Ethan has a brother

So, at least having another boy means I don't have to add another line to the title of blog or think of a new name for it.

It's been a month since Jethro's birth. Since then, the only satisfying thing to me was the labour and birth itself, where I really succeeded in not taking any pain killers, apart from the laughing gas which the midwife asked me to inhale whenever the contractions of the first stage came in. It sort of helped me in breathing, though it did nothing to take away the pain. Perhaps also because it's the second time, the duration was short, especially for the second stage. Only thing was that I had to do stitches and had to wait while they got the doctor here. It turned out that the midwife would stitch up one layer and the lady doctor the other 2 layers. When I refused the laughing gas this time, I had the lady doctor approaching me and advising me in all seriousness to take it. And it helped land me in a state of euphoria indeed so that I could survive any discomfort of them touching my wounds. They would discuss on the spot where to stitch, especially with the doctor giving advice to the midwife. Besides chit-chatting away. Apparently, the young midwife did not like stitching up very much. I heard that it's 1 in every 15 or so cases where they encountered tears. Anyway, this took a much longer time than the second stage. When the doctor told me it shouldn't take much longer, I gave a short laugh of disbelief. She innocently asked me if I laughed because of the gas or her...

After that, breastfeeding had its woes, big woes. Jethro was admitted into the neonatal unit on the 7th day because of drastic weight loss and I am back to much formula milk and some breast milk, providing expressed breast milk (i.e. pumping like cow) and improving his latching on.

Also, it's tiring to have to take care of Ethan now. Ethan is, as you know, a very active boy. Initially, when I was spending most of the time in the hospital, I felt depressed that I could not spend more time with Ethan. Now that things with him are back to some semblance of normalcy, it takes effort to forego sleep time to do things with him. Still, one can only look towards the future and hope things will get better.

Anyway, here's a medley of photos of the two brothers. I didn't bother to categorise them or write in Chinese. Would be sometime before I will bother to, I suppose.
Within half an hour after birth:

An exhausted Ethan asleep in the labour ward:

Curious big brother:

Hearing test for Jethro:

5/9 - Just before removing his stitches (very nice toys here):

Peeling potato:

Rare moments with the eyes open (the first few weeks):

Sleepy baby (during the day):

Ethan's new toy (among other new toys), from 外婆:

Ethan with Jethro:

Animal formation again:

Jethro's full month, with eggs dyed a little red, cherry plum tomatoes and Apple and Blackberry cake bought from supermarket - Ethan's the excited one:

Ethan in his new pyjamas and new shoes:

Jethro staring at a hand-made mobile by Jianming:


Some differences between the two babies:
1. Sleep: so far, Jethro does sleep alot, at least during the day.
2. Possetting: never had to learn about this word for Ethan!
3. Disturbed sleep: Jethro seems to make more noises during sleep. But of course, with Ethan, he hardly slept for long at a stretch then.