Today we believe God wants us to know that....

[posted by Eileen]

From the facebook 'God wants you to know' app today...

Today we believe that God wants us to know that...
beginnings are only possible where there are endings

Clear acknowledged endings are as necessary to intelligible life, as pauses between notes to intelligible music. although endings sometimes feel like the end of you, take them for what they really are, - the end of a stage in your life. Here is to new beginnings!

Thank you Lord Jesus for today's message. Amen.

Amen

Internment of Ashes

We collected Raphaelle’s ashes in the morning and internment of ashes at St Teresa's Church was done in the afternoon, with a short prayer service by Fr Thomas from BSC. With early planning and also the help of family and close friends, the entire process following Raphaelle’s passing went smoothly. We both deeply missed Raphaelle but knowing that she is a saint and is in Heaven watching over us will be our source of comfort in our grief. Please continue to pray for us and our families.

They says when it rains, a great person joins God in heaven

God has always been there for us, in all time and seasons

[posted by Justin]

We just finished praying our daily rosary today with much difficulty, cos we have been praying with Raphaelle for the past 9 months. The difference being that she is no longer physically with us but spiritually with us.

Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus. God really knows when to bring Rapahelle home. And as today is Wed, Eileen and I got to pray the Glorious Mysteries of the rosary, starting with the Resurrection of Jesus. I must say that God is telling us to believe in Him. We have chosen the following phrase for Raphaelle's tablet: "In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17: 28

We are sharing this with you to testify that God has always been there for us, in all time and seasons. 

Baby Raphaelle called home to be with our Lord

[posted by Eileen]

Wednesday, 6^th August

At around 3.55am in the morning, the nurse from NICU came over and told us that Raphaelle was having breathing difficulties and she would bring her back to our ward. At 4.11am this morning, baby Raphaelle was called home to be with our Lord. Letting her go was extremely difficult, Justin and I spent the next 2 hours with her by our side, with tears flowing down our cheeks continuously. We felt devastated but the same time, we were thankful to God that she was not born stillborn and she was strong such that we had some good hours with her.

The nurses prepared simple bread for us in the morning as we did not have much appetite. Our good friend Edwin came early at 7am to help Justin with the logistical matters. Good thing that Justin had already planned all the funeral logistics a month beforehand and therefore, he just need to call and activated those involved. Our family members all came early for a morning prayer together at the NICU. And the pastoral manager Rose arranged to have Raphaelle’s handprints and footprints onto a small memorial booklet.

Raphaelle's Handprints & Footprints

White dress which Daddy and Mummy specially bought for Raphaelle to wear
Beanie hat & booties from Godpa Julius & Godma Karen

While Justin and Edwin were busy settling the administrative matters such as birth and death certificate and the funeral logistics, I was resting in my ward and getting my siblings to help with the packing since I was planning to be discharged by noon (instead of the next day as originally planned). Now I appreciate the fact that I did not go for cesarean because I would not be able to get out of my bed if I had the surgery and will not be able to be present for cremation that afternoon or the interning of ashes the next day.

Raphaelle’s funeral service was held at the chapel at Mt Alvernia hospital that afternoon at 2.15pm. We were comforted by the many church friends, Antiochers and Justin's colleagues who turned up at such short notice, and the chapel was full. Fr Anthony Hutjes came to conduct the service and shared that God speaks to us today in our moment of grief and that we should trust in God that today on the Feast of the Transfguration when Raphaelle was called back home to heaven and that we can be assured that her body is also transfigured like Jesus, and that she is now a Saint in heaven watching over us for she did not sin and that she was properly baptised by her father, Justin. After the service, we proceed to Mandai Crematorium and baby Raphaelle was cremated at 3.45pm.

Funeral Service @ the Chapel

We went back to Blessed Sacrament Church after the cremation to collect Raphaelle's baptism certificate and now we can say that Raphaelle is officially a Catholic.

Entering our bedroom was the toughest part when we reached home that evening because it reminded us of baby Raphaelle who was with us for the past 41 weeks. Our daily chats with the baby in my tummy and our daily rosary together. Even praying rosary that night took twice the amount of time. We did not hold back our tears because we knew that we have to go through this grieving process of Raphaelle’s passing, if not, it will come back to hit us again.

Here comes Baby Raphaelle!

[posted by Eileen]

Tuesday, 5^th August

6.00am

30 hours has passed and I am still at the delivery suite waiting to pop.

