July 2008 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Update On Cassandra’s Kidney Reflux

We brought Baby C to HUKM to see the nephrologist today. An ultrasound scan was also performed on her kidneys. The right kidney is still moderately dilated and the left kidney is fine. She has a grade 3 Kidney Reflux, thus the reason the right kidney is dilated. The nephrologist said that if she has a breakthrough UTI (which means that a UTI would still occur despite being on antibiotics), she would refer Baby C to the pediatric surgeon for the surgeon to assess her case. If the grade of KR continues to go up, she may have to undergo either a surgery to correct the urinary system or the dr. would have to inject something into her bladder wall (I did not ask what procedure this is called as I had asked the dr. too many questions today) to prevent a reflux.

The goal now is to prevent another UTI and I can only pray hard that the UTI will be kept at bay coz recurring UTIs will scar the kidney. The dr. recommended that Baby C’s urine be tested once in every 3 months but hubby and I feel that it’s best that we have her urine tested every month. We feel it’s necessary so that at the onset of bacteria present in the urine, she can be treated immediately.

Meanwhile, the best I can do for Baby C is to breastfeed her for as long as I can. The dr. said that breastmilk is the best protection for her, on top of her daily antibiotics. Hopefully as she grows, the KR will also become less intense and hopefully, it can even resolve spontaneously.

I woke up at 5:30am today to collect Baby C’s urine. Took me 3 hours and 3 urine bags to collect 2 bottles of pee. The funny thing is that on days when I don’t need to collect her pee, she always gives me a wee wee fountain but on days when I need to collect her pee, she just won’t wee.

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Haze Is Back Again

Bummer, bummer, bummer, the haze is back again! I just don’t understand what’s it with our government. Why aren’t they taking any effective measures to prevent the haze from coming back? Each time the haze is back, I would read from the newspapers that the government is taking measures to prevent the haze but why is the haze still coming back time and again, year after year? It looks like the visiting of the haze to our country is a yearly affair and this has been happening for more than a decade and for as long as I can remember. Each time our country is shrouded by the haze, tourists will also shun away from our country. I’d shun away from a haze-shrouded country too and choose to visit a country with fresh and clean air. Right now, I am dreaming of some Las Vegas vacations to escape from my lung-choking country!

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Daddy And Baby C

Check out daddy with Cassandra here. Though daddy is seldom at home, when he’s home, thank God Baby C still recognizes him and loves being with him.

Baby C has been really clingy the past several days. She only wants to be carried whenever she’s awake and does not want to be left alone on her crib or on the mattress on the floor. She also hates to be placed on her back. The problem is she’s awake most of the time during the day and could hardly nap for long! I hardly have the time to blog now and have to type with only 1 finger most of the time… coz I’ll be carrying her with another hand. The good thing is that by carrying this 6kg+ living dumb bell, I am also toning my hands, which helps keep those flabby aunty’s underarms at bay, LOL!

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Bouncing No More

Baby C can no longer sit on the bouncinet during the day whenever she’s awake. Each time she’s placed on the bouncinet, she will turn to her side and then tries to flip over.

She almost fell off the bouncinet here while trying to flip over. That was 3 days ago. I now place her on a mattress on the floor all the time. I still place her on the bouncinet when she wants to nap, but she has to be under watchful eyes all the time whenever she’s on the bouncinet.

And I had the biggest surprise last night when she successfully flipped over while she was on her crib. I was taking my bath and my maid was in my room watching over her. Suddenly, my maid screamed in delight, I opened the door and saw my baby on her tummy and a big smile on her face!

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Get Cheap Auto Engines Online

The recent global fuel price hike has caused a vicious spiral of rising prices of most things. A simple lunch of pasta, spaghetti, pizza and soups that we had at a restaurant today for 6 adults and 2 kids cost us more than two hundred bucks. Even the prices of auto parts and engines have skyrocketed in recent months. It’s really costly to buy brand new and original engines for our cars. But I know of a place called midwest auto recycling where you can buy cheap used engines. This online store specializes in used engines that are clean, test driven, inspected and have warranty. So if you intend to get an engine for your car, do check out this fantastic site.

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Sherilyn’s Chicken Pox-Infested Body

Though Sherilyn has Chicken Pox, she does not appear to have CP the slightest bit. She is still as active as ever, has no fever, does not feel malaise at all, is eating rice and everything that a healthy person is eating, has great appetite and thankfully the spots are all hidden (under her clothes). Don’t know if it’s because of the E. Excel’s Millennium Cactus juice that’s helping her fight off the infection well.

Can you guess in which part of Sher’s body that’s teeming with the pox? Scroll down to find out.

Sherilyn’s back…. nope, not this part teeming lar…..

Her phet phet (down under), LOL! The spots sure know where to grow!

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Expelling Phlegm

Poor Baby C has a huge built-up amount of phlegm stuck in her throat. Her cough sounds chesty and ‘phlegmy’. Each time she coughs, she will cry as the phelgm will be stuck in her throat and irritating her, to the point of making her puke.

Yesterday, my mil put Baby C on her tummy on her lap and then ‘beat’ Baby C’s back with her cupped palm, similar to how you would burp a baby. This is supposed to induce the phlegm out.

