the time we ended, I was completely pooped. Note to self: do not attend classes after work! It was quite enjoyable although my enthusiasm died about 2.5 hours into the class as I was hungry and sleepy. I rushed through the rest of the class with little eagerness. I even bribed my colleague to complete the more intricate details for me!

The end product – this is my colleague’s. Mine was a lot less pretty.

I’m also a big fan of pies. All kinds. It is actually my ambition to open a pie shop. My kids love pie too. All kinds too. Yesterday’s dinner was chicken & mushroom pie with puff pastry top. I had intentionally made extra for freezing so that the kids can have them during the weekdays. Later in the night, I also baked a butter cake from scratch because I felt like eating it.

Chicken pie fresh out the oven

But before all that, I’d roasted a chicken to make sandwiches for a nice Sunday breakfast. I whipped out the new Zwilig carving knife that I had earlier purchased at a deep discount at Cold Storage’s PWP promotion, and proceeded to carve the meat off the bird. And then disaster struck.

The new knife was so sharp that it cut through a minor vein (the doctor told me this after the bleeding wouldn’t stop even after 30mins of compression) despite being a small cut. VT raced me to the 24-hour clinic nearby as I was hyper-ventilating from seeing the blood all over the kitchen counter. Weirdly, I even felt like throwing up. Luckily no stitch required although I had to get a tetanus jab to be on the safe side.

Not much of a domestic goddess as I would like to be, eh?

I had soooooooo many people complimenting me on my new “slim” look. Only a handful were rightly suspicious enough – either because they had met me recently, or they scrutinised the photo, or they know me well enough

Well, it wasn’t me so please don’t be envious. The lady in the photo is she. No way I can be as slim as her – come on, you saw the plate of mixed rice I had, right? This is the real mum – still fat, lah!

When I delivered Bradley one year ago, I was 72kg. I am 58kg now – 3kg short of my target (and RM10,000!). I’d received a few requests to share my secret in losing weight. There is no secret in it. It’s sheer hard work and self-discipline. Anyone who has successfully lost weight and maintained the weight-loss would tell you that.

I wake up at 6 in the morning, 3 times a week. It’s tough to even leave the comforts of your bed, what more to change into your running gear and hit the roads. I like running in the morning, when the rest of the world is asleep. It allows me to focus without having to keep a look-out for stray dogs or stray cars. The air is light and crisp. If I’m lucky, there would be a cool breeze. Early morning runs also fits best into my schedule. When I get back, I have enough time to shower, get ready for work and prepare Bryan’s snack for school before the whole troop wakes up.

The first 3 minutes of running is difficult. Your body and mind are cursing you for punishing them. But you spend the next couple of hours in a state of euphoria. Sometimes, I even feel like running every day but got to take care of them knees. You know lah, old already. My next step? I’m going to put in one session of weights-training during lunchtime at the gym. Muscles burn fats quicker than cardio. But let’s see.

When it comes to food, I’m terrible. I eat what I like to eat. I don’t binge (except with Lays’ sour cream & onion crisps). I believe in allowing oneself to indulge and enjoy life. Life IS short, right? I’d told this to my colleague who tried to stop me for eating Carl’s Jr:

If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I don’t want the final thought to be, “Damnit, I should had eaten that burger yesterday!”.

But seriously, this particular colleague lost ALL her post-baby weight as she controlled her diet in addition to an exercise regime. I can’t control my diet – it would be likened to taking my life away. A bit dramatic maybe, but not too far from the truth. I do drink lots of plain water though. I drink at least 3 to 4 litres of water just at work. It helps flush the toxins out and curbs hunger too.

Anyway, back to exercising. I find that it keeps me energetic. I don’t feel sluggish and weirdly enough, I can make do with less sleep despite waking up early. Try it – it’s addictive!

Monday to Friday – spend at least 10 hours at work plus 2 hours of commuting to and fro.

Weekends & Public Holidays - spend time with the kids; by the time they are asleep, I’m pretty much zonked out too.

What more, it started with Bryan having a fever, then Brandon having a bad case of tummy flu, and then Bradley coming down with cough & cold, and then myself with the same dreadful tummy flu, and then back to Bryan who had cough & cold. These all happened over the last 2 weeks. Plus MIL was happily holidaying in Ho Chi Minh city while I took leave to mind the kids – even when I was running a fever myself. Like my mum would say, verbatim ”You think being a mother is so easy, meh? If it was so easy, anyone also can be one”. How true, Mum!!

