baby boy? or baby girl?

Baby Rynus is almost 5 months old now, let me backtrack a bit and share the story about how we found out that Rynus is a baby boy..

So, throughout the first 5 months of my pregnancy, the topic I discussed most often with my sister Kelly, was the gender of our babies.

Kelly has a 6 years old daughter Cherry and our Renzo boy is already 3 years old. Of course to certain extend, she would want a boy and I would wish to have a girl this time.We knew it's generally a hit-and-miss affair to predict a baby's gender but we just couldn't take our minds off it.

The first time we got a bit of hint from the doctor about Baby Chan #2's gender, was when I did my OSCAR scan (a test that was not compulsory during Renzo's time) at 3rd month, Dr Lim Lean Soon, the exact same doctor/sonographer who did the full scan for Renzo almost 3 years back, "accidentally" wrapped up his scan test by saying "basically, I can see a very healthy looking... baby GIRL". Daddy Chan and I did not clarify with Dr Lim about how he managed to tell that, and we had an impression that Dr Lim might just mentioned the word "girl" subconsciously, assuming he's been doing the same kind of scan on different tummies all day long, those mummies who did the scan before me could be really carrying girls anyway.  

The second time we touched on the topic of baby's gender, I was having my regular ultrasound scan at Dr Lim Teck Chye's clinic around 4th month, he said "usually if we can't tell the gender by now, should be a baby girl then". We know he was trying to be nice and he's indeed right, because based on what we heard from other parents, most of the time baby boys are easier to be identified at early stage of pregnancy as somehow, they are usually very proud to "show off" their male genitals.

I had a few talks with Daddy Chan before we finally confirmed baby's gender during 5th month full scan. We both genuinely felt that for the benefit of Renzo, having a sibling of same gender will be better as they probably could share similar interests and play well together. And since we both also had more experience bringing up boy than girl, we were just more confident, and comfortable with handling baby boys. Hence although we know that being able to raise up both boy and girl in the family will expose ourselves to a 360 degree spectrum of parenthood, we still believed that having another boy will definitely be a good news to us. The moment Dr Lim announced that we are having another boy, we were all thrilled and there's no sense of disappointment at all. I have to say, there are lots of myths surround gender prediction, but so far with my own experience, mummy's instinct is usually accurate and it's pretty true that mummy's tummy is relatively small (less obvious) while carrying baby boy.

Anyway mummy-to-be, curious about if you are carrying a boy or girl?

The best tip I could share, is to look at your ultrasound scan photo around 13 - 16 weeks. Here's a link with some detailed information about it.
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/scans/sexbyultrasoundexpert/

And I put them in one photo for easier reference here. (Tested and proven to be accurate based on 4 babies ultrasound scan photos including my 2 boys and my 2 nieces).










Last but not least, to our beloved baby Rynus Chan, many people were hoping that we could bring a baby girl to the family just for the sake of having both boy and girl and at one point of time, daddy and mummy might have thought that way too but before we decided on your name, we already told each other that we'd love to have another boy and we thank you for coming to the family and brightening up every bit of our lives!!

Shopping guide for first time parents

Being parents for the 2nd time, the biggest advantage we have, is that we are really way more experienced when comes to caring our little one, and shopping for baby is not a hassle anymore because we know exactly what we want, or rather say what baby needs, and it's not a trial and error + wasting $$ game anymore.

When we had Renzo in 2009, we came up with a shopping list after many rounds of revision and still, we had purchased certain items, which are either not practical/effective enough, or completely useless for little Renzo. But this time round, we are a lot wiser, and let me introduce some "must have" items for first time parents!!

1. Shampoo / Thermometer / Baby nose cleaner

First of all, there's this thing called "cradle cap", which is a yellowish, patchy, crusty skin layer that appears on the scalp of new born babies. Renzo had that for more than 3 months and we were not even aware of such a great remedy - Dentinox Cradle Cap shampoo, till we had Rynus this time. This could be purchased from pharmacy or pediatrician at about SGD$12. Looks like a small bottle but it's super effective and can clean up the cradle cap upon a few days of application. After that, you can just use it as a normal baby shampoo. Baby olive oil will do the same trick but I have not tried that.

