Category Archives: Pregnancy

45 months, Pregnancy

Last Pre Natal Check Up

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@ 45 months 
(38 weeks 5 days – based on the EDD given by my current obgyn)

This morning we went for my last pre natal check up at GlenE. Ryan tagged along as I do not want to leave him at home with my super blur, unreliable, stubborn Cambodian maid who has been with us for 7 months but produce work as if she’s only been here for 7 days. Even my FIL who seldom complain commented this maid makes him ‘tor huet‘ (Hokkien: vomit blood). It was just this evening, this blurcat poured all the ‘you tiao’ into the bak kut teh soup before heating them up. Bak Kut Teh without crunchy ‘you tiao’ simply spelled disaster. A mistake we could not understand and tolerate when she probably prepared the same food for the umpteenth time. 

Anyway, back to my pregnancy. Although this is my 2nd, undeniably I’m still terrified to the bone when the thought of labour creeps up. When I officially hit 38 weeks few days ago, I got even more anxious, more impatient, constantly checking for any possible signs of labour. Unfortunately there was none apart from the pelvic pain which intensified in the last few days due to a pressing baby on my pelvis.

We got to the clinic on time this morning for my 10.45am appt. I took my weight.. shocked at an alarming 67kg (+2kg from last 2 weeks) shown on the scale. Just when I thought I slowed down my on food intake I gained 2kg in 2 weeks. Must be the red bean ice cream potong that I’ve been eating every night. When Ryan saw my reaction, he asked me what was my weight. After I told him, he asked if that was ‘light’ or ‘heavy’. I told him ‘mommy is very heavy now’. He asked again.. ‘so are you heavier than Daddy now?‘, to which I had to embarassingly answer ‘YES, I’m heavier than Daddy now‘ in front of many other patients who were sheepishly smiling at us.

The first thing my obgyn asked me when he saw me was ‘how was the baby’s movement‘. I told him, baby kinda slowed down a bit especially during the day. He suggested I go for CTG but really, I knew that was no such a need. Anyway, I just kept my silence. My mind was simply too pre occupied with questions on when I’m going to deliver.

I was then asked to lie down on the bed for the usual scanning. As my obgyn was squeezing the lubricant on my bump, he said ‘yvonne, your tummy is very smooth, no stretch marks. Very good‘. LOL. My obgyn sure knows what to say to make my day. During the scan, we observed a very active baby. So, true enough the CTG scan was deemed unnecessary.

Upon checking, baby’s head is not fully engaged but the good news is I’m already 2cm dilated so ‘d-day” is really anytime. Baby’s weight is 3.4kg now (+/- 500g). My obgyn would not expecting to see me again at his clinic. Instead, he asked me to get myself admitted on 21st Jan if I do not deliver in the next few days. So, we’ll see.

While Daddy was making payment, Ryan asked me funny questions again. He wanted to know if the pillow I lay my head on during the scan was soft and comfy. How about the bed, was it hard? How about the blanket? Sometimes I wonder why he wants to know all these information. Pure curiousity?

Considering the moment would be here anytime, I indulged myself in all the sinful food I crave for, which would soon be prohibited in my diet for at least a month. I asked hubs to drop by Chow Kit to buy my fav Pan Mee, finished half a can of fried seaweed that my SIL fried for me last night, had Bak Kut Teh, drank half a bottle of Miranda strawberry, ate a whole slice of Hot Fudge cake and snacking junk food here and there…..

Tonight I also allowed Ryan to sleep late.. very late indeed at 11.45pm. We played Wii together as a family of 3. Who knows, we may be a family of 4 by tomorrow. :D. Back to the little boy, he obviously had the most fun. If I did not insist bed time, he would stay awake for at least another hour or so happily playing. However, despite feeling so sleepy, he still insisted 2 bottles of milk and 4 bedtime stories from me to which I happily obliged of course.

So little b… we are all ready when you’re ready. See you soon.

Pregnancy

The last few miles of pregnancy marathon

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(35 weeks 5 days)

I went for my 34 weeks check up on 19th Dec. We brought Ryan along that day. It was the first time. Hubs gave Ryan a brief explanation on the scan images on the monitor screen. Not sure if Ryan could see much as my oh so traditional obgyn is still using the 2D color machine. This is so unlike my previous obgyn in SG who had this canggih 4D scanner which transmits live scan results directly into his computer for immediate correlation.

