HER smashes may strike fear in her opponents but national table-tennis player Li Jiawei turns to putty when it comes to her baby, Terry Li Tian Rui.

In an interview at her Lengkong Tiga apartment in Kembangan on Thursday afternoon, she said she had been a bundle of nerves about the baby’s arrival.

She told The New Paper on Sunday in Mandarin: “Motherhood is tougher than training or playing for the Olympics.”

Jiawei, 28, knows what she’s talking about – having been part of the Singapore team that won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics last year.

Among the challenges is having to wake up in the night at two-hour intervals to breastfeed her baby.

It does not help that she is a light sleeper – the slightest movement from Terry will have her waking up to check on him.

“Training for competitions is only physically tiring, but when the time comes, I can have a good rest,” said Jiawei.

“But this is more mentally exhausting and for me, taking care of my baby is definitely more important than rest.”

But Jiawei is adjusting happily to her new role. She could not stop gushing about “Niu Niu” – the family’s pet name for little Terry who arrived on 13 Oct.

Both the little one and his father, Li Chao, 36, are born in the year of the Ox.

Jiawei said with a laugh: “Oh, you can see the bonding already. I’ve been relegated to second place since Niu Niu came into our lives – even before he was born.”

She and Li Chao, a Chinese businessman, held a lavish, fairy-tale wedding in Beijing on 25 Apr.

Three days later, she announced that she was pregnant.

Jiawei recalled with a girlish giggle: “You know, Li Chao is so over the top with being a daddy. I still remember the day when he knew I’d gone for a scan (to confirm the sex of the baby).

“He had back-to-back meetings and could not be here, but he was so anxious that he called me when he didn’t hear from me.”

She said she deliberately changed the subject to tease him, until he told her to stop the suspense. “When I told him it was a baby boy, he shouted out in joy.”

It was a sign that she would have to be content to play second fiddle to Terry, Jiawei said with a grin. She said: “Now when he calls me, the first thing he asks is, how’s Niu Niu?

“I’d say, he’s sleeping, what else can he do? And Li Chao will go, okay, we’ll talk later because I’m busy.

“I’m like, what, you don’t even ask me how I am?”

Which is why Jiawei suspects that daddy will be the one who will “spoil the kid”.

“Li Chao says he’ll be a strict dad, but I don’t think so. Hey, he’s the one who suggests taking Niu Niu to the doctor for everything,” she said.

“He gets worried over the smallest things – even when Niu Niu keeps burping!”

Caesarean

While Jiawei wanted to give birth naturally, Terry had to be delivered by Caesarean section because his head circumference of 39cm was considered too big.

She pulled out a measuring tape from the coffee table and said: “See, this is how the average circumference of a baby’s head should be – 35cm. Now this is how big my baby’s head is.”

She admitted sheepishly: “It bugged me so much that I went to buy a measuring tape so that I could get amore precise feel of the difference.” But now that the paediatrician has given Terry the all-clear, Jiawei is relieved.

“Friends, who drop by, tell me that this means our baby is intelligent,” she said of his larger- than-average head.

The couple plan to celebrate Terry’s first month at a hotel on 15 Nov.

“Actually, it will be like a double celebration. We were supposed to hold our wedding dinner here, but had to put it off because I was expecting.

“So we thought it’d be a perfect opportunity to do it now.”

The contented mother added: “Everything feels so wonderful now.

“My life is complete now, one beautiful circle – from my career to my family. I can’t ask for more.”

The family will be heading to Beijing next month to spend the holidays there following Jiawei’s month-long confinement.

She said: “We’ve got to introduce Niu Niu to his grand parents and all our relatives.” But Terry will be in Singapore mostly because he will be with his mother.

“He is after all a Singaporean, you know,” Jia Wei said, proudly showing off his birth certificate.

They will return to Singapore after Chinese New Year in February, which is when Jiawei will return to training to prepare for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games next year.

And she still has her sights set on winning a second Olympic medal at the 2012 London Games.

Jiawei’s mother, Madam Zhao Zijun, who has been taking care of her since her pregnancy, will also follow them back to Singapore.

Madam Zhao said: “I’ll take care of Niu Niu so that Jiawei can focus on regaining her best for the games.”

This article was first published in The New Paper.