The Big 30s...

Time really flies.. i'll be 30 wks pregnant next week, and thereafter, 10 more weeks before we get to see Bebe . It has been an interesting journey thus far, filled with anxiety (especially in the early stages), excitement (tracking little Bebe's progress all these while) and a little bit of fear (of the delivery process etc). But, things have been chugging along quite fine, just that i'm getting bigger and heavier and naturally, feeling a bit more tired.


The last month has also seen changes in my workplace - i was transferred to another Ministry on 2 Jun 08 and will be hanging on around here for another 3 weeks before my covering officer comes in. Thankfully, my new bosses reckoned that i won't be able to move around/do much in the last stage of my pregnancy and hence, asked for a covering to come in earlier so that we have less transitional problems. And, rightfully so... been finding it increasingly difficult to do on-site facilitation for events/programmes coz i can't run around and can't walk as fast as them! But luckily, everyone had been very patient and understanding. Many even asked if i was going to pop any moment coz my tummy is erm, quite pronounced:)

Since pregnant, i have been staying away from cold drinks (albeit the occasional sips!) and you don't know how much i crave for a cold drink or even ice-cream when the weather is really blazing! But for Bebe's sake, i shall persevere... i always tell myself. Now that i'm in the final lap, been thinking about issues such as my birth plan (natural/epidural?) and caregiving arrangements of Bebe. Well, i'm more concerned about the birth process right now (and rightfully so) and am trying to go for natural birth without epidural if i can. Heard many positive and negative stories about epidural and have always wondered how women in the past coped with childbirth without these pain relief methods. Are medical advances making women take the easy way out of childbirth or modern women really have a lower threshold for pain? I'm not sure... but i really hope to do it without epidural and i think i have quite a high threshold for pain. If not, Cheemeng's arm is always readily available for scratching/grabbing:)

Oh another thing - must say that i really enjoyed the ante-natal class by Mrs Wong Boh Boi from Thomson Medical Centre. She is very thorough, very experienced and provides good tips and advice throughout the session. In essence, she makes childbirth out to be such an easy and somewhat painless experience if one is prepared.

Hmmm... will let you know if it is a case of theory vs practical come Sep!

Weekend blues....

Somehow, the past weekend really came and went... and it didn't help that i was feeling a little under-the-weather on Saturday with very slight joint aches and just being really tired. What was worse was that i had to work on Saturday afternoon and thank God i did not have to stand under the sun which i think i would have fainted.

So after work at about 6pm, i went over to Chee Meng's 3rd Uncle's place for our usual Saturday gathering for food and mahjong (yay!). But i was feeling lethargic and out of energy that i decided to lie down and take a nap instead. So last weekend passed by without any mahjong game... so sad:(

I promptly went to bed after i reached home and the night seemed so looonnnggg....i was quite sure i was coming on with a flu coz my body continued to ache. So i embarked on the blanket/perspiration treatment and i felt much better when i woke up on Sunday. Well, ancient methods do work at times!

At least now I'm feeling ok. Can't wait for the weekend to come again.

Iron Lady..

Just had my regular check-up yesterday with Dr Chew. All that i was worried about - blood sugar - was fine but my iron was low (it was 10.9 when the normal reading shd be 11 and above). Dr Chew asked me to load up on beef and liver soup to build up my iron levels. So after my medical consultation, the first i did was to whack a burger at New York cafe at Ang Mo Kio Hub. The burger was good... yummy...

Somehow my craving for beef has gone down... it was on my 'to-eat list' in the beginning of my 2nd trimester (and i could have beef noodles EVERY day) but my interest waned after a while. But guess i have to designate beef/steak nights at least once a week from henceforth:)

I'm now into my 28 weeks and officially 7 months pregnant and going into my 3rd trimester. I can feel bebe's weight especially when i get out of bed. And after months of ignorance and inertia, i finally attended my first ante-natal class last night by Thomson Medical Centre's Parentcraft. Yesterday's session was on nutrition during pregnancy and the class also started with some antenatal stretching exercises. I forgot to wear a pair of pants to the class which meant that i could not do some of the exercises... but i will do so next week!

Talking about exercises, bebe has proven himself to be quite a gymnast these days. He moves around quite a fair bit in my tummy these days and i sometimes call him the 'kungfu boy':) He is especially active in the late morning and when i'm at work... kicking around non-stop at times. He is quite ok at night, or maybe i don't really feel it coz i'm sleeping anyway. But my sleep has been interrupted these days coz of the irritating rashes. Mum was speculating the cause of the rash, coz she never had it when she had us. And when i asked Dr Chew if the rash is normal, he said sympathetically "it's not normal, but bo pian...". It was probably a mix of pregnancy hormones and other changes going on in my body. But i think it's getting better, at least not as scary as last week when the skin seemed really scarred. And the Clarins stretch mark cream seemed to have worked as there is less discoloration around my tummy area..

And bebe just made little 'waves' and kicks on my tummy...
Pregnancy is such a wonderful thing.
I'm enjoying it!

On Father's Day...

