Water Supply Interruption and Baby Orange Got The Flu - Baby Orange Month 7 Update

It was tiring month 7 for us and Baby Orange as he had flu and cough, and we had water supply interruption at our apartment.

Him smiling this month

Baby Orange smiling on a good day

Baby Orange recovering from flu. Difficulty in taking medication. Throw up medicine, cry indefinitely. Good for 2 days, then use tongue to block medicine syringe, then spit out. Had a sinus gas thingy by 2nd visit to paed. 3/12 Given a spray, and recovering upon using the spray.

Last weight = 7.0 kg

Cherry accompanied him to the dr's clinic twice

Baby Orange given some gas treatment to help with the throat (or something like that).
Cried non-stop during treatment until too tired and fell asleep.

Wasn't feeding well especially during medication period. Didn't want bottle and didn't want latch on. Pull off breast only after a few sucks. Have to coax and carry in arm almost whole night. Coax, latch, unlatch. Coax, latch, unlatch. Body temperature higher when refusing feed and water.

Oh no! Got my period after so long when Baby Orange is about 7 months. I felt serious cramping whenever I direct latch on Baby Orange for breastfeeding, and even pumping.

Major water supply interruption the 3rd week of Nov after doctor's visit. Luckily Papa is around, he and 哥哥 carried buckets of water from the PBA truck assigned to service our apartment. With the PBA truck here, that means PBA is already working on the issue. It's a wonder no one from the apartment management noticed, as the water tank had run dry before it was noticed.

The two older children had cold baths, as there weren't water from the tap to use the water heater shower. On the first day of water supply interruption, the two children refilled their water bottles at school. Papa bought big bottles of drinking water from Tesco for us. We filled up the thermal with drinking water, and use that mixed with drinking water to wash Baby Orange's bottles, pacifier and medicine syringe. As a breastfeeding mom, I really need to have clean water supply to clean the pump, milk collection shells in addition to Baby Orange's stash.

It's so primitive and pathetic washing dishes with buckets of water. Laundry was piling up, stinky laundry too at that :( And poor Baby Orange, he didn't get to bathe for a couple of days. All while recovering from flu too. When Papa fed him the flu and cough medicine, usually some will dribble onto Baby Orange's clothes. Sometimes our clothes kena the sticky sweet medication too when he threw up the medicine.

We had always taught the children to appreciate getting clean water from our taps, so they learnt a major lesson about the importance of clean water supply. After the second day of no water supply, Papa keep calling PBA as the water they supply via truck could not be used as drinking water. He is fed up buying bottles of drinking water from Tesco :P Finally PBA agreed to look into this problem, and the solution as Papa's suggestion. They loaded water into our apartment water tank (I think it had a filter or something) and this indirectly restored water supply. The PBA guy manning the truck told Papa he refilled the water tank with 7 or 8 truckloads of water for the apartment dwellers. Only our apartment had water supply interruption for about 4 days. I told Papa if he wasn't around this time, he would definitely get an earful of noise from me if I had to do it all by myself, and with poor Baby Orange sick at that time too!  

Baby Orange and siblings, the cartoons they like in the background

Went out more during holidays

A good morning! He wakes up early in the morning and disturb the older siblings who like to catch up on their snoozes...

Hehe, ger ger and Cherry's bed are all mine!

Baby Orange at Parkson First Avenue baby room, nice and clean

Another good day at home :)

Laughing at some silly tricks his siblings did :)

Having carrot puree

My photography skill is bad, he looks kind of flat-faced here hahah

Have to admit Papa take much better photos

Baby Orange with us at Coffee Bean Straits Quay for breakfast

Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Infection

A nightmare bout of illness, 姐姐 infected with mycoplasma pneumoniae infection just after she finished school exams :(

Had fever and cough. Suspected dengue fever also, but fortunately tested negative. I think it's because we have Baby Orange, all their babyhood stuff keep flooding in my mind. The episode of her with salmonella infection is still so fresh in my mind, especially at the time when it was still not diagnosed. She was having high fever and practically shook all over from the high temperature at one point. We were so inexperienced then and was given the run-around until we admitted her with her paediatrician's advise.