7.00am

Nurses come in every few hours to check my dilation and at 7.00am, my dilation remained at 2.5cm. I started epidural last night to ease the contractions pain, and I slept so soundly throughout the night after epidural. Hehehe :-)

9.00am

Dr Ong came to see me and told me that I am still dilating very slowly. Normally those in labour will go for cesarean after long hours of labour, but for my case cesarean is not recommended. So he said that if I do not deliver by the next day, I might have to go home and then come back another day. (the thought of having to go home and then come back again and restart the process is making me nervous.)

After Dr Ong left, Justin and I prayed our daily rosary together with baby Raphaelle. And we told baby Raphaelle to help mummy and come out quickly, so that mummy doesn’t have to go home and come back again on another day for labour. Daddy also told Raphaelle that no matter what happens, we love her and that we will always be together because she will always be in our hearts.

12.50pm

Dilation is at 4cm

2.00pm

Justin and I were watching Pirates of Carribean and then ‘POP’! my waterbag bursts! What an experience! And a big mess for the nurses to clean up! Hahaha. Baby Raphaelle must have heard Daddy and Mummy talking to her this morning asking her for help. Such a good girl.
Counting down now…. :-)

2.20pm

Dilation is at 6-7cm. The beauty of epidural is that I am able to relax and enjoy the counting down process. Hehehe

6.50pm

Dr Ong is here to deliver baby Raphaelle. During the delivery process, poor baby Raphaelle’s shoulders got stuck and she turned blue.  

7.15pm

With the help of Dr Ong and the 2 nurses, baby Raphaelle is born! 2.75kg at 50cm. Justin cut the umbilical cord and we carried our baby girl. We did it! :-) Paediatrician Dr Simon Ng is with us and he said Raphaelle has a very strong heartbeat. Praise the Lord! Justin baptised baby Raphaelle immediately and then Dr Ng placed Raphaelle in sort of a warmer to warm her up before bringing her out to see our family members who are waiting outside.

8.20pm

Nurse San told Justin that he can bring baby Raphaelle out to see our family members already. She informed Justin to warn our family first about the little girl’s bruises on her face (since she was stuck during delivery) before bringing Raphaelle to them. Justin did as he was told and our family members (who have been waiting for many hours outside the delivery ward) saw baby Raphaelle that very evening.

8.35pm and onwards

I was transferred to my ward. That night, Justin and I spent some good hours with Raphaelle and we gave thanks to God for a safe delivery and a chance for us to spend quality time with our little girl. :)

Photo of Justin & I with baby Raphaelle

@ the delivery suite

(Her face was actually quite bruised but I managed to touch up the photo with my basic photoshop skills. Thank God for technology)

Our precious family photo

Waiting to pop!

[posted by Eileen]

After a night of contractions and having to take a painkiller injection in the morning at 6.00am to ease the pain, I only dilated 1cm at 11.00am.... guess it will be a long way to go before reaching 10cm.

At least the food at Mt Alvernia is good and Justin & I get to watch nice movies on TV.
Justin told Raphaelle to take care of Daddy because the sofa is uncomfortable! lol!

At 5.45pm, the dilation was at 2.5cm.... ... ... Justin and I thought that 4th August (Feast of St John Vianney) will be the birth date of Raphaelle, but I guess Raphaelle prefers another date. ;-)

Checking in @ Mt Alvernia

[posted by Eileen]

Checking at Mt Alvernia was a breeze.

With our 'hospital bags' and also Justin's pillow (yes!! he brought his pillow along cuz he knew that he will be lying on a sofa chair! Haha), we entered Mt Alvernia and the security guard told us to proceed to level 3. At level 3, the first signage that we saw when the lift door opened was "St Raphael's Ward". Seeing the sign reassured us that God is with us and with baby Raphaelle. 

At the delivery ward, I simply told the nurse my name and she showed us our delivery suite, which looks exactly like the picture below from the internet.

Justin took care of the administrative matters and the nurses prepared me for my induction of labour.

Some time later, the contractions began….

Induce labour

[posted by Justin]

We went to the gynae this afternoon and we have decided to induce the delivery of our baby Raphaelle on Monday 4th August morning. She is 1 week overdue. Eileen and I will check in to Mt Alvernia tomorrow, Sunday 3rd August @ 2359hrs and hopefully baby Raphaelle will be delivered on Monday morning before noon.