before and after

rafael should have had his MMR shot last month when he turned one-year-old. but at that time we were not sure whether rafael had any blood transmission during his surgery plus he fell sick in the past few weeks, we needed to wait for the injection until yesterday.

little rafa was in good mood though got no idea why i dressed him up after lunch.


he lingered around in the clinic, still didn't know what would happen soon...


he even enjoyed his afternoon tea (a teething biscuit) at the clinic


he did feel something wrong when i stepped inside the injection room as he saw the nurse holding a needle... he bursted into tears and yelled and shouted and bawled and wailed and struggled crazily while having the shot. i tried to capture his crying face but amazingly he stopped crying right after we left the room : P


as i needed to help hold rafael tightly during the injection, little rafa must have thought i was the nurse's accomplice... he refused to talk to me after returning home! poor daddy...

6th-month check-up

rafael had his 6th-month check-up today. he passed all the tests to grab the rattle, stand a bit and sit a bit. and updated were his growth statistics:

weight: 7.8 kg (a little more than 17 lbs)

length: 68 cm

little rafa had been able to sleep till nearly 6 for quite sometime already, but these 2 weeks, he's waking up like at least twice in the middle of the night! that drove us kind of crazy and we thought that might be because he was used to me sleeping next to him during the hospital stay, or that he might be hungry (since my milk supply has dropped quite a bit after the hospital stay), or maybe his gums are sore because of teething. and today when we shared this at the talk at the maternal and child care centre, we're surprised to hear that most babies attending the talk (also 6 months) are behaving in the same way! one of the babies even wakes up every hour! the nurse explained that older babies might easily wake up when they dream (nightmares?), pee, or are too excited because of their activities during the day. the nurse said that the situation will improve when they get older, like 1 year old...

now, don't tell me there're still 6 months to go on like this, daddy and i are nearly dozing off in the office every afternoon already!

4 months' check-up

it's time for rafa's 4-month check up and here are his latest growth statistics:

head circumference: 41.4 cm

weight: 7.04 kg (about 15.5 lbs)
length: the nurse refused to measure it for us, saying that length measurements are not needed for 4-month-olds. (unofficial measurement done by us last night: 65 cm)

a visit to the maternal and child care centre is always accompanied by a visit to the doctor's -- for vaccinations! so that's another $1,960 gone for the vaccines. one of the patients (or grandma of a baby patient?) saw me pay and was pretty astonished, "wow is it so expensive?". rafael cried as usual, but babies forget so fast that he actually came home smiling.

3 months' measurement

went to the maternal and child health centre for a check-up today and have rafael's measurements updated:

weight: 6.33 kg (nearly 14 pounds)
length: 59.5 cm

a tough day!

we took rafael to the maternal and child care centre for a check-up this afternoon. he was still a happy boy on the way and even laughed when i put him in his car-seat (yes yes, i think it's his first laugh! it's not only smile now and he actually made a sound!). well he didn't know what lies ahead of him! cause it's not only a check-up baby, you know what, afterwards we're going to bring you to the paediatrician for vaccination too!

so rafael finally had one 5-in-1 shot + one 肺炎鏈球菌 shot + one oral dose of 輪狀病毒 vaccine all in one day. don't you think it's a bit tough for a 9-week-old baby? well, it's tough on us too! $1940 taken out of our pocket!

and here're his growth statistics as at today:

head circumference: 39 cm

length: 56 cm (last time at QMH it was 56.5 cm??!)

weight: 5.81 kg (+2.72 kg since birth)

6 weeks' check-up

rafael turned 6 weeks yesterday and we went to queen mary hospital for a check-up with rafael today. updated are his growth statistics:

head circumference: 38 cm
length: 56.5 cm
weight: 5.03 kg (about 11 lbs)

with this little guy getting heavier and heavier, i'm sure mac and i got enough exercise for our biceps carrying him around each day : P

one month

baby rafael turns one month today! we went to the maternal and child health centre this morning and he weighs 4.35 kg now (a 1.26 kg gain since his birth), that's a little more than 9.5 lbs, not bad for a breastfed baby huh?

he had his second dose of hepatitis b vaccine today and he cried for less than 1 minute after the shot. what a tough boy! :)

btw i really like this pic of mac and rafa, mac looks so contented with little rafael in his arms and rafa looks so comfy being held by daddy!

i've gained some weight!

rafael made his second visit to the maternal and child health centre today and he now weighs 3.67 kg, which means he gained 0.31 kg in the last week! the nurse said that this is very satisfactory as he would have reached the standard if he had gained 0.125 kg.

it's really a relief to me, as rafael has been feeding exclusively on breastmilk over the last week (except for one formula feed as i had to be away to do my postnatal check-up and didn't have time to pump milk for him). it's really reassuring to know that he has taken enough with my milk.

first visit to MCHC

day 9 - rafael made his first visit to the maternal and child health centre today! he weighed 3.36 kg now, 0.27 kg up from his birth weight! i have been breastfeeding exclusively since he was discharged yesterday, and hope he will still gain weight as much! : )