This time it started small, just a few coughs. Papa being the careless parent as usual didn't think much and he is going to be on business trip the following week. He only got her the usual over-the-counter cough medicine.

Excited about seeing Planes 2 Fire & Rescue after school exams :)
It is a pretty good movie for children and we went to GSC Gurney Plaza. It's the only cinema in our area still showing Planes 2 after school holidays, and only 1 timeslot! 

A poster of Planes 2 Fire & Rescue at the cineplex, Penguins in the background (oh well, even though they weren't so interested in Penguins)

Are these popcorns and cold drink that had caused the illness? Or her immune system weakened by the cold, added fire with the popcorn, and then attacked by the bacteria?

Prior to that, we were happily celebrating end of school exams with Planes: Fire and Rescue. This animation movie was requested by Didi as it is from the same series as Cars. It's a nice movie, and we even allowed Didi to skip his English class to watch it. Only GSC Gurney Plaza is still showing it after school holidays and at one timeslot only, and it's the last day.

Actually Cherry still have another assessment which is the new History paper. Their teacher this year is really something, initially said there is no exam for mid-year, then spring them surprise exam. This time, we specifically asked and asked because it is not listed in their exam time table. until go to principal baru get the school's assurance they will inform Year 4 students of an official date for exam.

She started having fever at night after the movie and popcorn. On Monday after her school session, I brought her to the usual clinic, and was given fever and cough medication. That night, her fever started getting worse. Especially when she slept, the fever ran higher than normal even after medication. I didn't take measurement, and tried my best to wipe her down with tap water. Thouht her body ran a temperature trying to kill of germs. Imagine huddling over the poor girl and wiping her down on one hand, and scurrying off to comfort and breastfeeding Baby Orange when he woke in the other room. Try doing this all through the night. By midnight, I was totally exhausted with the running around. Her temperature went down and came up again. Every time I check on her, I have to wash my hands before handling Baby Orange. What a nightmare running here and there, tired, sleepy and worried!

The strange thing is she is fine during the day. Only when she started sleeping that her temperature will rise again, even with the normal paracetamol given by clinic doctor. I called Papa and made him come back from his business trip. He tried to downplay it but as the fever is not going away, another pair of hands is needed to take care of Cherry who is sick and the other children who are not. He came back on Wednesday and brought her to emergency clinic at hospital near us. The doctor on duty gave many explanations but nothing conclusive, and asked that she get checked for dengue (so surprised, as even doctors are baffled with dengue). He gave her antibiotics, flu and cough  medications. By Thursday night, she is still getting the fever, so we had to visit her good ole' paediatrician. Just by describing her symptoms of cough and continuous fever, the experienced nurse asked Papa to check take a blood test checking for "mycoplasma". Wow, wonders, the report came out by afternoon, and it is confirmed positive. No dengue, luckily. It seems like mycoplasma pneumoniae is very common and contagious.

With the diagnosis, she got another set of medication, almost double the initial paracetamol and another medication which I had forgotten the name (to control the fever). She recovered in about one week of medication. Phew!

After her bout of illness, somehow it bounced to her classmates... oops....  

The Head Lice Nightmare!!! **sobs**

Didn't like to think back about this nightmare so had been procrastinating lots with this one. And labelled it as "Sick"! :P Our life is certainly not all a bed of roses, ok....

Cherry got a chin-length bob, and Didi got a spiky/very short style after getting head lice treatment at home

It was a busy day as usual. 爸爸 was on business trip, and I was the one doing chauffeur duty. While helping her to bun her hair, I discovered that Cherry had head lice (hereafter referred to as "buggies" in this post)! I had a major panic and immediately phoned 爸爸 for help. Well, I didn't know what to do as it's the first time I had to face this kind of emergency alone :( I even called a hair dresser shop, they don't provide head lice "termination" service here :P After ding-dong here and there, his friend suggested going to a pharmacy to buy the special shampoo to get rid of the infestation. As the pharmacy near our place closes around 7pm, he called ahead to have the pharmacist open shop for us in case we reach there later than 7pm.

