哥哥's JXC Book 1 Music Class Party

哥哥 had his class party for Yamaha Junior Extension Course (or JXC) for completion of Book 1. Previously 姐姐's did not have any more class parties from JXC onwards. However because 哥哥's class are quite playful and active, so Teacher Sherlene probably still hold class party to motivate them :)

Group photo with his class and Teacher Sherlene

Getting his gift exchange

He played "Balloon Trip" as his solo performance. The class sings Grandfather's Clock and performed ensemble playing for "Daisy In The Field"

Three's Company Now

Now it's a family of 3 children for us! I've never thought about having 3 children! It's not that uncommon though. And it's not that uncommon to have quite a big gap in ages for eldest and youngest. But I still can't believe it there's about a 9.5 years gap for 姐姐 and Baby Orange, while it is about a 7.5 years gap for 哥哥 and Baby Orange.

A walk down memory lane with these photos of them at about the same age ....

The children at about their first days

Them at about 10 days

This is about full moon

Shortly after full moon. Don't they look alike? It's 哥哥 and Baby Orange :)

Didn't like comparison, but hey, that's what moms do all the time :P Can I just say weight is just a number?

And some sibling photos to share

With 姐姐, Baby Orange at 10 days old

With 哥哥, Baby Orange at 10 days old

These are when 哥哥 is about the same age.

哥哥 is about 12 days here, 姐姐 about 2 years 2 months old

哥哥 is about 19 days old

哥哥 and 姐姐 with Baby Orange

Baby Orange at 1 month old, being held by 哥哥

Baby Orange at 1 month old

Baby Orange's Full Moon!

Baby Orange is 1 month old! He's growing well, 姐姐and 哥哥 are excited to have him back home :)

There were some full moon rituals that i followed at the confinement home, some which I didn't know of during confinement with 姐姐 and 哥哥.

First is getting Baby Orange's hair shaved. Not only that, we got his eye brows shaved too :p 姐姐 did not get her hair shaved somehow. Her hair eventually dropped by 3 or 4 months of age, and it got messy when it's accumulated on her pillow. So after her, 哥哥 got his hair shaved and it's more hygienic for baby, so that the hair doesn't affect the baby. Well, baby's hair is fine and if it got into baby's nostril, it might cause him discomfort and irritation. We follow this local custom more for hygienic purpose.

Before shaving and after shaving, it's a local Chinese custom

This is his before and after photos. Initially he was ok, but as soon as I hold him upright to shave behind his head, he started crying, getting louder and louder until he was screaming. Poor boy, I guess he has had enough of us handling his head by then. I got a video of him here :P

He cried and screamed, but was calmed as soon as he's wrapped up in swaddle.
Then nanny gave him a bottle of EBM :)

Auntie who helped him shave his head also helped to give him a bath and put on baby oil for him on his head. We're supposed to keep his hair in a high place in our home to signify "高". I think auntie meant something like get high position in career and life, something like that :)

The next day is our last day at the confinement center, we are going home! According to those who follow the local Chinese customs, we must bathe in water with 7-coloured flowers (七色花, no white flowers). I think to 'cleanse' ourselves before going home :) This is interesting, bathing in flowers! I got 爸爸 to buy two packs for us, one for Baby Orange and one for me.

Baby Orange's bath with 7-coloured flowers七色花. There's a fruit like lime too (not sure what it's called).

Baby Orange had his bath early in the morning on the day of his full moon. Auntie just dunk the whole pack of flowers into the bath, cut the lime fruit into half and squeezed it into the bath water. It smelt nice! He cried during his bath :P

Smiling in his dream before bath. Then crying during bath with 七色花 :P

Baby Orange's shaved look

In the afternoon it's my turn to take a bath with the 7-coloured flowers (七色花). Kakak prepared the herbal bath for me, and I just dunk everything in the herbal bath water. The lime is really fragrant. I've never bathed in flower water before so this is a new experience :)

The 七色花 in herbal bath

After all the rituals are done, and after dinner, it's time to go home! One of the nannies gave me a Chinese calendar for the day Baby Orange is born for memory sake. It's special! We didn't keep Chinese calendar for the older two children, didn't even thought about it.

