Bad Ace Day

Ever had a bad hair day before?

You know, it is one of those days where no matter what you did to your hair, your hair just looks like shit.

Well, good things didnt last... While Mozart was useful for a good hour or so... the day ended up as a BAD ACE DAY because I almost went into tears taking care of Ace that night.

Starting from 6.30 pm onwards, Ace decided that whatever he was feeling , it would be best soothed by mummy's breast and so, from then onwards, he was permanently latched on to my breast. Whenever I took out my breast from his mouth, he would go into a blood-curdling wail!

By 9.30pm., my patience was running thin. I havent been sleeping well for the past few nights and am already very tired by then. I was also running out of milk for him to suck and my nipples were VERY SORE from all the non stop sucking. I was tired and I was hungry too.

Max was not home that day and since there was no one to eat dinner with me, I suggested to Max that I make do with cornflakes and he buy some stuff back home when he comes back. But I was STILL HUNGRY. And as they say, a hungry mummy is an angry mummy...

I then decided to protect my poor nipples and pulled Ace out. He cried and cried and no matter what I did, he just would not stop.

By 10.30pm, i was ready to burst into tears. I called hubby but he was still in a meeting. "I'll call you back, I am doing translation.." he said.

I decided to try to soothe Ace by patting him to sleep. It worked. For about 5 minutes and then he woke and cried loudly again.

I tried 101 ways to make him stop and he just wouldn't stop. He cried so hard and so loud till his face turned red, tears were streaming down and he was almost hoarse from all the shouting.

I understood then why mummies suffering from post natal blues and depression will throw their collicky babies down from their HDB flats...

At one point, I was so upset I wanted to cry at him. I tried to control my emotions and I asked Ace, "What do you want mummy to do? Like this also cannot, like that also cannot... Do you want mummy to go crazy???"

And my son just continued to wail.

I read somewhere that the emotions of the parent will be passed down to the baby so I decided to take matters into my own hand, calm myself down and then carry him and walk around the house.

It worked! He became quiet!

But alas, it was tough work.
You walk too slow, he cries...
You stop, he cries...
You dare sit down, he cries...
You dun carry him upright, he cries...

I was faint from all the walking around in circles and was starting to see stars already.. but he refused to let me stop.

12 midnite, I decided that it was bedtime for us both. I was really too tired. I put Ace in his cot and he whimpered for a while, I switched on the hanging mobile so that it turned and music came out of it. I repeated the lullably again and again.... and again.... and again.... and again.... and again.... and again.... and again.... and again.... and again.... and again.... hoping that the monotonous repeitition will actually bore him to sleep.

Alas, he was at best quiet.

Then Max came home and when he saw my m shaped mouth (now we know where he learnt that expression from:P), he kissed me and said he would take over from there.

I think our neighbours must have hated us that day. Cos at precisely 1am, Ace started to cry out very very loudly again. No matter what Max did, he just wouldn't stop.

"Dun like that leh, 不要害我leh... you like that cry, mummy don't want to give birth to anymore babies liao. Don't you want a little brother or sister to play with?"

I guess it made sense to Ace and he quieten down for a short while only to roar into a big cry again 10 minutes later! Max was so at lost wat to do that he said, "Why don't you chant with him!?"

At this time, I carried him and walked him around the house and then prayed hard that he will stop and finally... sleep and peace...

I must say that is the worst day I had alone with Ace and I sincerely hope it will stay the worst day... ;)