Days four and five have been extremely tiring, and we're both exhausted. Little Eliza has gotten around to being hungry pretty much all the time, which is a contrast to the first couple of days when she was just content to sleep (due to having a full tummy at birth). It's been a long couple of days for Mother and Daughter to learn how to feed properly, but, with the help of a wonderful "lactation consultant", we're slowly getting there.
Dzung's Auntie visited us in hospital, taking two trains and a bus from Cabramatta to stay with us, and chide me for not keeping Dzung rugged up. We shudder to think what she'd say if she witnessed the lengthy "skin to skin" sessions that are a prelude to feeding. Auntie also bought some wonderful food: porridge, soup, meat and vegetables, which we both devoured. Hospital food deserves its bad reputation!
In the photo you can see a very happy Dzung digging into a meal of sashimi and beef takaki (thinly sliced blue beef in a vinegar sauce), two foods that she's been dying to have these last nine months. With the brie, pate and salami that I brought to her in hospital, that leaves oysters. We'll try them in the next couple of days, I'm sure.
The other thing to notice in the photo is that we're now home. What a great relief to be in our own place, after going a bit stir-crazy after five days in the hospital. However, it's also a bit scary, because we need to tend to Eliza around the clock without midwives on hand to show us the ropes, and to take over when we're exhausted. It should be an interesting few weeks before we settle down into a rhythm, and before Dzung's parents come over to help us with some of hte chores.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Changing Rooms
As I mentioned previously, the hospital is overflowing with newborn babies. Quite literally. Apparently they were flying expectant mums and premature bubs to Canberra, because Sydney will full. So we were lucky we came in when we did. However, we needed to spend the first day in the delivery room, and the second in a shared room, which wasn't much fun. So we were overjoyed when we were moved to a larger room of our own, including a double bed so we can all stay overnight in comfort. We're in 667, the neighbour of the beast. Funny to think that there'll be a mum and baby in room 666 on 6/6/6. They'll probably name him Damien.
We had our first visitors today. Nestor dropped by in the afternoon with his friend David, who was in Sydney in business and was on his way back to the airport. They bought us a delicious Thai dinner, which the four of us ate while Eliza Anh slept in her cot. They also bought heaps of chocolates, but Dzung reckons she's gone off the stuff, after having constant cravings during the last trimester. Seems our little girl is destined to become a chocaholic. And Brendan, my brother, arrived back from Perth, and came straight to the hospital to see his niece.
We ended the day by giving Eliza her first bath. She really enjoyed floating in the water. Click on the "thoughtful" picture for some more piccies, including those of bathtime. We've been giving her feeds often. She's not getting much of a meal yet, but there has been plenty of practice time for mum and bub to get used to the process. We'll probably stay in the hospital until we get confident with it, so it's home Tuesday at the earliest.
We had our first visitors today. Nestor dropped by in the afternoon with his friend David, who was in Sydney in business and was on his way back to the airport. They bought us a delicious Thai dinner, which the four of us ate while Eliza Anh slept in her cot. They also bought heaps of chocolates, but Dzung reckons she's gone off the stuff, after having constant cravings during the last trimester. Seems our little girl is destined to become a chocaholic. And Brendan, my brother, arrived back from Perth, and came straight to the hospital to see his niece.
We ended the day by giving Eliza her first bath. She really enjoyed floating in the water. Click on the "thoughtful" picture for some more piccies, including those of bathtime. We've been giving her feeds often. She's not getting much of a meal yet, but there has been plenty of practice time for mum and bub to get used to the process. We'll probably stay in the hospital until we get confident with it, so it's home Tuesday at the earliest.
A Rose...
We're both still on cloud nine, and fully expecting the day-three downer. I've been happily changing nappies, wrapping up bubbs nice and tight, and just holding her and staring at her face while she and mummy sleep. You've got to experience it to know how powerful it is.
The three of us would like to thank you all for your kind messages and phone calls. We've really been blown away with the response, doubly so now that we're pretty isolated over here in Mordor. It was great to hear from you all.
Some of you have been asking about names. Well, Dzung and I had a smallish list, and wanted to wait and see who our little girl wanted to be. Sophie was a contender, as was Stella (suggested by beer-drinking friends, with much potential for "A Streetcar Named Desire" moments), but we finally decided on Eliza, with second name Anh, after Dzung's mum. I've already become used to calling her Eli-Anh. We'll see how that goes!
I'm extremely tired; I hardly slept at all last night, and when I did I dreamed of those black eyes staring up at me. Tonight I've come home, as we were moved from the birthing suite to a shared room, with a promise that we'll have our own private room, with double bed, tomorrow. Unforunately dads can't stay overnight in shared rooms, so I got Dzung some takeaway dinner (much better that the hospital food), and waited to put bubbs to bed. More news and piccies tomozza!
