First Christmas for Jasmine

Every year Richard and I go back to Victoria to visit my parents during Christmas time. This year is no exception. And the Leung family love to pick up Jasmine as often as they like to since they don't get to see her very often (and I'm happy to hand off) . She was a grouchy one for a bit, I think she just wants to sleep instead.

Jasmine is 1 month!

In the Chinese tradition after giving birth to a child, the mother usually rests at home for a 1-month period. The mom is to stay at home and rest and take care of the baby. She is not supposed to step outside the home.

Jasmine just turned 1 month, yay! Which means that I can now get out of the house...yay! Mind you, I've gone to doctor's appointments and done some emergency shopping so I'm not sure if those things really count. Nevertheless, I'm no longer a slave inside the house.

Here is Jasmine at one month with Richard:

Baby Acne

Over the past few days, Jasmine suddenly developed small tiny little bumps all over her face. It resembles pimples. She doesn't seem to be bothered by the dots at all and they aren't itchy. But we took Jasmine into the docs office to take a look anyways. Jasmine was diagnosed as having baby acne.

Apparently about 20% of all babies get it and the condition goes away on its own. Some docs prescribe hydrocorisone cream and some docs just leave it alone. We used the cream on Jasmine and it cleared up her skin overnight. Cool stuff. We were told to use very little of it twice a day.

Back to Birthweight

Over the past week, Jasmine and I have been working on breastfeeding. It's alot of work. Poor girl, always seems to be hungry all the time. The first few days were particulary hard since I have no idea what the heck I'm doing. And my breasts were sore as ever. Felt like Jasmine was biting more than sucking.

The community nurse did come by our house to check on baby and me, to make sure things were going smoothly. The nurse checked to see that Jasmine was latching correctly and was told she was (although it sure didn't feel like she was latching right). Anyhow, after a while of persistent latching and feeding every 2 hours, Jasmine eventually got the hang of it. Once my milk came in, everything was good.

The first time Jasmine latched correctly, it was like night and day for my breasts. There was absolutely no pain! And I can hear Jasmine gulping the milk. Wow, this is cool stuff. I've always wondered whether I could do this, and I can.

Jasmine is officially back to her birth weight of 7lb 8oz by 10 days. I hope she continues to gain weight healthily (is that a word)?

Birth of Jasmine

Please welcome our new addition to our family. Jasmine Wong was born on November 2007 and weighed in at 7lbs and 8 ounces. Jasmine is a bright-eyed baby who is growing quickly. She knows what she wants and she definitely wanted to see the world....more details below. Here is a quick snapshot of Jasmine.



Here is a photo of 4 generations of our family (Grandma, Mom, me and Jasmine):


Labor and Delivery:
It all started in the morning of November 2007 when I was sleeping and was suddenly woken up by a strong contraction. That was at 4:51am. After the contraction, I had an urge to use the washroom immediately and the mucous plug came out. The next contraction hit at 5:06am (15 minutes later). The third contract was at 5:16am (10 minutes later).

At that time, I did not realize that I was having real labor contractions. I was walking around in my livingroom, sitting on my yoga ball and trying to get comfortable. The contractions were getting closer and closer together, with more intensity. At 6am, my contractions were 5 minutes apart consistently so I called my doctor (Dr. Donna Yee) who told me to head to St. Paul's Hospital.

It took about 30 minutes to get out of the house (to change and carry out all the bags) and another 25 minutes to get to the hospital. I arrived at St. Pauls at 6:55am. I was admitted right away into the maternity ward and was sent to the assessment room. By that time, my contractions were 3 minutes apart.

In the assessment room, I could not get up to change myself or move onto the bed. One of the nurses immediately wheeled me into a labour room, changed me and put me into a bed. A 10-second check, the nurse informed that I was fully dilated and am ready to push the baby out. Jasmine was delivered around 7:30am, screaming to tell the world that she is here!



In short, labor was better than expected (short and sweet with no medication). Richard and I were happy that labor was over and we were finally able meet our little angel. She is the most adorable baby we've ever seen. Here is our first family photo.