Smiles

When I was pregnant, I think I made a lot of people smile - mostly older women. People just seemed to look at my belly and get happy. This was NOTHING compared to how people react to a baby. Especially a super blond baby. Yesterday morning I strapped on Samara and we went off to get coffee (yeah - I figure since I never really stopped drinking coffee when I was pregnant (don't tell the pregnancy police), I should probably keep drinking a cup a day - for her. You know, not me. She may be addicted...). The coffee guy that my mom found in our neighborhood is named Ben, and his coffee shop is about a five minute walk from our place, if you walk slowly. (More on Ben later). On the way there and back, we probably made 20 people smile, and at least four asked how old she (or he?) is. It's kind of nice to have that effect on people! Though locals seem to be appalled that we're taking her out at such a young age - she'll be four weeks tomorrow - they're giving me incentive to keep doing it!

So, I had found an okay coffee shop near our place when we were looking for apartments. When we went back there, I realised it's farther than it needs to be, and the coffee wasn't strong enough (Samara likes a good, dark blend). We then tried this other one, right across the street from our condo, and while the coffee was good, she charged S$1.50, which is a serious rip off for coffee. Ben charges S$0.80. I think there are lots of tourists where we live, and she took us for fools. I told her that was the most expensive coffee in Singapore (other than the western kind, obviously), and we did not go back. Then my mom found Ben. He's Singapore born, and he moved to central Java (where Mt. Merapi, the volcano that erupted last week in Indonesia, is). He lived there for a while, and then he moved to Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand. He met his wife there, and then once his kids were old enough to need good education, they moved back to Singapore. He says that the pace of life doesn't suit him in Singapore, but he did it for his children. Now they're all studying all over the place (Australia, and I think in N. America, but I can't remember the details), and he and his wife opened this coffee shop that has a coffee stall plus a Norther Thai food stall. I can't wait to try out the food. He let me know that westerners really like this Thai dish called pad thai. I agreed and let him know that I also can't wait to try their fish cakes and tom yam. The place is always packed, and it's some of the only non-Indian or non-Chinese food in our area. If only Belle didn't cook so well so we could have some incentive to eat out of the house sometimes...

In other news Safta and Papa headed back to the States after a two week stint in Singapore that felt more like five days. Safta was very sad to leave the baby, but we assured her that we would take good care of her. G-chat will be her lifeline, I think.

In yet other news, we found that we can walk downtown with a stroller/pram, which is fantastic. There is a sidewalk all the way from our place to the National Library, and I used it yesterday to walk back from Raffles City mall. It's only about 30 minutes, and it's a great walk. I'm relieved to know this, since our experience with the stroller in this neighborhood has not been in our favour. The shophouses and uneven sidewalks have been challenging.

I also found a website that has all of the nursing places in Singapore, which is super cool. I tried out the room in Raffles City yesterday, and it's a whole world that I have never experienced. I met a ton of moms and babies, and it's so nice that I can feed her nearly anywhere. The police's statement says that as long as you're only exposing what's absolutely necessary from your boob, then you can actually nurse anywhere. Isn't that nice of them? There was only one SUPER CREEPY guy who kept looking in the windows and trying to catch a glimpse.

Getting Back into the World

Now that Samara is three weeks old, and I'm feeling more like a person, we have been getting back into the world. In the last few weeks we were going out once a day - just to get some fresh air, but then the air became not fresh (the haze from fires in Sumatra was horrible for a few days!), and we ventured a bit farther. We made it to a couple of malls (what else is there in Singapore?). Now that the air has cleared, today we roamed in the botanic gardens for a couple of hours. Samara unfortunately missed the whole thing - she was sleeping - but we really enjoyed it.

We have also gone to three restaurants. We had a nice Indian lunch at a place around the corner with our friend Alex who is here on business from NYC, and we also explored South Indian food with Dheeraj. He gave us a tour of idli, uttapams, and a whole bunch of chutneys at another place around the corner. Today we finally got the hamburger I have been craving for weeks. This was the first meat I have eaten since I left the hospital. I think my body was begging for it. I thought about hamburgers everyday for the last two weeks. At least once. I almost ate two, but I'm too cheap...

Other than our adventures - nothing is really happening that's blogworthy. Matt has returned to work, my parents are loving the baby, and she's been fantastic. She sleeps, eats, and she's generally really happy. Well, we don't know that she's happy, since she doesn't smile, laugh, or tell us that she's happy, but she's not telling us that she's UNhappy. The doctor has recommended that the baby gain 20-30 grams per day. Samara is averaging 53 grams per day. The doctor said, "what are you going to do? Put her on a diet? As long as it's breast milk, keep feeding her." She's FAT! Look at the cute little dimples in her hands. Her elbows are also dimply, and she has four chins, six creases in her thighs and at least seven wrists (on each arm).

