Our May Mum of the month is someone who truly cared about preparation! The 28 year old had made a birth plan, kept a birth diary, attended a hypnobirthing course and did a lot of research about baby needs, in her passion to find out all that she could to prepare for motherhood.
So it was quite ironic that the birth of her baby Shaelyn in December last year happened in a way that was quite unexpected!
Yu Hui had found out that she had a rare condition known as Group B Streptococcus (GBS), which affects only 1 in 4 pregnant women. Worried and stressed about how it would affect the baby, she monitored her symptoms closely.
She started to experience contractions a few days before the birth but wanting to delay going to hospital until the intervals were shorter, she opted to remain at home. She finished up some loose ends at work, packed her hospital bag slowly and even found time to bake a cake and for pre-natal Yoga!
“I was feeling a sense of positive, warm energy within me throughout the last few days, perhaps similar to how some people feel good after a run,” she described.
On the day of the birth, things took an about turn. The contractions, which had been quite manageable thus far, suddenly became intense, with a heavy blood show as well. Yu Hui was still at home, waiting for her husband to finish his shower and feeling unbearable pain.
The couple hurriedly flagged a cab and rushed to the hospital. While still enroute, Yu Hui had a sudden bearing down sensation and the urge to check “down there”.
“Surely that’s not the baby that’s come out,” she had thought, explaining that she felt an obvious bulge in her underwear.
Yu Hui checked and to her surprise, her baby was completely out, with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. She had given birth in the moving cab, with nobody in attendance but her husband!
“We were new parents, unsure of how to hold the baby, scrambling to try making skin-to -skin contact and getting her to latch on my boob,” she recalls, laughing at how her birth plan had fallen into place but in the way that she least expected.
“I had wanted my husband to be able to hold Shaelyn at birth and then pass her directly to me. We wanted to reject epidurals and all drugs. And we got what we wanted; in the back of a taxi!”
The Hegen difference
Not just a planner by nature but an interior designer, Yu Hui has a keen eye for brands that are stylish and use great design as a useful function.
“When I started researching about pumps, Hegen come across as a very eye catching brand with strong branding and purpose,” she explained. As an ardent Hegen fan, Yu Hui bought a lot of Hegen bottles and pumps but ended up direct latching most of the time. However, she tells us that her favourite item is the Hegen storage container.
“I’ve used them to store breast milk from birth to accumulate supply. I like that it’s square shaped and stackable for easy storage, and silicone sealed airtight with PPSU material. It also functions as a milk bottle for rare occasions when my baby feeds from it. In time, I think I’ll be using them as snack cups too.”
Yu Hui used the Hegen electric pump for meridian massage in the hospital to stimulate milk supply and also the manual pump on occasion, especially during her first three months post-partum.
“It was useful for when I need to express my mature milk at night. During the first three months when baby is sleeping well but the breast feels too engorged, I would also use the Hegen manual pump to pump a bit of milk out to clear.”
Yu Hui also appreciated the Hegen community, which came to mean a lot for her.
“I found out about the Hegen Telegram group and joined in. It’s a very casual community, where we would talk about various mum issues, sometimes not even Hegen related. Members of the Hegen team are also online and I found them so hospitable and helpful.”
She keep herself updated on Hegen events on both Instagram and Telegram throughout her pregnancy and postpartum period, joining in the webinars and IG Live sessions. The one that strongly influenced her was with SGsupernanny, which she found shared useful tips on mothering and sleep training.
“I also liked one of the online webinars, with Yvon, Zoe and a paediatrician. The PD talked about several common and uncommon situations for a newborn; what we should not be alarmed by and what needs medical attention.”
She adds that this is very essential information for new moms like her to understand, and communicate to caregivers and family members at home who may otherwise know no better.
Yu Hui also recalled attending a Hegen event known as the breast practice workshop.
“It was my first time seeing Yvon in real life and I really connected with her and the Hegen team. The best takeaway for me from the event was that to be successful in breastfeeding is to believe that we can. She gave us the confidence to have no doubts in what nature allows us to do, breastfeeding.”
She says that it was this belief philosophy that guided her to still exclusively breastfeed by direct latching and without pumping.
“I’ve managed to discover all the right parenting issues at the right time by attending Hegen events and I really believe that this helped me prepare better for motherhood! My relationship with Hegen will always be an emotional instead of a transactional one because I sincerely feel empowered now as a Mum.”