Nanny said this is Baby Orange's Chinese "birth cert" :P

Check Baby Orange's weight before I sign out.
He weighed 3.95 kg during his first month checkup the next day. He had put on about 1 kg since birth!

Some photos at confinement center before we go back to our home.

My room at confinement center

A flowering plant outside confinement center, 姐姐 took this photo

With 姐姐 

An important milestone, he is breastfed for 1 month!

Ticker from Lilypie :) Dare not put active ticker :P

My Confinement Diary and Baby Orange's Battle With Jaundice

This post is about my life with Orange at confinement center. After being discharged from hospital, Orange and I checked in to a confinement home near our place. Be warned, extremely long, wordy post ahead.

It wasn't an easy confinement journey due to Orange being jaundiced, but we ended it with happiness :)

The children came to visit me :)

No need to mention names or promote them since they are already very popular here, they are almost fully booked to November 2014 :) Staying in confinement home is like staying at a girls' only hostel, only this is higher end, of course, with personal TV in our rooms, air-conditioning and fan (although I only use air-conditioning). People say you get more rest staying at confinement home as there's nannies to take care of baby, food, laundry and dishes are taken care of.  I rested less as I breastfeed and pump, no regrets about it as the two older children were too.

All about confinement food :)

Foods I had during my stay at confinement center are the favourite part of my stay. Eating is big business here, food is served on time. Breakfast at 8am, lunch at 11am, tea break at 2pm, dinner at 5pm and supper at 8pm. At first I was so full I couldn't finish most of it especially the rice and dishes. However my stomach got trained to eat at these times like clockwork after about a week plus of my stay.... Auntie, wah, you superb cook, is there anything you cannot whip up? My favourites are breakfasts, tea breaks and suppers (I don't really like main meals that much). But the lunches and dinners here are lovely too, even for someone who doesn't like to eat rice. The only "bitter" part about lunch is we get a cup of "soh hup" (苏合丸, prepared in liquid form for us) with lunch. Which is supposed to be good for post natal moms to expel wind (or something like that). But the taste is really bitter. I still stir and down it, though I only manage the not so bitter parts and usually leave the pekat parts intact hehe (according to knowledgeable people, this is not good :P).

Don't be jealous seeing the delicious food ya :) On top of the meals, I drank loads of milo, rice tea (米茶) and serai juice with pandan. I didn't take the dates drink (黑枣茶) as it is brewed with ginger (Baby Orange is jaundiced so I reduce/avoid directly taking ginger).

Breakfast

One of my favourite meals of the day.

Some of the breakfasts I had during confinement month in confinement home, usually noodles.

Can't decide which is my favourite but the rice noodles in herbal soup are not my taste, just a personal thing.

 Can you imagine there's a different type of noodles with various cooking styles being served everyday?

Lunch

We would be served with one meat dish (either pork/fish/chicken depending on which stage of confinement), one veggie, soup, rice and "soh hup". Kampung chicken is served after 12 days upon delivery. That little porcelain cup with black liquid is "soh hup" which is served with every lunch.

I prefer the meat dishes as I don't like choosing out bones from the fish dishes. But honestly the fish dishes are delicious too, just more time-consuming to eat. There are some times I eat in a rush as baby Orange is waiting to be fed (upon my request to bf). I can still remember nanny holding Baby Orange and waving to me from nursery to signal baby needs feeding while I was having a meal :) So cute, so I wolfed down my food in a jiffy :P

Soups are good too, and I love the black pepper intestine soup (猪肚汤）

Tea Break

Another of my favourite meals. Absolutely loved the meals served for tea breaks. So even though I'm still full by this time, I still finish up everything.

