monday memento #3

Babywearing at IKEA. :)

xoxo

ramadhan 1433H

Salam Ramadhan everyone ! 

Happy fasting !

Let's fill this holy month with good deeds and thoughts.

May Allah's blessings be with all of us. Ameen. :)

xoxo

dian khayla - 10 months progress report

I missed out on Dian Khayla's 9 months' milestones update ! Been so busy lah.

My 11 month old darling. :)

Anywayyy, here is Khayla's progress thus far:

• Has 7 teeth now
• Can hold her own sippy cup and milk bottle and drink from them
• Can point to things that she wants
• Can point to people, indicating that she wants to be carried
• Gets upset when she doesn't get what she wants
• Uses her pincer grasps to put food and other objects in her mouth
• Can open bags/boxes and pull stuff out
• Says "daa/taa" (I think it means "nah")when she wants to pass things to others
• Calls everyone "eh".
• Can identify her Ayah, Mummy and Atuk by looking at them, when asked, "Where's Ayah/Atuk/Mummy?".
• Can understand the word 'no'.
• Will respond to, "Khayla nak mamam ?" with "Am, am, mmm" and gets really excited when it's feeding time.
• Will eat anything we feed her, except sour food like yogurt or kiwi. She loves cheese. That's my girl !
• Will put her head to our cheeks when we tell her to, "Sayang Mummy/Ayah/Atuk/(insert name here)." 
• Slowly warms up to strangers, Alhamdulillah.
• Loves to smack Mummy and Ayah in the face, and thinks it's funny
• Loves to put her hands in Mummy & Ayah's mouths (Mummy doesn't encourage this !)
• Enjoys playing with water.
• Doesn't like to brush her upper teeth. She'll make a fuss and bite her toothbrush. How lah like this ??
• Will bounce up and down and move her head to music.

"This is the correct way to brush teeth lah Mummy !" *chew chew chew*

Below is a poor quality video of Khayla exhibiting her love to a teddy bear while we were in Batu Pahat. :)

I looked at my baby the other day and realized she is looking more like a little person than a baby ! Hehe. 

xoxo

the last weekend before ramadhan

Our last weekend before Ramadhan was packed with activities with family and friends.

Last Sunday was Diana's son, Harith's 1st birthday and he had his birthday party the day before. The theme was animal/safari, so I dressed Dian Khayla up in a giraffe patterned romper. Hehe. I couldn't find an animal print top for Mr. Sunshine and I in my closet. I thought of buying a new blouse but Mr. Sunshine was against buying something new JUST for the party (Khayla's outfit was an exception), so we wore what we had.

Khayla in her giraffe patterned romper.

Harith was dressed up in a tiger outfit, he was sooo adorable !

The birthday boy with his dad, Hanan.

The (homemade) food were delicious and even Khayla got to enjoy a few bites of the yummy rainbow cake.
She took quite awhile to warm up to the other kids, but she eventually did crawl to where they were all playing.

Yummy rainbow cake !

Besties. :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARITH !! :D

Mr. Sunshine and I still haven't decided whether we want to have a party for Khayla's first birthday.
Our initial agreement was to buy a cake, dress Khayla up, recite a doa, sing Happy Birthday to her and snap happy pictures. You know, just for immediate family members. I would love to organize a party when she's a bit older and has friends I can invite to play and really enjoy the party with her. InshaAllah.
I also have plans of buying one cake and packing some goodie bags for the kids at Khayla's nursery. InshaAllah.

On Sunday, we met my sisters in-law for brunch at TGIF, The Curve. It was a treat from Mr. Sunshine. Thank you, love ! Khayla was surprisingly very friendly with her aunties, especially when they had food in front of them. This is  good progress. Hehe.

FYI, Khayla LOVES food, she'll eat when it's her mealtime but would still crawl up to anyone who has food in their hands. Hehe. I wonder who she got that trait from..... hahaha.

After a bit of shopping, Mr. Sunshine and I drove back home to pick up Marc and we headed to UMMC to visit baby Rauf. Rauf is my cousin, Faizal's one month old son who was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease, truncus arteriosus since birth. He will be transferred to IJN soon for an operation. From what I've learned, he will needing a few more surgeries throughout his life. Poor baby. :''''''''''(

1 month old baby Rauf.

Rauf was asleep the whole time we were there. He looked exactly like his father ! Hehe.
According to Dee (the mother), he is otherwise a very active baby boy and is feeding well (they're feeding him through a tube to avoid the exhaustion when feeding). Alhamdulillah. May Allah give Dee and Faizal the strength to get through this, and May Allah protect little Rauf. Ameen.

Marc treated the whole family to some delicious steak that night. It was a belated treat for Lene's 21st birthday which was in early July.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARLENE !! I'm your sister so I have to be in all your pictures. Hah.

Om nom nom nom nom. Khay;a was sweating from all the eating. Haha.

Marc & Lene. :)

That pretty much sums up our weekend. Can't wait for Ramadhan ! :)


xoxo

khayla's hfmd chronicles.

