4 Jan 2011 - 8th visit to the gynae

I was on my way to the gynae, when I suddenly sneezed and "Ouch," sprained my back. I ended up, limping my way to the gynae. Aiyoh, nowadays my body becomes so fragile and vulnerable to "attacks" like cough and sneeze. Just a cough is enough to induce pain in my tummy and a sneeze can cause me to sprain my back.

I also developed 6 continents (blood clots) on both thighs. Sigh...What to do, when you are carrying a heavy yet adorable weight.

Baby has grown by 300g within 2 weeks to about 2.5kg, looking good. My weight has also suddenly increased by 3kg. 

22 December 2010 - 7th visit to the gynae

Phew! Baby is looking good, going into the 34th week, weighing 2.2 kg, while I have lost 0.5kg in weight as compared to last visit. Thankfully, my weight loss did not affect the baby. Baby is still growing healthy. The one week of cough has indeed affect my weight. After one week of endurance, I finally decided to take cough syrup...sigh...

Exam over, finally fall sick

Exam is finally over. Back to work for one week, to clear all outstanding work before going for a week of long leave. No break yet, though the mental stress is over.

My manager went on leave for this week and left me to manage 2 new staff. Arghhhh.....I was irritated at first, because I thought I could relax after my exams, but end up I have to monitor the new staff and assign them with work (which I thought is her job????). However, I decided to look at the positive side. I will treat it as - I am given the opportunities to learn how to manage people, how to lead.

I felt myself on the verge of falling sick on Tuesday. I had a bad sore throat and it lasted until Thursday, but I didn't see a doctor or take any medication. Because I had to be in the office since my manager has already gone on leave and my fear that too much medication will affect the baby. Thus, I go for the natural healing process.

Sigh.....this is such a naive thought. Natural healing process?!?!?!?

Natural healing process will only help if I get ample rest. However, with the amount of work in the office and the absence of my manager, it is difficult to rest. With stress and anxiety piling up, it aggravate my condition. Due to the low immune system, I had diarrhea on Thursday and Friday. Nothing got to do with the food, I guess, it is the low immune system that makes my body less receptive towards food intakes. Flu comes in on Friday, and that is, I am going to spend my weekends in bed.

True enough, I woke up together feeling body very heaty and slight fever. And here is my antidote. Honey with lemon, plenty of water and sleep.

3rd trimester

It is already the 32nd week, finally the 8th month.

Tummy is growing bigger as days go by. Baby is also getting heavier. I am also slowly feeling the weight in my tummy. Bending and squatting get more tedious.  Feel as if I am big fat elephant, wobbling my way through the streets, fat and clumsy. Nevertheless, I like my tummy.

Thankfully, throughout this period, I managed to get seats on the train. Maybe every 7 out of 10 times, I will meet some kind souls who willingly will give up their seats to me. Well, the world is never perfect, there is/are always some irritants who pretends to fall asleep or engross in their readings and conversations and chose to ignore me. Sigh....I am just too lazy and tired to fight with them. Is a karma, I always believe, whatever goes round will come back to you. Sometimes, we just have to take things as it is. And I always tell myself, the world is not perfect, everyone is unique.

Looking back, life is so amazing. It started out as an embryo, a tiny little dot inside your tummy and slowly grow into something with heartbeat, followed by the hands and legs and finally a full-grown baby.

The 3rd trimester is not as easy as it seemed to be. Most of the discomfort comes from my tummy. Tummy-ache almost everyday. The fear of eating too much, as it forces my ribcage to expand as the uterus expand. This expansion causes a lot of discomfort. Leg cramps and back pains are minimized with the help of regular prenatal massage, as it helps with the blood circulation.  

Experienced a lot of "soccer kicks" from the baby. On some occasions, baby can give up to 3 continuous kicks at one time, hahaha. And I will always tell my hubby "I bet this baby is going to be a good soccer player. He is already practicing his kicks in my tummy." I love the feelings of these kicks and always yearn for more. Hubby also loves to feel the baby kicks. Baby kicks more when I am taking a rest. The kicks are not painful and I am enjoying it. 

Baby grows more and more accustomed to classical music. It will be sleeping soundly, no kicks, no motions whenever I switch on to classical music. 

Braxton hicks gets more after the 30th week. The feelings of regular expansions and contractions of the uterus as the body prepares for delivery. At times, I could feel the tummy goes sideway, moves up and down, as if there is an earthquake or a groundshake going on in my tummy. hahahaha

This is what I feed my baby with on a daily basis - fish oil, good for brain development.

2 December 2010 - 6th visit to the gynae

Ohhhh, this is an interesting one.

Dr Ho wanted to capture a 3D shot of the baby. Several attempts were made but unsuccessful. 

When we finally managed to get a shot, we realised that baby was actually sucking its thumb. Soooooo cute. Thus, we were not able to get a good picture of its face. Sigh....no choice, have to wait for the next visit.

The November month was not an easy month. 