Thank goodness for the help provided by the pharmacist. The shop is still open as we reached before 7pm, and there were still some customers around. Upon enquiry, she knew we were here for help as 爸爸 is considered a regular customer. She recommended a shampoo that is safe for children, called Delice by Vitamode. This Delice shampoo is made with natural herbs and does not contain Malathion, Lindane, Benzyl Benzoate or any other pesticides according to the packaging. She even taught me how to use the shampoo.

This is the packaging of  Delice shampoo that is safe for children. Hate those buggies, even the cartoon version.
It says does not contain Malathion, Lindane, Benzyl Benzoate or any other pesticides.

A simple guide to remember just in case it's needed in the future...

Tools/ apparatus:
1. Shower cap
2. Delice shampoo
3. Metal comb that comes with Delice shampoo
4. Little brush (I use a unwanted toothbrush to be used only for this purpose)
5. Magnifying tool (optional, I saw ad in newspaper the newer pack of Delice comes with free magnifying tool but ours didn't when we bought)
6. Plastic gloves (like the ones used for hair coloring. This is optional too)
7. Conditioner

Steps:
1. Wear gloves. I wore gloves because I was so scared at that time. Glad I did because I find the buggies so yucky on my children's heads. The first time I actually couldn't find gloves so I just tie my hands inside a plastic bag :p

2. Wet the child's hair thoroughly with water. I did everything in the shower but other folks might have a better location to conduct the disinfestation like a backyard where there is ample sunlight for example.

3. Pour the Delice shampoo on your gloved palms, amount about 50 cents. Need to build up lather all over the child's hair so it's better to do it bit by bit.

4. Work up a good lather section by section, adding the Delice shampoo as necessary (depending on the child's hair, if it's long or short, and if it's thick). Concentrate on areas like the crown, behind the ears, right above the nape. Like how they shampoo our hair at the hairdresser's.

5. Once the whole head is covered with lather, cover the child's hair with a shower cap. Leave it to soak for the recommended time on the packaging (kind of like how we do hair treatment). I think head lice are killed while soaking here.

6. Once time's up, rinse out the Delice shampoo with water. For the first time we did this treatment, I saw bugs wash right out of the children's hair, my goodness. These are the dead buggies.

7. Then, apply conditioner all over the child's hair. This is to make the hair smoother for the hardest part, the combing with metal comb.

8. Comb out the child's hair. I gave their hair a overall comb-through to ensure the hair is not tangled up. Next, I comb section by section, bit by bit, from the scalp right through to the tip and outwards.

9. Every comb I check for bugs and wash the comb clean. Sometimes, I have to brush it clean with toothbrush. The first time we did the treatment, I didn't even have to use a magnifying tool. The magnifying tool is used to visually check if whatever combed out is the bug or not.

10. I comb through from top to bottom, and left to right. Hey, it took me hours the first time as I'm totally new to this.

11. Wash off the conditioner.

12. Wash your hands clean! I even cut my nails!

13. Very important step, blow dry the child's hair properly, making sure it is totally dry. This is to ensure the bugs don't have a good condition to live on.

14. Wash all the tools that come in contact with the child's hair and soak tools in water mixed with dettol!

15. Wash all the pillow cases, bed sheets, towels, clothes etc that came into contact with the child's head. I used 3 capfuls of the big Dettol bottle with each wash cycle. Somehow I found dead buggies in the filter after the wash so I think it's effective.

16. Repeat treatment until all of them are confirmed cleared.

That's the lesson I learnt after panicking. I was soooo distressed as Cherry had such thick and long hair, and I didn't know what to do. Hunt for the shower cap - missing when needed most. Hunt for gloves - found none and finally had idea to use plastic bag.

