You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2009.
An appointment was set up on 25th May for Anaqi to undergo an echocardiogram at the Cardiac Centre at KKH. After a detailed analysis, it turns out that his PD’s suspicion indeed holds true. Anaqi is diagnosed to have "moderate to large perimembranous ventricular septal defect with inlet extension (VSD), moderate atrial septal defect (ASD), high pulmonary pressure". In short, he has two holes in his heart – one in the upper chambers (atrium) and one (slighter bigger) in the lower chambers (ventricle).
Here’s a detailed graphical representation of ASD, VSD versus the normal heart.
According to KKH website library, the left atrium and ventricle is normally at a highler pressure than the right, so the defects allow blood to flow from the left to the right. Blood is shunted across and re-circulated back to the lungs. The effects of having "extra" blood flowing across into the right atrium/ventricle are:
- ASD – The right-sided upper heart chamber (right atrium) and right-sided lower heart chamber (right ventricle) become dilated to accommodate this extra blood volume.
- VSD – The left-sided upper heart chamber (left atrium) and left-sided lower heart chamber (left ventricle) can become dilated to accommodate the extra blood volume returning from the lungs.
- The lungs becomes more "wet" or even become "flooded" with this extra re-circulated blood.
- The blood pressure in the lungs increases.
The degree at which these effects occur would depend on the size of the ASD/VSD and the amount of blood that is re-circulated back to the lungs. This can range from insignificant to severe.
Here’s a graphical representation of blood flow of a heart with ASD/VSD (courtesy of KKH):
According to the cardiologist who did his scan, this is treatable – so this is good news! Anaqi will need to undergo periodic review to see if, over time, the holes will eventually get smaller, or if otherwise, he may need some medication to "buy time" before he’s ready to undergo surgery.
Let’s all hope for the best for the little one.
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for the congrats and well wishes – it’s nice to hear!
After my two-day stay at East Shore, I was glad to be out of the hospital. I was even more glad that Anaqi was not held up for his mild jaundice as compared to his elder brother almost two years ago.
The first few nights has been pretty tiring, as the bub kept waking up for feed every one to two hours. I was having bad headaches that won’t quit, probably due to the lack of sleep (and engorgement feeding issues). After a while, I began to adapt to my new routine. Feeding became much easier, and late-night cries became a lot less.
Within the first week, Anaqi had two doctors’ appointments – one with Dr Heng (Gynae) on 20th May to check on his jaundice, and another with Dr Low (Pediatric) on 21st May for his overall assessment. It was during the PD check-up that I was told Anaqi had a heart murmur, and was suspected to have a hole in his heart. He wrote a referral letter for an appointment with a heart specialist at KK Hospital on 25th May. The details of that will ensue in my next entry.
As for his jaundice, it remains mild. I continue to sun him every morning and evening (at times even in the afternoon where the light shines directly into our balcony). Now he is one tanned baby! (Thankfully, not fried…) However his eyes still show a tinge of yellow. Hopefully his jaundice will go away soon.
On Day 7, P and I shaved off his hair close to botak (bald). Due to the nature of his hair texture and volume, it’s difficult to get him completely clean-shaven. P calls him little Leonidas (because of Gerard Butler’s hairdo in 300, heh.) Spot the difference?
So far, I noticed the little one has been smiling a lot with gazing eyes, as if responding back to when his name is called. Too cute!
Until more updates…
Shortly after 0600hrs on 14th May 2009, Mirza Anaqi became the newest member of our family. He weighed at 3.225kg and measured at 49cm in length. Even though this was my third labour ordeal, the whole experience did not fall short of being dramatic. So much for the "I-should-be-used-to-it-by-now" mentality.
Me and my newborn, Mirza Anaqi.
I was already having slight contractions throughout Wednesday night. As the frequency was irregular, I simply just ignored them. It was in the wee hours of Thursday morning, around 0115hrs, I was still online checking my emails (even forwarded a Pumpkin Patch Mid Season sale promotion to Liz and Yati), when I felt the contractions were about 10 minutes apart. I thought I’d just shut down my computer, head to bed and try to sleep off the pain, and probably wait till the next morning to go over to the hospital after both Ipul and Misha had headed for school.
Well, I thought wrong! Trying to sleep sucked as I was feeling really uncomfortable. I took a hot shower and felt that I needed to go to the hospital right away. After bath, I woke P up (who apparently had just dozed off while I was showering) and requested him to send me to East Shore. I think it was around 0300hrs at that time (I wasn’t exactly keeping track). The contractions felt even closer now (and a bit unbearable), and we really had no choice but to leave the sleeping kids behind, at home alone, while we zoomed off to the hospital.
