Midway to completing confinement

Two weeks old!

Today marks the end of two weeks of confinement. Another week more with the confinement nanny then my mom will take over for the last leg.

So how are we all holding up?

This time round, I am more lax with myself on the confinement rules. I bathe everyday using the herbal water that the nanny boils (I like the smell of it actually), shampooing my hair at every alternative days. I go out for walks in the neighbourhood estate. Last week, after our visit to the paed, The Husband even stopped by at Great World City so I could sneaked in a wee bit of retail therapy. At the main mealtimes, I eat whatever that the confinement nanny serve up to me. However, on top of that, I snack pretty much anything that I can lay my hands on around the house - fruits, seaweeds, cakes, biscuits of all sorts. By the way, I have a voracious appetite since D-day. I get hungry pangs every two hours! I blame it on all the breastfeeding I have been doing.

Speaking of which, learning from my last breastfeeding experience that was not so successful, I was determined to give my best shot this time round. In the first ten days, I have been nursing her every two to two and a half hours in the day and two and a half to three hours at night. Even at this frequency, it is apparent that the little one is not getting enough from me. I have changed strategy since as she is getting too comfortable at the breast, falling asleep and not waking up. 

Getting too comfy in Mommy's arms.

As a result, each supposed half-hour feed has stretched to one hour. Taking in the time taken for me to bond with Anya, eat, bathe and use the bathroom, I really do not have much left for sleep and rest. Now that my milk production has been established (50mls per pump which is not much), I decided to use the breast pump instead, making life easier for me. By doing so, we are also eliminating the possibility that Arielle could be snacking instead taking in proper feeds at each nursing session. Thankfully, Arielle is taking her milk better from the bottle, enabling her to have a full feed at every session.

Contented after a full feed.

Sleep-wise? Well, let's just say that sleep is the one thing that every one in our flat is deprived of. The Husband, being the ever hands-on father and supportive husband that he is, wakes up most of the times to check on us when I am up nursing / expressing milk or when baby's cries is prolonged. Anya, who is still joining us in our bed in the wee hours almost every night gets awaken by all the activities going on the room now and then. At 4am this morning, she startled me by suddenly sitting up while staring at me while I was expressing milk. The Helper is not spared either since the confinement nanny is sharing her room and would switch on the lights whenever she has to change or feed Arielle. Even The Furkid who sleeps in the kitchen gets disruptions too since we need to access the kitchen for milk storage and heating up milk.

"Sshhshhh... My baby sister is sleeping.."

Despite all the fatigue and madness going on,  we had our fair share of goodness too. The Husband and I are getting to know our little baby girl better, making it easier to care for her. Anya seems to have gotten used to the idea of having a baby in the house. While there were a a handful occasions that she got upset with us for not not get her desired attention from us, we are relieved that she remains loving towards her little sister so far. In fact, she has been taking her own initiative to give her baby sister goodnight / goodbye kisses whenever bedtime comes or when she is heading over to The In-laws' place.

Hugs... ...

... ... and kisses.

No doubt there has been occasional snappy exchanges but The Husband and I are well aware that fatigue is the reason why we are growing horns on our heads. All in all, I think we are doing okay. Between the both of us, we are putting our minds and efforts together  to establish Arielle's routine as well as to work out the kinks so that the kids' schedules complement each other. Hopefully, most of the kinks can be ironed out before our extra hands (in the form of confinement nanny and my mom) leaves us.