My baby Elaine is age3+ and in School for the 1st day…

Elaine going to school on the 1st day ( taken at home ) Jan 2009

Elaine in her classroomon the 1st day in school… very confident..didn’t cry at all.

Baby Elaine Growing up

That’s the picture of baby Elaine when she came home for the first time!

After 54 long days in the hospital @ 1.8kg! Though light weight ( or ‘feather-weight’ ) she was generally healthy after that and even up to now ( age 3+ ) she hardly have any health problem, except occasional flu.

I then realized that the nutrition during pregnancy is very important ( in fact the health & nutrition before pregnancy is equally important ); luckily my wife Luna was taking some natural nutritional supplements during her early pregnancy stage.

These were her pictures after coming home for a few weeks. She looked more like normal baby except she was under-weight. When the graph was plotted on her height & weight she is always in the lowest 10%.

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About 3 months old:

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Quiz for you:

Which of the following picture is Elaine? Picture A or B ?

The other picture is that of Valerie ( Elaine’s eldest sister )

Picture A

Picture B

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1^st Birthday; “ cilli padi “

@ Age 1 birthday party

A big relief for myself & Luna that Elaine is healthy & bubbly

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Age 2+ Self-potrait @ Copal

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Chinese New Year 2008 ( Elaine is 2 ½ years old )

elaine with her elder sisiter, Valerie

” My dad names me Elaine, meaning = light; bringing light to this world.

Since I come to this world in a Big-Bang manner, I am destined to be

a shining star. What do you think? “

Premature Baby Elaine’s story continues..

Thank you for your patience … I am continuing the story of Elaine.

Like I mentioned, The tiny Elaine was born not only premature, she was born at home unexpectedly.

My wife was feeling the contraction when the pregnancy was at 7^th month. So I brought her to see her doctor. The doctor told us after examining the fetus that the baby was not growing since the 6^th month. ( that explained why she weighed only  855g at birth ) and prescribed the usual medicine to control the contraction.

Since similar situation occurred in my wife’s first pregnancy, so we thought it was ‘normal’. So I sent my wife home and I went out to work again. Around 5pm, my mom suddenly called and was screaming over the phone that the baby had come out!

I panicked and sped home immediately; then called for ambulance from Sarawak General Hospital to come. Luckily our house is near the SGH.

When I reached home the baby was already out in a pool of blood. We heard her cried only two or three times. I was not sure whether she would survive. We just prayed. My mom told me that she came out legs first ( normal is head first ). I guessed it was a blessing in disguise that she was very much under-weight and came out without her leg stuck along the way.

After 5 -10 minutes, though I felt it was the longest 10 min that I had in my life, the para-medic came and quickly ferried them to the hospital.

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Those were the dramatic moments even before Elaine was placed in the incubator in the hospital.

After the full blood transfusion @ 4 days after birth and denied her milk ( was put on drip for one week ), her weight dropped to the lowest level of 755g only.

Luckily, her she responded well after the blood transfusion. Her jaundice subsided, Her stomach was not bloated anymore meaning her infection was under control.

After the emotionally drained first week, Elaine’s conditions stabilized and in fact started to improve. After that she was fed milk using a tube that went from her mouth to her stomach ( you can see it in the first photo I posted on 8 Aug 2008 ). From then on, her health was ok except some minor problems like slight low blood pressure. The doctor and nurses continued to monitor her heart beat; and other health indicators through regular blood tests.

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Doctor told us that only when the baby had reached the weight of 1.8kg we were allowed to bring her home. In actual fact we was out of the incubator only after about 7 weeks in the hospital. Then my wife was asked to stayed in the hospital to take care of the baby until she reached 1.8kg.

Welcome home, baby Elaine ... finally.

August 8, 8.08pm

Today, August 8 is my wife’s birthday. I have wished her Happy Birthday this morning. I am now in KL attending conference while she is now in Singapore on holiday with my youngest daughter, Elaine.

I am writing this post and to “ launch “ this Blog in honour of my youngest daughter, Elaine. She has just turned age 3 on 28^th July.

Elaine was born special; not because she is a disabled child but she was born premature ( @ 7 month ); underweight at only 875 gram and born unexpectedly at home, without any warning.

Tiny baby Elaine in her incubator

My wife and my baby Elaine was ferried to the government hospital in an ambulance and she was immediately housed in the incubator. The first few days of her life was precarious because she was suffering from infection, a condition common among pre-matured baby and jaundice. As parents, we were very worried.

Our emotions were on a ‘rollercoaster ride’ because our baby Elaine had to undergo full blood transfusion due to Jaundice when shw was only 4 days old. My wife was crying when doc told us the decision. Knowing the risks involved as  she was just a tiny baby, we still have to accept the doctor’s decision.

After the transfusion, she was put on drip and no milk was allowed during the first week of birth! Her weight dropped to 755 gram……

( I didn’t want to take any of her picture when she looked really tiny and  only 皮包骨. The picture above was taken when she was a few weeks old and look much better )

… to be continued