Lois' Firsts

"Look, we have a turtle guest!"

Oh, good thing parties don't start on time here. Even if we were more than an hour late, we managed to join the games, eat well (at least Daddy Poh and yays, I was suffering from diarrhea) and win a prize. Lois came in as a baby turtle, with the shell lovingly crafted by her Ninang Chelle and her headdress by her Grandmama, and won best in costume along with two others. She took home an equally cute turtle stuffed toy. We were very happy for her, this being her first party and I can tell she enjoyed too. She didn't fuss - even with the full costume on - partied with her relatives, and forgot she was hungry. Too bad her Grandmama and Ninang Chelle were not there to be with her.


1st Diarrhea
So this is how it feels like to have a sick kid. I was very afraid - I feel like I could lose Lois anytime.

When Lois passed super watery stool (her usual had mustard-seed-like in them) for four times in a row last Wednesday afternoon, I knew something was wrong. And then it persisted the following day. My sister Anlen who is a nurse, and also Lois' Ninang advised on hydrite and am. Lois took them down, but not so much the formula her yays are giving her. I had to leave Lois to accompany Anlen and all the while that I was with her, my mind was busy worrying if Lois was well. Her yays said Lois cried terribly while we were away. "Muntik ko na talaga kayo tawagan para umuwi. Hibi ng hibi, tapos tumulo na talaga ang luha hanggang di ko na talaga napatahan. Buti nakatulog," she reported when we got back.



Even Daddy Poh was worried. He checked on Lois (and yays) by the hour.' When he found out Lois was crying terribly, he wanted to come home and take a leave. Good thing we finished early with the errands we got back before 5pm, I immediately breastfed Lois. After a few minutes, I felt my breast softened. Lois was very hungry. And she really prefers my milk over formula.

By Friday, Lois' diarrhea stopped, and mine started. From 6pm till midnight, I was passing super watery stool also, with greenish color. I got worried she might drink poor quality milk from me since I was sick so I told Daddy Poh to give her formula. As expected, she didn't touch it so I ended up nursing her just so we wouldn't wake the neighbors at 1am.

When I woke up the following morning, my body was shivering. My taste buds disappeared and I was lethargic. I really didn’t want to nurse Lois anymore. But Daddy Poh's research said mom's diarrhea should not be a reason enough to stop breastfeeding, so we continued. We decided I'd see a doctor as well during the afternoon's pedia visit.

Dr. Vaccine
At our pedia's clinic, Lois was a well baby. She was in 50% in terms of head circumference, length and weight. That means she's in the median when it comes to growth. Good according to the pedia. But I prefer her chubbier.

We reported the diarrhea streak yet pedia ruled out anything. She advised us to observe Lois if it continues again. She was not very interested with what she went through, what ate most of our consultation time was the vaccines. She explained that there are new vaccines, IPD & Rotavirus, which she could give to Lois and we could pay for them next time. I remember we declined giving them to Lois the first time she told us about them since they were very costly. A shot costs P5, 000 and Lois needs 7 or 5, she said. And more importantly, our research found out Lois doesn’t need them because 1) Lois is exclusively breastfed, meaning she's getting more antibodies than her formula-fed counterparts; and 2) she is a healthy baby without family history of sickness and is therefore not at risk. Besides, software engineer Daddy Poh thinks new vaccines are like new software. "They're full of bugs on first release." We don't want Lois to be a guinea pig, and it's hard to drive that point to her pedia.