Taiwanese actress-host Selina Jen has delivered her baby boy, nicknamed Little Cashew, with her boyfriend Xiao Xu (Little Xu).
In a post on Facebook and Instagram today (Sept 7), the 41-year-old said that Little Cashew stayed in the incubator for a few days because of pulmonary edema, which is a condition caused by too much fluid in the lungs, and finally had tubes removed from his body.
She wrote in her post: “Dearest Cashew, welcome! Let’s go together with love and courage!”
On Sept 4, Selina provided updates on her pregnancy in her podcast Ying Ren Er Jie (a Chinese word play using Selina’s surname with a Chinese idiom meaning “easily solved”), which was posted on Weibo, saying that this would be her last podcast before she gave birth.
In the caption of her post, she wrote: “I am going to give birth! I am a little reluctant to part with Little Cashew’s (baby’s nickname) company in my belly, but also can’t wait to see him.”
Selina said that her baby weighed 3kg and it was getting a little difficult for her to have the natural birth as she desired.
“We want to have a natural birth, and still hope it to be the case, so the baby’s head circumference is very important. Both Xiao Xu and my head are quite big and I think the baby is a bit too healthy, so his head is already at the edge of tightness,” she said, adding that she found out that the average foetal head circumference should not exceed 10cm.
She also shared that she experienced Braxton Hicks contractions every day and her baby was quite active.
Selina said: “I don’t know how spacious this ‘mansion’ that he is living in is. He can still kick and slide around now… He will also hiccup two to three times a day.”
This also resulted in her sleep being affected.
“My sleep quality is extremely bad now. I may feel sleepy on the bed, but when I open my eyes later, only one hour has passed… As long as I can have two hours of sleep now, it is effective enough for me,” she shared.
Luckily, she is currently on hiatus from work, so she would catch up on her sleep in the afternoon, where she felt that there were less contractions, or whenever she wants to.
‘This is part of my training to be a mother, to learn to be patient’
Despite the challenges that she faced, Selina remained positive and believed that it trained her patience.
She said: “I think this is part of my training to be a mother, to learn to be patient. When Little Cashew is born, he will not know how to speak, so I also need to have a lot of patience to learn his needs from his cues.”
Selina shared that she packed her hospital bag and although she treated the whole process like going on a long overseas trip, she realised that there are a lot of things to bring.
She also spoke about how she had discussed becoming a parent with Xiao Xu, 33, to which he told her that he is more worried about her and wants her to “take it easy”.
She added: “He is worried that I may have postpartum depression after that… I also hope that it doesn’t happen. But I told him that if it happens, then we would seek professional help.”
Selina expressed her appreciation towards Xiao Xu for being caring to her and also being able to discuss their plans and face it together.
First thing to do after delivery
Although Selina couldn’t contain her excitement to meet Little Cashew, she also wanted to look pretty as she delivered him and had gone for eyelash extensions and was planning for brow lamination.
As she couldn’t have any makeup on, including nail polish, during delivery, Selina said that shes instructed Xiao Xu on the first thing to do after she gives birth.
“I told Xiaoxu that he must put on lipstick for me to take photos with Little Cashew,” she said, adding that she had already decided on the lipstick colour that she wants.
Towards the end of the podcast, Selina said: “I hope that when I welcome Little Cashew, I can look like a beautiful mummy.”
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.