So we were praying for Baby Emmelyn to arrive on 8th March as it was Jun's favourite number and a Fri so the kids could get to stay over at Ah Ma's house. It was only late Feb. Mama had specially asked Uncle Xingshun to book the tickets for the Merlion Tower as Jun mentioned that he would love to go up there. Uncle XS even booked the Kidzania tickets...
Well...on Sat, while I was teaching, I noticed some blood. I hesitated as to whether I should make a trip to Thomson Medical Centre. Hmm...but I still had two more lessons...and there was no pain...so I continued with my day.
On Sunday, there was a little bleeding and it stopped. Hmmm...I marked all the worksheets just in case I went into labour. We went for the soccer tournament on Sun. Wai po called on Sun night to ask if she could go to Malaysia for the next two days for a temple visit. I assured her I would be fine...haha
On Mon morning, I experienced intermittent bouts of pain. Nothing extreme. I called Daddy to say that I was going to Thomson to do a check up. I called Ah Gong to come and fetch me...at about 10, we set off...Jun went off with Ah Gong ( I heard he was rather subdued in the car and rather tired too)...I waited to see Dr Chang for quite some time and Daddy came to join me...
Dr Chang checked and found out that I was already 4 cm dilated. It was real, mei mei was ready...so I walked with a sprightly gait up to the delivery ward...and...waited...
It was noon when we checked in and Daddy was sent to register the admission. Bouts of pain came, nothing too painful, quite bearable...I was relaxed, I could text my siblings...
Almost close to 1pm, I remembered looking at the clock and thinking that time was passing rather slowly...I could not recall at which point the pain started getting intense...I inhaled the happy gas and was in Lala land. I noticed that there were no spiraling colours this time though!
I thought it would be a heavenly experience like the one I had with Jun, it was almost painless! Eh...this was pretty bearable when I was on the happy gas. I was light-headed and oozy...felt sleepy and lethargic...then the pain intensified, I could feel the pressure building up...I thought I was going to deliver without Dr Chang, he was taking SOOOO LONG TO COME...the nurse said I was 8cm dilated but I could feel the excruciating pressure on my pelvic bones... I heard his soothing voice when I thought I was going to die...they told me to push, to stop...it was all confusing as I was writhing and moaning in pain...and I could not stop pushing as mei mei was intent on coming out...I thought I would never make it...then finally, after what truly seemed like an eternity.. ..she had arrived...1.42pm...barely an hour from the time the pain started getting a little more intense...
The very first photo. Interestingly, things had changed since the birth of Jun. They did not clean or bathe Emmelyn...the layer of vernix was left on her, it supposedly had an immune-boosting effect...they did not take her to the nursery, she was with us most of the time, except when she was taken away for the checkups and jabs...
Ah....the kids were surprised that the baby was born so soon. Jun seemed hesitant about approaching the baby....he seemed rather distant, as if he did not really want to be there...
Perhaps he was getting used to the idea of being a big brother
Jie was the happiest one around. She had pined for a sister and her dream came true.
Jun finally tried carrying mei mei...
Newest darling in the block
Ah gong took this photo of little Emmelyn. She was so tiny in person, just 48cm and 2.695kg, but she looked sooo chubby here.
Er Yi came to visit us.
She took a photo of papa and mei mei and said I photobombed the picture. ha
2nd Day
The poor lad cried pitifully last night. Check out his puffy eyes. Since Wai po was away, they had to stay at Ah Ma's house and had to get up extra early...
The kids came over again... "Gifts" from Mei mei: the jewel dig kit and game console for Tong and Jun to share, a squishy for jie jie...
It seemed like they were all taking well to the presence of another sibling...
And of course, two sweethearts for papa to adore from now on...
3rd Day
Time for school again. Ah....the little boy cried last night again...he called before he slept and he was going on and on about how much he missed me. Well, we were glad he overcame this fear of being away from me and stayed for two nights at ah ma's house...albeit with lots of tears...