Day 1 (Friday, 29/06/2012)
1400 hours - I received a phone call from the nursery, telling me that Khayla was having high grade fever. I rushed home to pick her up. She was bloated because she refused to eat the whole morning.

1900 hours - Her fever subsided after we inserted a Paracetamol suppository.

2130 hours - Tried to put Khayla to sleep but she would only go to bed for 5-10 minutes and then wake up crying as if she was in pain. This happened all through the night ! We noticed that she was drooling and teething, so we assumed it was teething pain. I had my doubts because we've been through teething before, and it was never that bad.

Day 2 (Saturday, 30/06/2012)
0400 hours - We decided to bring her to Selayang hospital to check if there was anything wrong with her. At the hospital, her temperature was 37.7 degrees. The doctor sent us home claiming there was nothing wrong with my baby (and that "Mak dia yang risau je ni.").

0600 hours - Khayla was still waking up crying every 5- 10 minutes. She refused to anything the whole day, she would cry everytime I tried to put food in her mouth. Her lips were swollen and she was drooling excessively. I also noticed red spots on her lips that day. she wouldn't finish her bottle of milk. We gave her Paracetamol syrup every 6 hours to help ease her pain but it didn't seem to work. Saw tiny red spots (like petechia) all over her calves and thighs and arms.

2130 hours - Tried to put her to bed but the same thing happened, she would still sleep for 5-10 minutes and wake up crying.

Day 3 (Sunday, 01/07/2012)

1500 hours - Khayla still wasn't accepting solids, and only drank very little milk. Mr. Sunshine noticed white spots on her lower lip. We decided to bring her to a paediatrician. Unfortunately, the paediatric clinic (Klinik Pakar Kanak-Kanak Putra, Sungai Buloh) we wanted to go to was closed that evening, so we took her to the nearest hospital, which was Hospital Sungai Buloh.

1930 - Doctor examined Khayla's spots and ulcers on lips, and was certain it wasn't HFMD, he took a blood test to check whether it was a bacterial infection. Blood test came out normal and we were sent home with an antibiotic cream to apply on her body along with Vaseline to apply on her lips.
I refused to use both medications.

2130 hours - Khayla still had trouble sleeping, and was still in pain.

Day 4 (Monday, 2/7/2012)

0600 hours - Noticed that the spots on Khayla's legs and arms were lesser. Lips were still red, swollen with ulcers.

0900 hours - Brought her to Klinik Pakar Kanak-Kanak Putra in Sungai Buloh. The paediatrician took one look at Khayla's big toe and told me it was HFMD. Hmm. "This is a classic sign of foot & mouth," she told Mr. Sunshine and I. She examined Khayla's buttocks & genital areas & also her mouth. Her mouth was filled with red ulcers ! My poor Khayla, Mummy's terribly sorry for not noticing all those red spots IN your mouth. *nangis*
The paediatrician told us that Khayla must have been in tremendous pain before this, and after three days, a babies body will start generating antibodies to fight the Coxsackie virus. Isk isk.
She was prescribed with Diclofenac Sodium suppositories and Xylocaine drops to numb her mouth area so that she could feed easily.
She recommended that we feed her with cold liquids or vanilla ice cream to soothe her ulcers.

Day 5 to 8 (Tuesday to Friday) - Stayed at home to take care of Khayla. She would eat in small amounts. However, she finished a bowl of rice porridge on Thursday, woohoo ! Slept well starting Wednesday night, Alhamdulillah. No more spots and ulcers.

Sad to say, I did not get to snap any photos of Khayla's spots or ulcers as I was too busy attending to her.

Alhamdulillah, my baby is now well. She is still drooling (significantly lesser than before), but that's because she's teething. My baby's getting her molars !

A few HFMD tips that I can hand out:

• Once your child has contracted HFMD, there's nothing you can do but be there for him/her. Baby will be very clingy and restless. You will lose sleep and be exhausted. You've gotta be patient. 
• The sores can be extremely painful, so for mothers who do not like the idea of giving your baby painkillers, please, please reconsider your options ! But only do so under a doctor's recommendation, ok ?
• Your baby will have trouble feeding but make sure to keep them hydrated with lots of liquids because the major complication of HFMD is dehydration. Don't worry so much about wanting them to finish that bowl of pasta you made. Make sure to check their nappies (babies should wet their nappies at least every 6- 8 hours)
• And lastly, it might be a good idea to bring your baby straight to a Paediatrician when you sense that something's not right, rather than waste your time and energy bringing them to see inexperienced HOs and MOs.


Hah.


Ok bye.

UPDATE: Khayla did not get the virus from her nursery because appatently no other child there had similar symptoms, so she either got it from home or from the hospital when she was admitted.

xoxo

khayla's first hospital admission.

