Short Getaway to Bangkok... Kids-Free!

Clem and I hardly have our couple trips since the kiddies came along. Just twice. Once to Bali when Cavan was 4 months old. Another time at LoveStory Retreat at Austin Hill when Cavan was 2.5 years old, when I was preg with Verity at 7 months.

During CNY, Jeslin broached the subject about going on a kids-free trip. It sounded very appealing to me. I was very tired since I started work after 2 months of maternity leave. My life revolved around the baby and breastfeeding. Felt i needed a break. But I also had logistics concerns.

I was still breastfeeding Vesper. Ok, I'm a breastmilk Nazi. I don't want to put Vesper on formula. Moreover, she was used to sleeping with us. At night, when she was hungry, I just put her to nurse directly. When I'm not around, how is she going to sleep? How to drink? My poor baby!

Nancy was my other concern. How could I abandon her with 3 kids and go gallivanting?

The kids were my final and most important concern. We had never left them behind. Wanna go on a holiday? All go. Never mind the logistics and expenses.

But the trip was really appealing. We decided to go on Fri - Sun. Not too bad. At least if the kids were tired, there was no school. Logistically not too straining on Nancy too.

Before we started booking, i had to make logistics and childcare arrangements. Called my mother-in-law. Asked if she could stay over and sleep with Vesper. Oh, very easy. When Vesper cries in the night, either she needs to drink milk or change nappy.

We didn't mention there were nights she was inconsolable for no particular reasons and cried for hours. Oops.

My mother in law agreed readily. Bravo! Brave soul!

Once this most important arrangement was confirmed, next my father. As we would leave early in the morning at 5+ am, someone needed to help bring the kids to their schoolbus.

No problem, my father said. I'll come over at 6+.

Hurray for supportive parents!

I quickly informed Jeslin and we booked the air tickets and hotel less than 48 hours after our spontaneous discussion. And off we went in a span of 2 weeks.

We parked our car at Billy and Jes', as their place was near the airport, and shared a cab. Off we went!

Hotel
Stayed at SilQ boutique hotel. Nice modern place within walking distance to the MRT. Room felt empty without the kids climbing about.

Massages
For a short 3 day trip, we went for 3 massages. The 1st night, Clem and I went for Thai massage at 11pm. The masseur really worked hard and my bones were cracking. 2nd day, B&J settled for foot massage. Clem and I didn;t like foot massage so we settled for neck, shoulder back. That night, we went for oil massage.

Think I prefer oil (Balinese- style) massage to Thai. More soothing.

Even amidst the shopping, we also stopped by for a short massage. Shiok!

Shopping
I must say the trip was too short! Only managed to go to Siam Centre, Siam Square and Platinum! Didn't shop up a storm.

Also managed to do something I didn't have time for in Singapore - haircut! Cheap and good!

Milk
That's right. I didn't forget my mothering duties even while on a holiday. I pumped when i woke up, pumped after breakfast, after lunch, during mid afternoon, after dinner, before bed. I pumped in toilets for the wheel-chaired. Sorry I know I'm being inconsiderate, but that toilet had baby changing station. So pretend I had a baby with me ok?

Siam Centre had the cleanest toilet. The wheel-chair cubicle in the Ladies had baby changing station so I was able to put my stuff there.

At Platinum, Clem would follow me to the separate toilet. When we emerge, people (esp cleaners in charge of the toilet) would stare at us as if we did something in the toilet. Afterall, we spent almost 30 min there.

I washed my stuff using bottled water. And put the milk in the hotel room's mini fridge. Since it was a short trip, I didn't need to freeze the milk. It was unbelievable I went to this extent.

It was a short trip, an enjoyable one, nonetheless. We said we would not think of the kids too much and not shop for kids stuff. But how to resist?

Little Munchkin

Verity sure likes her food. She started semi solid at 5.5 months. While other babies started their 1st feed experimenting with several small spoons and bits, Verity decided to start with a big bang.

Her first feed was a bowl of porridge. Yes a bowl. Instead of displaying grimaces due to experiencing different textures in her mouth and coming to terms with foreign gooey stuff, she adapted with great (and quick) stride.

