First Time Papa

Getting Prep for a new Generation

Gabbie’s sleep routine

September8

Phew*! I was taken aback (like REAAAAALLLYYY BACK) when i finally get the time (and inspriration :P) to login here.. and realise that GOSH~!

So much time has passed since I last updated my poor blog!! Of course the usual culprit is work(with ridiculous amount of travelling since late last year).. and of course taking care of Gabbie.. left me pretty much exhausted

But seriously, time REALLY does flies!  Gabbie is now 1 year and half already) .. and full of mischief and expanding her vocab at very fast!  ><

Anyway, OK. Back to the subject :P

We’ve tried establish some sort of sleep routine with Gabbie since she was a baby. Although it might not be perfect..but its good enough for us because she does go to bed between 8pm to 9pm and only fully wake up around 6/7am plus to terrorize us :P

So just to share with you the sleep routine that we tried to establish with when she was still a newborn.  It is important that this routine is established early =).  Following is what we done for Gabbie :

-Maintain nighttime routine going every night at the same time. :)

- Get her comfortable, changed into her pyjamas with fresh diapers and give her milk  (she get to sleep faster with a full tummy) :P.  Provide her with her pillows & pacifier (if she is using it).

-Lock the doors  (very Important if you have doting Grandparents/Aunt/Uncles who would not think twice of barging in to play with the little one regardless the situations… ><  nothing is worst thank a overexcited but a cranky & tired baby O.o”.  All I can tell u is no one is gonna get any sleep for a long whilte >.<*)

- Draw the curtains so that it create a cosy environement and to block out any external noise (we’ve got very noisy neighborhood ‘pets’ >.< .

- If its night time, turn off all the Lights and leaving perhaps a small table lamp (dimmed) or night light.

- Of course, get the room as comfy as possible (not too hot/cold), perhaps play some soft lullaby onthe background that she likes (be consistent).

- And try to sing her to sleep, or gentle pat her.  The secret to to maintain a consistent rhythm so that she can be lulled to sleep.  As she gets older, she don’t need any of these anymore because she is used to go to sleep at the routine hours ;)

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Look out for how you baby tells you he/she are tired, because its impossible for you to get your baby to sleep when they are not tired.  Cathing them at the right time and hussling them to sleep ASAP if not immediately is important because with Gabbie, she have a timeframe.  Exceed it, and when her sleepiness wears off.. you’d have to wait for some time before she will feel tired again.  And in the mean time..she will be as cranky as a Godzilla! >.<

Not a pleasant experience I tell u! hehe

Now that she is older, Gabbie will tell us that she is tired and she wants to  ‘Oo-Oo’ (her baby talk term for sleeping) by 7pm+/8pm.

Its quite easy for us to detect that she is tired, because she starts to rub her eyes, and sometimes gets cranky by pulling at her hair.. or when she walks wobbly/unsteadily :P

==========

Anyway, sharing with you picture on how Gabbie sleeps..she is a MESSY sleeper >< Haha..

We usually let her sleep on our bed before we move her back to her crib to spend the night =)

BEFORE : photo taken right after she dozed Off

BEFORE : photo taken right after she dozed Off

AFTER : 1 hour later. >.< she looks like she is in the Yoga's "sun salutation" pose @@ Rely salute Her~ LOL

AFTER : 1 hour later. >.< she looks like she is in the Yoga "sun salutation' pose. @.@ Really salute her~ LOL

Another Yoga pose~ the

Here Gabbie..with another Yoga pose~ the "Child pose" LOL. My girl is a natural 'Yoga-sifu". :P

====

Well thats all for our sharing~  What is you baby’s sleep routine?  Lets share it here so that it can benefits other fellow Daddy/Mummy that are struggling to get their little ones to bed when they should! =D

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Part 2 : Maternity Healthcare in Kuching - Practices

April14

Continuation .. from Part I

Part II : Practices in Kuching

In a very very very late response to David & Jeslyn query back in early November last year about the Gynaes and common medical practices for pregnancy in Kuching.. here’s what we have to share.

When papa Jee and I first come to know about my pregnancy, the first thing we did was to visit our trusted family GP & friend (Dr Khaira & Dr Babitha of Clinic Khaira). We’ve always valued their opinion thus from our chat with them, we manage to made some initial decision to get started.  To fulfill our requirement to aim for a natural childbirth for this pregnancy, our kind Dr. recommended us to their acquaintance - Dr. Philip Kho of Kuching Specialist Centre.

However we were also recommended to pursue checkup at the government Maternity clinic in case we decided to have my delivery in the KGH (Kuching General Hospital).  Which in our kiasu-ness.. both we did.  Hehe.  That means 2 different checkup a month for me >.<

Following are the info on the practices (as we know it) for both the KKIA and Kuching Specialist Centre :

Government Maternity Clinic

For any patient who wish to deliver there at SGH (Sarawak General Hospital), the Mothers must attend periodic checkups (or at least registered) with the government clinic throughout their pregnancy.  There are 3 of such Maternity Clinic (as we know it) :

· Clinic Jawa - situated at the Satok area, a block away from Hopoh Commercia Centre

· KKIA (Klinik Kesihatan Ibu-Ibu dan Anak) - situated at the junction of Jalan Sekama

· Tanah Puteh @ Pending area (updated 26 May)

Since both of us are living in Stapok area (within Batu Kawa), our default checkup location are Clinic Jawa (which covers residents around the vicinity of Satok / Petra Jaya / Batu Kawa / Jln Rock).  But being there before (back in Year 2002) with my sister-in-law, I find that the facility are quite run down and the wait time are too slow.