I couldn't come face-to-face with the bugs so I tried on 哥哥's hair first. I quarantined Cherry in the bathroom first :p Luckily I did as he was also infested! They are always together and there were so many occasions of close head-to-head contact. I was so inexperienced that even with his short hair, it took me 2 hours to complete his treatment **sweats!!!**

With her long and thick hair, it took me nearly 3 hours for the treatment!!! I nagged and scolded her while doing the treatment. If she had just informed us her hair felt itchy, we would have checked and stopped it from spreading. I saw her scratch her hair several times, but when I asked, she only say she felt hot. I mean, she should be able to tell the difference between feeling hot vs itchy right? Not this girl ***angry*** By the time I discovered, I'm not even sure how long it had been. There were various sizes of bugs I combed from her hair. From 哥哥's hair in comparison were M and S and the amount is much less. So I take it the one who had more was the one who caught it first.

Do you know what time is it when I finished her treatment? Almost 12am!!! That's because I discovered it while waiting for 哥哥's school dismissal. She had to miss ballet class as I had to take care of her hair first.

Then, feeling geli, itchy and panic, I did the treatment for myself. The Delice shampoo can be used for adults too. Glad I did, as the bugs transferred to me too! I suspected I caught the bugs while doing their hair treatment even though I was not that close by. That's what I like to believe, but maybe I had it earlier and didn't realize it myself. How could I scold her then, but I still did :p by the time I got Baby Orange back home, it's past 1am!

The children took a day off from school the next day. I had to get them have a hair cut, and repeat the treatment more thoroughly. The school teacher didn't think it was serious enough but I insisted. since I had known of the head lice infestation, how could I allow them to school to spread it knowingly? Sigh....

On the day before getting her haircut, I sent her to school to take a spelling test, which is a school internal competition. The principal keep telling me she is supposed to be marked as absent but oh well, since her hair is in such condition bla bla bla.... I wish I could have the wits to tell her it's the effort that counts isn't it? We waited for her at the school canteen for only a while, she finished it so fast.

This photo is my hand taken at school.
The red itchy patch on my skin is suspected to be bitten by head lice (not sure but highly suspect).
Or it could be "allergic reaction" of my fear of bugs **joke** :P

I should have the foresight to chop off her long hair myself and work on shorter hair. Even the hair stylist just tie up her hair loosely at the nape with rubber band and he cut off from the tail before snipping details. Too bad I didn't take any photo of her cut-off long hair. Later her tuition teacher had said to her she should have saved the ponytail as it could be donated to make wig for charity. I mean, how do we know about all that, right :(

So all of us got our hair cut short to make it easier applying head lice termination treatment a.k.a. the head lice shampoo process listed above. All the soft toys are "quarantined" (no place to store so I just pile them somewhere in the living room), and Papa sprayed them with Dettol spray and sun them when he is back. The children didn't get to play with soft toys until their heads are cleared. As for her hair accessories like hair bands, hair clips, hair pins and even combs, I threw them ALL out. Everything that came in contact with her hair, I threw all :P OK, the hairstylist actually told me to soak the combs in Dettol with hot water, but I just chose to throw them out. Those were in use for quite some time already. It's only the hair accessories that she is reluctant to let go as they were with her favourite cartoon characters. I wiped down everything that they possibly come in contact with Dettol (mixed water). The whole house smelt with Dettol for those 2 weeks.

Bye-bye Hello Kitty!
These are some of the Hello Kitty hair accessories that she had collected but had to be thrown out it came into contact with her hair frequently.

After chopping off our hair, it's a long process of repeating the treatment until their heads are cleared. I repeated the treatment daily for 3 days, then after that every other day, and then every 3 days. It's such a waste of time, energy and effort! Not only their heads need treatment, I had to wash and change their pillow cases, bed sheets, towels and clothes accordingly. It's non-stop daily laundry and so tiring :( By the second or third day, I really felt so tired, frustrated and unhappy that I have to face this alone while Papa get off scotch-free, happily on business trip. Was only a thin margin to just break down and cry. Luckily Por Por helped to take care of Baby Orange while we take care of the head lice treatment at home. Too bad Por Por also kena and I had to help her with the treatment **Arghhh!!**

I made 爸爸 did a treatment himself before he comes home from business trip. The cheek of him saying he isn't infected **GGRRRRR** Note ya, DO NOT use treatment meant for adults on children. He tried the one he got on Cherry, and it burnt her nape (which had the bites and broken skin). She screamed and cried only this time throughout the whole ordeal.