Thermometer is a must have as infants fall sick easily. We bought a "Cadi Advanced Sensing Thermometer" for Renzo 3 years back for SGD$90, but we ended up chucking it aside because it's always hard to get the reading accurately from the forehead. And eventually after a few frustrating experience of not getting accurate readings, we invested on this BRAUN brand baby thermometer which is probably the most common and popular model used in clinics and hospitals. It's proven to be extremely good. It's not cheap but it lasts for years. If you think it's not necessary to invest on this, just get the most traditional type of themometer because for infants, the best reading is still from armpit with the traditional themometer, which is why if you happens to visit hospital (unfortunately), nurses use that for infants all the time.

Lastly, get a Baby nose cleaner, ours is from Pigeon brand. If your baby is having congested nose, this is the best solution and it's super efficient, give it a try!!

2. First baby toys

I used to think that babies below 6 months old do not know how to play toys, I was all wrong! Get some soft rattles for your little ones and you will be amazed by how fast they can learn to play.

A: This soft rattle is from Japan and can be found at Kiddy Palace. Small infants reflexively prefer to look at high-contrast edges and patterns. So toys in black/white/red catch their attention easily, and it's really soft so I find it most suitable for new borns since they can't grab and hold yet, hence even it it drops and hits the baby, it's not painful at all.

B: This rattle used to be Renzo's favorite, and now Rynus also loves it. So I figured that it must be the  super soothing sound the rattle makes which is very different from most other rattles.

C: Wondering what's so special about this rattle? This design is the easiest to grip for babies' small hands!

D: Kiddy Palace has this type in a big box and they are colorful and loud, serves as a teether but I find it more suitable for bigger babies who are at least about 4 months old and above.

Once baby is able to sit with a bit of support, this stacking action blocks from Fisher-Price become perfect toys for them. The blocks are educational as well as entertaining. Kids love the different colors, and they also learn about cause and effect (press a button - the wheel spins, etc..). Renzo used to spin them with his fingers and laugh non-stop at this age, Rynus is still learning to do that but I can tell he's extremely interested in these blocks.

 

3. Baby Clothes
Spoiled with too many choices? Here are a few tips:
Infant - 3 months:

A: Super easy to wear, and with such hot weather in Singapore, baby can just wear this top with diaper during day time. Problem is that when they start to move a lot, it does not cover/protect their belly button.

B: Great romper especially when you need to bring baby out. Buttons are in front so it's very easy to wear, but the size is up to 3 months of age only and if you have a chubby baby like mine, it will last for no more than 2 months.

Remember not to get too many pieces as they will outgrow super fast!

3 months and above:
A/B: Short and Long sleeves rompers for day and night from Mothercare.Slightly more expensive but they are of really great quality. I was searching high and low for such kind of front button rompers at Kiddy Palace and some other shops, but in no avail. I think Kiddy Palace has such type for 0-3 months infants, maybe they think that 3 months+ babies can support their neck well and those wide neck romper without buttons are good enough. But that's not true, front opening type is still most practical, convenient and comfortable for little babies. You can just get 2 pieces each and it can last for a very long time. I get one size bigger so they can last from 2 months till at least 9 months I believe.

C: Carter's romper set which costs only about SGD16 for 5-6 pieces. The quality is not as good but the material is somehow very cooling. Take note that this is only suitable for babies with strong neck support, or else it's not so easy to wear and might cause some discomfort to baby when you pull it through baby's head. And always remember to get at least 1-2 size bigger as Carter's is "famous" for their small cutting. This piece here for my less than 5 months old Rynus boy, is meant for 12 months old baby, LOL...

Besides the above, Rynus has been benefiting from some other good stuff we bought for Renzo before, as mentioned by Daddy Chan in Renzo's blog post here.

The baby swimming pool is a no no to us as it's time/water consuming and we rather bring him to the real pool for some real fun!

Also, remember to get a good hospitalization plan that covers deductible and co-insurance for your little one, it helps to save you a lot of money for more baby shopping if baby really gets hospitalized one day.

How he all began

Earlier on, I was reading Daddy Chan's post about how I  informed him about me having Renzo, and it's so unbelievable that Renzo is already a little toddler, that makes me feel like penning down the wonderful moment when we first got to know the existence of our baby Rynus. I promise that it's going to be a lot more dramatic and thrilling than Renzo's story, LOL..