Enjoyed the fish and chips, meat pizza, deep fried crackers with minced meat and red bean soup. But I didn't like the mee sua kor because I don't like "lumpy" noodles.

Loved the hor fun! I usually don't take bubur gandum but this version is nice, like comfort food.

Koay Teow Th'ng is good! So is the pong pia cooked with eggs.
Popiah and 油条 is stuffed with minced meat. 

Some food here were repeated towards end of my stay but I didn't mind at all since they are good!

Dinner

Of course soup is the same as lunch time, but dishes are varied. Every time I had lunch/dinner with the hot soup, I will usually be sweating at the dining room. I took less than half of the rice during lunch and dinner as I want to keep room for tea and supper :P

Supper

Started to get the chicken essence soup after 12 days of delivery. I started with 当归 dong gui and 泡参  pao shen soups as baby Orange is jaundiced. The last soups I got are chicken essence with DOM. Drooling just seeing the photos of good food I enjoyed during confinement.

My favourite is the chocolate cheese bun from Continental bakery.

On baby Orange's full moon, my favourite chocolate cheese bun is given again.

Usually after meals, the moms here would go to "work" which means we pump, or arrange for breastfeeding. During my stay, most moms will pump even if they don't latch on baby frequently.

Although the food is glorious, however my experience at the confinement home didn't get off on a good start and only improved much later after Baby Orange recovered from jaundice. By then, I get used to their style.

First day

I was still feeling dizzy from lack of sleep and higher than normal blood pressure, so the first day is still like a fuzz.

I only "checked in" to the confinement home late after 4pm. It was raining and to my annoyance, the covered front porch is parked full of cars and motorbikes, making it difficult for me to alight from the car (especially since I am still sore from the labour wounds). Later I found out it's the staff's motorbikes, now why couldn't they park at the side and clear a space when they are expecting new moms coming? :P

Baby Orange is whisked off to the nursery where all the babies stayed. Since he is coming from the hospital, they gave him a thorough wipe-down, and changed his clothes to the confinement home "baby uniform". While he is being taken care off and checked all over, I have a form to fill about his weight, my phone # etc. Funny thing is, kakak is the one who bring me to tour the drinks corner and my room. However the part I'm not satisfied with is no one talked about who is responsible for what and what are their usual practises for things like breast pump (cleaning), infant formula, baby feeding etc. Most information I have to either glean from other moms who are staying there longer than me (I asked much later), or ask kakak or the nannies. Sometimes, the nannies have slightly different practise among themselves so all the more confused I got. They complaint also about Baby Orange still passing meconium at Day 3 (as it is difficult to clean up).

Very not used to staying in a shared house with so many staff and other moms. Even though I was staying in a single room (on the ground floor), the bathroom is shared among 3-4 nannies, kakak, cook aunty and 4 other moms. This bathroom is also used by mommies who are taking their herbal baths too (as kakak couldn't be lugging the big pot of hot herbal concoction upstairs, right?) Sharing bathroom is something I cannot get used to even towards the end of my stay. The room was ok as I am staying alone. I've no time to enjoy anything as I was busy with feeding Baby Orange.

Baby Orange was jaundiced from the day he was discharged. He was sleepy and drowsy right from the start and I had to wake him to feed almost every two hours. The nannies didn't really approve of this type of schedule as it caused more work for them (actually I only found out later, they prefer 3 hourly feeding right from the start). They have to wipe down Baby Orange, check/change his diaper each time he goes out for feeding (which I found out later too). Perhaps they just prefer to stick to their style of 3-hours feeding no matter what. The nannies wouldn't wake up the newborn baby for feeding unless he cries first. They preferred to let him sleep on even though I had informed them he is jaundiced. So I was the one initiating the feedings even though they are supposed to bring the baby to me. Their reasoning, he didn't wake up. Of course, he is drowsy from jaundice! I was very tired setting alarm clock, and walking to-and-fro to bring him to my room to feed.