Poor Baby Orange, being exposed to such buggies so early in his life. He is only 2 months old! We dare not use the Delice shampoo on him. We called his paediatrician, the doctor said we cannot "prevent" head lice by using the shampoo ahead if we don't see any infestation yet. In the end, Papa thought of a method, we will just shaved off his head until we are sure the older children are cleared. I had to wash all his bed linens too.

Because of the extent of the head lice problem, I tried to trace back when she could have possibly caught it. I highly suspected the KL school trip that she went alone. Probably it was blown up after splattering her hair with hair wax for the ballet concert too, as she had hair wax in her hair for almost the whole day during the second day of performance. Anyway, she pitifully said she informed Papa that she had some sort of insect bites on her nape. But he conveniently brushed it off as heat rash. She actually had it serious enough (her hair was long) that there were bug bites on her nape. Poor girl, not sure how she had tolerated the itch and discomfort. Sigh...... she got a lecture every single time during the hair treatment to be conscious of her body and self, otherwise how would we know if she is not in the pink of health? Of course the bugs are not related to health, it is not related to cleanliness too, but if she had just been conscious of her well-being and informed me of the itch on her scalp, Papa or I would have checked thoroughly. Luckily her condition is not serious until her scalp is in bad condition. Sigh sigh sigh, let this be a lesson.

And no no no, this is not a sponsored review or even product review. No spell check either so excuse any spelling error, didn't like to be reminded of this stressful and distressing incident.

Down sick

One bout of major illness and what timing! Luckily we cancelled our holiday plan as it was raining all the time.

11/12: Children went for school trip to Penang Bird Park. They got some mosquito bites. In the morning, 姐姐 seem like running mild fever, after medication she still want to join the trip to Bird Park so we let her go. When they are home, she was still having fever.

11/13: Went to see Dr Sim for fever, unable to bring it down with previous leftover fever medication. She was having cracked and dry lips, cough and slight runny nose. Thought nothing much about it as she was better during weekend.

During the week, saw some spots on her face, she said it was mosquito bites from school. Didn't think much about it since they would get some insect bites now and then. However started to notice a few spots with blister on her finger and legs. Asked 爸爸, but he insist is not chicken pox. He say so few spots only. He even squeezed one of the blister on 姐姐's finger. Now left a scar, 爸爸 so bad, doesn't want to listen to me. 弟弟 started having cough and flu too. We thought 姐姐 pass this to him.

11/19: Got call from 爸爸. saying teacher is asking to bring the children home due to suspected chicken pox. In fact, quite a few children from the nursery just had it too. Found out that 爸爸 actually saw 弟弟 having more spots on his back and even put on calamine lotion for him. Apa laa... still send them to school. I didn't know as I went to office early for 8am conf call.

Photos taken of the spots due to chicken pox. Even though they had vaccination, they still got it. 姐姐 even had the booster shot early this year. But the spots really less compared to us last time.

The spot on 弟弟's back, I think he scratched it and it turned into scar. Other areas are ok, all healed since they are so young. Other than 姐姐's fever earlier, both children had cough and flu. 原来, chicken pox will also cause cough and flu. We made lots of 凉茶 for them to drink through the weekend.

At the doctor's clinic again for checkup, doctor say to stay at home until following week.


I had to work fr home the whole week. Only 姐姐 stay at home while I work. 弟弟 go to 婆婆's house as I can't handle 2 kids while working at home. I bring 姐姐 to 婆婆's house for lunch and bring her back for nap in the afternoon. She is very good girl, hardly disturb me, but still playing when I ask her to nap. First few days when she is taking one type of medicine she really slept for long time. After 2nd checkup and stop taking that medicine, she is not that sleepy anymore. We had to cancel birthday plan for 姐姐 at school as they had to stay at home. We still celebrate at home (another post). Both children became good friends as they were so bored staying at home, only able to play together at night.

