FTAAA KL City Day Run 2010 – And I Ran, So Far Away

21st Feb 2010 update

I drove 130 km in 1 hr 30 mins to run 7 km in 44:34. More on this soon……..

25 April 2010

Sorry it wasn’t soon enough, but blogging was on the backburner for a while as we had quite a lot on our plate with work, family and also non-internet related social activities.

Anyway, I still can remember the FTAAA KL City Day Run like it was yesterday. It was in mid-Feb and The Baby was less than a month old so I had to make a daytrip out of it. Woke up early in the morning around 0500, had a cup of coffee and drove off to KL from Melaka. I got there around 0700, registered and did a bit of a warmup before guntime at 0730.

FTAAA races are the no-frills version race with no race vest, no goodies bags and limited medals given out. That what makes it so coveted to actually get a FTAAA race medal, you have to work for it. Turns out luck was on my side that morning as there were only 400+ runners in Cat A and medals were given out to the first 300. I set myself with steely determination to capture my first FTAAA race medal.

As its a no frills race, the route is usually the same, from Dataran Merdeka through to Bank Negara then Bukit Tunku, cut by Mahameru then back on Jalan Parlimen. I must have ran this route at least 6 times but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. KL is beautiful early in the morning, the brisk breeze blowing through the Bukit Tunku trees, the sun peeking out from  its rise and your finish line looming closer. They did cut the distance to 7 km in which I gave my all at the last bit.

At the last stretch from Jalan Parlimen, with Gimme Shelter blasting, I sped to the finishing line and clocked a 44 min for the run, positioned at 265 and finally gotten my FTAAA medal that has hitherto eluded me. The euphoric feeling made the drive from Melaka all worth it.

After that, I did the Energizer Night Race for a less convincing  half marathon filled with cramps and pain due to the lack of training beforehand. Nevertheless, I do plan to make up for it with the Pacesetters 15k and Std Chart Marathon coming up next.

Oh, and The Baby celebrates his 3 months with us today.

Cool Lullabies, Baby!!!

You gotta start them out right.

Lullabies are fun to sing to The Baby but there’s only so many times that you can sing Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep before it start to get a bit old (same tune, by the way). So here comes Rockabye Baby which is a dream come true for the musically inclined mom and dad.  They convert popular songs into lullabies format which feature mainly toy pianos, triangle, xylophones and glockenspiels which makes them ideal for babies and more importantly, not boring for his parents.

So far, The Baby has been introduced to the sounds of The Beach Boys, Beatles, Coldplay, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Greenday and Bob Marley. Of course, some selected tracks came with bonus bass vocal accompaniment by yours truly and the best part is he just laps it up and goes to sleep. He doesn’t have much of a choice really, hehehe.

Some bands work better than others, Beatles and Beach Boys choices sound pretty much like lullabies anyway so it sorta compliments the format but I love what they did with Radiohead (Let Down, Airbag), Greenday (Basketcase, When I Come Around), Smashing Pumpkins (Today, 1979). Pixies and U2 are sorta hit and miss affairs and The Wife likes the Coldplay album. Singing these 90s alternative songs that I grew up with to him makes me feel like I’m in high school again. Leaves  you to wonder what music he’ll grow up to and what albums we’ll discover together. I’m looking forward to that.

A footnote though, stay away from the Nirvana and Metallica albums unless you want your baby to be raised up in an Addams Family environment. Oh, and the album covers! Too cute for words (U2 one especially)!!!

Go Away Bilirubin!!!

Last weekend (close to marking his  1 week birthday) we were all geared up to receive guests (mostly The Baby’s auntys, uncles, cousins and grandparents from KL) and excited to introduce them to him and also take them around town for a good dinner and sight-seeing.

So much for best laid plans.  He did look a tinge of yellow throughout the past few days but we were all caught up in his cuteness and sorta put it at the back of our head and hope the morning sun would chase the bilirubin away.  On the 6th day, we brought him to his first paediatrician  appointment and I thought he turned out more yellow on my LCD camera screen (a home test you can do to check for jaundice, assuming your white balance is correct, hehe).

The paed took his blood sample and turns out he had a high bilirubin level of 319 μmol/l (they usually admit babies for neonatal jaundice at any levels above 200 μmol/l) and he spent two nights in the hospital under the bright blue lights of phototherapy.

Still got the blues for you

Here are some lesson learnt that can be applied for 6 day old breastfed babies with neonatal jaundice (from the dad’s perspective):

• Generally, neonatal jaundice is not a big issue especially with the treatment available today. A bit of layman background: when our red blood cells die, it converts to a component called bilirubin which goes to the liver and get excreted out. No big deal. However, in newborns, their livers are not fully developed to handle the big ass bilirubin load and that leads to accumulation of the bilirubin in the baby, giving him that yellowish tinge. Its more so for breastfed babies as they are still learning to suckle properly and have a lower rate of peeing and pooing (which helps get rid of the bilirubin) compared to bottle fed babies.

• Phototherapy helps by breaking down the bilirubin via isomerisation for easier expulsion through peeing and pooing. Usually, two nights under the lights is sufficient to bring it down to below 200 μmol/l. Its important to feed more during this period due to the lights. Expressed breast milk is usually necessary, if not top up with formula (with syringe preferably)

• Do remember to get your baby’s blood test before he is discharged to check for jaundice which can save you the trouble of having to be re-admitted again. But then again, most babies will usually peak their bilirubin at Day 6 or 7 and will only be admitted then.

• On being admitted. The fact that your baby is being admitted for the first time will be a big issue for your wife who is still recovering from the delivery, she will probably be very emotional and its your job to reassure her repeatedly that it’s not a big deal, explain the facts (ref Point 1) and don’t be emotional yourself. Be like a rock. A big, solid rock.

• If your baby is breastfeeding, you’ll want the mom to room with him depending on the mom’s condition. If she has made good recovery post partum, it will be better for her to be at the hospital with baby. There is a lodging option at most hospitals (although this isn’t covered by insurance) and they usually give you the four bedded option depending on availability. We were lucky that no one was in the room at that time. If your wife is still recovering, then its better to take her back home and formula feed the baby (but do request that the nurses do it via syringe to avoid a nursing strike)

• Prepare a laptop with light hearted TV series (i.e. Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother, House (if you want to be in theme)) and avoid heavy shows (i.e. Mad Men, Lost) and stock up on healthy snacks (crackers, prunes, milk), a thermos and a makeshift bed for your comfort.

• Take it easy, talk to each other and recall on the happy moments during the delivery and imagine that you’re actually checked in to a boutique hotel with quirky beds and curtains with a crying baby being wheeled in every 3 hours or so.

And before you know it, your baby will be ready to be discharged, insyaAllah. His bilirubin levels will still be on the high side so its important that he feeds well and you can tell by monitoring his diaper outputs. Also, the phototherapy will cause his skin to peel due to dryness and he will get scratches all over his face as they remove the mittens during the sessions.  Not a big issue as it should clear up and he/she will be your cute baby ready to be taken home!

Nocturnal Conversations Pt 1

The following conversation took place 3 days after baby was born and shows that I was still accepting the fact that there is an infant in the house.

28 Jan 2010, 0330

The Baby: *whimpers/coughs/grunts*

The Wife:  Baby OK tak?

Me: Okaayyy (in a tone that reassures her that I’m doing well, enjoying my sleep and thanks her for her concern)

The Wife:  No, is THE BABY OK??!!

Me:  Oh. *gets up and scampers to the cot to find baby sleeping peacefully*