My pumping so far......

Amidst the daily chaos of taking care of the twins, i've managed to pump according to plan, although sometimes, things don't actually go as planned. I try to pump every 2.5 to 3 hours from around 7am to about 11pm every day, which means i usually pump between 5-6 times a day. Of course i was told that an exclusive pumper (is there even such a term?) should be pumping AT LEAST 8 times a day. Well, as usual, that means i'm still short. But hey, what's new huh?

I've been telling myself to wake up at 3am and 5am to make up for the 2 additional pumping sessions but it seems that once i put my head on the pillow, i'm gone. Can't hear a thing...and the fact that the twins now wake up for feeds, on most nights, only once around 4am-5am, makes it even difficult for me to wake up. Am i giving myself excuses???

Really need to do something about my energy level and stamina. After a whole day of taking care of the twins and doing house chores, i can barely open my eyes at the end of the day. The last pumping session at around 11pm is the hardest...especially when everyone else is already in bed but i'm still up pumping away.

I've started taking Shaklee's OsteMatrix to help boost my milk production for about 1 week now..so far, can see some improvement, sometimes.....there are good days and bad days. The difference now is that on a good day, previously i get only around 3oz but now i can get 4oz. I know i know.....still nothing to shout about, but i'll take every additional oz i can get, you know what i mean???

And so the journey continues.....

Some quality time with Iris

Ever since we had the twins, i must admit that i haven't spend as much time as i used to with Iris. Ye lah...mana nak melayan twins tu 24/7, kerenah Iris lagi. I know that she has been craving for attention, pulling all sorts of stunts just to piss me off. Budak2 sekarang ni pandai...they'll do whatever they can to get your attention, even if kena marah. Kena marah tu means getting attention la kan?

Some times, lepas dah marah marah tu, i fikir2 balik...sedih and guilty la pulak. She's only 3..she doesn't deserve to get that kind of scolding, not to mention smacks. Tapi bila badan dah penat, cepatla short fius.

Yesterday there was a mini concert at her school. I took the chance to spend some quality time with her...just us. It was nice....despite all the scoldings and smacks she's been getting, i hope she knows that mummy loves her to bits!

I pray that Allah gives me the patience and tolerance in raising her......must remember that anak tu amanah dari Allah.

At my friend's daughter's birthday party

Sedapnya McD......

Kakak Iris

Mummy's little sunshine - after the mini concert

Classroom visit

Bila penat melanda

Fuuhh...dua tiga hari lepas ni, badan terasa penat sangat sangat. Bila badan dah penat, nak mengepam pun malas..ish ish. Dapat 4 pack je instead of 5-6 normally. Stok dah semakin merudum.

Esok Monday...takleh nak Monday blues ok..kena semangat balik!

Macam mana ni?

Hmm..after a few days of "trying" to pump according to my new schedule, i'm still short in coming up with sufficient stocks, ie. i'm still in "deficit". Right now, i'm only able to produce 5-6 packs of 4oz each, whereas my target was 8 packs.

How la?? Penatnya badan Tuhan saja yang tahu.......

Exclusively pumping

Just until a couple months ago, i never thought that i will be an "exclusively pumping" mum. But that changed when i realised that i will have to take care of my twins on my own. Taking care of them alone during the day meant that i don't have the luxury of directly breastfeeding them especially when:

(1) both are screaming for feed at the same time; and
(2) there are tonnes of house chores (ok...i might be exaggerating a bit here..) that needs to be done.

Previously i thought that that skin to skin contact is vital especially for bonding, but hey, when its not so practical, i had to be a little bit more flexible. I have to..if not, i'll go nuts..trying to do the best of everything. And i must admit, eventhough i may not enjoy that skin to skin contact anymore, it does helped me a lot in terms of getting through day to day. And there are other ways of having that kind of bonding, for example, now i really take my time with them when its bath time, giving them massages. And they love it.

Besides, this is not so different if i was still working. During the day when i'm at work, they would be given the bottle anyway. So i learned that as a mother, we have to see what works for us...some ways may work for other mums but not for you. So we need to test things out and see if it will work for us. And the most important thing is to be flexible, to learn to let some things go and not trying to be a supermum all the time.