It all started two weekends ago, on a Saturday, after we came back from Melaka for a wedding. I felt that Khayla was a bit warm that evening, so I assumed she was getting a fever. Mr. Sunshine hugged her and she immediately fell asleep in his arms. When she woke up, I held her in my arms and felt that her body was getting hotter. I checked her temperature and it was 37.7 degrees Celcius. Although it wasn't that high, she was unusually weak and pale, refused to drink milk and wasn't playing around like her usual self. She was just clinging to me. I decided to give her a dose of Paracetamol syrup and bathe her.

When I put her into her tub, she starting shivering like nobody's business. Lene & I actually teared up because we had never seen her like that. She didn't stop shivering while I was dressing her up. I took a damp towel and dabbed her head and body in an effort to bring down her temperature. I tried talking to her and calling out her name, but there she was, clinging to me and staring into blank space. I knew something wasn't right so I woke Mr. Sunshine from his nap. My exact words to him were, "Ayang, kenapa Khayla lemah semacam je ni ??."

Suddenly, her eyeballs were rolling up, and her hands were curled up and stiff, fists clenched, and she was shaking vigorously. It took me a few seconds to register that she was having a seizure !
I PANICKED.
I passed her to Mr. Sunshine, put on my tudung and took a damp cloth with me. Lene drove (like a pro) us to the nearest medical centre, which was Gombak Medical Centre. In the car, she was still having convulsions and was not responding to anyone. Imagine the state of panic we were all in at the time !
I found a mineral water bottle and passed it to Mr. Sunshine and told him to pour the water on her (I soon learned that it wasn't the right thing to do at the time). It was then that we heard her voice, so we knew she was awake. Her fit lasted for about 5 agonizing minutes.
At the medical centre, her temperature was 39.7 degrees, and she was shivering because the nurses stripped her to her diaper and were sponging her body. We were told to bring her to a hospital for further assessment.

We brought her to Selayang Hospital, she was groggy and unresponsive along the way. Her temperature was 39.8 degrees Celcius at the emergency department. They took her blood to determine the source of fever and to rule out meningitis. Her white blood cells were slightly elevated (usually a sign of presence of an infection) but the doctor told me she didn't think it was meningitis or any infections of the brain. Khayla had to be admitted for monitoring purposes.

All of this happened within TWO HOURS !

Her temperature was still high throughout the first night but subsided the following Sunday morning. Alhamdulillah, she was slowly going back to being her old self that day. Alhamdulillah she did not have any subsequent fits. But since she already has history, there is a chance that it will occur again so Mr. Sunshine and I have to be really careful whenever she has a fever. Khayla was discharged on Monday. Her diagnosis was simple febrile seizure secondary to viral fever.

What are febrile seizures/fits ?

Simple febrile seizures are caused by fever in a child aged 6 months to 5 years. The single seizure is generalized and lasts less than 15 minutes. The child is otherwise neurologically healthy. Fever (and seizure) is not caused by illnesses affecting the brain.
Complex febrile seizures are usually prolonged (more than 15 minutes), or multiple seizures occur in close succession. 
Symptomatic febrile seizures occur in a child who has a preexisting neurological abnormality or acute illness.  Source.

Symptoms are uprolling of the eyeballs and/or shaking and jerking of the limbs and/or body stiffness.

From what I learned from the doctors in Selayang hospital, one-third of children who have febrile seizure will have another one, and about 50% of those will have a third. Isk isk. I also found out that parents who have had febrile seizures when they were a kid are likely to pass it on to their kids. Mr. Sunshine had three episodes of febrile seizures when he was a kid !

And now here's the important bit, what you should do when your child has a febrile seizure ?

1. DON'T PANIC ! These were the first words in the pamphlet I received from Selayang Hospital. Easier said than done !

2. Quickly place him on his side, away from hard objects. Gently turn his head to one side so he won't choke if he vomits. 

3. Make sure he doesn't have anything in his mouth, and don't put anything in his mouth while the seizure lasts.

4. Keep track of how long the seizure lasts (and try to remember !). If it goes on for longer than three minutes, bring him to the hospital.

5. If your child has difficulty breathing, if he's choking, or if his skin turns blue, bring him to the hospital immediately !

6. If it was your child's first episode - no matter how short it was - bring him to the hospital. This is to make sure he doesn't have a serious infection or other problem that caused the fever.

7. Don't try to lower your child's fever during a seizure by giving him medication, putting him in cool water, or sponging him off. Oooops.  Source

I pray that nothing like this will ever happen again, but if it does, I need to learn to stay calm !

I shall write about Khayla's experience with the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) when I have spare time.

Goodnight all.
Assalamu'alaikum. :)

xoxo

from febrile fits to painful sores.

Hi all.
It has been ages, hasn't it ?
This is just a short update to let you all know that I am preoccupied with nursing my baby back to good health after being diagnosed with (the painful) Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease over the weekend. This is just a week after she was hospitalized for two nights due to an episode of febrile fit. :'''''''''''''(

I've  really got my hands full right now, poor baby has been in tremendous pain and hasn't been eating because of the ulcers in her mouth.

Please pray for her speedy recovery.
Ameen.

Thanks all.
Bye.

xoxo