APRIL 16, 2011- 5:15PM

FIRST 18 HOURS:
I spent 20 hrs in the hospital with my sister waiting for her to give birth. The first 18 hours, the doctor had my sister induced. This is my first experience ever so its all pretty new to me. I was learning as I went. After 18 hours my sister was only still 4cm dilated. (For those who don't know, you have to be 9-10cm dilated in order to give birth). The doctor then helped my sister break her water in order to speed up the process. My sister started hurting due to the contractions and swore to me that she would deliver naturally. It isn't till after the doctor broke her water that she really started to feel the pain from the contractions. She couldn't take it and thus she received the Epidural.
The Epidural is liquid that is injected through the lower spine in order to numb her hip/waist down. I researched about the Epidural, its absolutely dangerous, there are lots of side effects including: nausea, vomiting, severe headaches, shaking, and more. Long term permanent effects were paralysis if applied incorrectly in the lower back. Its a tube that stays in the lower back so if the nurse didn't apply it correctly can result to problems. Other long term problems that may arise is nerve damage and back pain. It is pretty scary. She did experience the side effects. She was very nauseated, vomiting, and had severe headaches. After the doctor broke her water, she went from 4cm's dilated to 8cm's in a few hours. Next thing I knew she was ready to give birth.

THE NEXT HOUR:
It only took her no more than 20 pushes and my niece was born on April 16, 2011 - 5:15pm! She weighed 6lbs 15.3oz and was a GIRL!!!! (haha we made sure of it because sometimes the doctor can mistake the sex of the baby). She was adorable! Her name is Charlie short for Charlotte Tovar-Yuen and half Mexican half Chinese.

Here are some pictures of when she was first born:

The nurse cleaning her.

Weighing her! 6lbs 15.3oz!

Her first peek into the world!

Mommy and Daughter pic!

EARLY COMPLICATIONS:

After a few hours later, my sister was transferred to maternity and Charlie was sent to Intensive Care. Apparently, there was some bleeding in Charlies stomach, they couldn't figure out why she was bleeding and whether or not it was her own blood or the moms. Charlie was also breathing heavily and had a second thumb. When I went to the Intensive Care room, It was pretty scary, Charlie was hooked up to many different tubes and I saw lots of preemie babies. It was really sad more than scary just because this is the first time I have ever experienced. 

The next day, more news came as the doctors ran some tests. Turned out that the blood found in her stomach was her moms blood that she must have swallowed when she was coming out. She also caught pneumonia that caused her to breath heavily in her lungs. Charlie was treated with antibiotics for a few days and a week later she was discharged from the hospital!

CURRENTLY:

Now she is healthy and lazy!!! she sleeps all day but cries when she needs her diaper changed or when she is hungry. Otherwise she is a very quiet adorable baby. :)

Here are some pictures after: 

Charlie wearing her cow outfit!!!!! When I was in Hong Kong I bought a lot of baby clothes just because it is a lot cheaper than it is here in the US AND they have A LOT of cute clothes!

Lots of hair!!!!

Such a pig!!! haha~ she so cute with the cow outfit!

Well thats about it!!!! Ill update more as she grows!!! Thanks for reading!

My Absolute Favorite Treasuries!

I love orange and yellow and these treasuries are so beautifully picked and assembled with very talented artisans!!!



Something to Brighten Up Your Day! by SewingGranny




Something to Brighten Up Your Day! Part 2 by SewingGranny

Hong Kong Trip 3/4/2011

Hey everyone!

As promised, im off to share some of my trip with you!!! it was a busy 2 weeks, family dinners every night. Afternoon im went shopping for either clothes or supplies!!! yup, supplies are a lot cheaper over there. I did a lot of calculating to make sure im getting a better deal!.

Lots have changed over the years, there are more mainland Chinese people shopping in Hong Kong now. They are flaunting their wealth over material items they purchase. There were long lines of people stand outside expensive high end stores waiting for their turn to go in and shop. it is absolutely crazy how much money they have and im still only talking about Chinese people from the mainland. The Chinese people from the mainland compared to the Chinese people in Hong Kong are really different. My aunt tells me that the reason why we see so many Mainland Chinese people in Hong Kong shopping is because the Chinese government is actually allowing them to be able to - i guess - "show off" their wealth or something like that.

I ate a lot of great food!!! ranging from American to French, Indian to Indonesian, lots of Japanese food too (before the earthquake happened).

