Confinement Nanny Part 4 – Unforgettable

It was a teary goodbye for all of us when Aunty LH left us on the last day of her work.  Everyone of us here, young and old, including Ika, hugged her and cried with her and couldn’t bare to let her go.

Aunty LH had revived some part of me that had died along with those years of busyness and near burned out life.  She had reminded me what it is to be a mother, watching her going about from task to task with endless energy, always cheerful and jovial, yet warm and caring, always putting others first, having great initiative, patient, fun-loving, appreciative, supportive, hardworking, and the list goes on.

Before she came I had a subtle fear of not knowing how to cope with playing so many roles in life as a wife, a mother of 3 young ones, a daughter and a daughter-in-law as well as being an employer, besides others in other circles of relationship.  For the whole month when Aunty LH was here, by observing and interacting with her, I’ve gained much more wisdom which are biblical (though Aunty is not a Christian) and more confidence with each passing day.

One can never imagine how things around the house just have to break down in the month that I was having the new baby.  First it was the toilet flush system, then the aircon, then the washing machine and lastly the central water heater, around one item a week and that is keeping me busy enough just to look for the warranty cards and then get the updated contact to call and then the appointment day itself, besides other responsibilities.  It was also stressful enough to see the mess to be cleared up after the repair or replacement.  But looking back, I’m thankful that these appliances had “chosen” to breakdown at the right time, because of Aunty & Ika’s presence and help, I coped well.

Aunty LH likes to eat so since I have some time, I baked and cooked some cakes and desserts that brought much delight and appreciation from her.  It’s so nice to have someone with a warm and encouraging personality to cook together, filling the kitchen with much laughter and cheer.

Aunty had to leave on the day we were celebrating Ruth’s full month.  She did something really nice by cooking most of the food that is to be consumed for that occassion just before she went home. We had nasi lemak so she prepared the chilli sauce & fried anchovies 2 days ahead and then the rest of the dishes that morning.

We’ve become close friends who would call each other up to chat.  Aunty even dropped by during one of her visits to Singapore and I would surely get her favorite Nonya Kueh Lapis for her.

It is no wonder that she’s my favorite confinement nanny.  May God bless her her heart’s desire.

Nocturnal leg cramps

Leg cramps are common whenever I went swimming, usually the toes would take turns, besides calf muscles.

But since I started having babies, leg cramps took on a new level, practically any part of the leg that has muscles will get into cramps, especially during sleep at nights.  Among the 3 pregancies, the one with Reuben was of the worse, occuring nightly throughout the whole thirty over weeks.  The most painful ones are the cramps in the thigh muscles, whether in front or behind or at the sides, they are very, very painful and take long time to relax.

This time round, nocturnal leg cramps only came in the recent weeks, and not very frequent.  I noticed that I do not have much water retention compared to the last pregancies.  When there is water retention (obvious around my ankles), nocturnal leg cramps would occur.  Online search results show that cramps are due to dehydration and certain mineral deficiencies such as calcium, magnisium and potassium.

What I do to relieve the pain in the night is to have a small tube of Counterpain cream by my bedside.  The heat of the cream can provide some relieve and quicken the relaxation of the muscles sooner.  If not Daniel has to wake up many times a night just to rub down my tensed muscles (he is really sweet and does it everytime without complaints).

But I have no complaints, but hearfelt gratitude to God.  Of all the pregnancies I had, this is the easiest, least discomfort and I was full of energy most of the time, despite being the busiest, sleeping the least and having to care for an active, cheeky and a hefty little 2 year-old who wants to be carried often.  That defies all old wives tales of having to be careful and avoid carrying heavy loads of things such as babies or toddlers during pregnancy.  Most of all it defies the law of nature about being more tired when one gets older.

No doubt a miracle of healing had taken place in my body.  I had never been able to complete a 2.4m stadium track within 30 mins in my school days but I was able to complete a 5km Sheare’s Bridge run at age 39 within that duration. 

Clinging on to this Word of God from 1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Yes, all of us can live for righteousness and in wholeness when we believe.

Next new journey

30th week into the pregnancy.  Life is going through a transformation in the next few weeks counting down to Ruth’s birth.  First, Rachel will be having her first Continual Assessment (CA1) since she started school.  Then, we will have our first foreign domestic maid, an Indonesian girl.  Reuben will be moving into his new bedroom cum playroom; we will celebrate my mom’s birthday before taking our new status of being parents of 3 children; we will have a confinement maid to take care of Ruth, who is working with us for the first time; then we would celebrate Rachel’s birthday, my birthday and our wedding anniversary.

Sounds like a wonderful season of our lives!!  Looks like Ruth is very excited as she is actively getting “involved” everyday when we are talking, especially at night when the family is in.  She behaves much like Rachel, always making her presence felt.  Wonder what she likes and dislikes. 

I remember Rachel used to kicked hard whenever my students played badly on the piano but will keep very quiet during good music.  She turned out to be quite the same about my students’ playing since a toddler, and quite an outspoken girl. 

One good new is that Reuben is finally daytime potty-trained.  He has been very diligent in using the toilet ever since the last time I wrote about this topic.  But he still has some apprehension when it comes to passing motion.  I guess things like that take time, and there’s no way we as moms can hurry the process, though I can be very impatient at times, just because I want to be freed from having to clean up his mess. 

But God is ever so patient with us in our shortcomings, allowing us to fail time and time again and yet graciously helping us to restore our confidence to move on again.  He has first forgiven us our sin and then gave us the righteousness through Christ’s sacrifice so that we can live victoriously daily, being more than conquerors through Christ.

With that I can go on in the coming days with joy and confidence.