Once back to school, both start bickering again... :)

Doctor visit

This is the neighbourhood doctor's place. 弟弟 has allergy, and everytime he has flu will follow with cough and phlegm. Have to take care when he gets flu, otherwise it will cause phelgm which will take a turn for worse and become bronchopneumonia which he is very prone to. This is what Dr Sim said. The flu and coughing came and went, we think he is getting better under Dr Sim. So even though waiting time is long, we decided to go there. The children enjoy taking medicine he prescribe as it taste sweet.

Pantang larang at home

It's very strange for me that 爸爸 have so much pantang larang. He pantang on posting about the children sick. He pantang on posting about toilet training. Well, uncle, if don't post, how to remember what happened and how we handled it?

So we're home this weekend as 弟弟 is not feeling well. He was coughing quite terribly with phlegm, his nose is blocked and runny. He was even running mild diarrhea on Saturday evening. Kesian him :( so got to stay at home and rest. You see his photo from yesterday's post also look very tired.

He was having cough since school start in Jan. We decided to try using the chinese herbs on him from Eu Yan Sang called 八宝散. When that didn't work after 1 week (姐姐 maybe is older, she is ok after taking 八宝散), 爸爸 brought him to see chinese doctor near 姐姐 music school. He was getting a better .... After went for his birthday celebration he already run fever once. That's when we have to quickly bring him back to western medical doctor. Doctor suspect his 抵抗力 and lungs are "weak" and get related illness such as cough and flu easily. So he had to start "gas treatment" and medicine. Luckily he was ok and manage to get well before CNY.

Now that weather is so bad, and back to school after a strenous week eating heaty food, he started coughing again. Poor poor boy.

Wonder what we will try next? Already he was on some soup tonic since some time ago. Aiyo.... in this world where got such thing as 吃扑品 can heal. The chinese medicine sinseh even asked 爸爸 to stop that while he is on chinese medicine.

Some people say take manuka honey will help. But the children are allergy to it. So end up the bottle of manuka honey still sitting on the shelf.

I think maybe bird nest is next but it's so expensive.

2nd hospital stay

爸爸 brought 弟弟 to take off the stitches on Tuesday, and since he has a cough we thought just visit the paed for medication. We thought it's just coughing and phlegm. But doctor says it's more serious than that. So ended up 爸爸 called me to say he's taking 弟弟 for chest x-ray, and will have to stay in the hospital for treatment. I was quite shocked as receive the call during lunchtime.

When I reached the hospital, both father and son are in the 4-bedded room. Wow, nowadays business is so good that 2-bedded room are on waiting list. 弟弟眼泪汪汪的看着我, and want a hug. I ask him: 弟弟，头脱线痛还是bear-bear 手痛? Without a doubt, he say: Bear-bear 手比较痛. I bring him to the playroom to play while wait for 爸爸 to bring 日用品 for us. See he is still in school clothes as we thought just a checkup.

At night I accompany him and here he is getting the vapor treatment. He says the "gas" smells like vanilla and didn't resist it. After that is the physiotherapy 拍痰. He kind of enjoyed it as we tell him nurse help him massage.

During the night, as he was sleepy, he resisted a little when taking medicine. He told me "No!" and turned his head when I tried to feed him medicine at night. After half-threatening to leave the feeding to nurse, he finally agreed to take medicine. The child opposite is crying fervently everytime when it comes to medicine time. The baby next to us is crying even harder.... Luckily all of them on home leave after 11pm :)

Finally 挨 until the next day. He keep thinking only of the playroom....

By 2nd day we just get to go to 2-bed room. Phew, some privacy at last! This time is really a short stay, as I think the milder cases get to go home early. During doctor's visit, he keep asking can the boy take medicine, do we know how to physio. And when doctor ask him, 弟弟 say 我会吃药！ And gulped down the medicine just to show doctor and nurse. He'll do anything to go home :)

These photos were taken just before going home, he is a bit cranky as just woken up from nap.

He fell....and knocked his head

弟弟 had a fall at nursery. He had to have 2 stitches on his forehead where the wound is.