Well, Father's Day seemed to have came and gone. There was obviously less hype as compared to Mother's Day and there are still plenty of cakes available for that last minute dinner/celebration.. thank god:)

We celebrated Father's Day three times over the weekend - one with Chee Meng's 3rd uncle (whom he regards as a father since he took care of them when he was young), Chee Meng's dad and my dad. Quite similarly, all 3 dads said something to the effect of "never mind, you all just cut the cake" and seemed rather detached to this commercially-driven day. But of course, we cajole them and say "but it's Father's Day and you have to cut the cake" then they gamely put the knife into the cake. That's so typical of fathers - they don't show so much emotions but prefer to display their love and affection by doing things for us.

Chee Meng is sooooo looking forward to next year when he will be able to celebrate Father's Day with bebe. On fatherhood, sometimes we discuss what kind of parents we will be while driving. One thing we have ascertained is that Chee Meng will be the 'good cop' and I will be the 'bad cop'. Well, there are just some behaviour that i cannot tolerate in kids and topping the list is disrespect for elders. Both Chee Meng and I feel that filial piety is one key thing that we will instill in bebe coz that it is the most basic of all human relationships. I told him yesterday in the car that I still believed in 'spare the rod and spoil the child', to which he promptly placed his hand on my tummy and told bebe 'bebe, be good and you will be spared the rod, ok?'. Well, his paternal instinct at work:) I must clarify that I am not an advocate of corporal punishment for kids but sometimes, I think we really need to give kids a good spanking to stop them from 'degenerating further' into their bad habits and behaviour. And from what i've seen, it is mostly a mummy's job... daddies are just there to pamper the kids..

Well, Happy Father's Day!

Junking and Unjunking...

Had a major unjunking/springcleaning/springclearing exercise yesterday with the help of a part-time cleaner. We started at about 2pm and ended at about 9pm... 7 hours of the unjunking exercise turned up 6 bags of rubbish and loads of clothing that the cleaner will endeavour to bring back to China for her family and relatives. The cleaner is so sweet and charged me a 'friendship price' for all the 9 hours that she worked!! I really felt so touched and so bad... hmmm... i think i will stock up on some foodstuff for her the next time she comes round. She has been rather nice and even offering to bring home our bath towels to wash for us!

The impetus behind the springcleaning was because CM's brother will be staying with us for a couple of weeks ahead of their posting to Beijing in July. Which means that we really have to get our act together and offer them a presentable guest room. But i'm not really sure how their family of 4 is going to squeeze into the bedroom but i guess, they will find a way to do so!

Yesterday's exercise was rather hectic but fulfilling as i managed to pack/clear lots of stuff which i resolved to do so at every New Year's Day.. and it was just as well that we had some 'pressure' coz the room was also meant to be Bebe's room when he arrives. So i'm pretty happy at the outcome - a clean, spacious room though we still need to do some finishing touches to prepare for Bebe's arrival.. but at least the cupboard's cleared and we can start buying plastic drawers to put his stuff. And i promise to be more prudent in buying stuff in future, ie, only buying what i need etc...hmmm... isn't this what i always say post-springcleaning but never happens?? But well, i'll try this time round coz i don't think i have time to do springcleaning when Bebe arrives...

Perhaps I was too elated and excited over our successful springcleaning that i had some difficulty getting to sleep last night.. hmmm... don't know if this is what some books/websites referred to as 'nesting' desires where mummies just had the instinct to prepare a nice nest for their little babies, though i kept thinking about the clean room and spacious cupboard...

Itchy, bitsy rashes...

Been plaqued by rashes around the tummy area over the weekend which resulted in sleepless nights. Finally went to see Dr Chew yesterday after rounds of gentle scratching during a meeting and decided that enough was enough and i ought to put an end to the itch!

So i went to the clinic at around 4plus yesterday and what was intended to be a focused consultation on the rashes turned out to be a full consultation of sorts.. The first words i said to Dr Chew was "SOS!!".. He saw my tummy and went 'aiyoh... lie down'... that's why!! He said that the rash could be due to the rubber in my maternity pants (which i could bring it up to cover the belly button).. He also went on to do a scan of bebe and told me that he's about 1.16kg (as at 28 wks).. hmmm... i can't imagine bebe near term coz i'm already feeling the weight especially when i try to turn my body at night. But oh well, as long as he is healthy!

Bebe has also been moving a lot these days... I had a dream in the wee hours of Mon morning where i had to sprint for my life to get away from a kidnapper (erm, don't ask me why i had that kind of dream). My heart was beating so fast that it awoke me.. then Bebe started to move around quite actively for a while and i had to tell him that mummy just had a bad dream... after a while, both of us went back to sleep again. It's so funny..

ok, back to the itch.. Dr Chew gave me a jab to ease the itch and put me on medication as and when the itch became unbearable. One of the medicine he gave me was piriton which makes one drowsy.. and the life-saver was the anti-itch cream that he gave me. I applied it and it feels ok so far.. hope it will keep the itch away till the end of the day!

There are also several theories by mum on how i could have those irritating rashes.. (i) pants; (ii) overdose of durians recently (iii) the stretch mark cream that i had been using.. well, i don't really know the cause of it but i took solace when the nurse at Dr Chew's clinic told me that 'yours is still okay, some other patients have worse outbreaks'.. But for now, i'll stay away from durians, wear more skirts and stop using my stretch mark cream temporarily. Hmm... maybe it's time for me to buy more skirts and try the Clarins stretch mark oil!

I'm going shopping tonight!