Baby C was feeling much better since last night. She could sleep through the night without coughing and with no stuffy nose. That’s the power of mama’s power-boosting and immunity-boosting milkie!

Check out our fishy Sunday here.

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Surgeries No More

I hope I never have to undergo another surgery. My Ob&Gyn and gastroenterologist told me after the birth of Baby C recently that my body cannot tolerate another surgery. After each c-section, the tendons, bladder, uterus and other internal organs in my body would adhere to one another, which resulted in my Ob&Gyn having to snip off the tendons and adhesions to separate the internal organs and what not inside. Consequently, the entire intestinal system was inflamed after the third c-section. I could barely walk the following day after the c-section and it took me more than 15 minutes to ease myself in the toilet. I had a painful time lowering myself onto the toilet seat and I wish there was a toilet seat riser with hand grips on both sides to give me support. I also had a painful time getting up from the bed and luckily the hospital bed had railings on both sides, that I could hold on to, to pull myself up.

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Sherilyn Has Chicken Pox And Baby C Got Bitten By The Cold Bug

I think I can confirm that Sherilyn has chicken pox as she had fever last night, with a temperature of 38 degrees Celcius. However, she was and is still very active and is still yakking and singing away non-stop. I think her Chicken Pox is only a mild attack as she had her Chicken Pox jab taken when she was 1 year plus of age. There are less than 20 spots on her body and hardly any on her face. I am only worried that Baby C would get the CP virus as she’s not due for the CP jab yet. I read from Dr Greene’s site that for toddlers under 1 year of age, they will most unlikely get the CP virus as they would have natural immunity from the mother (only if the mother has had CP before, which in my case, I had it when I was 20 years old). After 1 year old, the natural immunity would wane off.

I remember when I had CP, every part of my body covered with skin had water-filled itchy and painful pox on it. Even my eye lids, scalp, gums, belly button and my private part had pox on them! I looked really horrible, as if I had been stung by some huge hornets!

Meanwhile, Baby C got bitten by the stubborn cold bug that had bitten Alycia, Sherilyn and me. She has a runny nose and lots of phelgm. She has been super cranky as she’s feeling extremely uncomfortable with the phlegm stuck in her throat. She couldn’t lie on her back to sleep as the phlegm would irritate her throat. Last night, she almost puked a few times because of the phlegm. Nursing her is also extremely difficult as she could not breathe from the stuffy nose and the phlegm. We had to sleep in a stuffy room without the air cond and without the ceiling fan turned on and both of us did not sleep well the whole night. There’s nothing much I can do now except to patiently breastfeed her and hopefully my nutrients-rich and antibodies-rich breastmilk will help her get well soon.

A happy Cassandra after an hour long nap this morning.

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Chicken Pox Or What?

A few kids were down with chicken pox in Alycia and Sher’s pre-school last week. This afternoon, I discovered several red spots on Sher’s body (front and back of her body). They looked like some insect bites but at a closer look, there appears to be a little water inside the dots. In fact, I saw a couple of red spots behind her ears a few days ago. I was told by my friend who sold me the Millennium Cactus juice and by my hub’s aunt who is also an E.Excel consumer that the rashes/spots are actually a sign that the body is being detoxified. Sher, Alycia and Baby C started consuming the Cactus juice last Wednesday. There are also several spots on Alycia’s neck and Baby C’s leg as well. Now, I’m unsure if those red spots are chicken pox or just a reaction after consuming the Millennium Cactus juice. Sher has no fever and she did not complain that the spots are causing her any itch. She’s still as hyper active as ever. I’m just worried that if it’s indeed Chicken Pox, the virus may spread to Baby C.

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Cassandra Finally Pooed But…

it wasn’t ‘explosive’, considering she hadn’t pooed for 3 days and she pooed at around 8pm yesterday. When I saw her poop in her diaper, it was the most pleasing sight for me in the longest time. I cheered and clapped and my 2 older gals followed suit. Everyone was so happy that our little darling had finally pooed and the poop wasn’t hard and she didn’t strain the slightest bit. She still hasn’t poo pooed today. I’ve been feeding her with 2-3 teaspoons of plain water throughout the day, massaging her tummy and exercising her legs in a cycling motion. Hopefully, she’ll finally poo today.

I always find my 3 angels most angelic when they are soundly asleep…. and both hubby and I always can’t resist kissing and stroking them when they are asleep.

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Still No Sign Of Pooping

Today is the third day Baby C has not pooed and I brought her to see the pediatrician. Our dr. told us that it’s normal for breastfed babies to go through long episodes of not emptying their bowels. He asked if we wanted enema to be pumped into Baby C’s rectum but hubby said no. BTW, our dr. also advised against administering the enema and told us to wait for 2 more days and to bring her back for the enema to be administered should she not empty her bowels by then.

Baby C also took her jab (DTP, HiB, Hep B, Polio) and the Rotavirus immunization (taken orally) today. My brave baby must have been immuned to jabs (for she’s taken many over the past 1 month) and did not even cry when the needle was poked into her bum. Hopefully the Rotavirus will stimulate her to empty her bowels today.