Poor boy, teacher Queenie said he was following Teacher Ooi too closely and she knocked into him when she turned. He lost his balance and fell at the patterned steps at the main door. Ouch! It must have hurt a lot. 姐姐 was at the back having lunch and heard him cry. She saw him with a lot of blood on his face and even his clothes.

Teacher Queenie called 爸爸 immediately and brought him to hospital emergency unit. As the hospital need one of the parents to sign in order to give him treatment. I didn't go to the hospital as 爸爸 already rushed there. 爸爸 said the doctor at emergency unit gave a few options, and they agreed on using some "plaster tape". Supposedly it will stick the wound together. But 爸爸 is required to go out of the treatment room. Big mistake - he cried as soon as soon as 爸爸 steps out of the room. The doctor did not dare to do anything with 弟弟 anymore, so referred him to specialist.

With the specialist again the same options given. According to him, the best would be to have a couple of stitches, so that the wound would heal better. The specialist wanted to knock him out as he said 弟弟 was already scared due to the first try, and he's afraid 弟弟 will resist if he tried the stitches. 爸爸 said it's not as serious and if he's allowed to be with 弟弟, he's sure 弟弟 will not struggle and make it complicated. Doctor agreed to give him another try, and 爸爸 comforted 弟弟 to co-operate or he will have to be admitted (which is his biggest fear).

In the end 弟弟 was a very good boy. He allowed doctor to give the anaestetic shots on his forehead. He didn't struggle or cause the doctor unable to finish the stitches. According to 爸爸, he only whined a bit but kept still. He is brave at heart! Finally the 2 stitches are done (ehem, 爸爸 say doctor didn't make one of the stitch properly and had to redo, so it's 3 times). He was given a plaster which is very strong adhesive and water proof.

When I came back home in the evening, both children rushed to me and tell me about 弟弟's fall. I saw him with bruises on his nose bridge and parts of his forehead. My heart sank when saw how much he went through. Even though it's an accident, but I still hurt for my boy. His eyes are still watery from all the tears he shed. But see him here, still want to take a photo and show the plaster on his forehead.

Sick :(

姐姐 was sick with fever. This time, she really cannot take medicine well. As soon as she smelt the medicine, she'd vomit it out, including the milk she had consumed earlier. She'd have to retake the medicine if she vomit. The container comes in handy to contain the vomit stuff :P

Poor girl, she lost weight as no appetite. During the day she goes to 婆婆's house and 婆婆 help to take care of her. She didn't go to school and ballet class. But she was well enough to go to music class. There was a lot of new homework as school had started. Now we know homework also got backlog. **Sigh**.... Homework is the life of a potential Chinese school child.

Doctor’s visit

We spent actual Merdeka Day at home. H1N1 is rather scary and taking so many lives away. 弟弟 was having mild flu last weekend, so we stayed at home. This week Friday he started having fever. We gave him the paracetamol he usually have.

Throughout weekend we cook barley water and chrysanthemum every day, still didn’t really help.

Fever recovering, but run out of flu medicine. Doctor gave him antibiotics for the tonsillitis that’s starting.

He only had on the mask for a short while. After seeing doctor, he refused to put it on back. Fortunately not too crowded during the visit.

Roseola

姐姐 recovered from the fever and cough she had last week. She vomited when she is taking medicine. Poor girl, no appetite, and vomit when smell the medicine :( She gave us quite a scare on HFM, as she started having spots on her hands, feet, elbow but no ulcers in her mouth or at the throat. We can't really distinguish from palms or soles as hers are pinkish :P Luckily confirmed not HFM when we bring her to doctor on Monday morning. Should be just the spots that she used to get after having fever. Think it's called Roseola. Doctor was a bit kiasu, and ordered the dengue fever check for 姐姐 as it’s the latest problem.

She was so worried about taking the blood test. Of course she had heard how 弟弟 was screaming when taking blood test in the nurse room when he was admitted. She keep asking 爸爸, “ 去哪里 check ?”如果是 dengue怎样啊” 爸爸 have to keep assure her that we will accompany her if she is tested positive. 爸爸 said she was very brave and didn’t cry when taking blood test. Phew, got the results in the afternoon and confirmed not dengue. What a relieve!