She yelled at my mom to quicken the feed. While my mom hurried to scoop the next mouthful, Verity was already yelling for more. So my mom had to feed very fast.

Verity was interested in every single thing we put in our mouth. Now, 1 month into eating, she has tried rice, bananas, pears, ice cream, beancurd, buns, bread, and durians. If we refuse to feed her anything we're eating, she would grimace, pout, shake her fists and stamp her feet.

We are breeding an eating machine.

Guess this can't be helped, since both Clement and I are the buffet-eater type.

Now that foods are more interesting, Verity shows less interest being breastfed. She would get so distracted by her surrounding that it become pointless to breastfeed. Suck suck, turn around, look around. Turn back and suck suck, turn around, look around. I'll keep pushing her face back but the same cycle would occur, as if internally programmed. I figure I should stop battling with breastfeeding and not get too emotional. I come to terms with the fact that I breastfeed as her snack, no longer a staple food.

Eat well, babe!

Airflown Breastmilk

I'd never have thought that I would go this far to still breastfeed Verity (no pun intended). When my boss asked if I wanted to go to Japan for a week-long study mission, she was also concerned cos she knew I was still breastfeeding Verity. Well, I said yes after thinking through. And since I was going there, I thought might as well extend my trip and have a hol. Clem couldn't take leave so I asked Brenda, my all-time travel kaki.

It was only after I started planning that I realised what a huge "project" it would be to still continue to breastfeed Verity. I thought of pumping and dumping while I was there but it suddenly it dawned upon me that Brenda was coming back 1st after one week. So I asked if she was willing to help transport BM back. She agreed. A great pal, she is.

So I started to read up on pumping, packing, transporting and customs regulation. Really got very stressed with all these. Got help and advice from Multiply's Breastfeeding Moms group. With all the info ready, I felt more prepared (although still stressed) about the "project".

Brought styrofoam cooler boxes, reusable dry ice, milk bags, sterilising tablets, rafia strings etc. Had to double the contents since we were sending them back in 2 batches. Even brought along an English-Jap dictionary in case I needed to do some explaining either at the airport or hotel.

During the flight, I pumped in the toilet while everyone was napping to avoid hogging the toilet. And dumped.

After 6.5 hours of flight, I felt full and had to endure another 2 hours of transfer. Brenda and Ruth waited for me for almost 3-4 hours at the airport as theirs was an earlier flight.

Upon reaching the hotel, I had to settle the "adminstration" first. Meaning, needed to check how to store and what resources were available.

I was so glad to see an ice pail in the fridge. This meant there was an ice dispenser somewhere and I went looking for it. It was just along the corridor. So convenient.

After pumping, I kept the milk bag in the pail of ice, washed and sterilised the equipment. I called the front desk to check how I could have access to the freezer. The fridge in the room wasn't cold enough. I found out that I only needed to bring the contents to the front desk and they would keep in the freezer for me.

With all these settled, I felt more at ease and was able to enjoy the rest of the trip.

So began my daily routine. Morning, woke up to express. Deposited the the night before's and morning's product to the front desk. Had to emphasise freezing and immediately. I was given a puzzled look initially but a couple of them recognised me days after.

Twice during the day, I would manually squeeze in public toilets. These would go down the toilet bowls.

With a doubt, this routine was insufficient compared to that I had back home, plus having Verity drain me out throughout the night. The volume had reduced by half by the time 6 days had passed. But definitely better than nothing.

Soon one week's passed and Brenda and Ruth were leaving. Brenda left a corner of her luggage empty just for the box. After packing in the dry ice and milk bags, I attached a note detailing instructions for Clem. I sealed the box carefully and prayed that all would be well. Clem would fetch Brenda from the airport to collect the BM. Haha, sounded like some kind of illegal transaction.

In the afternoon, I received an sms from Brenda. When she was checking in the luggage, the scanner detected dry ice and the officers requested her to open the luggage. Brenda had to explain it was milk for baby and had to claim it was hers. If she had mentioned that it belonged to someone else, they would have demanded she opened the box. So thankful for her smartness. In the end, they poked a few holes in my box.