The night time feeds are the worst on my first day. Being tired from all the "reasoning" with the 3-4 nannies (total 6-8 nannies from day shift and night shift) on why I need to wake up Baby Orange for feeding, I decided to let him have formula at night. We didn't prepare any infant formula with us as we thought we could get from the confinement home (as mentioned in their brochure). The only thing they didn't mention is they lock up the infant formula at night in the store room, just when I decided I need to feed Baby Orange some formula! And the night shift staff didn't have keys to the store room either! Holy baloney, I blow my fuse right there. I struggled through the night feedings (with my alarm) and hit on 爸爸 and myself for not preparing some formula for Baby Orange.

Tried to pump the first night and only got like a teaspoon of colostrum. Nanny remarked "Aiyo, so little only ah". Trust me, if you listen to their comments, you will surely not be able to continue the breastfeeding journey. Although some lucky mommies get a lot of colostrum from the start, some of us not-so-lucky ones only got that much lor. Auntie fed Baby Orange using a teaspoon with the colostrum I pumped out. Luckily I got a manual pump so it wasn't like the experience with 哥哥 of the little bit of milk frothing up as bubbles with the electric pump (I have to refer to #2 as 哥哥 now).

I got 爸爸 to go to buy formula for Baby Orange first thing in the morning as I'm so tired and getting almost nil from pumping. I still continue pumping though.

First week

I spent the first week worrying about Baby Orange's jaundice. Got an earful of noise about Orange's cord, ears, eyes (discharge) too. I wasn't sociable as very tired with breastfeeding, pump and monitoring Orange's jaundice. Besides I was constipated. It's partly caused by the multi-vitamin prescribed by doctor, and partly psychological. The toilet which dripped water at night did not help (that was when less people using the bathroom), sigh... I took the doctor prescribed laxative which didn't help so I bought Senokot tablets from our neighbourhood pharmacy. After that, I thought of eating prunes which helped a lot to get those bowels moving. My mood was very much down during the times I was constipated as my tummy is so bloated, on one hand I am being fed so much food, on the other, nothing much is being "disposed" :P

The children finished up my last batch of bird nest with rock melon (recipe from Thung's blog) while I'm at the confinement center

爸爸 actually ordered Perlis' famous Harumanis Mangoes for me when I was still pregnant. However as the delivery is delayed, the Harumanis mangoes only arrived during my confinement! So the children and 爸爸 ate it without me :( But I thank 爸爸 for ordering for me. It's really expensive and it took so much effort to chase for the shipment.

They had Harumanis mangoes without me during my confinement:P

EBM at confinement home, the increase came slowly

Milk supply improvement started during the first week. From initially pumping of one teaspoon colostrum, to one oz then more. I pumped whenever Baby Orange had a bottle instead of direct latch-on, that is about every 3 hours after meal. After the first night at confinement center, I requested he be fed using formula at night in hopes of bringing down the jaundice. Now the nannies' remarks, "wow, now a lot of milk hoh" as Baby Orange can't seem to finish the EBM and I use some formula milk, so some bottles are collecting in the fridge. Again, nothing to shout about as some lucky mommies got their supply piled up in the freezer portion! Lesson learnt here, I just ignore whatever other people are saying, don't even compare with other mommies and just provide as much breast milk as possible to Baby Orange.

Baby Orange's stool went from meconium to something like formula-fed baby's by Day 4. I took photos of his poop as the nurses and doctor keep asking and I didn't know how to describe :P Upon seeing the photos, the nurses and doctor asked me to breastfeed more.

Baby Orange's 金  (stool) :P hahahaha small photo as didn't want to ruin anyone's day 

Baby Orange's Battle With Jaundice

Almost every morning, we bring Baby Orange for "sun-bathing", this is the government nurse's advice. However, later when we went for Baby Orange's 1st week check-up, doctor mentioned it would not help much.

爸爸 holding Baby Orange for sunbathing. He is helping as I am still recovering.
Later I would be the one holding him sitting in the sun here. 