At the same time, 弟弟 also went for checkup with姐姐 and he had to continue with the medication further. So the whole kitchen cabinet was lined with medicine bottles for the children. It was really scary for us, and I’m so worried they will have side effects from taking so much medicine. We’ll have to “detoxify” their kidneys by giving more fruits and juice.

Cough bouncing in the family

Backdated post - as everyone was not feeling well last week.

Having both parents coughing in the house must be too much for 弟弟. Even though we tried to feed him multivitamin and scott's emulsion, but he still got it from us. So like pass the ball, we pass it to everyone in the family :P

From 3 July 弟弟 was down with cough, flu, fever, phelgm. Again when he has phelgm, he will vomit. And no appetite for most solid food, not even chocolate bun! Luckily the turnaround came on Friday and he is much better. The doctor nearly admitted him again as he lost ~1kg, but 爸爸 don't allow as the fever already better. I really hope the settling in will be smoother as he's already at nursery full day for 3 months.

姐姐 is also starting a bit of cough (maybe because got it from me). She was having skin allergy and itching all over last Monday - not sure if it's from the gel last week? Paediatrician says it's from the cough, hah?? And the dry lips that she keep having - doctor says she is lacking some vitamins. Even though taking lots of veggies and drink lots of water, still not enough :( She's enjoying her multivitamins syrup and really, her dry lips is gone for the past week.

姐姐 fell down

姐姐 slipped and knocked her lips on a camel coinbox on Tuesday. Poor girl run to me as soon as I am back home to tell me about her pain. Her lips were bleeding and there is an area where the skin kinda rubbed off (可怜). It must be so painful! She is still brave and able to eat & drink as usual. However she said it is painful when she open her mouth wide. Even though her lips are healing but I notice the cut has developed into mouth ulcer today. After school I took her to see her regular paediatrician. She was hesistant at first. I keep on reassuring her that it's just minor condition and only a gel is all that's going to be prescribed. Before stepping out of the car, she ask again "如果严重咧？会怎样啊?". Have to repeat again "没有严重啦，just 给doctor check 罢了". Then only she followed me inside the clinic. She weighs 16.25 kg and measures ~106cm tall. Nurse say "Wah, girl, 你很瘦hoh?". As expected, we got the gel. Save me from scouting all over to find a relief for 姐姐. She was not very happy with the gel as it kind of stings when applied to the ulcer area.

Update 7/5: I noticed the ulcer had healed, and it doesn't hurt when I dab the gel on 姐姐's lips today. She was so happy she doesn't need to apply it anymore.

Getting better....

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the antibiotic shots seemed painful to him. The intravenous line seem to have come loose from all his moving around. He quivered in pain sometimes and yet other times seemed ok. Nurse say he is a very brave boy because in this circumstance, it must be painful. Luckily doctor agreed to stop the antibiotic shots.

He was discharged on Thursday. Diagnosis - acute pharyngitis with gingivitis. He still have a whole bunch of medicine to take. I'm at home taking care of him the wholde day on Friday. Watched Primary 1 & 2 DVD and Pocoyo. Took him walk around the apartment late morning. When we're back, it's time for medicine. He was asleep after having some milk. He slept for a few hours. But not very soundly. He kept waking up calling 妈妈, 妈妈! 我要你来! Even go to toilet or just outside also cannot. **Sigh**

He's going back to school next week.

弟弟 is having fever

弟弟 is having fever the whole week. We're worried why the fever is not going away. He is having cough and sore throat too. He sounds like a little goosling whenever he talks because of 声音沙哑。 He vomits whenever he coughs and probably one of the causes is the phelgm. His usual doctor suggested to have him checked at the hospital if still not well on next Monday :(

He seemed better on Wednesday and started getting cheeky while resting at home. So he is back to school on Thursday. Teacher was very kind to him and helped to give the medicine. He only throw up a little bit yesterday nite and not even in school. Today teacher called to say he better rest at home as he throw up twice in school, started running fever and is very moody. Poor boy....