Anyhow, we all survived the many mini episodes – for myself, stronger mentally. All I recall was that there were lots of vomitting happening around the house – either from the tummy flu or in the process of hacking out phlegm, and myself walking around in either a daze or from migraines most of the time.

The last long Raya weekend was a great weekend to recharge all our batteries. We stayed in town and relaxed a bit. It was good. Hopefully I can find more time to update my blog soon, other than this rambling of no-purpose. See ya!

Thanks to those who expressed concern when I posted about Brandon and Bradley being ill. It was a terrible week for us – full of uncertainty and worry. After running several tests, Brandon was diagnosed with having a terrible case of stomach flu. But all of that has passed now. He is back to being the bully and for a small part of me, I am happy that he is back to being his naughty, cheeky self. Brandon did lose a bit of weight from not eating for 5 days but is happily regaining lost time (or should I say, lost meals?) the past 3 days.

Bradley recovered much quicker but is now down with a cold.

Mums worry and fret when her children are ill. Dads are way more cool. It’s the genetic design.

Brandon had fever on Monday & Tuesday and some vomitting. Then on early Wednesday morning (yesterday) at 4am, he started tossing and fussing in his sleep, crying  off-and-on. His cries got progressively louder and longer until 6am when I carried him downstairs. He kept rubbing his tummy and when I asked whether it was painful, he said “Yes”. Immediately, I packed him into the car and drove him to DSH. The medical officer checked his vitals and odered for a white blood cell count to be done. Brandon was so tired that he fell asleep on the trolley bed while the nurse pricked him. Poor boy. His results showed a low count, normal for either someone with a viral infection or dengue. We further tested him with the relatively new dengue test, which can detect from 48 hours instead of the older one which you needed to wait for 5-7days post-infection. Thank God the result returned a negative. 

Brandon had no appetite and barely ate the whole of yesterday. We just made sure he was sufficiently hydrated. He vomitted both his lunch and dinner out. Early this morning, he even vomitted water out and refused to eat anything. I gave him a suppository for the vomitting while VT held on to him as he was struggling. It was a sad sight for me but I had no choice. When I left for work, I was told that he managed to eat a few spoonfuls of cherios with milk. If he continues to vomit today, VT & I will admit him into the hospital so that he can be put on drip.

Bradley also had a fever on Monday and vomitted yesterday. His fever seemed to have broken yesterday with no more vomitting.

I have to say that my boys seldom fall ill (*touch wood*). This is probably Brandon and Bradley’s 2nd time getting a fever. I pray to God that He will he heal my babies soon without the need for hospitalisation, and to protect Bryan from the viral infection. Please pray for us too if  you could, thank you.

This is a backdated post, obviously!

When I delivered Bradley in Sept last year, I was adamant and determined that I would be able to run 10km in the June ’10 Stanchart marathon in less than an hour. My personal best had been 50mins and this was the final run I did just before I fell pregnant with Bryan 5 years ago. I’d started working out at the gym zealously during lunch time 3x weekly. The first few times were so difficult that after each 30mins running session, I will be sobbing in the shower, realising how un-fit I was. Still, I pushed my mind and body to persist. I’d also signed up with Herbalife shakes in an effort to lose some weight so that running would be less-punishing on the joints. I’d lost over 16kgs from Oct ’09 to Apr ’10.

After a while though, I’d realised that running on the treadmill was not sufficient. My stamina had hit a plateau, and not to mention my enthusiasm too. I then started waking up at 6am in the mornings, at least twice a week, so that I could have a run around my neighbourhood prior to work. Running on the road is a totally different ball game compared to running on the treadmill where there is what I call a fake momentum which moves your legs. I’d lasted for 10mins only on the first run. Over the course of 2 1/2 months, I’d gradually increased it to 30mins.

And before I knew it, the day of reckoning arrived.

Over the course of my training, I’d lowered my expectations from sub-hour to coming in within the qualifying time, which is 1hr 30mins. It didn’t help that my bib number was a “curse” to begin with – 21144. You can’t get more “dead” than that!!! I had partnered-up with my colleague who sits next to me at work. She is 50 years old and have 4 teenagers. Throughout the race, we motivated each other and many times, we slowed down for each other and we crossed the finishing line together. I’d finally completed the 10km at 1hr 37mins. I was extremely disappointed. The silver lining was that I was ranked #1443 out of 3223 female runners in this category so I guess it’s not too bad for a mum of 3??

Looks gaya only, but was dying inside.