That night at 3 am, received Brenda's sms that the collection was successful. Heard from Clem also that the milk was still frozen and undestroyed. Now, to wait a few more days for the next news: that Verity was still alright after drinking the milk which meant there was no contamination. I thanked God for the smooth operation.

For the rest of the week, performed the same routine. Had to sleep late and wake up very early (5+am, which was Singapore's 4+am) to express as the group would depart early for the visits to corporations. My supply was running terribly low. Had no choice but to manually express. By the end of 2 days, my breasts were bruised and the skin had come off due to the excessive rubbing and squeezing. But had to carry on. I couldn't just stop there!

Soon it was time to go back home and I collected all my products. To my horror, the staff mistakenly placed one of my milk in the fridge instead of the freezer! In the fridge, it would only be good for 8 days and 6 days had passed.

I showed my very pissed look and refused to leave the counter. The staff apologised profusely but it was not his fault. After I had satisfactorily registered my fury, I left but couldn't helping thinking how that staff had wasted all my efforts even it were 2 packs. Might need to dump those 2 packs if they had turned bad.

Thank God, check-in at airport was smooth. Everything went well all the way home. Felt so assured seeing my bags of milk in the freezer.

Hope I had not been too pre-occupied with BM. Clem said I was too stressed over breastfeeding Verity and encouraged me saying that everyday is considered a bonus so don't get too stressed.

I try not to, but I don't belong to the "New Zealand" species where these mothers get pails of milk with little effort (ok, I'm exaggerating). They run like taps. Me? More like a leaking tap. Only drip, drip, drip. So you can imagine how worse it had become during that 2 weeks.

Now that I'm back, the next mission is to restore my former glory - having more milk so as to fully BF Verity again.

With many prayers and fenugreek supplements.

6th Wedding Anniversary Dinner @ Morton's

A really good excuse for us to get out and have a nice dinner. Clem is into good steak so we thought we'd try Morton's the Steakhouse.

My thoughts kept hinging around our kids and whether there was enough milk to feed Verity back home. Guilt overcame me as I sipped the almond liquer and lychee martini. Come on, Clem goaded, just relax and enjoy our time together. Yeah, he was right, it was our time alone together.

Great to just spend the time chatting and wowing every now and then, like some suaku when the waitress did a menu presentation or brought us our food. Felt like our dating days again.

These days, even when we had our time alone together, it was usually spent speed-shopping, meal-gobbling, grocery-grabbing as we stole 1 or 2 hours away from our kids, cos I would need to go back and breastfeed.

Tonight, just let go. I've stored enough milk for the day.

Our personalised menu (our wedding date is not 23 Nov, but it was indicated as such cos we dined on that day)

Yummy onion and egg loaf. Enough to eat on its own.

Lobster bisque that tasted a bit bitter, probably bcos of the wine

Sauteed wild mushrooms which ended up looking like black fried carrot cake in the photo.

This was actually half a portion of the prime rib. Imagine how big the actual one was. We each took a half. It was cooked so nicely that I even gobbled up the fat which had a nice chewy texture.

Complimentary Morton chocolate cake with Haagen Daz ice cream and card with our photo

Our private corner

Happy 6th year of being married!

the 2-hour window

Breastfeeding has made planners of most (if not all) moms. Especially those who can't stick around at home, like me. I slipped out many times during my confinement. My feet were itching to get out.

Verity demands to be fed every 2 hours and I have yet to introduce the bottle. So I had to plan my excursions, or rather escapades, on 2-hour windows:

Step 1: While travelling, feed. Identify a nursing location at the shopping destination.
Step 2: 2-hour Window. Shop.
Step 3: Feed.
Step 4: 2-hour Window. Shop/ have meal. Identify a nursing location at the next shopping destination.
Step 5: Feed

Repeat the steps till we decide we should head home. Then the next feed would be in the car.

I must thank the support group for advocating breastfeeding in public places. People are more aware and less judgmental of mothers who nurse in public places. (And of course, we should be more discreet and not expose flesh.) I'm not sure whether it's due to increased acceptance, or I've become thick-skinned, but I'm less conscious than during Cavan's time.

So I've breastfed in libraries, food courts and while enjoying my meal. Nothing can stop a mom who can't stay home!