I spent a lot of time with my aunts and uncles. I received many beautiful graduation gifts from them including a gorgeous diamond ring! The lady at the diamond shop was so nice she taught me how to look at a quality diamond, the cuts, clarity and the settings. I was absolutely excited. She also mentioned that most of the diamonds here in America lack quality and clarity but yet they are charging an insane amount for it. Im referring more to Jewelry exchange stores etc. NOT expensive high end stores. I say that because I actually have small diamond ring bought at a Jewelry Exchange store here in CA that my bf bought me and we compared the rings. I guess, its a good idea to educate yourself when buying an EXPENSIVE figgin' diamond ring because thats a lot of money!!! haha~

Heard news of Japans earthquake and nope, we did not feel anything. After the earthquake, many people did not eat Japanese food. You see Japanese restaurants completely empty! You hear Chinese people buying huge amounts of salt thinking that the little parts of iodine will help protect them from the radiation but some salt are not even made with iodine anymore. Many other Chinese people are hurrying to buy Japanese products before they raise the prices. In my opinion, this is absolutely mad because EVERYTHING in Hong Kong are all products from Japan. You have products like stationary items, food items, clothing, beauty products and many more are all from Japan.

hmm... what else... ahh PICTURES!!!! enjoy!

Business class seats on Cathay Pacific. My dad upgraded us as a gift. The seats fall down into a bed, it even has a massage function!!! Super comfy, slept a lot of the ways, the service was excellent (of course right?!) I told my dad, great, now I will NEVER sit in economy again!!! haha~

 The view from the plane!!! absolutely amazing!

Hong Kong dollar bills are so colorful!!!! It goes up to $1000 bill and as low as $10 bill. $100HKD = (give or take) $12USD. These were my red pocket money from Chinese New Year that my dad saved for us!!!

Delicious pork with crispy skin!!! mmmmMM... The yellow "thing" is what i called "rubber bands" because they are stringing, crunchy, yet chewy!!! but its actually..... JELLYFISH!!!

FYI: I do not drink this, its absolutely gross but i thought of putting it in here to give a little info about the culture. This is what you call "bird saliva porridge." Basically, the saliva is from Swallows. I know your wondering how they retrieve the saliva. They live in a cave where their nests are made with their own saliva. This dish is consider exquisite because its hard to acquire the nest because its in a cave and i guess its "dangerous" to try and retrieve it. Plus the most important part about this dish is they say its good for you. Its suppose to give you soft skin

HSBC bank on the right and some other bank on the left (i forget =P)

Extremely ONE TALL BUILDING but thats not the tallest!

This is the TALLEST BUILDING in HK!!! Its called the IFC tower.

Big Chanel store

Louis Vuitton Store

I have to say a lot of NICE EXOTIC cars in HK. This is the new Ferrari Italia, its absolutely beautiful. (Im a car person hehe)
The Chinese people value on luxury - most of them, the rich ones - so i saw so many exotic expensive cars in the city!!!! everything ranging from services and people treat you like your royal. Even McDonald's are fancy tiled or marbled restaurants. 

Delicious Indian food .... MMmmmM YUM!

Panoramic View of the City side!!!! it was a very foggy day


So while we were in Hong Kong, my dogs was at a board house!!! This board house was different, there was no kennels so the dogs were able to run around freely. The do split the small and large dogs. Here are some pictures of them (the owner made sure she posted pictures on her facebook to update her customers):

They were so cute sleeping together

Bagel (top), Cookie (middle), Luckie (bottom)

Unfortunately, after we picked the dogs up, Luckie had an ulcer in his right eye he had to wear the "Cone of Shame" for a week!!!

Driving back from the doctor!

BUT he didnt let the "cone of shame" stop him from being himself!!!!

He was still normal and absolutely didnt mind the CONE at all!

Then after Luckie was well and the ulcer was gone. COOKIE was sick. She was diagnosed with "Kennel Cough" which shows symptoms after 10 days of usually from interaction with other dogs. Her cough lasted for 10 days, she is now better after cough pills and antibiotic medicines. I had the doctor do an x-ray to make sure they werent missing anything. Turned out that Cookie was also diagnosed with a thing called "Collapsed Trachea" which is common amongst small dogs. Its when the airway at the middle part is collapsed downwards leaving a smaller gap making harder for her to breath at times. Doctor says that the good news is some dogs tend to live till their old but the bad news was it isnt treatable. He said there is a possibility the she may sufficate from it. He even told me he had a lot of patients that have the problem but only 4 or 5 have actually died from it. 

Now we are cautious, we changed her collar to a harness so we dont pull on her neck area. She cant be under the heat long to wear she cant breath it can make it worse etc. So this sucks but I hope she lives long.  

Thats about it!!! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading it!!!  :)