Monthly Archives: October 2008

October 20th, 2008
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Pee Still Smells Foul A Little

Baby C’s pee still smells a little foul today… and looks yellowish too on her diaper.  Today I collected her pee in a specimen bottle to have an inspection myself and as I had expected, the pee looks a tad cloudy and there were tiny particles floating inside too 🙁 

I made a call to my nephrologist and she said to bring Baby C in to have her pee collected via catheterization.  Urine collected via catheterization does not get contaminated as it’s directly from the ureter.  Baby C has been purging for the past 3 days and her diaper area is really red and sore.  This could be the cause of the urine infection (if indeed there is any)…. but it’s still a case of the chicken or the egg.  The infection could be caused by the poo or the purging could have been caused by the infection.  The best is to do a urine culture test today to decide the next course of action.  If indeed there’s an infection, my poor baby would have to be given painful intra-muscular antibiotics jabs again for several days 🙁 

Dear God, whatever it is, just remove all the pain, discomforts and torture that are bound to be inflicted on my poor baby….amen!

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Cassandra, Kidney Reflux, Urinary Tract Infection
October 19th, 2008
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My Nose Playing Tricks On Me Or Is There Bacteria In The Pee Again?

I don’t know if my nose is playing tricks on me. Yesterday morning at around 4am, Baby C’s soiled diaper smelled a tad foul. At 6am when I changed it again, it smelled a little foul too. And so for the whole of yesterday, I was obsessed with changing her diaper and sniffing the soiled diapers. I also collected her urine in a specimen bottle to inspect it myself. It looks rather clear but there were some particles floating inside. Our doctor did tell us that it’s not unusual to see floating particles inside the pee as these could be the tissue from the lining of the bladder or some skin cells. This morning at around 4am, the pee didn’t smell that foul but at 6am, it smelled like how it was yesterday. Oh gawd, this diaper sniffing routine is really driving me nuts and causing me panick attacks.

My appointment with the pediatric surgeon is end of October. He said we only need to send the pee for another culture sometime end October. I am so paranoid now. I think I will send the pee for a test tomorrow. Having a baby with Grade III Kidney Reflux is like having a time-bomb for it will blow up anytime, i.e. when bacteria is detected in the pee…. and it’s causing me much mental and physical stress.

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Baby Care, Kidney Reflux, Urinary Tract Infection
October 17th, 2008
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More Biscuits Contaminated With Melamine

I got a shock when I read this from the newspapers this morning : 

PUTRAJAYA: Eighteen types of biscuits bearing the Khong Guan and Khian Guan brands have been found to contain excessive levels of melamine.

Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the contamination is from the raising agent ammonium bicarbonate from China which was used to produce the biscuits.

As a result, Liow said, ammonium bicarbonate from China was now banned. Ammonium bicarbonate from other countries would be taken for tests.

“Results from our tests found that the melamine level in the ammonium carbonate used for Khong Guan and Khian Guan biscuits is 33.4ppm and 508ppm respectively,” he told a press conference on Thursday.

The permissible level of melamine is 2.5 parts per million (ppm).
He said 18 out of 47 products had been found with excessive levels of melamine and the manufacturer has been instructed to recall them.

“We have also requested that they voluntarily recall the rest of their products,” he said.

“All factories that use ammonium bicarbonate from China will have their products tested. We will test all biscuits in the country,” he said.

Earlier, the ministry had found Ego White Rabbit Creamy Candy and Taro brand biscuit by Bairong to contain excessive levels of melamine and ordered that the products be withdrawn.

He said the ministry was checking Julie’s Crackers and Mali unsweetened condensed milk which was reported in the media to contain excessive levels of melamine.

Liow said consumers could contact the Food Services and Quality division at 03-8883 3655/3503/3652/3500 for information.

Khong Guan Sdn Bhd and Khian Guan Biscuit Manufacturing Company Sdn Bhd, in a joint statement, said they would fully cooperate with the ministry and would ensure that the products were recalled quickly.

The two companies said they have ceased using ammonium bicarbonate from China and had switched to those sourced from other countries.

“Khian Guan and Khong Guan have never used any dairy ingredients of Chinese origin in our products. All our dairy ingredients are sourced from either Australia or New Zealand,” they added.