Will I try again? I really doubt it. Running is punishing to the joints, especially the knees where I’ve been feeling pain already plus I have come to accept that my body isn’t what it used to be, having gone through child birth. Whilst it shouldn’t be taken as an excuse, work & motherhood are already taking up ALL my time hence to put aside hours for consistent training doesn’t quite cut it. I will still continue to exercise regularly but sadly, the hunger and focus to meet a time, are gone. Perhaps it’s time for me to hang up my running shoes.

Bottle-feeding Bradley has been a tough ride so far. The flow of the current MAM teats (No. 1, the slowest flow) that I’m using seemed too fast for him, which causes him to splutter a lot. Sometimes, the milk even hits my face – that’s how bad it is. We used the same with Brandon without much issue. Shows you how it differs from infant to infant. And then when he draws the milk in, he makes wheezing sound, as if taking in a lot of air at the same time. True enough, because when I burp him, he burps very loudly a couple of time and there is posseting too. It gets worse at night when his body is curled up (from excess gas, I think) and he will be crying for a few hours straight. After a few weeks of this, I had enough.

I spent yesterday morning researching on the internet and reading reviews of other brands of bottles. I’d short-listed two brands at the end of the 4-hour search: (1) Bfree Plus; (2) Breastflow. Bfree Plus is supposedly THE bottle to eliminate consumption of air when drinking while Breastflow immitates the breast whereby the baby needs to compress and suck the teat at the same time in order to draw milk from the bottle. Choice (1) seemed ideal for the gas problem and choice (2) will solve the too-fast teat issue. Now that I’d narrowed my choices, I proceeded to call various neighbourhood shops for supply. To my dismay, all the shops do not supply choice (1). My favourite online baby shop, mybbstore has them but I didn’t want to wait for shipment. So what did I do? I decided to venture into unknown areas of KL to find the showroom (retail outlet).

Setting off with Bradley in tow, I drove a good 35mins from my home to reach Jalan Kuchai Lama and managed to locate the shop quite easily, thanks to the map from their website and directions from a friend. The salesperson was friendly enough and knowledgeable about both brands. I couldn’t make up my mind on which to get, so decided to get one of each. Bfree 5ozs bottle retails for RM48.90 while Breatsflow retails at half the price. It started pouring cats and dogs when I completed the transaction. Good thing I brought down a brolly with me. We managed to get back into the car safely – Bradley was still sleeping soundly in the carrier while I was drenched from head to toe as I held the brolly over the bubba. In the pounding rain, we made our way home – I couldn’t wait to try out both the bottles.

The same night, I tried the Bfree bottle first. As Bradley slowly took in the bottle, there was no spluttering of milk on my face, no dripping of milk from the corners of his mouth and no gagging sounds! On top of that, he let go a small burp and no posseting either! Lo and behold, this bottle is great! Bradley was a happier baby last night – no more curling up and no more crying in pain.

(L-R: Breastflow, Bfree, MAM)

This evening, when VT returns from work, we’ll make another journey to the store to buy more bottles. If it works, any amount of trouble (and money) is worth it!

I feel like a roll of sushi at the moment. I’m tied up so tightly that I have to sit upright in front of the PC, which may not be such a bad thing afterall.  I just had my first session of post-natal massage. And this is my first time as I never dared to engage one for my earlier two pregnancies. You know, I’ve heard of a few tales of how your womb can be injured or twisted if post-natal massage is done incorrectly.

The massage, which took place in the comfort of my own bedroom, started innocently enough. She started massaging my legs and thighs with deep, long rubs. Just as I was starting to doze off, she started rubbing my tummy rather vigorously. She rolled the loose piece of flesh (!!) around, as Bryan would with his PlayDoh. And then all the pulling and tugging started! My, oh my – it was really painful! Apparently, this technique is to help move the womb upwards and back into its original position. I don’t know the great fuss about my inards not being in the right position, but I quietly grit my teeth and pray that the ordeal would be over soon.

After what I felt was like eternity, she moved away from my tummy area to concentrate on my arms, shoulders and neck. Now, that felt really nice. Again, just as I was dropping off, she promptly announced that the 2 hour session was up, and I was to be in a standing position. Some herbal paste was spread across the tummy area and the infamous bengkung made its appearance. I have heard horror stories about this piece of cloth – tight, itchy, unable to breathe. After she rolled me around like a stick of cotton candy, it didn’t really feel that bad. In fact, I will request for the bengkung to be tied a little tighter tomorrow. Afterall, vanity comes at a price, right?