Home Sweet home
Came home on Wednesday, 27 Feb. Our nanny, Aunt Qin, came too. It was lovely having her. I had such a relaxed time with her cooking and helping out with Emmelyn. Papa loved her cooking so much that he wanted to extend her stay. Ha, naughty papa who was addicted to comfort...
I actually went into office to return the scripts before heading home. ha, my colleagues were dumbfounded to see me walking around so soon after delivery.
First outing - to the PD
Mama went to Dr Chang for my check up too. All was good. Oh gosh, the tummy...I still looked 5 months pregnant.
The kids had a whale of a time at Ah Ma's house. Sat - Chinese tuition, TV, Ipad time, playtime with toys...outdoor time...
They went over to Wai po's house on weekdays...Wai po cooked yummy meals and brought them to the park to play football in the evenings...
Aunt used the app BeautyCam and took cute photos of mei mei. ha...well she looked darker in person..but still as cute as a button
She was an easy baby...very calm and peaceful like jie. Once she had her fill, she slept...
Sent this to papa who was overwhelmed with work and the message comforted him. Well...we knew God was good, God was divine and could do anything...After all, he gifted us with mei mei...His ways are lofty and inscrutable but they worked for our good...
So we trusted that God would watch over papa and prosper him at work!
Ha, her favourite sleeping post...she liked her hands to be near her face..
A gift from Aunt Melody as she could not attend the baby shower. How sweet.
1 week old!
Emmelyn's Chinese name - En Yu. Could not get Wen something...originally we were offered Wenxin, but it sounded too similar to Xun's and Xin was hard to write. Wai po went to the Shifu with Ah Gong and the Shifu said he had chosen a special name for mei mei - En Yu, using the same Yu that the brothers had, so to link them together. I liked that there was the En word...so thankful for God's blessing in our lives...and En Yu sounded like being grateful for the universe...grateful to the Creator who made this universe. How meaningful!
Well, the shifu said based on this name, she would have a very good life. She was supposed to be a very teachable and hardworking girl, sounded like Jie. Ha...Er yi and wai gong commented that she looked like tong tong...haha...
Well, the little lass was two weeks old today. We could not believe that she had only been with us for two weeks for it felt like she had been with us all along...
And our little, eh not so little, family was complete. 6 of us. with papa and mama at each end of the dining table, 4 of you (2 flanking each side), our hearts were full, our portions from God overflowed...God is so good, hallelujah.
Ha, as this was the last baby, yes...DR Chang said it would be risky for me to have a 5th child as mei was already born premature at 36 weeks and 3 days. Something about uterine incompetence...and I googled and it was something about early painless contractions...loose muscles...he said the 5th child would come out even earlier, there would be health complications...just good to stop..
Yeah..I thought so too. So papa and I would be taking some more permanent measures. Heh so...ya, as this was the last baby, and mama had time on her hands since the nanny was around, I had time to look for pretty decorations, order food, think about the dessert table, buy tons of baby clothes on taobao (ya I spent a couple of hundreds...but things on taobao were so fancy and cheap, they would cost thousands if I had bought them at the stores!)....
Yeah I even had time to do up a pretty invite. Sharp-eyed good staffer Er Yi noticed that I did not even put the date in the original version...then commented the second version was too wordy...so we settled on the last one. Ha...we did not want to be inundated with gifts you see...so we added a message aft the invite for people to just come and have fun, no gifts required. HA. We shall see!
God, thank you for entrusting us with 4 of your most precious ones. We would do our best to build them up to worship you. S - I - T - E... well we told them the story of how we named Jun Timothy so we could have S - I - T, and the meaning was for them to sit at Jesus' feet. Then with a 4th child, there were not many words that could be formed...so SITE it would be...may our family be a SITE of glory and testimony to God's goodness and mercy.
Papa and Mama love you to the moon and back.
No comments:
Post a Comment