I am shocked because many of the biscuits listed as tainted were the ones that I used to eat, my 2 older gals too! The baby fish biscuit, animal shaped biscuits and biskut rokok (biscuits in the shape of mini cigarattes) are my gals’ favorite and they were still eating them several weeks ago. I threw all their biscuits away recently after the melamine scare. Khong Guan is also one of the brands that we used to buy for biscuits. I just hope that the biscuits that Aly and Sher have been eating were not tainted with melamine.

So what is safe to eat now you tell me?  The culprit this time is ammonium bicarbonate (raising powder) imported from China and almost all snacks have raising powder – biscuits, cakes, etc.  My relative told me last week that yeast imported from China was also found to be tainted with melamine.  Now almost everything that I eat daily have yeast in them – bread, Chinese muffin (fatt koa), some kuihs, etc.  So if we can’t biscuits, cakes, bread, buns, pastries, milk, yoghurt, what else can we eat? 

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News
October 16th, 2008
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What Makes My Day

When there is no foul smell in Baby C’s soiled diaper each time I smell it,

When Baby C’s pee does not look yellowish on her diaper,

When our doctor tells us that Baby C’s condition is under control,

When I see that Baby C’s pee is clear in the specimen bottle,

When I see how well Baby C progresses in her mental and physical developments everyday. My hope is that the  antibiotics that she’s taking everyday will not thwart her mental and physical developments.

When my 3 precious angels are in good health,

When Sherilyn does not throw into a fits of rage and bawl for no reason,

When Alycia and Sherilyn are obedient,

When Alycia can read her books,

When Alycia and Sherilyn tell me that they love me.

When Alycia or Sherilyn run to my room just before they sleep to tell me “goodnight, I love you mummy”

When there are opps for me from advertisers.  Well, that’s not so important to me anymore, but an opp a day would still make my day *greedy*.  Opps or no opps is secondary now. What’s most important is that my 3 angels are in the pinkest of health everyday.

These are what make my day. What makes your day?

Here are some pix of Baby C crawling to reach out for :

…. the wheels of the crib…. and then to lick it, oh gawd, yucky and dirty! She seems to be obsessed with wheels….


Notice the small brown patch on the terrazzo floor? Baby C is obsessed with touching it. She thinks it is an object and would keep scratching it with her fingers… and licking it too….

and she’s also obsessed with mah mah’s lazy chair legs.  She keeps touching it and licking it too…. oh my, this baby loves putting everything she sees into her mouth now.

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My 3 daughters
October 15th, 2008
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Baby C’s Daily Feeding Schedule

I mentioned earlier that I will blog about Baby C’s daily feeding schedule.  Well here goes :

My day with Baby C starts at around 8-8:30am. When Baby C wakes up, I will feed her 2.5ml of Bio-Strath, mixed with apple and cranberry juice. I used to give her organic pure Cranberry juice but it’s so terribly sour that she’d puke and shiver each time she drinks that yucky stuff.  I’d searched many organic shops for a cranberry juice that is mixed with some other sweeter fruits but couldn’t find any.  I finally found one which tastes good. It is unsweetened and is a mixture of apple juice and cranberry juice by Marigold.   She swallows this Bio-Strath+apple juice+cranberry juice (total of 5ml) with another 5ml of plain water. I have to feed her this Bio-Strath herbal supplement on an empty stomach so that she will not puke (it tastes yucky too) and the body absorbs the nutrients better on an empty stomach.

9:30 or 10am – breastmilk, then nap for 30 mins to an hour. Sometimes she will not nap.  If she does not nap, I will flash some cards (homemade words cards and picture cards) to her whilst I eat my breakfast.

11am – bath time

11:30am – breastmilk.  Don’t know how much she drinks coz it’s direct sucking.  If she doesn’t nap at 10am, she will take an hour nap at around 11:30am.

12 noon – a few teaspoons of barley water or plain water

1:30pm or 2pm – breastmilk, then a short nap

3pm – About 5ml of freshly grated apple or pear juice with 1 capsule of probiotics. Another 5ml of plain water or barley water to wash down the yucky powdery stuff down her throat.  Will flash cards to her as I feed her.  She seems to enjoy looking at those cards.

3:30pm – Breastmilk

4pm – a few teaspoons of barley water or plain water

5pm – Breastmilk and short nap of about 30 mins

6pm – 2.5ml of Bio-Strath with 2.5ml of apple juice and cranberry juice. Another 5ml of plain water.

6:30pm – bath

7pm – Breastmilk. Sometimes will take a cat nap.

