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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Ryan and Vaccinations

Today is Ryan's 61st day on Earth.

Looking back, he was a good 3.3kg baby and 50cm tall with a head circumference of 30cm.

Today, he had his measurement taken again.

He is now a good 5.56kg baby at 60cm tall with a head circumefrence of 39cm.

Dr. Yong says he will be a good tall baby, but his growth will be limited by his gene (shucks).

He also advises us against giving him more than 6 flow oz of milk and stick to the current 5 flow oz to prevent him from gaining too much weight. It's a big NO to Michelin baby.


You ain't gonna get this fat Ryan!

Now, before any of you say anything about us starving our first child, keep in mind that studies has shown that if the baby is fat at infancy, chances are, they will be obese when they grow up. Fat cells won't shrink in size, which explain why people like me, which were fat when i was a kid, could put on the pounds faster than you finish that last bite of Big Mac.

And i do not want Ryan to struggle with his weight when he grows up like my cousin, which at 19 years old, weight a good 102kg.

As usual, Dr Yong's impeccable bedside manner and his attentiveness bowls us over. Maybe that explain why he has more baby waiting outside his door compared to the other Peds in Pantai.

He took time to explain everything to us after asking us questons and listening to our feedback.

"it's ok if he pass motion once every 2 days since he is also digesting formula now", he assured us.

"I'll give you some nose saline to drop into Ryan's nose to remove the dirt, some baby are more sensitive to dust and their enviroment", he explains again.

Yes, we are talking about shit. Just like his dad, Ryan's full of shit.

My mum just told me this morning when we went back to get him that he "exploded" in his diaper. Soiling up his flannel, safe sleeper and in the process, having half his back covered with, well... shit.

"and he was smiling", my mum add.

Yeap, who won't be when you know someone is cleaning up your shit? :)

Ryan also has his first triple antigen today, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio and Hib all rolled into one injection (or usually known as Pediacel.

We've also opted for Prevenar and Rotavirus protection.

These 2 vaccination is actually optional. But after doing my own research and weighing the pros and cons, we both decided that we should give Ryan this immunity.

Basically, Prevenar is actually a cocktail of 7 of the most common types of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria which will cause diseases such as pneumonia, blood poisoning and meningitis, to name a few. It is also responsible for middle ear infection.

Rotavirus on the other hand, is the most common cause of severe diarrhea among children. It is also responsible for the death of 600,000 children annually, world wide. Not a fun thing to be in the statistic, no?

Ironically, as i was discusssing this with Dr. Yong, he told me that there was an outbreak of rotavirus just last week and he was on emergency call the whole week. At the same time, my lil cousin, which is younger than Ryan by a 2 weeks, was hospitalised for severe diarrhea just last week.

And going by the gene pool from his paternal side (ie me), with record of lactose intolerance and others gastro problem, giving Ryan Rotavirus immunisation seems to be the most logical thing to do.

Only set back was the cost for the optional vaccination (which, by the way, one of them is a must in UK).

Click here for the full listing of vaccination list as per reccomended in UK. (which also explain why Dr Yong reccomended it, he is an UK grad!)

Today's immunisation cost for Ryan came up to a big RM650 for Pediacel, Prevenar and Rotavirus.

Pediacel will be repeated for the next 2 months, Prevenar for the next 2 months and once more when he is a year old (meaning 4 shots) and Rotavirus, which was given orally, will be given when he is 6 months old.

Me and wifey could only be grateful that we can afford these immunisation cost. We know that the basic vaccine would be given free in government hospital, but with horror stories abound (even in government hospital in UK, where Poon lost his beloved daughter, and a friend telling us about doctors not stiching up a C section properly, also in UK), we didn't want to take the risk.

We can earn back the money, but a life loss to something we can prevent, or lessen the chances of contracting, is just worth every single sen spent.

So, Dr Yong proceed and gave him the Rotavirus vaccine orally. Ryan seems to like it. Maybe it's sweet, that is why.

Then, Dr. Yong proceeded to inject Pediacel onto Ryan's left thigh. He did not cry! Damn, my son love pain? or he has not pain receptor?

Then he injected the Prevenar onto his right thigh. It must has sting so bad that he cried this time, with tears flowing down like it never did before. (This boy is the master of Crocdile Tears).

He stopped crying within a minute as wifey soothe him and calm him down. With tears still flowing, he looked just simply too adorable.


My cousin, which my mum babysit since she was 20 days old, only going back during weekend to my aunt and uncle


and Ryan-no-eye-see

Desparil says that Ryan is still botak after 2 months. Can't help it la dude. He got my gene. I got thin and scarce hair.

Today we saw a premmie baby (34weeks) which looked so small in the arms of his/her mother. But the amount of hair on his/her head is enough to make Ryan shy like 10 times. Then, there is the one mamak baby girl, with hair so thick and lush, that she made me shy.

Ryan will be Baptised this Sunday. He will follow his Mum's faith. I'll continue to show and teach him about the culture that he must not forget. I'll even learn to pray (the Catholic way) and show him as much as i possibly could; and all me and wifey hope is that he and his siblings will grow up to be good useful person when he and them grow up. It's important to show him first as he will lead the rest of his brothers and sisters (If wifey read this statement, she will freak out over the plural form of the statement).

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