As soon as we reached there, I was a little lost because the place is just newly-renovated, and the entrance has been detoured. Ultimately the security guard saw me, and helped to wheel me in on a wheelchair. I was sent straight to the labour ward, as opposed to the previous two experiences where I had to register myself first before being sent to the ward. P made a return trip home in an attempt to send the kids over to my parents’.
In the ward, I had to change to the operating gown while lying down on the delivery bed. The midwife checked me and I was told I was already 8cm dilated, and can deliver about anytime soon. I texted P to ask him to return back to the hospital immediately, after I called and spoke to my dad to help fetch the kids instead. At that time, it was about 0400hrs in the morning.
The midwife did all the prep work – strapped me to check my BP, contraction level, baby’s heart rate, etc. This time, there was no inducing required. I was informed that the baby’s heart rate was pretty low on and off, and warned me against using any form of anesthesia – the gas and/or pethidine drug – as it may put the baby at risk. I was asked only to inhale oxygen to help regulate the baby’s heart rate better. Imagine the pain I had to endure throughout the whole thing!
Baby’s heart rate was low on and off.
Time passed by pretty fast when you’re in pain. After reaching 10cm dilation, Dr Heng (my gynae) eventually arrived, and with the midwife’s "assistance" (I’m not going into much details on that), at 0605hrs, the baby’s finally outside, instead of inside, before you know it! It was all 100% natural! I was of course sore and a bit tired, but recovering well, and very happy to be done with pregnancy.
The baby is indeed adorable and cuddly, and P and I are having a wonderful time getting to know our new son! I will upload more pictures on Flickr, Facebook and Multiply soon.
After much delay, we had Mika’s biometric passport done last week (like finally!). We had been wanting to apply one for him since months ago, but had deferred to get his passport photo done due to our busy schedule.
Can you tell by his distressed look that he doesn’t like to be kept still on a stool having someone take his picture? You can’t believe the number of frames wasted used just to get a (close-to-perfect) photo of this restless boy.
Week 38 already? That’s how fast time flies.
I had my last scan done on Monday (4th May) and my gynae mentioned that the baby’s estimated weight is now 2954g and can grow even more in the next couple of days. At that measurement, the revised due date is now 12th May instead of the original 20th May. But these dates are just mere estimates. It (Labour) can happen anytime now *gasp*, or if it is a repeat case of my second-born, I still have about 3 more weeks to go. And my hospital bag is still half empty!
Now that my maternity leave is in effect, I have more time to make (last minute) preparations. I did a rundown of my ‘what-to-bring-to-the-hospital’ checklist last night, and found that a couple of items are still yet to be bought and packed. Even though I plan to stay for just two days (hopefully no complication arises that require me to extend my hospital stay), my checklist appears to look as though I’m going on a one-week resort vacation (oops). Hey, I can’t live without my SKII toiletriess and Bobbi’s cosmetics, you know… :-p
I’d probably need an additional bag to store my bulky camera, and its charger (in case the battery dies on me). Oh, and mobile phone charger too (need to keep family and friends updated, right?). Um, and separate bags to be packed for Misha, Mika and Ipul to be kept in the car, because the plan is to send them over to my Mom’s for (probably) one-night stay, in case the inevitable happens.
Now I have to figure out how to manage lugging these wherever I go (hmm).
P and I received a last minute invitation to attend a small BBQ affair at East Coast Park organized by our old neighbourhood friends on Labour Day weekend. This was arranged partly to commemorate Airy’s birthday, on top of the get-together we had long-awaited for. I can’t remember when was the last time we actually had a big meet-up – I think it was during our previous BBQ gathering held at West Coast Park about 2 years ago.
The ladies (well, almost) were the ones who kept close to their tents, and lazed around on picnic mats, while the guys were the ones who grilled the food items (and some pretty much get zonked out). The kids had their fair share of barbequeing too, and they seemed to be very excited with their char-broiled product.
Of course, as in any birthday celebration, there would be a ‘sabo’ moment, and the birthday boy was definitely not spared. The birthday cake, which was meant to be cut and shared, were ultimately used as a food fling weapon of choice against the birthday boy himself – all in the name of fun.
Once again, Happy Birthday Airy!