When we were inside the dr’s office, the nephrologist from HUKM called me on my handphone. Baby C’s urine culture done last week revealed that there are some bacteria (the bacteria responsible for causing UTI) in her urine. The bacteria must have been resistant to the new antibiotics (Trimethroprim) given to her and the dr. asked us to switch to another antibiotics. Luckily we were in the hospital and my pediatrician prescribed the new antibiotics (Cephalexin) to her. We may bring Baby C to a pediatric nephrologist at a private hospital for a second opinion as it’s almost impossible to see the chief nephrologist at HUKM. The dr who saw Baby C at HUKM 3 weeks ago is only a young doctor and does not seem knowledgable. Sigh…. I just hope our nightmare will end very soon.

No. of times viewed = 377

Alycia’s Interest In Ballet

I am still thinking if I should continue sending Alycia for ballet classes. After almost 5 months into learning ballet, she now tells me that she does not want to attend her ballet class anymore. I don’t know if she really dislikes ballet or she doesn’t like it that I can’t accompany her to her ballet class anymore. Before Baby C was born, I would accompany her to each of her ballet class. After Baby C’s arrival, I just can’t find the time to accompany her to her ballet classes. Last week, her ballet teacher told us that if we intend to send Alycia for a ballet exam next year, classes will be increased to twice a week. I think twice a week is a tad too frequent for a 4.5 year old and I am worried that intensive lessons will only kill her interest in ballet.

I will have to ask Alycia again if she would like to continue learning ballet or has her interest dwindled. It’s not cheap to send her for ballet classes. Moreover, her ballet costume, stockings and ballet shoes are really costly as they are all imported from U.K. If she intends to continue learning ballet, I will buy her ballet shoes and stockings myself in future instead of buying them from the dance school. I found out today that I can buy a pair of leather ballet shoes at only £6.95 from movedancewear.co.uk. , an online store in the U.K that specializes in Dance Shoes – dancewear, ranging from ballet shoes, shoes for ballroom dancing, salsa, tap, character and jazz dance. If you have a daughter who is learning ballet too, do check out this store. There is a quite a wide range of ballet shoes sold at very affordable prices.

No. of times viewed = 177

Baby C Can’t Poo

for 2 days already and I am worried sick coz my baby has always been a good ‘pooper’ since birth and has never had problems with emptying her bowels. I hope the built up poop inside her body will not aggravate her kidney reflux and cause another UTI. If she still can’t poo poo by tomorrow, I may bring her to her pediatrician. I’ve been massaging her tummy the whole day and praying that she can poo poo today but she didn’t even let out a fart today. I wonder what’s wrong with her. I am dammmmmn worried now. Being a mum is just so tough and always full of worries…

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Under The Weather

It’s a bad month. First Alycia was down with throat infection, next was Sherilyn. A week later, Sherilyn developed phlegm and cough and days later, the bug bit me too and I have been feeling under the weather for 2 days already. Yesterday, I felt so unwell – I had stuffy nose, kept sneezing, my throat hurt, I felt very lethargic and felt really crabby. I just did not feel like blogging and only wanted to sleep but each time I tried to nap, my 2 older gals would kacau me with their never-ending ‘I want your attention mummy’.

I was terribly worried yesterday when Baby C had mild fever. Each time she has fever after the UTI attack 2 months ago, I would worry my a** away, not knowing if it’s another UTI or other problems. I fed her double dosage of E.Excel’s Millennium Cactus juice. I also doubled the dosage for both my older gals as this morning, Alycia is also down with cough and phlegm. Alycia threw up when she was brushing her teeth, which is actually a good thing, coz that’s the best way of expelling the phlegm.

The whole of last night, I sponged Baby C’s body and force fed her by bringing her to my teats. She can now sleep through the night without waking up for milk but I often wake her up when I have engorgement. I also prayed hard the whole night that Baby C’s fever would go away. Thank God, the fever subsided this morning. Sherilyn’s cough and phelgm have also improved. I am also feeling much better today after drinking the Cactus juice myself. I don’t know if it’s the Cactus juice that’s working or just a coincidence but I’m thankful to God that my gals don’t have to see the doctor and eat meds this time. I really hate the idea of feeding them so much meds every month. My friend who sold me the Cactus juice told me that the box of Millennium juice can last us for 1 month but at the rate we are consuming this juice, I think it will only last us 2.5 weeks to 3 weeks, at the most. I also heard that the price of this juice will increase by 10% next month, making it RM500+ for a box!! Nonetheless, if this juice can really fight off infection and strengthen the immune system, I won’t mind buying it.

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Cassandra At 3 Months 1 Week

Cassandra has discovered a new feat 2 weeks ago, that’s putting her hands together. Whenever she’s awake, she’ll put her hands together or clasp them. Most times, she will put both her fists into her mouth and suck them…. and then she will give me a scare when she chokes on them and almost pukes. She’s becoming more and more responsive now, loves to smile, loves to squeal in delight, will scream at you if her cries for attention are ignored and loves to babble. She’s really a cutiepie and everyone just can’t get enough of her!

No. of times viewed = 177