I'm finally starting to feel better, though I have to say that I STILL don't feel very strong, and my body still hurts. I have many friends who said that they were fine after 3 days or 10 days or whatever after their c section, but not me. I'm not sure if I'm just a baby, but my body seems to be taking much much longer than that. I'm just hoping that I get back to where I was at SOME point. My weight is only 0.5 kg off from where I was before I was pregnant, but I can't even imagine doing a yoga class or running (even to catch a bus!). I have to be patient (not my strength...).

For pictures of my parents' visit, click here.

Blogging with Baby

My life has been quite boring in the last two weeks, so I don't have much to blog about, but I feel as though I should document something. I have no crazy ex-pat experiences, or really any other experiences, because all I have done is sit in my little corner on the couch and feed the baby, read and relax. Our life goes like this:

Wake up around 8 - feed the baby until about 9 (who knew that it takes AN HOUR to feed the baby...like 8-10 times PER DAY!?).
Give the baby to someone (Matt, Belle, Mom...) and take a shower (or partial shower, since I still have stitches in - yuck).
Eat breakfast fast.
Feed.
Burp.
Put Samara to sleep.
I have no idea what I do - read? Look at Facebook? Look out the window? I have no idea where that time goes...
Feed.
Burp.
Put Samara to sleep.
Walk (sometimes the walk happens in the afternoon or evening instead)
Eat lunch fast.
Feed.
Burp.
Put Samara to sleep.
Feed.
Burp.
Feed.
Burp.
Feed.
Burp. (she eats and eats and eats starting around 4...)
Put Samara to sleep.
Eat dinner really fast.
Bath (she hated the first, but now she's pretty cool - we just have to sing a lot).
Feed.
Burp.
Sleep.
Feed.
Burp.
Sleep.
Then it all starts over again...

(I spared you the changing of the diaper, which is actually probably the most exciting part of our days!)

Otherwise, we're doing great. Samara has been a dream baby so far - she is always consolable - meaning that she only cries when she has something to say (i.e. hungry, needs a little help falling asleep, cold). She sleeps from 10 or 11 pm until 8 am with only one wake up around 3 for a nice meal (I eat one too...). We understand that colic can start anytime from now for the next two weeks, but we're hoping this continues. We haven't had that newborn daze at all - a little tired, but not falling over. We also feel so so so lucky to have Belle. Belle has taken care of all of the shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. She has set up the infrastructure, and all we have to do is enjoy the baby. It's been amazing.

Meanwhile, Samara's Savta and Papa (my parents) have come for their first visit. Savta is in love with the baby - she can't get enough. Papa is in love with bridge - he can't get enough. (Okay - he also loves the baby...but I think he loves bridge more). They have been fabulous mates for sitting on the couch. Quite easygoing, happy to eat whatever is made, only complaining about the heat when we leave the apartment (which is limited...), and generally helpful with the baby and refilling my water glass. This picture is from Samara's first trip out in the baby bjorn. We tried the stroller around Little India yesterday, and that was a disaster - shophouses and strollers don't mix.

Welcome Samara!

So, I haven't blogged in a while, but I have the best excuse yet. I'm sure that most people who read my blog already know this, but it should be documented here as well. We had our baby!

Most shocking is that she is a girl, and not so shocking is that she's absolutely beautiful and sweet.
The details:
Samara K Hildebrandt (soft "a" in the "mara")
3.7 kg (about 8 lbs 3 oz)
52 cm long (20.5 inches)


The short-story series of events went like this: Saturday morning we had a bit of colourful excitement, we went to Jake's baseball game, out for lunch, over to visit Christian and Lee Fong, and then I rested for 20 minutes and my water broke (in bed - yuck). We then went to a burr-WI-to party at Ari and Julia's and then went into contractiony labour at about 10:30pm. We went to the hospital at 2:30 or 3am on Sunday when the contractions were three minutes apart and quite painful. Samara was born at 11:37 pm on Sunday night by emergency c section. I'm happy to share the events that happened in between going to the hospital and the birth, but you have to promise that you're done having children before I reveal. Just email me.

All in all it was a very rough experience, especially for me and Samara, but Matt, and Catherine, our doula were fantastic and so supportive. In the end we have a beautiful, healthy baby.

So far we're all doing okay - I'm taking a bit of a long time to recover (I have never had surgery before, and maybe I'm a baby, but I haven't felt too well!), but we're just relaxing at home, focusing on only the baby. She's eating well - she has even developed an extra wrist or two - and she sleeps like a champion at night, so we're getting good spurts for a few hours here and there. She has only pooped through our sheets and mattress pad once so far, so I think we're on the right track.

Matt has taken last week and this week off work (JPM gives him a whopping two days of paternity leave, but he's taking annual leave), and he's getting lots of stuff done and really enjoying the baby. He has definitely bonded with her, and it's quite cute how obsessed he is. He even admitted that he loves the baby WAY more than the Kitty (we weren't totally confident this would happen...).

We are now anxiously awaiting the arrival of Samara's Safta (Sue) and Papa (Sandy) on Friday night/Saturday morning.

Click here for more photos of her first week(ish).