Mothering Corner

I went for my pap smear last week and my gynae advised me to go for the vaccination against Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

HPV is a common virus that affects both females and males. There are more than 100 types of HPV that can affect different areas of the body. Most types are relatively harmless —like the ones that cause common warts on hands and feet. Some types of HPV can affect the genital area and can lead to cervical cancer, abnormal cervical cells, and genital warts.

Before I can take the jab, I need to perform a cervical check to identify is I’m a carrier for HPV. If I am, I can forget about the vaccination as it’s not going to help to prevent cervival up to 90%. But if I am not, I will have to take the jabs at 0, 2 and 6 months for better prevention. Once you are immune, you will still have to perform pap smear every year as the vaccination doesn’t provide 100% protection. Any girls above 9 years old can get the vaccination, regardless of being sexually active or not.

I can’t take the jab now as I’m moving to Bangkok and I’m not sure when I will be back. But I will find out more about this before I decide to go for the jabs. If you are interested, check out the related information about HPV at http://www.tellsomeone.com.my/

This news about overweight kids caught my attention. I have a few cousins who are seriously obese because they eat too much and hardly exercise. The only body part that moves a lot are their fingers as they will rather sit there and play with the video games. Frankly, they should attend the summer camp for overweight children just like the one held in Shanghai.

A boy eats his lunch at a summer camp for overweight kids in Shanghai in this file photo. The camp is designed to teach youngsters about healthy eating. Authorities in Shanghai have launched a program designed to reduce obesity among primary school children in the city by significantly over the next three years.
(Photo source: China Daily)

I better watch my kids diet. I was very lenient about what they ate during Chinese New Year, but now, the festival is over and it’s all about healthy eating and lots of exercise again.

Hubby and I are going away to set up our home and office in Bangkok next week. We will only be there for a few days, so everything is a rush to us. We have to set up the Call Center VoIP Phone Systems at the office too if time permits. We are trying to start the business running as soon as possible so that things can settle down faster before the kids are moving over the Bangkok.

Frankly, we can just leave them behind for my mum, but hubby is very reluctant. A family is not complete if we are separated. Even if we can make lots of long distance calls back home, but it won’t be the same if we can’t give them hugs and kiss them goodnight.

It’s going to be hard for us initially, but I know that things will get better a few years down the road.

I’ve just received the newsletter from The Baby Loft that there is going to be a talk on baby signing conducted by BabySigns (USA) certified instructor, Jamie Soloman, on 24th February 2008 (Sunday) at 11am to 3pm. If you are interested, please email info@thebabyloft.com to book your seats in advance.

I taught my kids about baby sign language when they were younger and it’s fun communication to babies in such a way. I didn’t teach a lot of signs, but only concentrate on a few easy ones that being used frequently. My gal still signs sometimes when she’s trying to emphasize what she’s trying to say.

So, if you don’t feel like learning the signs from books, why don’t you join the talk?

I found that the advertiser of some breastfeeding videos has dropped out the link from my site. It’s not surprising as my site doesn’t have a lot of visitors but I was hoping that those mothers who are looking for breastfeeding videos can find them here and learn the right ways of latching on or various breastfeeding positions.

It’s the advertiser’s decision anyway and there is nothing I can do about it. The most I lost is just a few bucks per month and it didn’t hurt much. Anyway, if you are interested to know the videos are, check out the link above.

We have a basketball hoop at home but my kids can’t reach it yet. They need hubby’s help to lift them up so that they can drop the ball into the basket. I think they like basketball because hubby plays with them, if not they don’t even know what the game is all about.

Maybe we should get them watch some NBA matches on TV. Then, they will have a better idea of what the game is all about. I wonder if they will ask me to get them some Miami Heat Tickets when they grow up and in love with the game? LOL!

I wrote about no naked photos of our kids, and now I think I would like to share my views about exposing too much of our children. I try not to write in details about the school my kid is going or where we have been going because you will never know when your blogs are being stalked. Not all of us check out blog stats all the time wondering where our visitors come from.

Thus, there is always a risk of over exposing and putting our kids in the danger zone. I once heard that a daddy blogger got some death threat from a reader who left awful comments on his blog. It’s so freaking scary I took it as a lesson.

So, don’t be reckless about this. If you have things that you would like to show your kids later, put the posts as private. It’s not like you will have 500 visitors a day writing about your kids in detail ok?

My boy started to bring back some homework from school lately. Yesterday, he had to write 2 pages of “1″ and it’s pretty easy for him. There are dotted lines, so he could manage it all by himself. Today, he has to write the letter “a”. At first, I helped by holding his hand to trace on the dotted line, and then he started out by himself. He was struggling but I tried to encourage him as much as I could.

There were some that didn’t look like “a” and when I asked if he would like to redo them later, he happily agreed. I guess he will enjoy his homework more if I don’t force him at all. Besides that, he’s only 3 years old, there is no rushing on homework and perfect handwriting.

I can still remember how I felt when I saw the two red lines on the pregnancy test kit. I was puzzled for a while, and later I got all excited about it. During the first few months, I was so anxious and worried about my first baby, I couldn’t relax myself.

If you are feeling the same right now on your pregnancy, just take things easy. It’s normal to feel like this when you are expecting your first baby. However, please do not take any anxiety relief unless you get the green light from your doctor. Most natural herbal supplements are not advisable to expectant mothers, so don’t just try them out without consulting your doctor.

I found that getting to know a few expectant mothers to share our feelings help a lot. So, maybe you can get to know other mothers who are expecting their babies too?

I’m flying over to see SIL next week and she has been complaining about how hard she takes to get rid of her post natal baby fat. Frankly, it’s only been a month since she gave birth to her baby, so it’s not easy to get back in shape so soon. Maybe there are one or two mothers who made it, but the majority of us struggled for 6 months to one year to get back in shape.

But if you are breastfeeding your baby, it’s much easier to lose the post natal fat if you eat a well balance diet as well as doing some simple exercise. I started exercising a week after labor, but only the simple exercises I learned from my prenatal class. Some of the exercises you can try out are:

Pelvic Floor Strengthener
This exercise is perfect for improving circulation in the pelvic region, as well as keeping the vaginal canal in shape.

# lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor
# tighten the muscles of the vagina as if trying to interrupt the flow of urine when going to the bathroom
# hold for a count of four, then release

Head and Shoulder Raises
# lie on your back with your knees bent and your hands behind your head
# take a breath and, as you exhale, tighten your abdominal muscles, flatten the small of your back against the floor and raise your head and shoulders off the ground and slowly lower
# repeat the entire sequence eight to 10 times

Pelvic Tilt
# lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floot
# inhale and allow your abdomen to expand
# exhale and lift your tailbone toward your navel, keeping you hips on the floor
# at the top of the tilt, tighten your buttocks, then release
# repeat eight to 10 times

Of course, you can also add in other forms of exercise like swimming, yoga, walking, and others once you have recovered from your labor and feel up to it. You can also forget about taking diet pills if you are breastfeeding your baby, waking up a few times a night and carrying her around during the day. It sounds like a lot of exercising to me already!