1st, it was my exam period and I was going at full gear for my revision. 2nd, I was already 7 months into my pregnancy. The strain on my tummy plus the stress of wanting to pass my last 2 papers made it very strenuous. 

On some days, I could hardly study because of the pain in the tummy. Sitting for too long caused the tummyache. And not being able to study on that day, makes me more stressed. Thus, exam stress and tummyache added on more stress and more mood swings. Well, these mood swings affect my hubby.

Furthermore, our maid went for homevisit for 2 weeks, and it was during my exam period. Thus, there is a need to help out in the household chores and laundry.

Thus, this visit to the gynae lightened up my mood. Seeing the baby makes me laugh and drives the stress away.

By the way, baby is already 1.5kg, still going strong =D

I am thankful.

4 November 2010 - 5th visit to the gynae

I am always looking forward to see my gynae because that will mean seeing my baby as well. Looking forward to see the baby in the ultrascan. 

I am always amazed by the technology. How does a simple ultrascan machine detect every of baby's movements, its heartbeat and its weight? However, it is this technology that enables anxious parents like us to monitor the baby's every single movements, to monitor the baby's growth, all done to give the parents a peace of mind. Well, we do get a peace of mind whenever we see that our baby is growing well.

We love our baby, we love the sight of seeing the baby on a monthly basis, especially my groggy, grumpy hubby. The sight of the baby literally lighten up his mood. You can see his smile whenever he sees the baby. Well, that sort of made Mummy jealous ("hahahahaha"). 

Like most anxious fathers, he will get nervous when the baby's mom gets tummyache, gastric pain, accidentally caught a cold, accidentally knock herself. His first reaction was to look at the mummy's tummy, as if asking "Baby, are you ok? Did mummy give you a fright?" 

"_____""""""

Mummy will look at the baby's daddy and "Hey, look, mummy is also suffering."

Nevertheless, it was a fun process with all the little hiccups, the unanticipated.

As usual, baby was active throughout the session, kicking and tossing in its limited and confined area. It is really surprised how the baby is able to confine itself in the small space throughout the 9 months. 

This is where, I wouldn't be able to understand the anatomy of the human body.

Baby is already 900grams and I have gained another 2 kgs. 

This is my favourite ultrascan. Because I can practically see the baby's face. See the nose, the mouth, the eyes. =DDDDD

What a 2nd trimester: Part III, 14 October, 22nd weeks and 4 days

I suddenly had an acute pain in the centre part of my tummy, the area below the chest and above the uterus. 

This was the 1st sign on 13 October 2010, 130am. Everything was ok, until I woke up with an acute pain in the tummy area, followed by a burning sensation. Throughout the pregnancy period, this was the first pain, I encountered such a pain. It was unusual for me. And being first time mother and a paranoid, I started to wonder if something had happened. The pain lasted for about 15 minutes.

The pain has disappeared in the morning, until it came back again after my lunch. The same area and the pain persisted until evening. Before that, my hubby had advised me to call up Dr Ho and checked about the pain. I did as I was told. It was gastric pain, as advised by the nurse. Trying to be a brave spot, I endured the pain, thinking that it will disappear by itself without any medication.

Well...this is called, "Do not act strong, if you are not." The pain continued until evening, until it was so unbearable that my hubby decided that I should go to KK Women's A&E for a check up.

What a lousy mummy. Gastric pain - go to A&E. Sigh....

The main purpose was to check on the well-being of the baby, to ensure that everything was alright. Most importantly, is to have a peace of mind. And I finally understand what being mummy is about. When the nurse gave me an option of whether to fill up my stomach with food 1st, in order to stop the pain or to check on the baby 1st, I insisted on checking on the baby 1st, knowing that I will have to endure the pain for another 1 hr. 

This is the mother instinct - everything is done with the child in mind 1st. You rather suffer, then have the child suffer. I am sure my hubby will agree with what I have done. It is ok for the adults to endure the pain, but we should not let the young ones suffer.

The nurse suspected the pain to be either gastric pain (which is common among pregnant mothers) or uterus contractions (which is a danger sign and could mean early delivery).

In order to confirm the findings, I was put on a machine for an hour plus, where I was being monitored for signs of uterus contractions. 

It was close to 9pm after the test was completed. Poor hubby has to rush from home after receiving my call of the persistent pain, skip his dinner, accompany this lousy mum to A&E and wait at the hospital for more than an hour. Well, I felt guilty towards both the father and the baby for not taking good care of myself. 

There was no signs of uterus contractions, thankfully. It was just a gastric pain. 

Now, I am more aware of the different types of pain.

If the pain occurs directly above the uterus, in the middle part of the stomach, that is gastric pain. If the pain occurs directly below the uterus, it is uterus contractions. If the pain occurs on either sides of the tummy, directly below the rib areas, it is due to the stretching of the uterus. 

Well, it pays to be curious and question about everything under the sun. At least, after spending all the money on consultations, on a piece of mind, on advices, my hubby and I became more aware of the different signs of pregnancy. 

We will soon become seasoned mum and dad after this round of pregnancy.

And there you go....my gastric medicine.