Breastmilk vs Formula

I have a lot to blag! But unfortunately I don’t have the luxury of time right now. I just keep a mental note of it all. I’ll start of with the most recent event and back tracked. Today is first day that my precious little Bella had her formula milk, S 26 gold. As advised by her pediatrician, to finally get rid of the yellowish thingy on her skin… Jaundice in medical term. It is actually a common condition in newborns which refers to the yellow color of the skin and whites of the eyes caused by excess belirubin of red blood cells.

Hers was a mild one but we want to make sure that everything is alright…or else I’ll go panicky again…Paranoid, as what Far-ouT always tells me. Any thing unfamiliar sound from Bella, alarmed me. Anyway, it should have started yesterday or day before, I believe. But I kept on postponing it. I even asked her pedia, if we can go on with just letting her stay in the sun in the morning. But well, pedia knows best than mothers in some ways. Who can blame me for overreacting? Since day 1 we have that bonding moment and it’s hard to let go. I am afraid that drinking formula milk might cause Bella to refuse my breastmilk that would really break my heart as I intend to breastfed her until we are both ready to let go. Even if I go back to work, I swear to be patient to breast pump and store my milk.

I even tell bella when she’s feeding not to like the milk too much because breastmilk is still best for her. Since she can’t drink milk from me, I use my manual pump to take out the milk. I store it in the fridge for future use. When I have time to read, I search the net for some helpful tips and I found this blog, http://milkstation.blogspot.com/2008/07/stash-or-trash-milk-storage-guidelines.html. It's very informative and I was able to get important information with her own experiences. Tomorrow is the last day for Bella’s formula milk drinking and my breastmilk will resume at around six in the evening. I would know by then which milk she prefers. Hopefully she will still choose her Nanay’s milk because Bella will definitely break Nanay’s heart if she will go for the alternative. If she only knows that no other milk can replace Nanay's breastmilk. And I wouldn't trade for anything the bonding and the eyes that stare at me whenever she's close to my heart. Shucks! I’m a breastmilk advocate??!

Yes, indeed.

Itinerary

Today is our Bella's 14th day. I am still a busy mom taking care of our precious little girl. She wakes up every 2-3 hours for her feeding and then sleep most of the time. But come evening, she sometimes cries a lot and i can't help myself and give her milk which ruins her feeding time and vomit some milk. This pratice also prevents me from going out as I don't want her to rely on bottles that may stop her from breastfeeding (Selfish me). As much as possible, we'll try to breastfeed her for as long as my milk will allow. There was this one time, that I went out to see the church we were considering for the christening, i got so paranoid thinking that she's crying and looking for me. . Luckily, she slept well that night and woke up only when were already on the way back. But I was still guilty for leaving her, I fed her more that what was allowed that made her vomit.

15th June 2009. Baby Bella's first trip outside. Her first taxi ride. Her first check up. First nailcut, which were done by Nanay's OB - Dra. Cayetano and her Pedia, Dra. Larraga. Talked about professional nailcutters. It was also her first visit to delifrance, while tatay and nanay were having mirienda. After her trip to St. Luke's, she also went to tatay's house to visit her Lolo, Lola and Titos. Around 9PM, Bella call it a day and went home to Nanay's house.

16th June 2009. As I was saying, it was hard to leave Bella at home since she still depend on breastfeeding. But we need also to organize her upcoming baptism. With the help of her Ninang Pia, Bella had her first lakwatsa on a rainy day. First, she went to church, Christ the King, where her baptism was going to be held on 28th June. Visited the house of Ninang Macel to get some stuff and ate lunch, then she also went to Iko's bakeshop, where we bought a sample of her cupcake , eats some bread and drink coffee. And Tatay was really galante that day, so he treated us to Pansiteria San Jacinto. Talked about Food trips!

The Lumens

Joseph Ian Lumen
March 24, 1978

Ma. Aleina Dequiña-Lumen

January 6, 1980

Ma. Isabella Jian D. Lumen

June 4, 2009

My birthing story

June 4, 2009. The day our little precious one was born. I can’t explain how I made it through. We were expecting her to come out around the second week of June as my date was due on the 11th of June. But, I kept on talking to my baby when she was still in my womb to wait for her tatay to come home before her grand entrance to the world. And as if she understood. Far-out arrived June 2. I was scheduled for a check up on the 3rd. My OB was telling me that my cervix was high and she still couldn’t reach it. I was planned for another ultrasound on 10th June just in case.

The night of the 3rd, I kept on waking up for some slight pains but shrugged it off. Morning of the 4th, the pain became a little intense but still tolerable for me. I decided to go to the mall to buy some few more things for Bella. We were thinking that it was just a false alarm and the best thing to do was the walk it off.
We ate at Jollibee for breakfast and had lunch at Mann Hann. But the pain was becoming unbearable already around 4PM. Less than a minute contraction and around 10 minute interval. My mind was telling me that it is just false alarm since we just had our check up yesterday and no sign of early delivery.

Far-ouT and I decided to go home around 4:30 PM already as I was really in pain. There was also some brownish discharge. When we got home, the pain was stronger, I also vomited and with another whitish, sticky discharge. Then my mom decided to take me to the hospital. If its false alarm, so be it. We also texted our OB, which at that time was operating on someone, that we are on the way to the hospital.

We arrived around 6:30 PM. We went straight to the delivery room. They IEd me and I was already 5cm. We, including my OB, were all surprised at this development as we were not expecting it this early. When my OB arrived, I was at 8cm. and they were already getting ready for my operation. I was normal delivery but on twilight (I don't know how it is called). Good thing though, I don’t want to elaborate further on how my Doctor explained my not so poised reaction on my delivery. Can you blame me? Finally, at 8:35 PM.

Our baby bella has finally arrived.