11 years ago today... I started working at the buying office of Costco Wholesale Cananda!
Time really flies!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Hand Washing!
I am a Certified Food Safety Manager at Costco. I need to get re-certified once every three years. Therefore, I understand the importance of hand washing.
Now with Baby Bethany at home... I re-inforce the importance of hand washing at home. Mom and I are firm believers of washing our hands (20 seconds rule... scrub scrub scrub all the way to the elbows) before touching Bethany every time. The worst offender so far is Bethany's Daddy. He does not believe in washing his hands every time before touching Bethany; and this drives me B.O.N.K.E.R.S.! I have explained to Bethany's Daddy numerous times but he does not seem to listen. He thinks that washing his hands once is enough... although he might be sitting in front of his PC, touching the keyboard, touching the remote control, touching his i-POD, touching the garbage etc... and he thinks it is still ok to touch Bethany as he washed his hands before touching the garbage, but not after the garbage. I get mad at Joe a few times because of this, and I really hope that he understands the importance of hand washing (well, Joe does not believe in washing fruits before biting into it, or washing any uncooked meat before cooking it... and being a food safe manager... that's the main reason I do not allow Joe to cook at home or prepare the food!).
If anyone thinks of a good and effective way to get Joe to understand the importance of washing his hands... please let me know!
Now with Baby Bethany at home... I re-inforce the importance of hand washing at home. Mom and I are firm believers of washing our hands (20 seconds rule... scrub scrub scrub all the way to the elbows) before touching Bethany every time. The worst offender so far is Bethany's Daddy. He does not believe in washing his hands every time before touching Bethany; and this drives me B.O.N.K.E.R.S.! I have explained to Bethany's Daddy numerous times but he does not seem to listen. He thinks that washing his hands once is enough... although he might be sitting in front of his PC, touching the keyboard, touching the remote control, touching his i-POD, touching the garbage etc... and he thinks it is still ok to touch Bethany as he washed his hands before touching the garbage, but not after the garbage. I get mad at Joe a few times because of this, and I really hope that he understands the importance of hand washing (well, Joe does not believe in washing fruits before biting into it, or washing any uncooked meat before cooking it... and being a food safe manager... that's the main reason I do not allow Joe to cook at home or prepare the food!).
If anyone thinks of a good and effective way to get Joe to understand the importance of washing his hands... please let me know!
Bethany is three weeks old!
Bethany is a bit more than three weeks old!
These past three weeks after Bethany was born was definitely the toughest. Sleepless nights and struggling with breastfeeding / pumping became part of my routine. But I discovered a wondeful surprise in all of this: the overwhelming love that I felt for my daughter.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
I am sleep deprived!
Ok! I am sleep deprived! I sleep about 3.5 hrs, broken into two segments, per day. Last week with the stupid single pumping, I ended up not getting any sleep at all, as I need an hour to an hour and a half to pump for each feeding. Since the feeding is three hours apart, as soon as I finish pumping, I get to rest for half an hour at most (usually that's the time I take a shower, check e-mails, update my blog and enjoy a cup of decaff coffee) before my next pumping session. Last week was a living hell for me!
Doing the night feedings are exhausting. I hate the 2:30am feeding. Bethany is often sound asleep around that time, and it takes quite some time to wake her up, change her diaper before feeding her. Fortunately mom is always up to help out with the 2:30am feeding, so I do not feel I am alone in this. Knowing that mom will be leaving in the beginning of October, and Joe needs his 7.5 hrs of beauty sleep (from 10pm till 5:15am) every night, I can't even imagine what life would be like after mom leaves!
Earlier this week I got the double breast pump and it makes my new career as a pumping mom much easier. I can express 3oz of milk in 20 mins (last week it took me an hour to an hour and a half to get the same amount of milk) and I am no longer as stressed out as last week. I think I have better control of the time. For the first time since Bethany is home, I managed to be able to walk my dog in the morning and get out of the house once and run errands! It just feels good!
One thing weird though... I have dreams about pumping too! These dreams are not necessarily nightmares. In all these dreams, I am always pumping (gosh I am even pumping in my sleeps!) and when I wake up in the middle of the night, often time, I am very confused as I thought I have already expressed the milk. It takes me a few minutes to differentiate between reality and dreams. Hence, I want to sleep (a.k.a. R.E.S.T. which is a luxury for me these days!) but at the same time, I do not wash to dream about pumping!
Last time I had a continuous 6 hrs of sleep.... it was the night prior to the c-section! Though it was only a few weeks ago... seems like it was decades ago and I can't even remember how good it was to be able to sleep through the night!
Until then.... my DeLonghi stainless steel coffee maker and Poppybean's decaff coffee are my B.E.S.T. B.U.D.D.I.E.S.!
Doing the night feedings are exhausting. I hate the 2:30am feeding. Bethany is often sound asleep around that time, and it takes quite some time to wake her up, change her diaper before feeding her. Fortunately mom is always up to help out with the 2:30am feeding, so I do not feel I am alone in this. Knowing that mom will be leaving in the beginning of October, and Joe needs his 7.5 hrs of beauty sleep (from 10pm till 5:15am) every night, I can't even imagine what life would be like after mom leaves!