The three of us would like to thank you all for your kind messages and phone calls. We've really been blown away with the response, doubly so now that we're pretty isolated over here in Mordor. It was great to hear from you all.
Some of you have been asking about names. Well, Dzung and I had a smallish list, and wanted to wait and see who our little girl wanted to be. Sophie was a contender, as was Stella (suggested by beer-drinking friends, with much potential for "A Streetcar Named Desire" moments), but we finally decided on Eliza, with second name Anh, after Dzung's mum. I've already become used to calling her Eli-Anh. We'll see how that goes!
I'm extremely tired; I hardly slept at all last night, and when I did I dreamed of those black eyes staring up at me. Tonight I've come home, as we were moved from the birthing suite to a shared room, with a promise that we'll have our own private room, with double bed, tomorrow. Unforunately dads can't stay overnight in shared rooms, so I got Dzung some takeaway dinner (much better that the hospital food), and waited to put bubbs to bed. More news and piccies tomozza!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
A New Arrival
Wow... that was slightly unexpected! My brother, Brendan was staying with us in Sydney, and we were still three weeks early of our due date. We had a full weekend planned: board games and drinks on Friday night, Dim Sum Saturday morning, going out Saturday night... we didn't expect an early arrival. Dzung's waters broke at 2am on Thursday night, after which neither of us could sleep. Brendan was asleep in the other room, unaware of what was going on. By the time we'd got up in the morning, he was already off to work, and back in Perth by the time the baby arrived.
We hung around the house Friday morning, trying to take it easy and make sure everything was packed. Eventually we decided to go in to hospital so the baby could be monitored, as Dzung hadn't felt it moving for a while, which panicked us a bit. Of course, nothing was wrong, and when we arrived they told us that Dzung was 4cm dilated and we weren't to go home again. Painful contractions started soon after we arrived, so our timing was pretty good.
Dzungy did such a great job, and it was only when she was almost fully dilated that she asked for an epidural, which means she was experiencing the absolute worst of the pain, and decided she didn't want to contnue that experience. Luckily it was 4pm on a Friday, so it literally took five minutes and three contractions for the pain relief to do its work.
After that, the labour slowed down, as they do. But, after a lot more work, our little baby girl arrived at 9:33pm. For those mum and dad statisticians out there, she weighed in at 2.533kg, and was 46cm long. For the midwives out there, "crickey, she's a small one".
We're all going great, we're over the moon and loving every minute of it. We're at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital for Women, which is on Barker Street in Randwick. Right now, we're staying in the birthing suite, because, believe it or not, all the rooms are full, and five of the six birthing suites are being used for new mums and bubs. Wouldn't like to be arriving to give birth today!
We hung around the house Friday morning, trying to take it easy and make sure everything was packed. Eventually we decided to go in to hospital so the baby could be monitored, as Dzung hadn't felt it moving for a while, which panicked us a bit. Of course, nothing was wrong, and when we arrived they told us that Dzung was 4cm dilated and we weren't to go home again. Painful contractions started soon after we arrived, so our timing was pretty good.
Dzungy did such a great job, and it was only when she was almost fully dilated that she asked for an epidural, which means she was experiencing the absolute worst of the pain, and decided she didn't want to contnue that experience. Luckily it was 4pm on a Friday, so it literally took five minutes and three contractions for the pain relief to do its work.
After that, the labour slowed down, as they do. But, after a lot more work, our little baby girl arrived at 9:33pm. For those mum and dad statisticians out there, she weighed in at 2.533kg, and was 46cm long. For the midwives out there, "crickey, she's a small one".
We're all going great, we're over the moon and loving every minute of it. We're at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital for Women, which is on Barker Street in Randwick. Right now, we're staying in the birthing suite, because, believe it or not, all the rooms are full, and five of the six birthing suites are being used for new mums and bubs. Wouldn't like to be arriving to give birth today!
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Brrrrrrm!
Got ourselves a hot red Mountain Buggy. Strangely, choosing a pram turned out to be more difficult than buying a new car. We did a lot of research, and ended up getting lucky at a Baby Expo, with the exhibitors willing to part for the demo model at cost. In the background you can see the new cot, and the change table / bath is to the left of that. The cot is just slightly wider than the interior doors in our apartment, meaning that to move it from the bedroom to the lounge room we need to take it outside, through the sliding doors, and then back inside, through the kitchen. Dag nabbit!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Not long now!
We have a new car (a sports wagon, I tells ya, with room for skiis and mountain bikes and... prams). Bubbs is just over four weeks away, meaning she could pop into out lives at any moment. We're both very excited!
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