On September 27, 2011, I received a MMS from my dearest twin sister Kelly (yes my sis if you are reading this, go get yourself a smart phone, no more MMS please!), with a breathtaking picture of - A pregnancy test kit. YES!! My sister is going to have her 2nd child finally. I said finally because I knew that she's been trying for a baby, on and off, for quite a while. I could feel all her excitement in that message and at that very moment, one big question popped up in my mind!

How am I going to continue my diet plan alone without my sister???!!!!!!

I am sure she was struggling with this exact same concern also at that time. To realize that I could continue with my diet and regular workout while she could only watch her waistline getting bigger and bigger, is definitely not the best news to her. Yes we were on a healthy diet plan at that time while both of us had lost quite a significant amount of weight. To couples who are trying to conceive, you should really consider getting your body into shape for conception and carrying a baby, well I don't mean to drop down to fashion model weight, but yes just reduce about 5-10% of your body weight will help!

Anyway my sister then shared with me that she missed her period which was supposed to come on 25th and I was like, ergh, I better get myself checked! So I rushed down to the nearest Watson's store, grabbed a test kit and ran into the ladies. I could not even wait to get back to my hotel standard washroom inside my office as I knew that I've missed my period also, which supposed to come on the 22nd.

As a result, I sent this equally breathtaking picture to my sister after disappearing from our online chat for a good 15 minutes.

She replied, (watch out and don't make your jaw drop!) "Did you keep your test kit from Renzo's time??". Apparently she couldn't believe I was pregnant together with her and she thought I was trying to show a photo of my test result with Renzo!! I then proceeded on to inform Daddy Chan about the exciting news via MSN and he was a little shocked to know that we will be welcoming 2 dragon babies in the family soon.

My sister and I still couldn't believe our eyes so after work, we went to get the most expensive Clearblue Digital Pregnancy Test Kit with Conception Indicator, and reconfirmed that we both were already 4-5 weeks pregnant!!

The next 9 months was probably the most interesting and amazing period in our lives. We went to the same gynae and found out that we were having the exact same due date at one point. And we shared all the ups and downs throughout our pregnancy journey. Till now when my friends ask me if I would want to have one more baby, my answer is a straight no, unless (yes there's always exceptions), I could get pregnant with my sister all together again!!

As for Daddy Chan and I, we decided to stay low profile and only informed the family and some close friends about the news, till Baby Chan #2 finally arrived happily and safely.

Home remedy to treat "colic"

First of all, I have to say that I am very lucky that both my boys have never experienced "colic", but I've read quite a fair bit of information on "colic", as both my nieces have suffered from it and that really worried my sister for a while.

There are a few ways to differentiate a "colic" and a "crying" baby but what my sister shared with me is that, watch out how the baby cries, if baby cries for long hours, usually starts at a fixed time during the day and happens often around early evening, and baby likes to kick the legs up and down, and always moves the knee towards the stomach, most probably, you are having a "colicky" baby.

I've came across many home remedies to treat "colic", such as warm up cooking oil, rub on baby's belly; boil mint in water for 10 minutes and add that into baby's milk, or even give coke mixed with water which I seriously think is crazy although many claimed it worked.

Anyway what I want to share here is, a simple baby massage using ru yi oil ( 如意油), taught by my malay post-natal jamu massage lady. She told me that doctors usually advise that colic is caused by abdominal pain, but they believe that it could have something to do with cramps (no scientific evidence so please do not quote me on this). Anyway the massage is fairly easy to do so feel free to give it a try by following these 3 simple steps:

1. Start from the back, put a few drops of ru yi oil on your palm and massage baby's back in an up-and-down motion, for about 15-25 times.

2. Move on to the calves, put a bit of oil on your thumb (when baby is still young, in this case if you look at my video, I used my palm again as I have a "michelin" baby), stroke the calves in up-and-down motion for about 15-25 times on each side, with a little bit of pressure.

3. Turn baby back down and massage the front just like how you massage the back, but focus a bit on the stomach area which is at the left side and massage it from the side to the center.

A few tips to share here:
1. Put a little bit more of ru yi oil during massage for better result. My first bottle of oil for my elder boy lasted for more than 2 years but after learning this massage technique, I finished the second bottle for my younger boy within a month or two.
2. While massaging the calves, if baby starts to cry, that's perfectly normal as that's a sign that baby is having a lot of stomach gas hence when we do the massage, it could cause a bit of pain.
3. For the first few weeks, after every daily massage, my boy will pass out a lot of gas and I believe the massage helps to get rid of the wind in baby's stomach.