Anyway, importantly baby is healthy. It was uneventful and lil b is growing very well inside mommy. We saw him sucking his little thumb in one of the scans too. So cute! He recorded a weight of 2.6kg. at 34 weeks and mommy’s weight was at whopping 64kg now; a kg of the weight I recorded when I delivered Ryan.  My obgyn asked about baby’s movements. He always say this to me, ‘an active baby is a healthy baby’. It’s so funny hearing him saying the same thing again and again, in my every single visit, four years ago and four years later now.  

Today, a week plus later from my last visit, I went to see my obgyn again for my bi weekly check up. He did a swap test to ensure I’m free from infections. Baby is now at 3.03kg. Head’s down but not engaged. He’s expected to weigh around 3.4kg at birth. I stood on the scale and boohoo.. I’m officially 65kg now. I wonder if I’ll hit 70kg in a few weeks’ time.


Lil B seen here pouting his lips

Cryocord rep came to see me at my obgyn’s office to discuss on umbilical cord blood storage. In terms of package pricing, they are the same as Stemlife, maybe RM100 slightly more than the latter. However, I chose Cryocord this time since Ryan’s cord blood cells are stored with Stemlife. It’s always wise not to put all eggs in one basket.

 
From the pack I received from Cryocord this morning

Changes in mommy?? Oh yes!!!

Since the last few weeks, getting a good night sleep has become increasingly a challenge. I lost count the number of times I woke up middle of the night due to the discomfort from changing positions. Now that my tummy is at the size of 41inch, it’s no wonder getting a good sleeping position, which was once so effortless  has become such a major operation now.

I also get cramps on my calf (particularly left calf) whenever I stretch legs too hard. Fortunately I’ve learned to control my stretching, and the quick feet flexing method does help prevent those sudden violent spasms. So that’s the least of my problem now. 

I continue to get twinges and aches from lil b’s kicks and punches. I had the same experience with Ryan, both with equivalently strong and vigorous movements. Like brother, like brother. There were a couple of times, when we were out I had to use a shield (my bag) to cover the drastic changes in the contours of my tummy; saving me the effort from explaining. :D

I see a proverbial beached whale whenever I see my reflection on the mirror. I am physically compromised and getting more and more clumsy. There were a few times my helper had to help me pick up the things that dropped when I passed by the shelves in shopping malls. It was bad but I convinced myself that my big bag was the culprit. :P

2 -3 more weeks to go before the big day, I received a lot of advise to get as much rest now. How I wish. Sleeping well is now a challenge and Ryan will start his kindy next week. Back to busy routine days. To make matters more complicated, Ryan’s playmate (my helper) is on the way to the airport (as I type) for her long deserved 2 weeks holiday in Philippines.

As much as I wish to hold and smell you now, my dear lil b, I do hope you could stay inside mommy’s hugely cramped but snuggly uterus until you reaches term (38 weeks at least) and may you continue to gain all the nutrition from the vitamins and food that mommy has been piling up. 


@ 35 weeks – beautiful maternity and nursing wear from BabyBumpMaternity

41 months, Formula 1, Outing, Pregnancy, Singapore, Sleep

Singapore Formula 1 Night Race

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@ 41 months 2 weeks 6 days

Hubby has been a F1 fan for more than a decade; since Aryton Senna days. For me.. I don’t follow each and every race  as much as I used compared to when I was in my Uni years. Now I only keep abreast with the general F1 news.

Hubby bought the tickets many months in advance to enjoy the early bird discount ($248 pp). This year we decided to get the grandstand tickets as opposed to the walk about tickets which we opted for last year. It was simply too tiring walking around without a fixed spot to sit. I was telling hubby it was a decision wisely made, otherwise I doubt I would be able to keep up his pace walking around with my current condition.

Ryan knew about the impending F1 race weeks ahead the actual day as we passed by the route every morning when we send hubs to work. He would tell us he wants to bring along his camera (our old Canon IXUS 50D is Ryan’s possession now). You should see how excited he was just by looking at the prep work (fences, seats, lightings) the organiser put up. We wished we could bring Ryan along but kids below 7 years old were strongly discouraged to attend due to the loud noise. We dare not take the risk. :( Hopefully we could bring him along to Sepang’s race next year, at least the track is much further from the seats/spectators.

Day 1 – 25th Sept. I decided not to go for the practise session as I felt heavy hearted leaving Ryan at home alone with my helper 3 days in a row. With a spare ticket on hand, Hubs invited his friend ‘Machine’ who was more than pleased to go with him. Normally Ryan would watch the race with Daddy but tonight he watched the live telecast on TV with Mommy. He asked so many questions about the sport (what team, what they were doing, what was this and that, etc) to which Daddy proudly proclaimed Ryan’s interest on motorsports is definitely from his genes. I have no doubt about that.  

