Not so good weekend

I wrote this post more than 3 years ago and put it under draft. I just changed some names. But I believe it is time to post this so I am publishing it.

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A family member B gave birth yesterday, 8 January 2010 at 723pm. Her baby, A, is 32 weeks and 6 days old. She was 4.4lbs and 19inches. B was admitted to the hospital last Monday (4 January). She was given medicines to slow down contractions. The baby was also given steroids to hasten lung development. Finally, on Friday, her ob-gyne said that the baby could no longer wait and she was to deliver that day.

I took a half-day off work and went straight to Ortigas with N and B's mom (who was supposed to take the afternoon flight back to Davao City). B finally delivered on Friday evening. Baby A is still in the incubator until today. Initially, they were only giving her canula (oxygen). However, her left lung had difficulty expanding so the doctor put her on CPAP (ventilator).

Which brings me to her doctor --- the evil Dr. Q. Dr. Q was recommended by B's ob-gyne as she was a neonatologist. I first met her on Saturday morning. When she came, we were asking her about Baby A's status and she kept using these highfalutin technical medical terms. None of us were doctors there so I kept asking more questions and I could tell that she was getting more irritated. Isn't it supposed to be the doctor's duty to help the patient understand what is happening by explaining or translating medical terms into something more palatable to non-doctors.

Plus - aside from putting the baby on IV drip with glucose water, she told us that for A's first 2 feedings, they were going to give glucose water. I asked her what about colostrum? She told me -- no - she was not going to give colostrum to A, lest she choke. I told her that we were able to collect a couple of drops of colostrum which she told me to throw away because it was too little! I was really unhappy with what she said but I held my tongue as I'm not a doctor.

But in my blog space -- let me rant!! B's mom told me that she was a pioneer in the "neonatology" field. I told B's mom that I don't like old doctors who were set in their ways and did not want to consider change or listen to opinions of others. Dr. Q was such a doctor. It really frustrates me that much as I want B to breastfeed, she ended up with a neonatologist who was not breastfeeding friendly. Since baby A is still in the NICU, I didn't want to pressure B although she does continuously pump every 3 hours. I just wish we found a more supportive neonatologist like Dr. Z (who was no longer connected to the hospital where B gave birth). To think that this hospital prides itself as being breastfeeding friendly!

I also hope that Dr. Q did not read this article I got from my news feed last week. According to Prof. Sven Carlsen of Norwegian University of Science and Technology, breastmilk is not better than baby formula -- he claims that the studies showing that breastfed babies were healthier than formula fed babies are actually because the moms who were able to successfully breastfeed had a healthier pregnancy as compared to moms who failed to breastfeed (due to an "unhealthier pregnancy").

Most concluded that the longer a child is nursed, the healthier it will be. The professor said this may be the case, but it was because of a healthier pregnancy, not the breast milk. His research shows that high levels of the male sex hormone testosterone in the womb affect a woman's ability to produce milk and to breast-feed.

With testosterone levels affected by the health of the placenta, which ferries oxygen and nutrients to the baby, the professor believes high amounts indicate poorer conditions in the womb overall.

This means that any differences in the health of a baby bottle-fed because its mother finds breastfeeding difficult are set before birth, rather than afterwards.

You can read more about this here:

1. Daily Mail

2. BBC

3. Telegraph UK

For another blogger's take on this article, read this.

ERGO Review: Performance v. Sport

I purchased my Ergo Performance in Brandsfever Singapore before the brand was brought in the Philippines by Richwell Phils, Inc.  However, when Richwell brought Ergo in, they brought in Original, Organic, Designer and Active.  Performance is not locally available.  Basically, the Original, Organic and Designer all have the same features - the difference is just the material used.  In this page, you can find a technical comparison of the Ergo Original (Standard), Performance and Active.

For this review, I will focus on the specific functions or features that we liked or didn't like about each carrier.  I took the measurements of the body of the carrier. There is a minimal difference - the body of the Performance is a little bit bigger than Active.

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Countdown to August

August is my most favorite month of the year and I am sure you can guess why.   It is breastfeeding awareness month and it is the month when I get to promote the reason for why this blog exists.   This year's theme for World Breastfeeding Week is Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers and you can read more about that here. 

I am pleased to share about kick-off activities that support breastfeeding month that will be starting this July!  There will actually be more activities in August and I am excited to share them with you in a future blog post.  But for this month, let us focus on a peer counsellor training and a milk sharing activity.

National Savings Consciousness Week 2013 - Teaching your Kids to Save

This week, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas not only celebrates its 20th anniversary but more importantly, BSP has partnered with the Department of Education for National Savings Consciousness Week.
Financial education is one of BSP's important advocacy and BSP believes that the value of saving is best taught during the formative years.  BSP resolves to help create a new generation of financially literate savers - starting with school children.

Summer Series 2013: Cebu Discoveries

The 2nd of our back-to-back weddings was in Cebu for my college friend, Kelie.  Kelie sang my wedding march (in Italian!) and gamely rendered more songs during our wedding reception.  So there was no way I was going to miss his wedding!

Since Stan's mom is Manila-based, we usually stay in hotels when we go to Cebu.  Staying in his house would require a thorough general cleaning - too much work for 2-3 nights stay.  Previously we stated at Waterfront Lahug.  However, during our Christmas 2012 stay, we found that the smoke from the casino permeated the entire lobby.  After breakfast at Cafe Uno, our hair and clothes smelled like cigarette smoke.