From the second day at confinement home, the government clinic nurse came to visit baby Orange and I. By the third day, the nurse is asking us to go for jaundice check at the government health clinic (Klinik Kesihatan) as she found Baby Orange to be jaundiced to chest.

At Klinik Kesihatan Jalan Perak lab to check serum bilirubin for jaundice. D5 SB = 229 umol/L.

This is our first time going to Klinik Kesihatan. We didn't know how to go there, and even set the GPS :P Actually Klinik Kesihatan Jalan Perak is just opposite SJK (C) Sum Sun. Because it's Wesak Day holiday, the clinic is not open as usual, just open to check for newborn jaundice. The lab is even open during Saturday and Sunday, the opening hours are just reduced to 9am to 12:30pm. We just handed over the Rekod Kesihatan Bayi dan Kanak-kanak (Baby Orange got blue book as he is a boy, baby girls get a pink book) and waited for our turn, and only 1 person allowed to go in. The lab technician used something like a little rubber stamp to prick his foot to draw some blood. Only a little bit of blood is needed. When Baby Orange felt the prick, of course he cried his heart out. His serum bilirubin measurement was 229 umol/L. The nurse on duty told us this is still below the threshold of 308 umol/L for his age. Later we called up his paediatrician and he say it's moderately high, and we could keep monitoring. Oh, the visits costs us nothing which is pretty nifty.

At paed clinic. D6 SB = 228 umol/L.
Can see the peeling skin on his hands from this photo.

His first paediatrician visit (D6) is scheduled for the next day. First we went to the Klinik Kesihatan to get his SB reading, which recorded 228 umol/L. The nurse on duty told us if mommy is blood type O and baby is boy and blood type O, baby is at higher risk of getting jaundiced (not sure how true it is). Baby Orange measured 2.8 kg for his week one paediatrician visit. Since we're concerned about his jaundice, doctor was asking if we want to try home photo-therapy for him, but being at confinement center makes it more complicated. His advice, continue breastfeeding and monitor SB every few days. He said do not need to go check every day, and he didn't stop me from breastfeeding.

Second week - Jaundice got worse

Moving into the second week, it's still jaundice concern for us. Sometimes Baby Orange would look reddish in the face, typical of a jaundiced baby but sometimes he looks ok.

Nurse assessment he has NNJ to chest for D8

Couldn't resist, he gave these cute expressions. I took these photos in my room when he is here for breastfeeding. See his reddish face, it's typical of jaundiced newborn baby.

Day 9 and 10, when we went for the next SB test, it increased to 237 umol/L. What a shock we got, as we didn't do anything different compared to a few days ago. After the first couple of times of getting pricked, Baby Orange did not balk much when getting the test done by now. Or maybe his jaundice is getting worse, that's why he is always drowsy.

D10 SB = 237 umol/L

Random bottle feeding photo

We called up Baby Orange's paediatrician and he recommended getting home photo-therapy. We tried to ask the confinement home manager-in-charge, but she did not agree to let us use such a device at the confinement home. She recommended to let Baby Orange drink water chestnut juice to bring down the jaundice, saying it worked for her children. Sigh.... had thought of just abandoning the confinement home and do the photo-therapy at home. But who is going to prepare my food? So we decided to not go for home photo-therapy and let Baby Orange take the water chestnut juice. The formula is one water chestnut to be taken at around noon every 2 days. Kakak will help us prepare the juice for auntie to feed Baby Orange.

D11 SB = 225 umol/L

D11 his umbilical cord dropped after visiting the Klinik Kesihatan. The nanny was so surprised when he didn't have the hanging dried-up umbilical cord by the time we are back. They thought I'd chase after them for the cord when I had already kept it. Apparently those mommies will ask the nannies for umbilical cord to keep (and I have no idea why it's kept).

