Remember the 5.12 earthquake in China that happened in May this year? Almost all the TV channels broadcasted 24 hours non-stop of every development and stories of all the rescue operations in all damaged locations.

But you are probably unaware of many important and inside details which are only known to people inside China. Coco Wang wanted to help but has no knowledge in first-aids etc… so she decided to tell these touching stories by drawing
comics.

I received a few comic strips today from a friend. And, all the comic made me cried and cried. And cried… sob.. sob..sob!

This is the first comic strip that I read and it made me cried instantly. Have a look. And, think how blessed we are with the gift of life (and family).

If this mother’s sacrifice touches your heart, please tell other mothers to read this comic….

A happy life is not easy to find…
We have so many temptations and desires…
We are often lost and forget what is important…
We complain so much, we appreciate so little…
Only the fear of losing can teach us the joy of having..
The 12th May reminded us one very important thing…
A happy life can be found very easily…
If you treasure what you got!

Coco Wang

It was a peaceful Saturday. At least until 10.30 am.

After that, the whole day and night was a hectic one. Around 10.45 am, my younger sister and her family with three kids (they live in Sepang) arrived to our little cottage.

Then, five minutes later, my eldest brother who live in USJ9 also arrived with his family.

Finally, they got to see lil’ Izzah.

Imagine having 9 active kids in the house. It was a chaos!

They left about 1.00 pm. Our little cottage was at peace again.

But only for a few hours. Around 6 pm, my brother who works in Sudan (his family live in Johor Bahru) arrived with his hyperactive kids and my mom. He has four kids (three boys and one girl) and all of them were super duper active!

They wanted to explore our little cottage and touched everything that captured their interests, including my husband’s Proton bike. That bicycle fell on top of two of my brother’s sons when they pulled the bike. Luckily, they were not injured.

Another brother of mine who live in Rawang also arrived half-an-hour later. He also has four super active kids.

Those eight kids (6 boys and two girls) caused my usually quiet little cottage to be filled with kid’s screaming and crying.

I like having visitors in our little cottage. But, I’m quite dismayed to see that many of them were unwell.

These people are unwell but still wanted to touch, hold and kiss my baby. Argh!

1)  My younger sister - cough
2)  My sister-in-law - flu and cough
3)  Two of my nephews - flu
4)  My mom - flu and cold!

You see, my baby is just recovered from an infection. And, I don’t want her to get infected by flu and cough viruses that my relatives and friends were having while visiting us.

I’m trying to keep my baby away from anyone who has a cough, flu symptoms, a sore throat, cold or fever. Lil’ Izzah is still a fragile little being you know.

But, visiting relatives and friends usually want to hold and touch my baby. This put me in a dilemma.

It’s gonna be rude to tell them not to do so. Especially when they came from far just to see the baby. Oh my!

And, making me more worry is that my mom is also not feeling well. She has flu and cold. And, she is staying with us to help me over.

She knows kissing the baby could get her infected. But, my mom is not aware that sneezing around the house is also give a risk to infection. Especially, when she is sitting so close to baby Izzah!

Flu and cold is an airborn disease. But, what am I supposed to do? Tell her to keep herself away from her own granddaughter? That’s absolutely crazy.

That night, my baby was so restless. She cried after I finished breastfeeding her. She refused to sleep on her own mattress.

This sleep-deprived mama was so tension. Even my hubby looked stressful (but he didn’t obviously show it like I did). He cuddled and rocked the baby on my birth ball for two hours before she finally tired and fell asleep.

However, not long after she woke up again and cried. I offered her my breast but she sucked only for a while. And, each time I put her back on her mattres, she cried again.

Finally, after I put her on my bosom (let her listen to my heartbeat), she fell asleep for a longer period. What a relieve!

Note:

I think baby Izzah sleeping routine was disturbed because so many hands have touched her during the day. And, at night, the open door could have invited unseen creatures to come in (and disturbed my baby). That’s why me and hubby try to avoid having visitors at late evening/night.

My mom called last night and told that she was coming by bus to KL today. And, she will come over to my house on Saturday.

According to my mom, my brother who works in Sudan will come back to Malaysia today. And, he and his family will come over to my house to see the lil’ baby on Sunday!

Since my mother-in-law has gone back home yesterday, my hubby bathe the baby. Guess what? Lil’ Izzah didn’t even cry when my hubby bathed her and dressed her up. Oh wow!

It must be the father to daughter bonding thing. And, the technique that my hubby used - talk to the baby while bathing and covered her with a towel while massaging and putting a dress on her.

Baby Izzah cried out loud while been bathed both by my mother and mother-in-law. Perhaps their techniques were not suitable for my baby?

My hubby is on leave because we have an appointment with baby Izzah’s paed, Dr Ling at Selangor Medical Center.

We arrived at SMC around 9.15 am. While waiting for our turn, I went to the Breasfeeding Room and feed baby Izzah.

Before seeing Dr Ling, his nurse took my baby and weigh her. Her weight has increased from 1.98 kg to 2.25 kg. That was a 14% increase in 5 days! Go girl!!

I was so happy that I exclusively breastfeed her (and refused to give her the infant formula Enfalac A+) since she was discharged from the hospital.

I’ll consider giving her the special formula if or when:

1. My milk is not enough
2. We buy a proper steriliser equipment (Avent Electric Steam Steriliser)
3. We can’t find a breastfeeding friendly baby sitter who can accept EBM for my baby
4. I can’t express enough milk during office hours for storage

According to Dr Ling, baby Izzah is doing very well. But, he still a bit concern about her being below her birth weight of 2.47 kg.

So, he prescribed these supplements for my baby:

1. Folid Acid Syrup
2. Enersos MCT (medium chain triglycerides) Oil
3. Appeton Multivitamin Plus Infant Drops

I hope with me exclusively breastfeeding her and the additional vitamins intake will help to boost her growth soon.

That afternoon, I have a look at my kitchen and was so shocked to see the kitchen in a great mess. The floor was so dirty and dusty.

Utensils and bits of sugar/salt/milo crust/dried vegie were scattered everywhere. And, there are unremovable oil stain on my White House Ceramic kitchen top’s tiles!

Uh! What an eyesore.

I quickly cleaned up all the mess before my hubby was back. He would have scold me if he sees me doing the kitchen cleaning as I’m still under confinement.

But hey, I couldn’t stand the mess.

Baby Izzah woke up at 9 pm last night for feeding. And, she refused to sleep until 1 am!

After I breasfeeded her, my hubby cuddled her and sang a lullaby. But, she still refused to sleep and cry. Oh..

Berak rupanya… he..he..he

She passed stool so many times during that 4 hour period. I’m glad that she has a frequent bowel movements with yellow stools because this indicates that my baby is well nourished.

According to Asian Parenting Today book, frequent bowel movement are normal because breast milk is a natural laxative. It is easily digested, so the stools are loose with not much substance.

After changing her diapers a few times with feeding in between, lil’ baby’s eyes were still wide open.

My hubby switched-off the air-cond in our room. Perhaps, she was cold because it was raining last night.

And, after 4 hours filled with breastfeeding, nappy changing, swaddling, rocking and patting, baby Izzah was tired and fall asleep by herself.

Hmmm.. my dear baby. Mama thinks you need to change your sleep routine.

You see, she sleeps heavily all day long.

We tried waking her up during the day by unwrapping her swaddle and tickling her feet. We even make a noise by calling her to wake up. But, nothing works… he..he…he.