Earlier this week I got the double breast pump and it makes my new career as a pumping mom much easier. I can express 3oz of milk in 20 mins (last week it took me an hour to an hour and a half to get the same amount of milk) and I am no longer as stressed out as last week. I think I have better control of the time. For the first time since Bethany is home, I managed to be able to walk my dog in the morning and get out of the house once and run errands! It just feels good!
One thing weird though... I have dreams about pumping too! These dreams are not necessarily nightmares. In all these dreams, I am always pumping (gosh I am even pumping in my sleeps!) and when I wake up in the middle of the night, often time, I am very confused as I thought I have already expressed the milk. It takes me a few minutes to differentiate between reality and dreams. Hence, I want to sleep (a.k.a. R.E.S.T. which is a luxury for me these days!) but at the same time, I do not wash to dream about pumping!
Last time I had a continuous 6 hrs of sleep.... it was the night prior to the c-section! Though it was only a few weeks ago... seems like it was decades ago and I can't even remember how good it was to be able to sleep through the night!
Until then.... my DeLonghi stainless steel coffee maker and Poppybean's decaff coffee are my B.E.S.T. B.U.D.D.I.E.S.!
Diaper Rash
Bethany has diaper rash! When we went for Bethany's check up on monday, the doctor had already noticed the diaper rash, and he suggested us to apply Sudocream on her. Being all chemical-free and all natural approach, I decided to forgo Sudocream and use Dimpleskins' Bum Bum Balm instead. I thought I was doing the right thing, little did I know that the diaper rash had worsened when mom and I changed Bethany's diaper yesterday mid morning.
Being the queen of Google, I googled diaper rash right away, and noticed that Sudocream & SkniFix's Buttock Paste and Penatan are the three highly recommended diaper rash cream. While Bum Bum Balm is good as a prenventive measure, zinc oxide which is found in Sudocream, SkinFix and Penatan is used in treating diaper rash. I received two big tubs of Penatan at the Baby's shower and one tub of SkinFix at a Baby's show. I went with Penatan as this cream is sold @ Walmart, Toysrus, Zellers, Shoppers... if popularity of an item has any indication on its effectiveness, then Penatan is THE cream!
While googling diaper rash, I noticed that diaper rash is very common in infants, about 60% of the infants get diaper rash at some point. There is no cure of diaper rash other than doing the following steps:
1. Check diaper every hour and change it often -- as soon as it is wet or soiled
2. Clean the baby's bum at each diaper change -- use warm water with cotton ball
3. Stay away from diaper wipes as the chemicals in the wipes might irritate the diaper rash -- when I told Joe about it last night... he said, "WHY?????" Lately I have found that everytime when I tell him something about "new" ways of handling the baby, whether it is feeding, bathing or changing diaper, his first reply is always "WHY????" and this really bothers and irritates me! Last week, he gave his thumb for Baby Bethany to suck on. Mom slapped his hand right away and I was really mad at him! Everyone knows that there are germs in everyone's hands and I always wash my hands before handling the baby. For him to give his thumb to Bethany to suck on gave me a hard attack! He did not wash his hands (and this translates to GERMS!) and we have soother for Bethany for sucking!!!! Joe was really mad when he got slapped and he yelled "WHY????" Gosh, this really annoys me to a great deal... seems that men have no common sense in handling a baby! Though I am still learning everyday, I am glad that I send Joe off to work everyday, while I stay at home caring for the baby!
4. Allow baby's skin to dry before putting on a clean diaper
5. Use zinc oxide ointment to protect baby's skin from moisture
Being the queen of Google, I googled diaper rash right away, and noticed that Sudocream & SkniFix's Buttock Paste and Penatan are the three highly recommended diaper rash cream. While Bum Bum Balm is good as a prenventive measure, zinc oxide which is found in Sudocream, SkinFix and Penatan is used in treating diaper rash. I received two big tubs of Penatan at the Baby's shower and one tub of SkinFix at a Baby's show. I went with Penatan as this cream is sold @ Walmart, Toysrus, Zellers, Shoppers... if popularity of an item has any indication on its effectiveness, then Penatan is THE cream!
While googling diaper rash, I noticed that diaper rash is very common in infants, about 60% of the infants get diaper rash at some point. There is no cure of diaper rash other than doing the following steps:
1. Check diaper every hour and change it often -- as soon as it is wet or soiled
2. Clean the baby's bum at each diaper change -- use warm water with cotton ball
3. Stay away from diaper wipes as the chemicals in the wipes might irritate the diaper rash -- when I told Joe about it last night... he said, "WHY?????" Lately I have found that everytime when I tell him something about "new" ways of handling the baby, whether it is feeding, bathing or changing diaper, his first reply is always "WHY????" and this really bothers and irritates me! Last week, he gave his thumb for Baby Bethany to suck on. Mom slapped his hand right away and I was really mad at him! Everyone knows that there are germs in everyone's hands and I always wash my hands before handling the baby. For him to give his thumb to Bethany to suck on gave me a hard attack! He did not wash his hands (and this translates to GERMS!) and we have soother for Bethany for sucking!!!! Joe was really mad when he got slapped and he yelled "WHY????" Gosh, this really annoys me to a great deal... seems that men have no common sense in handling a baby! Though I am still learning everyday, I am glad that I send Joe off to work everyday, while I stay at home caring for the baby!
4. Allow baby's skin to dry before putting on a clean diaper
5. Use zinc oxide ointment to protect baby's skin from moisture
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