Being at home or at work, and managing your kids and home at the same time...doing all that, and you already are a supermum! Believe me :o)

My new pumping schedule

2 nights ago, i finally figured out why my stock was always running low when i "thought" i have made enough stock to go around..duh! That's because i'm always in a what i call a "3 pack deficit". Basically, my twins feed between 7-10 times a day each (depending) and at the moment, i'm only able to provide them BM for 3 feeds and the rest is supplemented with FM. That's because based on my current pumping schedule which every 3-4 hours with 3-4oz per session, i only get 3-4 packs of 4oz a day.

Obviously not enough to top up the stocks which were used up during the day huh? Not rocket science right...but i wonder why i took this long to figure it out!

I've realised that by providing 8 packs total to them (about 4 feeds each), i can pretty much provide BM them from 8am to 7pm each day and the rest of the day can be supplemented with FM. Not bad i thought...especially for someone like me who don't have the luxury of BM overflowing!

So my new schedule will basically look like this...i will pump every 2 hours at 7-8am, 9-10am, 11am-12pm, 1-2pm, 3-4pm, 5-6pm, 7-8pm, 9-10pm, 11pm-12am, 1-2am, 3-4am...pheww!!!! That's a total of 11 times a day!! That's because each session, i only get 2-3oz..kesian kan????? Nak buat camne...dah nasib badan....

But today is only my first day of trying this new schedule....InsyaAllah with hard work and perseverance, soon my milk supply will increase..Ya Allah, give me the strength and patience to do this..and god health,of course. Kalau dah sakit macam mana nak bangun pumping, ye tak? Amin.....

I might have to do a complete u-turn??

Had a short and "sweet" conversation with hubs today about our financials and i have never been so down. I guess i am still in denial mode, about being able to stay at home and look after the kids full time.

Maybe its time i wake up and face the music?? Time to end this "maternity leave" early and do a complete 180 deg instead?? Should i go back to work and provide, so that i can give my kids better lives?

Hurrmmph...what a day!

Since we had the twins.....

Since i've quit working to take care of the twins, there was a lot of adjustments we had to do as a family and one of it was how much money we could save. Of course this time it was different, compared to when we had Iris, our firstborn. We spent on her like there's no tomorrow...maklumla, first child and we were overexcited to become parents.

But now, with the 2 new additions and us living on a single income, all that is distant memories. We hardly buy any clothes for the twins, except some boy clothes for AY and some new sleepsuits for them. No carseats cause we had 3 from Iris's. We only bought the twin stroller and a few small items like towels, bottles etc.

And one other major difference this time around is we decided to use cloth diapers. I used to toy with the idea when we had Iris, but i was too lazy to commit to the washing etc. But now, do i have a choice? Anything, as long as it means us saving some $$, i'll do it....

So far ok...the washing is not so bad. We still buy disposables, but just for when we are travelling, emergency etc. But still, we have saved a lot. Masa time beli tu memang la rasa pening jugak cause kena bayar banyak sekali gus, tapi bila kira kira balik, memang worth it and jimat.

My "little" collection...

Of course, there's the breastfeeding too, but that one, as everyone know, is still WIP....hummmph!

My babies.....

Just wanna share some pics of the twins and their big sister, Iris. Love them to bits!!!!

Iris getting a haircut

Iris and i sharing some mummy-daughter moments

My girls!!!!

3 going on to 4 mths!!!!



Dynamic duo....

When i look at them, i feel so blessed and thankfully to Allah to be given such a beautiful family!


One day at a time.....

Right now, i don't have any help looking after the twins. My help ari tu dah balik sebab nak kahwin. Tu yang berzaman nak update  blog tu.....

Its been 3 days already, so far so good. I do whatever i can, in terms of housework. Mana mana yang sempat, in between their nap time, i buat la.

Gambar gambar pun tak sempat lagi nak upload. Will try to do it over the weekend. Now, am heading to bed....demam. :o(