Friday 28 October 2011
How many men does it take to feed a baby?
Thursday 27 October 2011
Jaundice is cleared!
Abigail on the way to the polyclinic to have her jaundice level checked... it has been high - peaked at bilirubin of 225 last week and now it's down to 92! Yay!! So she doesn't have to have it checked again.
Sunday 23 October 2011
Photos of Abigail's first 2 weeks
Thursday 20 October 2011
For those who want a technical account...
... of what happened:
At 40+5, Abi's head was still very high and not engaged. The cervix was starting to soften, efface and dilate, so I was given Prostaglandin (Prostin) tablet on the cervix to help it move along... it made the contractions very frequent - about once every 1-2 minutes such that I could not distinguish one contraction to the next and it felt like a long continuous contraction. They were rather ineffective but getting more and more painful, so I ended up having some pethidine for pain relief... which helped (thankfully).
20 hours after the Prostaglandin was given, the cervix was still only 3-4cm and not much progress had been made. So I had an artificial rupture of membranes and syntocin drip to move things along a little bit. And the cervix did dilate nicely from 3-4cm to 9cm over the next 8 hours. But then it got stuck there at 9cm, and the head was still not engaged. Apparently the head shape was caput and the presentation was LOT so the head was just not descending. And because the cervix was not fully dilated, the doctor was not prepared to pull the head down due to risk of head injury. We have it a good 4 hours in hope that the contractions will make the head rotate and descend or make the cervix fully dilate. But it did not happen, so we called it a day and went ahead with a Ceasarean section 33 hours after the Prostaglandin tablet was given.
2 things I learnt not to underestimate - labour and a Ceasarean section.
1. Labour is tiring even with painkillers. It's not just the pain that drains energy out of you.
2. A Ceasarean section wound looks small but it still takes time to recover from it especially when you are trying to breastfeed and adjust to a newborn baby at the same time.
At 40+5, Abi's head was still very high and not engaged. The cervix was starting to soften, efface and dilate, so I was given Prostaglandin (Prostin) tablet on the cervix to help it move along... it made the contractions very frequent - about once every 1-2 minutes such that I could not distinguish one contraction to the next and it felt like a long continuous contraction. They were rather ineffective but getting more and more painful, so I ended up having some pethidine for pain relief... which helped (thankfully).
20 hours after the Prostaglandin was given, the cervix was still only 3-4cm and not much progress had been made. So I had an artificial rupture of membranes and syntocin drip to move things along a little bit. And the cervix did dilate nicely from 3-4cm to 9cm over the next 8 hours. But then it got stuck there at 9cm, and the head was still not engaged. Apparently the head shape was caput and the presentation was LOT so the head was just not descending. And because the cervix was not fully dilated, the doctor was not prepared to pull the head down due to risk of head injury. We have it a good 4 hours in hope that the contractions will make the head rotate and descend or make the cervix fully dilate. But it did not happen, so we called it a day and went ahead with a Ceasarean section 33 hours after the Prostaglandin tablet was given.
2 things I learnt not to underestimate - labour and a Ceasarean section.
1. Labour is tiring even with painkillers. It's not just the pain that drains energy out of you.
2. A Ceasarean section wound looks small but it still takes time to recover from it especially when you are trying to breastfeed and adjust to a newborn baby at the same time.
Monday 17 October 2011
Goh Rui En, Abigail
Born 11 October 2011 at 20:54, weighing 3.145kg
Goh is her surname, from her father.
Goh is the Teochew dialect pronunciation of 吴 (wu2) which is Wu in Mandarin.
Rui En is her Chinese name:
睿 (rui4) as translated by google translate means farsighted, astute and perspicacious.
恩 (en1) means grace, kindness and favour.
Abigail is her English name, meaning "the father's joy". In 1 Samuel 25, she was an "intelligent and beautiful woman", but unfortunately married a fool whose life she saved. But when Nabal (the fool she married) heard about how Abigail saved his life, his heart failed him and he became unconscious and died ten days later. She then became the wife of King David. To read the whole story, go to http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel+25&version=NIV
So her names can be variously positioned as follows:
Goh Rui En
吴睿恩 (wu2 rui4 en1)
Abigail Goh
Abigial Goh Rui En
Goh Rui En, Abigail
Her name in her birth certificate is Goh Rui En, Abigail
Sunday 9 October 2011
40+4 and counting...
Overdue now by 4 days and just waiting for something to happen.
We now have an internet radio, courtesy of our dear friend who brought it back from the UK for us. We appreciate it very much and listen to BBC radio 4, Magic and some other radio channels that we cannot get on a normal radio. This morning, we were listening to UCB international (a Christian radio station) and a very appropriate song was played - an old and familiar song "Because He Lives". I thought the 2nd verse was particularly apt:
How to sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he brings;
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.
Thursday 6 October 2011
Church meeting in school halls
We have just started attending All Saints' English (English congregation of All Saints' Church) and have been there for 3 weeks so far. They meet in a school hall and I think there is something to be said about churches which meet in school halls. The building in which a church meets somehow both reflects and shapes the life of the church.
