Sleeping time

I used to dread putting Kaelyn to sleep. Since birth, she is jolly spirit. She eats, drinks, bath ,takes medicine and play without fuss. But when it comes to sleep she is very difficult to put to make her sleep. She used to fuss for half hour to an hour.

So to put her to sleep, I resort to patting her even up to 1 year old. Sometimes I pat her a little hard that I am not sure if she was knocked out or being comforted to sleep. 

Sometimes we resort to tickling her ear...which she loves it so much. 

It actually took me a while to realize that just like anyone else, she probably needs to be flipped side to side to get comfy enough to fall asleep. 

So nowadays after some light play time on bed, when she starts fussing, I put her to her side. If she fusses, I flipped her to the other side. Repeat few times and rinse. 

Every now and then during the night, Kaelyn will cry out. It's her signal to flip her to the other side or on her back. I used to just try to pat her back to sleep. I didn't have the thought that she is tired when sleeping on 1 side. Silly dad. 

Another thing, my helper calls Kaelyn a penguin. She now needs the air condition to sleep well (I know...pampered right?) and while my helper shivers under her blanket, Kaelyn just sleeps, sometimes without her blankie. 

Now to fall asleep quicker, I use a hand fan to provide a light breeze onto her back. She loves it as this additional breeze calms her further and lure her to sleep. Talk about getting a princess treatment...

Parents Appreciation Day

Last Saturday, we were invited to a Parents Appreciation Day. It should be organized by Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore (MDAS) and Rock of Ages Church. A chance to bring Kaelyn out for a spin around her stroller.

The event venue was at the Yishun SAFRA. We had some games and food. It was more like a session for the caregivers and parents to have a little fun. Even my helper got into the act.

Kaelyn here looking not too happy because she couldn't take part? But she was smiling to the aunties and uncles who came up to her. So all is good for her, since she got balloons as well.

We left before the event ended because we didn't bring Kaelyn's feeding pump out and we didn't want her to be off her continuous feed for too long. 

Fun time in the day time. Not so fun at night as Kaelyn didn't have enough nap time.When she does not have enough naps for about 2 days, she gets cranky and develops a slight fever, high heart rate and difficult to sleep. But she calmed down and was back to baseline by the middle of the night. 

2nd Home Care Session (10/05)

10th May was Kaelyn's 2nd home care visit. It was supposed to be a session with 2 other kids. But none of them turned up, so Kaelyn has full attention from the therapists, nurses and doctors.

We got Kaelyn and daddy weighed in too. 9.6kg. Dietitian decided she has put on weight too fast so reduce her milk powder feed by half cap. We feel it in our arms too when we carry her :P

She got her height taken too. 78.5cm. And she is growing fast such that the occupational therapist mentioned that she would probably need a cuddlebug  in few months time.  Oh well let's delay the new stroller for as long as possible. It will be a rather substantial cost :P

Mummy mentioned if she could stand, she would have reached mummy's bum. But maybe if she could stand, probably gravity and weight would not have let her grow as tall as she is now.

We also decided to start the ball rolling for Kaelyn undergo the gastrostomy procedure. 

NOT gastronomy. I wish she could though. Since she has to be on tube feeding for long term (very long), it makes sense to do this and fundoplication by the way to reduce the risk of reflux. But it would be months as she has to undergo appointment with the surgeon and perform some tests before they would go ahead.