8:30pm – 1.5ml of antibiotics with 5ml of water

9:30 or 10pm – suckles my teats to sleep….

12 or 1am – breastmilk

3am or 4am – breastmilk

6am – breastmilk

In between all the feeding, I have to change her diaper every 1 – 2 hourly.  On the advise of our nephrologist, her diaper is to be changed as soon as it is wet, to prevent bacteria from proliferating in the damp diaper.  I also have to break my back washing her bum each time she poos and also every 2 hourly to keep her diaper area clean and hopefully, free from bacteria. 

Twice a week, I need to collect her urine to inspect it myself.  If the pee looks clear and not cloudy, I can breathe a sigh of relief.  If it looks cloudy and smells foul, I have to collect another round of pee to be sent to the hospital for a urine culture.  Collecting her pee is another back-breaking chore which involves tons of patience and time.  Once every fortnight, I have to collect her pee to be sent to the hospital for a urine culture to see if there’s any bacteria in the pee.

In between caring for this high-needs baby, I still have to care for Alycia and Sherilyn, coach Alycia in her homework, read to her and entertain Sher’s whimps and fancies and daily meltdowns.  By 9pm I will be so darn exhausted, with my body half battered and back which feels like it is going to break anytime, I would doze off within minutes when I nurse Baby C and put her to sleep.  Most times, I would knock off before she does.  That’s motherhood…. and it is a darn tough job, a labor of love.

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Cassandra, Kidney Reflux, Supplements for Babies, Urinary Tract Infection
October 14th, 2008
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Wrist Band To Prevent Morning Sickness

What and who prompted me to write this post is my good friend, Miche. I was just Google chatting with her and she was telling me that her morning sickness for this pregnancy is terrible. She thought this would be an easy pregnancy too as she did not suffer from any morning sickness during her previous 3 pregnancies. But she was wrong. I told her to get a wrist band or a travel band. I wore it for all 3 of my pregnancies and it did help alleviate the nauseous feeling, though not completely.

The morning sickness that I suffered when I was carrying Alycia, my first child was terrible.  The nauseous feeling was exacerbated by the loads of hormone pills that I consumed, to sustain the pregnancy.  It was so terrible that I could not stand the smell of food, especially the smell of garlic and fish.   The sight of food would make me wanna puke. I could not even watch cook shows on TV. Whenever my mil cooked and watched cook shows on TV, I would go upstairs to my room, draw up the curtains to avoid the sun and  hibernate!  Even the feeling of the sun on my skin made me feel nauseous.  I also could not stand the smell of the softener, Softlan and up until today, whenever I smell Softlan, I would still feel nauseated as the smell is still etched in my nostrils and my mind…. and the irony is that before I became pregnant, I used to love the smell of Softlan!

When anti-vomiting pills that my gynae prescribed did not help much, I found out about the wrist band after searching the internet for a remedy for my severe morning sickness.  My hubby bought me one and after I had tried it and experienced a reduction in the nauseous feeling, I told him to get me another one. I wore it everyday for almost 2 months, until the morning sickness subsided after the 14th week.


TRAVELBAND, when properly worn, applies continuous and gentle pressure on the P6 meridian point, or Nei-Kuan point, on each wrist. See drawing above for the proper location of the P6 point.

Pictures taken from TravelBand.com

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Pregnancy Problems - morning sickness
October 13th, 2008
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A Handful Of Walnuts A Day

As Baby C is still exclusively breastfed, I try to include as much DHA and Omega 3 rich food in my diet everyday. I pop 1-2 fish oil capsules a day, eat an Omega enriched egg or free-range chicken egg a day, try to eat fish as often as I can, eat flaxseed powder and eat a handful of raw walnuts, raw almonds and pumpkin seeds almost everyday.

Food For Better Thought
Do you know that walnuts is known as a “brain food,” not only because of the wrinkled brain-like appearance of their shells, but because of their high concentration of omega-3 fats? Your brain is more than 60% structural fat. For your brain cells to function properly, this structural fat needs to be primarily the omega-3 fats found in walnuts, flaxseed and cold-water fish.

Do you also know that walnuts is an important part of the Mediterranean diet, providing numerous health benefits? Walnuts, unlike olive oil and other nuts, contain significant amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids, specifically alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an essential plant-based omega-3. To read more about the health benefits of walnuts, click here.

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Healthy Food
October 11th, 2008
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5 Year Old And Had Undergone Close To 10 Surgeries!

