Hello Zoe

6/6/09, Saturday

5.30am - We check into Mt Alvernia hospital for the C-section. Argh!! I am already hungry - no food since dinner of 5/6/09. =(

7.00am - Prepping for op commences. I did not have these procedures last round because it was emergency C-section.. straight from labour ward to OT. Need to bathe with a pre-op disinfectant(?) solution, have my stomach shaved, an enema administered (yucks!), change into hospital gown and wear a cap over my hair. I'm then wheeled to the "waiting room" outside the OT.

7.30am - Anesthetist arrives and starts to insert the spinal. He is really a champion of crap.. gosh.. told me he is the best in Batam and JB somemore after the nurses praised him! Ha.. no wonder my doc requested for him.. they have both the same crappy sense of humour LOL. He is supposedly a very good anethetist, all the nurses praised him. Once the spinal went in, my legs immediately started feeling numb. Scarily, the OT lights are reflective and I can see my lower body, including the stomach area, in the reflection!! Erps!! I resolve not to open my eyes AT ALL throughout.. urgh..

8.00am - Gynae arrives and commences the op. G is allowed into the OT and from his vantage point next to my head, apparently he can see a LOT of what's going on. Yucks!

8.14am - Z is pulled out! G's first comment is that she has a LOT more hair than S. And yes, she does indeed! She is much larger than we all expected at 3.475kg. Chubby little bubby.. who can wail her head off when offended, just like her Jiejie. I opened my eyes to take a look at her and caught a glimpse of RED stuff in the reflective overhead lights.. EEEKKKK..

Big backside!! Haha!

For the next half-hour, I am sewn up while the gynaecologist and anesthetist banter. Gosh.. They are really Crap Kings. I'm told that I am promoted to "Aunty Plus" as the mum of 2 kids, rather than just an "Aunty" with the one. Kwa kwa..

By about 9.30am, I am returned to the ward. Same ward and same room as with Sophie! Just the other bed in the 2-bedder room.

How? Does she look like S?

Visitors start to stream in but I am still suffering the after-effects of the anesthetic. Drowsy and dizzy and feeling nauseous =( No wonder they don't let patients eat for 24 hours after op.. but boy am I hungry!! Argh!!

7/6/09, Sunday
Still no food allowed in the morning as my gynae came on his rounds past breakfast time. Argh!! Why must it be Sunday when he dun open his clinic and thus does rounds later.. damn.. any other day and he would have seen me at 7+ am so I could have had breakfast! Chey! Anyway, I am certified fit to eat, but only nuah food like porridge and mee sua. Totally not filling at all! I immediately start plotting to get more food and sms G to da bao some for me. Wahaha..

Daddy and his gal

More visitors and I am in a much better state to receive them. Of course, the dreaded get-down-the-bed-and-go-to-toilet ritual has to be completed too. This requires CAREFUL maneuvering and VERY SLOW movements. Still, it does not feel as painful as the first C-section I had.

We managed to get in some shots of S and Z together today, though not very good ones.. Either the big or the small was wriggling out of position ALL the time. Oh well..

Today, Z is much more interested in feeding and proceeds to suck my nipples sore. Ouch!! S was nowhere near such a strong feeder. And best, after 2 breastfeeds in 2 hours, she can still take a full feed of formula. Gulp!! Big eater!

8/6/09, Monday
More visitors!! The gifts have piled up on the floor, table, shelf above the table, and we have even stuffed some of them into the cupboard. Most people are very practical (thanks for reading my blog guys!) and bring diapers, wipes or vouchers. Hooray! We didn't take a picture through. =(

We note that Z seems a bit yellow and ask for a jaundice test. PD thinks she is not very yellow yet and does not order one today.. instead, the test is set for Tuesday morning.

9/6/09, Tuesday
The day we are supposed to go home! However, at 10am, Z's report comes back and her jaundice levels are too high to be let out of the hospital. They are 14.4 when the threshold level is 10 or below. Sigh.. =( We decide to discharge first and leave Z at the hospital, and I will go to hospital to feed her in the daytime and pump breastmilk at night. 14.4 is not very severe, but the nurses say that jaundice level tends to drop about 1-2 units per day, so she might not be able to completely resolve after just 1 day on phototherapy. We will see how it goes..