Inspite all that I still managed to find time to express milk for my cute and chubby baby. Luckily Shah's classes finish at 7pm on 3 out of the 5 week days so I manage to wind down after 5:30 pm and continue expressing to meet Maisarah's daily intake of 20 oz per day. Although since the last 2 weeks of February Maisarah has started to drink less. Normally, before I leave for work I will nurse her and according to my mum she will then spend the morning sleeping and drinking only 2-4 oz of milk. Then during the afternoon she will drink about 8-10 oz more. So in total, she's been drinking about 12-14 oz per day for the last 2 weeks. When this first happened, Shah and I panicked a little and went to buy different teats and alternative feeding devices (feeder cup and a bottle with a spoon at the end) thinking she was having nipple confusion. But my mum said that Maisarah still didn't want to drink a lot even with the different teat. But I found that Maisarah now started to drink more at night. So I guess she is reverse cycling. This is ever since Maisarah started to co-sleep with Shah and I and she has easy access to her milk factory. I don't mind her co-sleeping with us as this means that I wont have to get up to feed her every night and I can continue sleeping while she feeds. Another plus point is that since she is drinking less than 20 oz, the extra expressed milk can be added to my frozen stock for use on 'rainy' days. I'm so worried that I'll be sent to any team-building course and I can't bring Maisarah along.
Anyway, back to the accreditaion process, we've got about 3 weeks before the panel comes for their visit. Within this 3 months, we've got to gather all the evidence and information written in the report for them to scrutinize and view if needed. So lots of things needs to be done. I guess until the end of the month, I'll still continue to run around like a headless chicken (well, maybe not up to that extend). I must make sure I will keep to my pumping schedule (8am, 1:30pm and 5:30pm). I had to cut down my pumping sessions from 4 to 3 times due to the workload. Hope this will not affect my breastmilk supply.
Hmm...I seem to notice that whenever I start off entries, I tend to revert back to Maisarah or my quest to breastfeed her. I guess from now on most of my entries will be this way. I hope this will not be a bore. I started this blog as a journal of my life with Shah. But I guess this will evolve as my role changes from a wife-cum-PhD-student to a wife-cum-career-woman and now a wife-cum-mother-cum-career-woman. I also hope this blog becomes a journal of my breastfeeding journey.
Before I end, I've got to put a note here that Maisarah has successfully turned (is this the proper English word for 'meniarap'??)!! Last night, Shah and I were talking while I was about to pray Maghrib. At that time, Maisarah was laying face up on the bed and was grumbling for one of us to pick her up. Whenever, she's angry or frustrated she will try to turn but everytime she will only be able to half-turn her body but not her head. Last night, in her furstration she was able to turn all the way to her right, lift her head and free her left hand from under her body. Luckily the camera was nearby, so we managed to capture this. I'll try to upload the picture and video soon. We're so happy we managed to capture her turning. She also can now laugh when we make funny noises or 'agah' her. I need to get this on video too. Maybe it's not a bad idea to invest on a camcorder soon. Anyway, all these things that Maisarah does makes all the morning sickness I had to endure worthwhile.
