islandhippy » the birth http://islandhippy.com life in singapore ... with baby (and new baby) Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:38:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Leo 森 Tatham http://islandhippy.com/2010/06/23/leo-%e6%a3%ae-tatham/ http://islandhippy.com/2010/06/23/leo-%e6%a3%ae-tatham/#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:14:03 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/?p=2164 IMG_1108

Hello! My name is Leo 森 Tatham. (If you only see a square box then your computer doesn't speak Chinese.)

My first name, Leo, is short for ... Leo.

My middle name is 森 or "Sen" in Hanyu Pinyin. 森 means "forest" and is pronounced "sun" when spoken in English with a comic French accent à la 'Allo 'Allo! Imagine René saying "zee sun eez very 'ot".

The Chinese character 森 is delightful and, thankfully, easy to draw. It's a logical aggregate, where a character is repeated to create a new word. The character 木 means tree. Double it, 林, and you get grove. Triple it, 森, and you have a forest.

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2010/06/23/leo-%e6%a3%ae-tatham/feed/ 5 The Birth (Monday 7pm): zombies http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-7pm-zombies/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-7pm-zombies/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:58:39 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-7pm-zombies/ Poor Sandy has only slept about five hours in the last thirty-six. Her contractions are erratic so it looks like she'll be going for a third round of prostaglandin at 10pm tonight. If that doesn't work, they'll have to feed her something stronger through the drip.

Blogging the early stages has been fun and has occupied both of us but we'll probably call it a day here and start over when Dumpling has put in an appearance. Thank you so much for the SMS messages and emails.

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-7pm-zombies/feed/ 1 The Birth (Monday 3pm): round two http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-3pm-round-two/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-3pm-round-two/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:02:12 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-3pm-round-two/ The first tablet didn't seem to have much effect so it's round two. We're getting such conflicting reports it's difficult to know what's happening. I hope our regular doc will drop by soon so we can ask her. One senior midwife said there are no contractions, a junior doctor said the same thing an hour later, then the first midwife reappeared with the charts suggesting the contractions are only a few minutes apart?! If they are we've obviously missed them. We're now back in the ward, walking around trying to shake Dumpling out.

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-3pm-round-two/feed/ 0 The Birth (Monday 2pm): it’s worse than plane food http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/food/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/food/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:51:05 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/food/

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/food/feed/ 1 The Birth (Monday 8.40am): for the geeks http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-840am-for-the-geeks/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-840am-for-the-geeks/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:39:35 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-840am-for-the-geeks/ In case anybody is interested, I'm blogging from my iPhone using a free Singtel wireless connection. Most of this part of Singapore is covered by Singtel so it's easy to get online. I did ask the hospital whether it was OK for me to use wireless devices in the ward and they seemed to think it's fine.

I'm not sure what's the best way to upload photos from the iPhone to a Wordpress-powered blog but I chanced upon iPhoneSlide last night and it seems to work fine. It saves lugging the laptop around!

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-840am-for-the-geeks/feed/ 1 The Birth (Monday 8am): 20 mins apart http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-8am-20-mins-apart/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-8am-20-mins-apart/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:17:51 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-8am-20-mins-apart/ Apparently Sandy's contractions are still only 20 mins apart (we missed them) so it's back down to the delivery suite for another tablet ... after breakfast. Sandy's ordered fried bee tai bak ("the short fat noodles" -- Sandy). The menu has Chinese, Malay, Indian and Western options. Sandy's ordered Chinese for breakfast, Malay for lunch and she's hoping for Indian for dinner. According to Sandy, the Western menu looks too scary to try.

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-8am-20-mins-apart/feed/ 0 The Birth (Monday 7am): alien squid invasion http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-5am-alien-squid-attack/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-5am-alien-squid-attack/#comments Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:22:31 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-5am-alien-squid-attack/ We only got an hour's sleep before a nurse came in to hook Sandy up to the heart monitoring machine again. The machine is so loud; it sounds like something from the movie Alien. An invasion of extra-terrestrial squid. We're waiting to go down to the delivery ward again but there's a run on beds (and bog roll; they've given us a box of tissues to make do). Apparently it costs more to have a C-section on a Sunday so there's a slew of patients waiting for Monday morning to arrive so they can go under the knife.

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/the-birth-monday-5am-alien-squid-attack/feed/ 0 The Birth (Monday 5am): hotel room http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/moved-to-our-maternity-ward-room-5am/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/moved-to-our-maternity-ward-room-5am/#comments Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:12:55 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/moved-to-our-maternity-ward-room-5am/ At 5am we were taken up to our private room in a maternity ward on the eighth floor. Hey, not a bad room, we might just stay here: cable TV, fridge (no minibar, Sandy checked), a safe (for the sandwiches), an extra bed for yours truly, a view of the President's official residence ...

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/moved-to-our-maternity-ward-room-5am/feed/ 0 The Birth (Monday 3.50am): sore back http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/back-massage350am/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/back-massage350am/#comments Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:01:53 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/back-massage350am/ Poor Sandy, it's impossible for her to get any sleep with wires potruding from her belly ... and her back is sore.

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/back-massage350am/feed/ 0 The Birth (Monday 2.51am): out for the count http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/husband-sleeping-already-251am/ http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/husband-sleeping-already-251am/#comments Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:53:30 +0000 islandhippy http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/husband-sleeping-already-251am/ Testing the lazy chair.

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

]]> http://islandhippy.com/2008/04/21/husband-sleeping-already-251am/feed/ 0