After that, we still went for jaundice check-up every day. It was exhausting, rushing to catch the 8am sunshine for sun-bathing whenever there is morning sun, then rush to Klinik Kesihatan for jaundice SB check-up. Then by noon every other day I will remind kakak to help make the water chestnut juice. On top of that, I try to breastfeed as frequent as I can. He is difficult to feed as he is always sleepy due to the jaundice, and he falls asleep easily when feeding. Baby Orange will get formula at night so not sure if that helps. By now I had given up forcing the nannies to feed every 2 hours and let them feed as they could. They complaint he is difficult to feed every 2 hours, he doesn't want to take his milk, of course because he has jaundice la. One auntie even told me, if he has jaundice send him for photo-therapy and not ask them to feed so frequent and to stop breastfeeding (GGGRR!!!) Another auntie asked me, why I didn't do anything when Baby Orange is jaundiced. I mean, I'm not doing anything???!!! What is getting in her mind I don't know but the nannies really do not have experience or doesn't know how to care for jaundiced baby. The SB reading did drop, not sure if due to any of the actions. Because of exhaustion, we have not much mood to take photos during this time.

D14 SB = 208 umol/L

D13 his SB reading dropped to 197 umol/L. We were so happy of the progress. We brought him to the paediatrician for continuous monitoring of his jaundice condition. He did not ask us to repeat the SB test as we had got it done at Klinik Kesihatan.

D14 we were requested to see the Klinik Kesihatan doctor for Baby Orange's prolonged jaundice (as they call it). The reading did increase to 208 umol/L in just one day. The doctor wanted us to send Baby Orange to Penang Hospital for blood test due to prolonged jaundice. She didn't want to diagnose it due to breast milk jaundice. We decided not to go to Klinik Kesihatan anymore. 爸爸 said he didn't have time to run around the government hospital since we're not familiar with it. He prefer to go back to our paediatrician.

Btw, even though the Klinik Kesihatan has a baby room, it is not very convenient for breastfeeding as the nurses use it for other purposes too and the sofa seat is not comfortable.

This is Baby Orange's baby cot at the confinement home

Third Week - admitted for photo-therapy

Baby Orange's expression :)

I'm still concerned about Baby Orange's sleepiness during feedings. Coupled with the stress of being asked to go to Penang Hospital for further blood test for Baby Orange. Therefore D15 we went to see his paediatrician again. This time, he asked for blood test to be done. This time, we had to send Baby Orange to the nursery for the nurse to get blood sample. Baby Orange cried a bucket of tears, it must hurt a lot. Some random lady at the lab keep saying kesian him, asked me why such small baby have to get blood test. Told her it's due to jaundice, and came her advice of using "yellow stick water" (ooi kee chui in Hokkien, dunno what it is in Mandarin) to bathe him and her children all recovered from jaundice after that. I pointedly asked her you must have not breastfed your children, so the situation is not the same. I repeated the question and insisted asking her did she breastfeed and she admit she did not. Hehe, sorry auntie, you caught me in a stressful moment while baby is crying and you give advice based on your formula-fed kids so I couldn't take it.

The blood test result came back as 227 umol/L, and since we're concerned, Baby Orange will be admitted for photo-therapy. His weight is 3.25 kg by now. We went back to bring bottles of expressed breast milk (EBM) for him during his stay, with some formula just in case it's not enough. I pumped every 3 hours while he is at the hospital having photo-therapy.

Thinking back,  姐姐 was admitted once for photo-therapy 3 days after being born. No SB measurement taken, her paediatrician back then didn't believe in pricking babies and admitted her based on his experience. 哥哥 was admitted twice. Once D4, once D13. His SB measurement was 236 umol/L for admission on D13. Both had breast milk jaundice for the first month.

One day after having photo-therapy

The next day, I visited him at the nursery and he looked really different! They put him under double lights, and he doesn't have the yellowish skin tone for once. He got more spots on his face than before being admitted, and the nurse confirmed it's due to the photo-therapy and it will go away once he stopped having the photo-therapy.