KKIA on the other hand are the other branch of Maternity Clinic that (to the best of our knowledge) serves the residents fromand around the vicinity of Sekama / Town Centre / Tabuan Jaya / Stutong .

We’ve heard good reviews about KKIA, from papa Jee’s close business friend and also frm my colleague CK (you can check out his blog about KKIA here).   So we decided to play ‘cheat’, using the address to our other home located in Jalan Ellis (which is a stone throw away from KKIA :P )  TeeHee~

Their practises will be :

1. Registration and checkups are all done FREE here.  The only downside is the long wait time and horrendous queue! >.<  You’ll have to be there half hour before the clinic open at 8am in order to get yourself to be in the first top 20.  (Then again being the lazy us, we discover that if you walk in around late 10am-11+am, you can get your turn pretty fast because thats when the crowd tappers off :P )

2. Upon registration, you will be given appointments to go and follow-ups on a monthly/forthnight/weekly basis - depending on the progress of your pregnancy

3. Routine check-ups procedure would usually includes :

o A short interview with the nurse (they will ask basic questions about your well being)

o Urine test (for any trace of glucose I suppose)

o Weight recording

o Measurement of your Fundal Height (it is a measure of the size of the uterus used to assess fetal growth and development)

o Blood pressure reading

o Blood test (to assess your hemoglobin level)

4. During your first visit, you will also be given an injection (for what I can’t remember :P)

5. Visit with the in-house doctor.  For most common cases, once when your first register (thats when you will be given and ultrasound) & and another time towards the end of your pregnancy only.  However, if you are seeing a private gynae at the same time (like me), the visit to the in-house Doctor will be very brief (rather they will send you away unceremoniously, saying that you do not need their service as you had you gynae for that.. O.o”  )

Appointments will be made :

  • Once a Month up until the 7th month
  • Forthnightly (once every 2 weeks) for the 8th month
  • Once a week from 9th month onward until your delivery date

Kuching Specialist Centre (also known as KPJ)

Ante-natal Checkup

As for your visit with the Gynae, there are not package as we know it.  On every routine visit to the Gynae (in our case is with Dr. Philip), the standard procedure will be :

  • Urine test (for Glucose I suppose)
  • Blood Pressure test
  • Ultra sound : to assess the fetal growth & general health (I believe you can opt to skip this if you do not need/want it)
  • Blood test (I skipped this as mine were done periodically by KKIA; FOC)
  • Detail ultrasound scanning for baby on your 4th month visit

Appointments frequency will be :

  • Once a Month up until the 7th month
  • Forthnightly (once every 2 weeks) for the 8th month
  • Once a week from 9th month onward until your delivery date

Cost :

Normal visit with Ultrasound scanning -RM90++

Normal visit without Ultrasound - RM40++

Delivery

Currently KPJ is offering a Maternity(Delivery) Package at RM1800.  Its inclusive of :

  • Normal (natural) delivery
  • 2 Day / 1 Night stay at a two-bedded room (with meals)
  • Gynae consultation & procedure
  • Nursery & Nursing

It doesnt include any use anesthetic (i.e: Epidural) or induction (i.e: Artificial rupture of membrane or Pitocin drip)

Facility

The facility at KPJ is quite good as they are relatively new and the place is well maintained.  The staffs there are friendly and accomodating.  I would like to especially point out that the senior maternity nurses at the Maternity Ward are very experienced and are especially helpful and supportive.  They have given us invaluable advices and support during my delivery and stay at the hospital

However, the food catering (for the in house patient) left much to be desired. >.<  There plenty of room for improvement here.  Luckily there are plenty coffee shops and bakery around the vicinity to fill the gap. :P

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Part 1 : Maternity Healthcare in Kuching - Gynaes

April6

In a very very very late response to David & Jeslyn query back in early November last year about the Gynaes and common medical practices for pregnancy in Kuching.. here’s what we have to share.

Disclaimer :  Opinions expressed in this post is just purely a personal opinion frm FirstTimePapa and does not represents any party mentioned herewith.

As jr. is our 1st child, both Papa Jee and myself are relatively ‘green’ when it comes to the general pre-natal healthcare around Kuching.  When we first announced the news of my pregnancy, with an over-abundance of advices & recommendations being offered to us by kind and well meaning Friends and Relatives.. its easy to get kinda loss and baffled >.<”

- WHO’s the best Gynae in Town?

- Which hospital offers the best facility?

- Why pay more $$ (for Private hospital) when you can have the same (if not better) medical facility in General Hospital (GH)?

O.o”  Decisions..Decisions  *Tap Chin*

In this post we shall address one of the question -  WHICH Gynae?