Day 2 – 26th Sept. I felt extremely heavy hearted the whole day anticipating Ryan would be very upset when he learned we had left him behind for the race. Just before we leave home, I quickly got him ready for bed - sponged him and brushed his teeth. He was in the play room with Loida when hubs and I sneaked out. It has been a while since hubs and I had to sneak out. Ryan had been a darling, waving goodbye to us when we were going out for a long time until recently – a couple weeks back to be exact. I could only assume it’s because of the little person in me. Mmm….

The qualifying race is at 10pm but we sneaked out earlier at about 8.00pm anticipating the bad traffic. We reached Suntec at around 8.30pm. So we took a quick bite at Cartel’s Cafe @ Marina Square.  I had their award winning St Louis Pork Ribs and hubs ordered Cartel’s Pan Fried Macaroni. Yummy!!

At about 10.30pm, Loida texted me – “Ryan cried a lot and just slept”. Oh dear.. poor boy. Slept at 10.30pm!! That was kinda late.  :(

The qualifying session lasted about an hour. It ended at 11.15pm. There were people everywhere. So many F1 enthusiasts. I guess the night race is a real big catch and this year there were many supporting races and shows. After the qualifying, we walked a distance until we reached the Suntec Convention Centre to hail a cab. We were lucky. There was no queue and we reached home around 11.40pm.

Loida told me Ryan refused to sleep. He cried so much and demanded Harry-Boat-Harry stories (it’s actually 3 different bed time stories which I would tell Ryan every night. First is about Harry visiting the zoo/animal kingdom, followed by Mickey and Minnie on boat ride and lastly a story of Harry again – can be any storyline) but poor Loida had no idea what stories were they. It doesn’t helped Ryan only wanted the 3 stories and no others.

   

Day 3 – 27th Sept. Ryan woke up demanding us to tell him where we went last night. We told him we went for the race. He seemed to understand that he is too young to attend but can’t denied he was still visibly upset. Poor boy.

We had to leave before 6.30pm for the 8pm race. I had intentionally allowed Ryan to skip his nap today so he could sleep early. I briefly told Loida about the stories in hope tonight will be a smoother night for both of them.

We had our dinner at Crystal Jade. At about 8.30pm, Loida texted me. I was so relieved to read that Ryan did not fuss as much and he was asleep after the stories. Phew. I found out the next morning Ryan slept after 1 Harry story. When I asked Ryan about it, he said it was because ‘kakak”s story was not nice. Hahahaha……

The race ended around 11.00pm. Overall it was a boring race, hahaha at least for me. F1 is really a TV sport. Being on-site is really for the feel and atmosphere. You could only see the car zoomed passed in split mili seconds.


Safety car – I think it was during Heidfeld (BMW) and Sutil (Force India) impact

The race organisation was really poor too. We were literally shoulder to shoulder on our way out. It doesn’t helped with the very limited exit points. Thumbs down to the organiser!

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The next day, to make it up for Ryan, I brought him to pick Daddy after work.


He saw this pair of shoes and fell in love with it right away. I thought they were ugly…


Having fun at the indoor playground @ Marina Square


His latest craze is Bob the Builder


Looking extremely auntie and pregnant here @ 22 weeks 2 days

 

Pregnancy

5th month check up

8 Comments

(23 weeks 3 days)

I went for my 5th month detailed scan on 15 sept 2009 (5 months 3 days). I’m grateful that everything went smooth and well.

I reached Dr Tony Tan’s office at 3.15pm. My appt was at 3.45pm. With the half an hour to spare I went to their cafe with the intention to grab a quick Roti Tissue. Unfortunately, the fella who manned the stall told me no roti tissue but I can opt for Roti Prata Telur (similar to our Roti Canai). I was so disappointed. Haiz. How could they turn down a pregnant lady’s craving right. Hahaha.. as if they care.

After my quickie bite. I went upstairs for my appointment. I went to the loo with a dip stick for the routine urine test. All normal. Next, the nurse called my name for pressure and weight check. My eyes popped when I saw 53.8kg on the scale. Gosh.. I gained close to 3kg in a month?? I sorta expected a gain but 3kg? Scary. Must be the roti. LOL.

BB2 was cooperative for awhile but after 20 minutes or so BB2 decided to put up a fuss. After numerous futile tries to capture the image on spine and right heart, my obgyn suggested a 10 minutes break.

10 minutes passed. BB2 was cooperative again. Voila. All done. All perfect.