SB = 135 umol/L on day of discharge after photo-therapy

On the 3rd day, he is ready to be discharged. He looked like he had put on weight, as the nurses have increased his usual feedings from 2 oz to 3 oz. He is probably not so sleepy so he could take more milk.

D20 SB = 145 umol/L

For the follow-up visit on D20, he was requested to do a blood test and physical check at nursery. They pressed on his skin with a device on his forehead, chest, abdomen and buttocks I think, we received a note with the measurements for doctor to review. Jaundice SB = 145 umol/L so he is considered ok. So throughout the battle with jaundice, I did not stop breastfeeding and his paediatrician did not request that I stop too. From then onwards in confinement home, we had not used formula for him since there are EBM to be used up.

After being discharge, Baby Orange now feeds frequently and poop frequently too. In fact, almost every breastfeeding session, he would poop. That's when I start to enjoy my confinement time, as the worry about jaundice is over. I didn't stress over his feeding schedule as before. He is not so sleepy now, so he could cry whenever he needs to be fed and to be changed when he got a dirty diaper. His voice got so loud too by now :) The nannies are now able to take care of him better after he recovered from jaundice.

I started arranging for massage sessions, which are very relaxing and enjoyable (paid of course, not part of confinement package). The EBM after massage sessions (for 4 hours) are not "allowed" to be used for baby according to the nannies as they say after massage, our body will pass "wind" to baby. First time I followed their advise, after that, I just pump out a little to avoid engorgement and then get another pump session after the 4-hour window :P The EBM during the 4-hour window just used for baby to bathe :P Actually I asked the very experienced massage therapist, she said it's not something she follows, so that's why I didn't fully follow nannies' "wind" talk. Of course, after massage session, I just make sure to drink lots of warm water and wipe off the oil before arrange for breastfeeding.

Fourth week

The fourth week (and last week) is my most enjoyable week, and starting to prepare for full moon! Full moon is another post as there are several interesting rituals, some I've not done before for the older two children :)

This week, my schedule is like, breastfeed, pump, eat, sleep and watch TV (finally!) with massage sessions slot in and some interaction with other mommies. Some of the first-time mommies learn how to bathe, diapering and bottle-feeding from the nannies. However I don't find it useful as what we use is different (they bathe babies at the sink) and our styles are different. Of course, no doubt about it, they are expert in bottle-feeding and burping, swaddling and diapering.

One of the nannies was quite concerned how frequent Baby Orange was breastfeeding. She look on with amusement at my midnight pumping session, keep saying I'm hardworking although for me it's just necessity to reduce engorgement. She commented, how am I going to to bring him out later, takkan I feed him in public? She didn't have actual breastfeeding experience as most moms back in the 60's and 70's didn't breastfeed, probably due to the trend at that time to go for formula feeding. She genuinely didn't have any idea how it is done. So I told her, just go to those places with baby room, or feed in the car if had to. Even though I breastfeed, it doesn't mean I want strangers to stare at me :P

Teary-eyed look.
He was swaddled partially with his legs free as he is getting older and didn't want to be totally confined by now.
This photo was taken after he merajuk at my room and I pass him back to nanny, tears and all :P

Another look at the swaddle

His first time using pacifier, it's already towards the end of our stay at confinement :P

After confinement period, I still continue to take catering food from the confinement center for an extra 10 days. I needed time to adjust to caring for Baby Orange and didn't want to take the usual catering food. The food they gave me is delicious as usual and the portions are huge! As I was busy caring for Baby Orange and the two children when 爸爸 is working, I forgot to take photos of the food :P As catering portion only consist of one meal, I missed the delicious breakfasts, tea and supper :)

The confinement food I got catered

Overall, I would still go to the confinement home if given the choice to choose again. Food is good, and baby is being taken care of. I like it that I don't have to bother about laundry, washing dishes/utensils/cups - all done by kakak, and even cleaning the pump and bottles is helped by nannies.