SingaporeMotherhood | Parenting
February 2014
Celebrations: Damon’s First Month (‘Manyue’)
Pregnancy, birth, the passing of a new year… Because they are occasions filled with so much love and joy, those to do with parenting, babies, and children can and should be an excuse for laughter and much merrymaking! With that in mind, we bring you Celebrations, where we’ll feature baby showers, full month festivities, birthday bashes, and more. First up: Baby Damon’s First Month gathering, through the eyes of his mum Kathleen.
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Damon Hay | 23 December 2013 | Mt Alvernia Hospital
Birth story
Kathleen: I was warded for contractions at 32 weeks, so we were a little worried that Damon would be born prematurely. We took to talking to him nightly asking him to hang in there and not come out too soon! He was born on a Monday, and the weekend just prior to his birth, the hubby and I had a couple of Christmas gatherings to attend, so we were jokingly telling Damon to hold off his arrival till we were done with our gatherings. True enough, shortly after we got home on Sunday afternoon, I started to have a bloody show! I gave my gynae a call after monitoring the situation for an hour and she instructed us to be at the hospital by 7pm the same evening. My gynae burst my waterbag at 10pm and epidural was administered two hours later. In the meantime I was clinging on to the bed rails to ride through the contractions!
After 10 hours of labour, my gynae informed us that Damon’s head wasn’t descending as he was too big, and he was starting to show signs of distress. This called for an emergency c-section, and she started preparing us for it immediately. From then on everything sped by. I was pushed into the operating theatre, and Damon was out less than half an hour later! Despite being exhausted and shivering from the effects of the epidural, it was a really emotional moment for both of us. We started tearing up when we heard his first loud wail.
Why did you chose this maternity hospital?
Our gynae delivers at Mt Alvernia as well as Gleneagles. We chose the former due to its proximity to our place. We had heard and read good reviews of Mt Alvernia, and since they specialise in obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics, we figured we would be in good hands. The hubby and I also signed up for, and attended the Childbirth Education programme conducted by the hospital and found it very helpful.
First Month celebration
Theme
We didn’t have a specific theme, but didn’t want to go with traditional baby boy colours like blue, so we opted for a colour theme of gold, silver and white instead.
Preparation
Being ‘kiasu’ parents we started scouting around for venues a few months before Damon was born, but never reached a final decision until a week after his birth. It was a rush to get the venue booked and send out the invites to our relatives and friends. We had also done a newborn photo shoot session for Damon at two weeks young, with the photographer from Cottony Photography coming to our place for the shoot, so we figured it was a good time to share the pictures as well.
Decor
We wanted to make it a fun experience for our guests, especially those with kids, so we had a candy bar set up and balloons as part of the decorations. We previously engaged Ailee from One and Only Gallery to do our reception area setup during our wedding and we liked what she did, so we decided to engage her again for Damon’s full month celebration. Our guests definitely enjoyed the candy bar and balloons she did up for us!
Food
Four Seasons Catering. We had had a good experience with them during our wedding and decided to go with them again. Plus they had a baby shower buffet menu that included the traditional red eggs, ‘ang ku kueh’ and glutinous rice, which was a nice touch.
How was it for you?
It was great meeting up with all our relatives and close friends, especially for me after my month of confinement! I was really touched that my brother and his girlfriend decided to do up a fruity decoration piece for the buffet line. It looked great, and was a lovely thought. My only regret is not being able to chat as long with our guests as I would have liked to.
Did baby behave?
Everyone was eager to meet baby, and we were expecting quite a number of guests so we were a little worried he would be over stimulated. Surprisingly, Damon slept through his first party despite being passed around because so many people wanted to carry him and coo over him! Phew! He was in his pram for all of 15 minutes!
The Details
Venue: Reef Room at Safra Toa Payoh – $900 + gst
Catering: Four Seasons Catering – $1870 after gst
Decorations: One and Only Gallery – $446 (candy bar table and deco with 100 balloons)
Photography: Cottony Photography (newborn photo shoot) – $380 for 10 edited photos
Did you just have a baby shower, a first month celebration, a kids’ birthday party, or any kind of celebration involving babies and/or kids? Or are you planning one? Email [email protected] if you are willing to share your story and your pictures. We’d love to have you here!
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