Part I : Gynae in Kuching

Anyway, in this post we’ve be talking about Gynaes.  In answer to David’s comment. I’ll be addressing the gynae that he had shortlisted.

1. Dr. Philip Kho from Kuching Specialist Hospital@Stutong.

  • Dr Philip Kho is our Gynae of choice for my antenatal consultant up until my delivery for Baby Gabbie.  He came highly recommended to us so he is the only Gynae that we had consulted.
  • We went to him on the 2nd month of my pregnancy and our first impression when we met him was -> “Wah!! So young!!”.  Dr Philip is indeed very young and from our guess, is in his mid-30’s only.  Such a young Gynae, and from the loooong wait time at his clinic (lots of patients) and successful One too!
  • He has a pleasant and friendly demeanor but for the first few times, I felt like he is very ‘kang cheong‘ in his speech, but after a few more visit we got very comfortable with him.
  • He’s very profesional and he answers most of our queries (which is a LOT since we are both 1st time parents) patiently and in details.  We always walked away feeling relieved and confident with the answers and explainations given.
  • Papa Jee and I had previously attended a HypnoBirthing course in SG last December and we had learned and wanted have a Natural Birth for baby Gabbie.  We had been skeptical about being able to put what we had learned to use in Kuching because you will need to have a Doctor/Gynae that is very supportive to our wishes as stated in our Birth Plan.  We talked to Dr Philip a few times during our scheduled checkup about this and to our pleasant surprise he had actually patients (although only a handful) who did uses Birth Plans; in which he will try his best to suit.
  • This is actually proven when I am actually admitted for my labor (more about this in my Birth Story post).  He actually instructed the nurses in the Maternity Ward to read our Birth Plan and adhere to it; which they Did!  And although throughout my labor, the circumstances was not to my favor .. Dr Philip has been very thoughful and patient in letting us decide on what we wanted to do and he tried his best to help us stick toour Birth Plan objective as close as possible.  To which both of us are immensely grateful.
  • Overall, Papa Jee and I will not hesitate his professional service to our friends because we felt like we could not have made a better choice in engaging him to help us bring 1st born-Baby Gabbie into this world~  ^.^

On a side note, the nurses and medical staff in Kuching Specialist Hospital is very friendly and professional.  During my stay, I was very lucky to be under the care of Senior Nurses Mdm. Veronica Wong & Mdm. Lim Siew Khim who are a constant encouragement and support to us.  ;)  THANK YOU!!

2. Dr. Wong Chee Mai (Run her own Private Clinic)

  • We’ve never visited or consulted with Dr. Wong but from what we have learned she is a very experienced Gynae who is backed by many years of practice and experiences.
  • Although she has her own Maternity Clinic, she performs deliveries at Normah Medical Centre.
  • However the reviews that we’ve gotten from her varies.  Although most of her patients had commended that she is very experienced, most of them also mentioned that she tends to rush and is very hasty (in her mannerism and in decision making).

Conclusion :  Its up to the individual to decide, as it seems to be individual preferences. :P

3. Dr. Azizah from Normah Medical Centre@ Petra Jaya

  • Dr Azizah is also one of the very reknown and experienced Gynae in Kuching and she is based in Normal Medical Centre.
  • She seems to be the Gynae of choice when it comes to high risk / special circumstances pregnancies (i.e Hypertension). My sister in law is currently engaging her as her gynae and her testimony is that, Dr Azizah is very patience and will explain in length & details for any queries; especially in pregnancy complications.
  • Most of the comments that we have gathered about her has been nothing short of Excellent. :)

4. Dr. Dr Clarance Choo - no longer practising (previously based atNormah Medical Centre)

  • Another Gynae that has come highly recommended but from what I last find out, he is no longer practising.

I’ll talk more about the Common Practices (based on our own experience in our next post - Part II

David & Jeslyn, we hope the above information is helpful and is still useful :P  Our apologies again for the late response.

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Quickening : Do I feel it?? :-?

October30

Hello again!! After the extended hiatus.. :P Sory sory..Paiseh :P hehe~

On my last visit to KPJ for my monthly checkup at Week 18 : Dr. Philip Kho our Gynae asked me, “So have you felt you baby moving?”I went “Huh?? Moved? No leh.. can Feel Kah?!”

Hahaha.. apparently by this time most Mums will be able to feel their little one moving inside them. So i waited and waited, and try to take notice of anything extraodinary that can be described as movement..

For about a week plus I waited. Then I got really curious, and did some research. Apparently this first movement is called the ‘Quickening. This is what I found in www.BabyCenter.com

Read the rest of this entry »

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Health Check for Mama

October6

After so many weeks of checks at Kuching Specialist Hospital, today we went to the Klinik Kesihatan Ibu & Anak (KKIA) at the traffic interchange of Jalan Sekama, Jalan Chawan, Jalan Ellis & Jalan Mendu (for those of you who is in Kuching, its next to the Salvation Army, Sekama.)

Well, this is why we are all paying tax, as public services here in Malaysia is still in good condition, though there are still much to be improved.  The system used in the clinic is nothing short of being very interesting.  For those of you who has never being there before, this is how it works.

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