The Apple's Diary!

April has been a horrible month… and we are pretty shacked by now. Matthew went for his first dose of MMR last Monday and despite all the cooling precautions taken, the MMR fever kicked in at Day 5. Now in his 2nd day of fever, his highest was 39.4 and the crucial 48 hours are almost gone which meant that he would unlikely develop a fit. Now at 16 month old, Matthew could understand a lot of instructions and the concept of time. He would point to the clock at specific timing if a routine is not performed then. His reflex was also quick as proven by the needle scratch on his MMR jab. This little boy not only cried out in pain when the PD jabbed him, he proceeded to snatch the needle when Dr Yip was retracting the needle. Totally stunned everyone in the room. We also decided not to send him to a full day CC and to a suitable 3hour nursery program instead. For a start, he will be joining Jonathan on Saturday Heguru program. My firstborn, Jonathan is just 4 mon...

We made another attempt for a family photoshoot on 1st March. Unfortunately, the boys had outgrown their family tee so we went for basics - Simple blue polo, twin outfits and Mr. Smiley series outfits. We went with Claire Teo from Tree of Life Photography which based her shoots at her home studio using natural lights. Natural lighting means we have to reach her place in by 10am and her place is the opposite end from ours - Punggol. But it was worth the hassle and I am quite happy with the end products. We only lasted slightly over an hour as both the boys were getting fussy and we still could get back 190 photos. I thought that there was quite a feat. Here are some photos that I love …. It's not easy to get a nice family shot so we will want to attempt again when the boys are slightly older. I guess the next round would be an outdoor shoot with natural lighting again. Thanks to Claire for the beautiful photos and Michelle (ex-colleague) for doin...

The hurt of a mother is beyond tears and words. I couldn't even open my mouth to say how heartbroken I was when people shy away from us when they heard Matthew's condition. The tears couldn't make up the shattered pieces of my heart when I had to hold him while the nurses drew his blood again. If Matthew could articulate, what would he say? Would he turn to me and say "Mama, why does the school reject me?" Would he turn to me and say "Mama, why does the nurse keep taking my blood?" A febrile fit child is not a special need child. It makes my heart ache when no preschool is willing to accept him. A febrile child is not a retarded child. Matthew is bright and yearns so much to attend school like his brother. at 15 month old, he is learning to put on his shoes and socks he doodles with his brother While I haven't calm myself down at the multiple rejection, the review with NUH PD highlighted that it would be a high chance he wou...

Matthew received his first rejection today. I had gone down to Mindchamps today to speak to the principal regarding Matthew. Given Matthew's condition, I would need to know if Mindchamps would be able to handle if the febrile fit occur in their centre. I was dismayed at the principal's reply and was disappointed with her attitude. In all honesty, at least they let me know they cannot accept the responsibility. However, during the conversation I felt a total lack of empathy and compassion. The shifty eyes, the lack of knowledge on what's a febrile fit, the unwillingness to find out more. In short, I got the impression that they just want easy peasy children in their centre. Preferably those that are toilet trained at home, quick to learn things and independent. Actually all I requested is for the teacher to pick up tell tale sign should Matthew suddenly has a fever, stay close with him till I get to him. The response was they couldn't assure me they could do it. T...

April 6 2014 Last Sunday was supposed to be our happy family trip to River Safari with the grandparents. Yet, it turned out to be otherwise. At midnight of Sunday, Matthew suddenly had a high fever onset of 39oC. Decided that it would take a while for the Ibuprofen to warm up to room temperature and Voltaren suppository would be a better choice, Matthew received one bullet. 2.5 hours later, the temperature was still high so we gave a dose of Paracetamol and this is also something which our PD had instructed us before, to alternate 3hrly between paracetamol and ibuprofen so as to prevent Matthew from going into a febrile fit. I guess we just couldn't stopped it. Matthew had a febrile fit at 6.50am and all we could think of is to call for the ambulance. It was my 2nd time witnessing him entering into a convulsion and in all honesty,  we panic. We couldn't think of the diazepam to stop the fit and could only manage the ambulance part. It was short, less than a minute. The...