Goodnight Ethan

Goodnight Ethan. We love you and think you're the best anniversary present ever. Sweet dreams little one.

Proud Grandparents

Jerry and Pearl with Rare Moment of Ethan Awake

These are the proud grandparents of Ethan. Above are Ivan's parents. Ethan's the first grandchild for Pearl (mum) and the first grandson for Jerry (dad, who has 3 grand-daughters already). Below you can see Renata's parents, Benjamin and Susannah also with their first grandchild. Gosh, Ethan's gonna get doted on. Please pray that he doesn't get spoiled...too much!

Ben and Sue with Ethan Sleeping

Goo Ma

Ethan is being cuddled by Mei the first aunt to see him in the flesh! Ivan's other siblings are overseas so have not seen him yet. Debbie (Di Goo Ma) and Martin (Ah Bak) will be in Singapore soon.

Reaching Out

This photo was taken at 7.20am yesterday just after Ethan was born. You can see his cord clamp and where Ivan cut the cord. He had a good healthy cry when he came out. Funny thing was that during the birth he stuck out his hand as his head was coming out. It looked like he did one breaststroke then his shoulders and whole body literally popped out. The hand incident reminded me of Jacob and Esau in Gen 25. Thankfully Ethan had no one to compete with!

Super Cute

So cute! Ethan is sucking well, sleeping lots, and seems quite aware of things around him. He is now 8 hours old and has had 3 feeds already.

Resting in Ward

We have moved into ward 42 bed 3 where Renata is recovering. As you can see the food is not as good as home pregnancy food from our earlier posts! Renata has a cough which hurts her abs so please pray for her throat recovery.

Peaceful Snoozing

All that pain was so worth it now looking at Ethan now 4 hours old. He had his second feed, is sucking and nursing well. We guess these are the cute moments that will sustain our sanity later on!

Ivan and Ethan

Ethan had a good feed and is now resting with proud daddy. The little one is very cute and has all the right equipment. We're resting now cos been up since 3am.

Safe and Sound

Ethan was born just after 7am and only 3 hours in the hospital. 2.63kg with full head of hair and eyebrows!

Thanks for your prayers and love. Request family visits only while in the hospital.

Born

Ethan's born in record time at 2.6kg.

Almost There

Suprisingly fast! Now fully dilated after only 3 hours. Only gas, too late for epi.

Ethan's CTG

Can you see Ethan's heart rate? Contractions are now 3 min but still only 1 cm. Looks like about 12 hours to go.

Labour Has Begun

We checked into NUH this morning around 4am. Contractions were at 6 min with increasing pain. Renata is very calm and is now comfortable.

Is it Time?

Lots of minor contractions today. After dinner they have getting closer but intensity is varying alot. We're actually below the 10 min interval but intensity is very low. NUH Hotline says to monitor for another hour or so. We're going to try to get some rest now... could it be tonight?

Home Cleanup: Bike

Expecting Ethan means cleaning up the home in different ways. One of the things I did was finally get by bicycle out of the study and amazingly found space for it in our small storeroom, high up on the wall. Here are the DIY brackets with rubber holders to hold the bike frame. The front wheel has to come off to have it fit on the wall with only 10cm to spare! After many years away from my bicycle, I'm trying to get into it again...

Pregnancy Food

Home cooked pregnancy food a few nights ago! Lemon-butter sutchi and pan-fried salmon, with mashed potatoes, asparagus and enoki mushrooms. Ethan will grow up big and strong with so much healthy fish already in him...

The Fruit of Thy Womb

click image to view full version

Today we went for a kind of EKG for unborn babies! The top line shows Ethan's activity with spikes for his movement. The lower line shows muscular activity for Renata's womb. You can see a tiny contraction there which can hardly be felt by Mummy. In labour it will spike all the way up the chart in which case Renata will definitely feel it, and Ivan will feel it digging into his arm (yes, her nails have already been trimmed).

Our 2nd Anniversary

Today is September 25th and 2 years ago we got married! We thought maybe Ethan would come out today, but looks like he doesn't want to share his birthday with Mum & Dad's own special day. God has really blessed us with one another, and we're working hard so that our marriage and home will be a wonderful place for Ethan to grow up in... we'll report back on our 25th anniversary and let you know how we're doing!

Ivan Relaxed

Ahh... Finished preaching and enjoying a good (root) beer. Now more relaxed and waiting for Ethan to come on the scene. Luckily, he didn't come before the sermons were over: "Finding Hope in Distress" - Psalm 4 - on my church website!

Mummy Feeling Better

Mummy is feeling better. Still a bit sniffly but the cough is gone. Here she is after a quick lunch on Saturday. Doesn't she look positively glowing?

Bugged

Cough cough!

I've caught a flu bug! Sigh...was hoping to get through these 9 months without getting sick but I guess it was too good to be true... Coughing is a little bit more of a strain than usual when there is a kid sitting on your diaphram & abdominal area.

Am trying to avoid medication (not keen for Baby to get drugged), so am dousing myself with lemons and lots of rest. I guess looking on the bright side it was good I came down with it now -- would much rather be the one coughing than the baby! And as I get through this bug, I'll be able to pass on some immunity to Ethan when he finally comes out to face the world on his own...

Renata

New Toy

All boys (even big ones) love toys. Here is Daddy with his new SonyEricsson K610i mobile phone which you will see more of as he uploads posts and photos from it. Let's hope he remembers to bring his phone charger into the delivery room with us!

Chinese Name

We decided on Ethan's Chinese name!

Mandarin: Liao Wei Zhong
Cantonese: Liew Wai Zhong
Meaning: Greatly loyal and faithful!

Last Few Checkups

This will be one of the last few times we're going to the hospital. As you can see, Ethan is growing very quickly! Mum is doing very well, not only because she is fit and healthy but also cos she is sleeping incredibly well too!

Dr. Mary Rauff (aka Auntie Mary) says that our little baby's head is moving downward nicely and we should be seeing Ethan probably around our due date on 5 October. This is good news cos Daddy is preaching this Sunday on Psalm 4...

Waiting for Ethan

The cot is ready and waiting for Ethan to arrive! Last night mummy had stomache cramps but after timing them she's sure they're not contractions. 2.5 more weeks to due date! :-) This is our first post from my SonyEricsson K610i mobile phone. So we can use this to give live photo updates during Phase 1 of labour!