BB2 was about 377g (about 27g heavier than average) with long legs and arms. I guess that explains why my tummy is bigger this time round comparing to Ryan’s at the same month.

My appetite is growing and growing. I don’t have any special cravings but I do have a slight preference over sweet flavoured drinks/food than anything else. 7-11 Slurpee, Ice cream, Starbucks’s Chocolate Chips Vanilla are some of my favourite! Soooo unhealthy!

I opted for a Chorionic Villus Sampling procedure back in July. That procedure made me $1500 poorer but it was really money we couldn’t have saved anyway. After 10 days of agonising, torturing, sleepless nights, I received the much awaited phone call from the clinic. Thank goodness. All’s good. Yippeeee!!!

The above is a copy of BB2′s chromosome chart received from my obgyn and that was after I made a personal call to the lab for a copy of it. Apparently it wasn’t a standard procedure to release the chart; summary report yes. Mmm.. anyway.. glad I made that extra effort. So cute.


From the chart, it’s no secret BB2 will be a boy or girl.. *smile*

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…. anyway, here’s presenting the first glimpse of my cutie little boy (aka BB2, aka little brother)

41 months, Pregnancy, Ryan

Ryan’s reaction….

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@ 41 months 2 weeks 5 days

I broke the news to Ryan 2 days after I found out I was pregnant with BB2 (19 May 2009). Not being biased. Daddy and son actually found out about the news on the same day. Come to think of it, how did I manage to keep mum for 2 days without spilling the beans.

Back to Ryan, I wasn’t sure what to expect of him. Not knowing if he would welcome an addition to the family, not sure if he would feel his one and only spot would be threatened, etc. Having said so, to my pleasant surprise, he accepted BB2 immediately. I asked him if he would want a little brother or sister. Without hesitatetion, he said ‘LITTLE BROTHER’. *smile*. He was evidently thrilled with excitement and curiousity. From then, his questions never ends. 

I’m almost 6 months into my pregnany and I could see Ryan’s affections towards ‘little brother’ are fonder by the day. I showed Ryan the scan pictures starting from my 3rd month scan  and I was so content when I see the smile on his face each time he look at the pictures. Every now and then, he would ask me if I have any new pictures of the baby. So he has seen picture of his little brother from pea size until now almost 6 months geatational size.

I explained to Ryan that baby will only come out once he has grown into a healthy size. He seem to take on the explanation quite well. He asked if he went through the same process when he was a baby. I’m glad Ryan is such a mature child who understands why mommy couldn’t carry him now, why he couldn’t rest his legs on mommy’s tummy, why sooner or later we won’t be able to shower together, why mommy’s tummy is growing bigger and bigger, what not.

Affections. Ryan has always been an affectionate boy. He’s the type who would not hesitate to show you his limitless love, name it by words or physical (the innumerable hugs and kisses). OMG, this is the time when I wish I could put a pause to time. I am already missing him. He’s growing up too too fast. That said, there is no surprise he too made no reservation showering his affections to little brother. He would ask me to lift my shirt so he could touch and kiss my tummy, speak to little brother (saying hi and byes), put his hand on my tummy to feel little brother’s kicks… something I would expect from Daddy really.

Jealousy. Yes and No. Ryan did not show any negative reations towards the impending arrival of a new family member. I guess to him, having another baby at home simply mean having another playmate/ toy to play with. Clinginess yes!!! To the certain extent he would just walk behind me around the house; like my mini shadow. I used to be able to kiss him goodbye and leave the house to run some errands. Now, back to sneaking out days. On good days, he would be contented to stay home with my helper. On bad days, he would call me on my mobile several times asking me where I was, what time I would be home, etc (yea.. we have our numbers stick on the wall, so he could call us anytime he wants).

Once we asked Ryan if he’s willing to share his books, toys etc with little brother.

“Would you share your toys with little brother?” I asked.
“Yes mommy. I’ll give my Ultraman to little brother” *sweet eventhough that’s because he’s not longer into Ultraman craze* 

“Mommy… I want to wear this shirt” Ryan insisted on wearing an old shirt which he outgrown
“No.. it’s too small for you” I insisted
“Must keep for little brother?” he asked….

I’m glad he has his little brother in his thoughts all the time……. *sweet*

 


I still remember his first step of independence when he was 11 months. Now he’s cycling… how time flies, really!

 


Caught in the act vandalising the fountain

 


He love the slides but it was always difficult for him to take the first few steps because he would scream saying it was too high. I am not surprised he has agrophobia (height) like YehYeh. :(

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