The labor - Part 1

I believe woman is the greatest thing God has created. I really salute all the women who carry their babies to 40 weeks, if not more. For I was complaining and anxiously awaiting the day that I can take off my big belly and be done with being pregnant. I prayed to have early delivery ever since I stepped into 37th week. But NO! Aiden decided to stay till his exact due date. And so here's the story...

I had my 40th week check up on Monday 7th Dec 09 and was told that NOPE. It's not time yet. It could be anytime but it's not time yet. If nothing happen till Friday, I'll be scheduled to be induced on Sunday. So I was sent home, still heavily pregnant. Not long after I left the doc's office, I felt slightly wet in my panty. Guessing game started. Was it normal discharge or was it liquid from my water bag? But the latter will be less likely.

It's only after I reached home that I went to toilet to check. To my surprise, it was liquid with a hint of blood. My water bag really burst?? When I told Hubs bout it, he immediately said, "OK, get the bag. I'm ready." Hahah...even if it was really water bag burst, let me take a shower and we can still get to the hospital slowly. A phone call to the doc only to be told that it was effect from the check up. He inserted some equipment into my down south, thus causing it to bleed a little. If it continues, then only I have to worry.

Through the night, I kept observing but nothing happens. Sigh...I couldn't really sleep well that night.

To be continued...

It's been 6months

Sad to say, I've abandoned my blog again. Now it's for half a year. As I was getting heavier being pregnant, I got lazier. I would rather ghost read others' blogs or searching for baby's information. And I couldn't wait to get over with the pregnancy as the day gets hotter and the baby gets more active. Ridiculously hot weather + hormone = volcano waiting to erupt.

After baby is out, I felt much lighter (8kg less instantly) but it was not much better to cope with. A whole lot of things happened and as baby grow each day, I started to notice that I'm missing out the small small details. That was when I read back on the stuff I wrote during pregnant, I realised that I cherish every single detail that I jot down, things I might have forgotten and had taken for granted.

Now baby is already 2.5 months. I better start writing again before my mind decided to erase all the major (and also minor) details again. As a teaser, here's a photo of baby during his first day on earth...

Pregnancy weight gain

I was devastated when the last check up showed that I gained another 4kg/month. It has been the 2nd time consecutively. I only ate the usual portion except for the extra ice-cream I took after dinner :p Well, my tummy is still as small as ever compare to my tremendous weight gain. To date (@week 28), I've gained a total of 12kg. Honestly, I think the extra 2kg was from the unnoticed weight lost I had when I first realised I was preggy. I mean...all along my weight was yoyo-ing around 54-55kg. But the first time I weight myself at the hospital, I was 53kg (the weight I was in when I prepared for my wedding - read: lightest). So I'm suspecting that actually I only gained 10kg, which was more comforting...hehe

I stumbled upon the weight gain calculator from http://www.babycenter.ca/ just a moment ago. After keying in all my height and weight, this is the estimation I get.

How soothing to know this 'fact'. But then...why do doctors or nurses in gov clinic be so alarmed when I gain that much?? I still have a buffer of say...5kg for the next 12 weeks..

@ Week 21

How was I doing?

Went to the government clinic for the monthly check up yesterday and was in for a big surprise. My weight was up by 4kg making me the heaviest at 60kg. I feel like an elephant now. All my life, no matter how fat I was, it had never gone beyond 58kg. As of now, I've accumulated 7kg for the past 5 months. 4 more months to go and I dare not estimate how much more I'll gain. The nurse was very worried bout my gain, thus arranged for me to come back for the two days once check up AGAIN. Sigh... although I'm not working, I don't want to spend my time going in and out of that clinic. Also, I have to take the glucose test in 3 weeks time. Was is because I gained too much or was it a normal procedure?

Mind you, I really has decrease my food intake. I was not having the elephant appetite like I used to in first trimester. In fact, after the serious sickness, I was kinda phobia to food. Hubs was extremely happy to get whatever food I want, all I have to do is ask. Everyone was commenting on how small my tummy was and although he assured me it's OK, I know he has the pressure to feed me well too.

Even though it increased so much, my tummy is still as small as a winter melon. I really have no idea where has all the weight spread to. My thigh? My butt? My boobs? My arms? Oh...for sure some has creep up to my face..cause it's been chubbier and obvious to all.
My belly button started to protrude last week. I realised it one night after having dinner. When I rubbed my tummy, I could feel a small lump instead of the usual insert. No, it was not the full lump yet. It was more to the lump on the foreskin above the belly button.

However, this week while taking bath, I realise that it does not happen only after a meal. It is there for most of the time. Now even the whole belly button is popping out whenever I finish eating. In fact, my guess is by next week, it will pop out wholly and can be detected even when I wear a blouse over it.

How's baby doing?

Baby's kicking is getting more prominent. At times, I could feel as if he's doing somersault inside. Still most of the time, he'll reside at the right side. When I was lying on bed just before sleeping, I love to put both my palms down on my tummy and feel his movement. Hubs used to have difficulty detecting his movement but now it's not a problem anymore. Whenever he moves, Hubs will go, "Eh..", "Eh..". It's so cute to see that. There was once I secretly ask him to give Hubs a big kick when Hubs palm was on my tummy. And he did just that and Hubs went, "Wow". Was it a coincidence, I really don't know. From the 4kg that I gained, I have no idea how much did the baby contribute to it. Most of the time, Doc will only say,"Baby's healthy" but he doesn't tell us how big is the baby, what's the heart rate, or is the amniotic fluid enough? Maybe I should ask him on the next round visit. At least, I'll know that I'm not the only one gaining weight.