Again like I mentioned, since Rynus did not suffer from colic, I can't be 100% sure this is a perfect remedy for colic but when my sister tried this on her younger daughter, it worked like magic, so give a try parents and hopefully you can have a better sleep at night. =)

P/S: Even if this does not help, no worries, usually babies will outgrow from "colic" by 3rd or 4th month, if you are lucky enough, they will be fine right after full month so just hang in there!!

Little darling made us worried for days..

Three weeks back, the whole Chan family was down with bad flu. Renzo was having fever, cough and running nose, both Daddy Chan and I were having prolonged cough and sore throat. We were praying really hard that baby Rynus will be free from all flu bugs but to our dismay, he caught the flu bug from one of us (if not all of us) on the 3rd or 4th day while all of us were not showing much sign of recovery yet.

We brought him to the same PD Renzo visits at Raffles Medical clinic. At first he was not given any sort of medication besides a nose spray to clear up his congested nostril, as he's only 3 months old and too young for any medication. But 2 days later, we noticed that his condition was getting from bad to worse so we decided to visit the PD again. This time round, he was given some medicines for his cough, phlegm and he was put on nebulizer for two times. But in the late evening, after noticing that he's not really taking his milk nor sleeping well, we took the PD's advice and brought him down to Raffles Hospital A&E instead.

Well of course we do not think the situation is that urgent but since he's too young, we wouldn't want to see him suffer for too long. The PD on call for the week was quite a popular and very experienced lady - Dr. Veronica Toh. She seemed to be really knowledgeable and most importantly, she's super caring and very concerned about baby Rynus. She talked to Rynus while checking on his condition with a super sweet tone and before she put her stethoscope on Rynus' little body, she made an effort to warm it up a little on her own hands first. After a few rounds of thorough checking, she said Rynus was having quite a bad inflammation on his airway but he seemed to be a happy whizzer!! Yes he was extremely friendly, smiley and talkative to Dr Toh and all other nurses.

The next 2 days, I spent all my time in the hospital ward looking after little Rynus. I witnessed him going through quite a few tough treatment, such as taking medicines of all different colors, including a type of anti-biotic that most kids reject often; putting on nebulizer every 2 hourly; chest physio performed by professional therapist; and the most painful process was to put a thin but long tube into his nostril, and mouth, to suck out all the mucus and phlegm. Nurses told me that many parents cried when they saw their kids going through such kind of torture. Fortunately Rynus took it well and he could even sleep soundly while wearing his nebulizer mask.

Luckily after almost 3 days of treatment, Rynus was recovering fast and we brought home a much healthier baby on the 3rd day.  And I brought him back to Dr. Veronica Toh's clinic at Raffles Hospital for a review after one week. The friendly doctor still remembers him and even told him "乖寶寶you are here again! You are still so smiley and talkative!! You are all good and can go back with mummy! I hope to see you again next time but not here okay, we meet outside!".. Dr Veronica showed me the report on the test result of Rynus' mucus and there were 1 virus and 2 bacterias found. The unfortunate little fella caught some bug that upsets young children easily. And for toddlers usually it causes cough and running nose but too bad, he's just a tiny little baby whose immune system is not strong enough to fight against the virus on his own.

At the moment I am writing this post, baby Rynus has fully recovered and he's doing well at home with his aunty Jonalyn.

I always thought little babies (especially those below 6 months) do not get sick easily, maybe that's because from my memory, the first time Renzo fell sick pretty seriously, he was already 15 months old. But I didn't factor in our current environment (2 adults and 2 young kids squeezing in one room).

Our stay at Raffles Hospital was a pleasant one, but the final bill was quite a bomb although it's not to our surprise at all. Two nights stay in a single room with all treatment, use of facilities and equipment, doctor consultation fee, etc, added up to a total of 3.7k+. Luckily, we've bought the hospitalization plan for Rynus just three weeks before he was admitted to hospital. And to all our friends who have kids, please make sure you spend some cash to invest on a good hospitalization plan, to me that's way more important than other kind of insurance like whole life, investment, savings, education or endowment plan.