I grew up in a Chinese Methodist Church in Singapore, typically located in a building with a large sanctuary for church services (usually several in various languages and dialects) and a similarly large "social hall" or "fellowship hall". Throughout each Sunday morning, congregations of various sizes fill up and empty the large sanctuary at the appointed times, and adjourn to the social hall for breakfast or lunch fellowship depending on the time of the day. The fellowship hall is usually a big space with stackable chairs and foldable tables used in different configurations to suit the different needs. There is space for kids to run around, for elderly people to sit in small groups to watch the kids run around, space for young people to gather together and play the guitar, and for adults to huddle and exchange news. So you can imagine the kind of church life in such a place - certainly one with a strong sense of family and community.
I then spent a large part of my young adult life in a conservative evangelical church meeting in a modern building that was still recognizably "church". The sanctuary was the main and central part of the building, with a little corridor and several small rooms upstairs for kids to meet and learn about God during the service. There was a tiny kitchen and a small back hall located at the back of the church that was used for simple food and drink preparation and small meetings which involved coffee and cake. Over the years, there have been efforts to have meals together - trying to squeeze as many people as possible in the back hall, but still having limited space and therefore necessitating sign-up sheets and first come-first served policies. There was strong sense of "established-ness" and importance of the pulpit and preaching of the word as the main work of the church, together with efforts of good Christian people doing good Christian things.
Here and there, I have also attended traditional and "high" services in really old church buildings which should really be called cathedrals rather than churches - traditional evensong in St Paul's Cathedral, Ely Cathedral and King's College Chapel where all the prayers and psalms and sung by a choir comprising only boys and men, as well as modern services held in old cathedral buildings. Many of these cathedrals are typically large stone buildings with beautiful stained glass windows and various little enclosures of wooden pews facing each other, adorned with ornate carvings and candles. When you enter these little enclosures and sit in the pews, there is a strong sense of being in a sacred place which demands quiet meditation and reverent prayer. The spiritual experience of God's presence just cannot be replicated elsewhere and I cannot explain that feeling of having met God at a personal level when I leave the place.
And then there are churches that meet in school halls, of which I have been to two - an Anglican church plant in London for 6 months when I was working there, and now an English congregation of an Anglican church for 3 weeks (so far). When you strip away the obligatory big cross on the front wall, the stained glass (whether one modern stained glass strip or the innumerable stained glass depictions of biblical scenes and saintly people), take away the pews and the altar up at the front... you are left with God's people meeting to worship God together. And when you meet God and God's people in that environment, you experience something that is undoubtedly real rather than constructed. There is something fresh and honest about the encounter with God and fellowship with God's people.
Different church buildings are suited to different churches, and different churches are suited to different people. There are also different seasons in life that we all go through, during which a different church environment may be more conducive for spiritual renewal and growth. In the end, what matters is a space which facilities our communion with God and God's people and building of those relationships, wherever that place may be.
I grew up in a Chinese Methodist Church in Singapore, typically located in a building with a large sanctuary for church services (usually several in various languages and dialects) and a similarly large "social hall" or "fellowship hall". Throughout each Sunday morning, congregations of various sizes fill up and empty the large sanctuary at the appointed times, and adjourn to the social hall for breakfast or lunch fellowship depending on the time of the day. The fellowship hall is usually a big space with stackable chairs and foldable tables used in different configurations to suit the different needs. There is space for kids to run around, for elderly people to sit in small groups to watch the kids run around, space for young people to gather together and play the guitar, and for adults to huddle and exchange news. So you can imagine the kind of church life in such a place - certainly one with a strong sense of family and community.
I then spent a large part of my young adult life in a conservative evangelical church meeting in a modern building that was still recognizably "church". The sanctuary was the main and central part of the building, with a little corridor and several small rooms upstairs for kids to meet and learn about God during the service. There was a tiny kitchen and a small back hall located at the back of the church that was used for simple food and drink preparation and small meetings which involved coffee and cake. Over the years, there have been efforts to have meals together - trying to squeeze as many people as possible in the back hall, but still having limited space and therefore necessitating sign-up sheets and first come-first served policies. There was strong sense of "established-ness" and importance of the pulpit and preaching of the word as the main work of the church, together with efforts of good Christian people doing good Christian things.
Here and there, I have also attended traditional and "high" services in really old church buildings which should really be called cathedrals rather than churches - traditional evensong in St Paul's Cathedral, Ely Cathedral and King's College Chapel where all the prayers and psalms and sung by a choir comprising only boys and men, as well as modern services held in old cathedral buildings. Many of these cathedrals are typically large stone buildings with beautiful stained glass windows and various little enclosures of wooden pews facing each other, adorned with ornate carvings and candles. When you enter these little enclosures and sit in the pews, there is a strong sense of being in a sacred place which demands quiet meditation and reverent prayer. The spiritual experience of God's presence just cannot be replicated elsewhere and I cannot explain that feeling of having met God at a personal level when I leave the place.
And then there are churches that meet in school halls, of which I have been to two - an Anglican church plant in London for 6 months when I was working there, and now an English congregation of an Anglican church for 3 weeks (so far). When you strip away the obligatory big cross on the front wall, the stained glass (whether one modern stained glass strip or the innumerable stained glass depictions of biblical scenes and saintly people), take away the pews and the altar up at the front... you are left with God's people meeting to worship God together. And when you meet God and God's people in that environment, you experience something that is undoubtedly real rather than constructed. There is something fresh and honest about the encounter with God and fellowship with God's people.
Different church buildings are suited to different churches, and different churches are suited to different people. There are also different seasons in life that we all go through, during which a different church environment may be more conducive for spiritual renewal and growth. In the end, what matters is a space which facilities our communion with God and God's people and building of those relationships, wherever that place may be.
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