Music for baby

Most of the websites I read stated the importance of early childhood development and how it could be trained even while baby is still in mommy's womb. As I am not the kiasu mother that would go all out to train my child to be future A1 student, I just make use of what I had at home such as this CD I received as doorgift when I attended Hubs's company Grand Opening in Singapore last year. I actually forgot all about this CD, which I've chucked in the drawer along with other CDs. The last time I played it, I found it to be too boring. All it has was, "You are creative", or "You are loving" and others affirmations with soft music playing in the background. That time, I wasn't aware of the importance of music and the affirmations. I was even jokingly telling Hubs this is ridiculous boring piece of CD. Not until I started my pregnancy did I find it a good piece to listen.

Another one I had at home currently was from my sis. She got it as a gift after she delivered her twins. But since it's stated "Maternity Melodies", she thought it might be more suitable for me.

I actually like this one better as I'm quite familiar with the songs and composer, ever since the day I started my piano lessons. Bach, Mozart, Pachelbel, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Schubert and the famous Beethoven. It has 3 CDs inside which means I tried to rotate them, a piece for a night. Hubs used to play it for me on his laptop when I go to bed while he's still busy with his work. But lately, my sleeping time was too late to even play a song. Guess I really have to make more time for baby. Sorry babe!

@ Week 19

I've tried very very hard to refrain myself from going for the scheduled monthly check-up ON TIME. I tried very very hard to at least delay it for a week or so (to get a better confirmation on baby's gender). I tried very very hard to resist the urge to find out the gender of baby so early. But.......all FAILED.

Sigh. I've only managed to delay it for 4 days before I rushed to the hospital and waited patiently for my turn. A day before the appointment, I've repeatedly told baby, "Don't be shy in front of the 'camera', show it to Doc so mommy can buy new clothes for you." That time I was still aiming to get my hands on cutesy baby clothes at Metrojaya Sales in Pisa.

As usual, Doc checked for baby's head length and scan around for other things. He told us baby is on the right side. Ya, mostly I could feel baby's kicking on the right side also. We even managed to catch a glimpse of baby shoving legs during the scan. I was told if we didn't ask, Doc will not say anything apart from "baby is healthy". So right before he took off the scanner from my tummy, I asked for the gender. He tried to search around. Luckily baby's head is engaged downward and Doc could peep between baby's thigh (the bottom side). He told us (I'll keep it as a secret for now) but as expected, he will add in a line, "it's not 100% confirmed (till next appointment)".

I know if I don't ask, he'll not give us a printout also. And I was in for a disappointment cause it's too late to get the whole picture of baby, like what I used to see from others' blogs. Doc said baby is too big for a frame anymore. So the best he could take was just the head and half of the body. Can you differentiate?

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I know it's hard to see. So here's what I draw out. If baby is too big for a frame less than 5 months, then baby must be growing well although tummy is still small, rite???

Baby...warm up

Been thinking of getting a bottle warmer, as a preparation for this coming baby. Few days ago, I was still undecided which brand of warmer to get. I short listed Pigeon, recommendation from my experienced Sis; Avent, a popular brand-well known for its quality and Tommee Tippee, a UK brand I saw from website (the bottles are quite a favourite among mommies). After surveying the quality and comparing the price, Pigeon is totally out of question. Previously, it was sold at RM150+ but now they hiked up the price to a whooping RM300+. As for Tommee Tippee, although it was famous for its bottles, I can't find any product review. I was actually thinking hard whether to get it or not since the price is less than RM200. After discussing with Hubs, we finally decided to get it from Avent.

Taking advantage of this time Mega Sales, I did some survey and found a gift pack type from JJ. It contains a bottle warmer, a pack of (3x) 4oz bottle and newborn baby clothes set. All this come in a see-thru bag. It was totally worth it, after calculating the price of bottle warmer and 4oz bottle pack (@ less 20%).

Luckily it comes in orange color. Just neutral for either boy or girl.
You know what? The warmer pack come with a 4oz bottle, a baby spoon and 2 sachets of sterilizer powder.

Apart from this, we also bought a pack of (2x) 9oz bottles @20% less. It was quite worth it. But then when I went to Mom's Care, I saw the breast pump set on sales, not the Rm219 one but the RM388 that comes with a bag. I wanted to buy the normal set breast pump but every outlet also does not give 20% less for this set. They only offer the bag set @ RM277.90. It was around 28% less than normal price. But the thing is, I've already got (4x) 4oz and (2x) 9oz bottles. If I were to get this bag set (which included (2x) 4oz and (2x) 9oz), in total I'll have (6x) 4oz and (4x) 9oz which is way too many bottles for a baby.

How?? I'm planning to sell off my previous pack for 4oz and 9oz, all brand new, unopen pack. Going at more than 20% off. Anyone interested?