Whilst I was waiting to see Baby C’s pediatric surgeon yesterday, I saw a mother sitting on a wheelchair, also waiting outside our doctor’s office.  On her lap was her 5-year old son, with a urine bag attached to his bottom,  hanging on the wheelchair.  When the lady saw me and Baby C, she smiled at me and commented how cute Baby C was and as usual, commented on how much hair Baby C has.  I always get this comment from strangers about Baby C’s thick hair.  I then struck a conversation with her. 

I learnt that her son had just undergone a surgery, his second surgery in 1 week and he has had undergone almost 10 surgeries since he was 1 year old!   Some complications arose after the initial surgery 2 weeks ago and 1 week later, the boy had to operated on again.  The lady told me that though her son is a very tough boy with high pain threshold, he was however very, very traumatized by the 2 most recent surgeries, as the surgeries had to be carried out one after another, in such a short gap.  This cute and handsome little boy has a blockage somewhere in his urinary system and thus, his pee could not come out in full stream each time he pees.  Each time he pees, he would also feel pain.  His first surgery was at 1 yo, second one at 1.5 yo, third surgery at 2 yo, etc, etc. This lady told me that she has to be really strong for her son and has to try not to cry. When everyone in the family was crying, she had to stay strong, hold back her tears, all for her son. My eyes were wet when I heard her story. I tried not to be seen with my eyes wet too. It was such a heartbreaking story.  Even as I am typing this post, I can remember vividly the look on the little boy’s face, hugging his mummy and when he was inside the doctor’s office, I could hear his screams and cries as the doctor cleaned his wound.  When he came out from the doctor’s office, I saw blood everywhere on his clothes.  I pray that this boy does not have to undergo anymore surgeries, ever.

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Et-cetera
October 10th, 2008
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Second Consultation With The Pediatric Surgeon

Today was our second consultation with the pediatric surgeon.  We showed him the urine culture report dated 3rd October, the test of which was done at a hospital nearer to our house.  Looking at the report, which states that there is a scanty growth of E Coli bacteria and a WBC (white blood cells) of 2-4, he told us that the reading is insignificant and thus, is not a UTI.  He is of the opinion that the urine was contaminated, most probably by the bacteria on the labia or the anus.  It is very common for bacteria to be on the outer part of our skin, in fact our skin has bacteria on the surface all the time. Bacteria is everywhere!  He said that urine collected using urine bag or directly from the ureter to the specimen bottle have high chances of being contaminated.  Only ‘clean sample urine’ collected by way of cathether or by way of aspiration from the bladder through a needle (poked on the tummy) give an accurate reading.

We can now cut down the oral antibiotics back to once a day (1.5ml, to be given at night). Yay…. this means one less back-breaking chore for me.  I tell you, feeding Baby C antibiotics and her yucky tasting health supplements ain’t no easy task.  Carrying a near 7kg weight with one hand and feeding her with my other hand whilst walking round the house and garden, sometimes dancing with her is a real back-breaking and hand-numbing chore…. a labor of love, only a mother would do…. and I have to do it 4 times a day, everyday for the next few months or years and only God will know when I can be relieved of doing this back-breaking chore.

On his advise, I have been feeding Baby C antibiotics twice a day for the past 2 weeks. The surgeon told us not to be overly anxious and stress ourselves up by sending Baby C’s urine to be tested once a week. He advised us that the urine only needs to be tested once every fortnight and if the next urine culture test shows a similar reading in 2 weeks’ time, the urine needs to be tested only once a month.

When asked whether Baby C needs surgery, we were told that only time can tell.  Babies with a Grade III Kidney Reflux only has a 50-50 chance of the reflux resolving spontaneously / by itself.  Well, I guess only divine intervention is all I need now.

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Cassandra, Kidney Reflux, Urinary Tract Infection
October 9th, 2008
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Baby Hiccups = Poo Poo

Though I have 3 kids, it was only after I had Baby C that I found out that when a baby hiccups, this means that a poo poo is bound to follow suit.  It was my confinement lady who told me this.  I didn’t believe her but now, I swear by this cue.  Each time Baby C hiccups, a poo poo is sure to follow and this happens 9 out of 10 times.  Sometimes the hiccup will only come after the poop arrives.  Many people say feed your baby with water when she has a hiccup, but for me, I would say get ready a towel and a fresh diaper! 

Do you see this phenomenon happening in your baby too?

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Baby Care, Cassandra
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