All is good

Last night at about 8pm, my little one is back to his normal hard kicking days and boy am I glad he did. Hahaha... I have been warned about days ahead when he will start kicking into your ribs. But I think I am ok with that as long as he is showing signs that he is ok and he is still with me.

I know half a day of scare is nothing, well, this is part of being a first time mommy right? My sis and a good friend both assured me that all is good. He's probably sleeping in his favourite position or that he has grown so big that my tummy is not catching up fast enough so he has less room to move about. I'm really glad that they are both right!

Besides 8pm kick, he had his midnight exercise as well. And he is now back to his normal schedule. In fact, his awake time is becoming more erratic. Hmm... I wonder if he's a fussy sleeper.

Talking about sleep... I find it more and more difficult to sleep at night. Whenever I side-sleep, I felt that I'm pressing against my tummy even if I have pillow underneath. And after a while, I would get rib muscle pain and I had to turn. Sometimes unknowingly, I would wake up on my back. I actually like sleeping on my back, but if I'm on this position too long, I will have backache the next morning. The Flopsy is now mainly used to support my back whenever I side sleep on my left. Then sometimes I would steal hubby's bolster for a little comfort hug :) Like Dr F said, it's going to get worse as I progress. I guess waking up in the middle of the night twice helps me to change my sleep position since I can't stay on one position for too long. (Oh yes, I get up twice, once at 2.30am-3.00am and another 5.30am - my bladder is like a clockwork!!)

Until now, I'm enjoying my pregnancy moment to the fullest. After all this is one precious pregnancy that took us to quite a journey physically and mentally. I shall savour every month, I shall keep writing, I shall document every itsy bitsy little thing!

To all preggers out there, enjoy the moment & have a good weekend!

Paranoid Me

Like all first time mummies, well maybe even experienced mummies, you can't help but feel paranoid if the baby is doing fine inside. You'll just never know what's going on with the little one side of you.

I have been feeling the baby's movement and kicks all the time. In fact, earlier on there is a rhythm going on! He will be kicking hard at around 11am or 12noon when I'm about to go for lunch, or around midnight when I'm about to go to sleep. But for the last 2 maybe 3 days, his kicks are no longer on time. He will kick anytime of the day whenever he wishes. But I still pretty felt his very strong and powerful kick or punch.

Then yesterday around lunch time, he wasn't really doing as much kick. If he doesn't kick up a storm around lunch, he would do it around dinner time. But diner came, dinner gone, still not much of a movement. Then I waited for his scheduled midnight exercise, still nothing. When I was sleeping on my side, which he usually hates and will give me the hardest kick of all, nothing much. I probably felt a little rubbing inside, but not the normal power kick.

I guess to much kicking, and he's too tired.

And morning came, which normally won't give me much of a feel of him kicking or moving, I was getting worried because he hasn't really kick. I was still waiting... then at about lunch time, I felt some slight movement, but still not the strong kick that I was expecting.

Finally the kick came, though it was just maybe 2-3 kicks, at least I felt much better knowing that he is still there with me. I get so worried he moved and kicked less. I read up that he could move less at days, so I'm hoping that he is perfectly fine, well protected by by fats and his amniotic fluid in my tummy. I'm only due to see the doctor in another 2 weeks, so I hope all is good. Seeing doctor every 4 weeks kinda paranoid you. I wish I can get back to the schedule where I see Dr F more often! Seeing his ultrasound scan showing the heart beat or him moving, really assured you that all is good. So in the meantime while waiting for the next appointment, it's all about him moving and kicking and your instinct that everything is alright.

FAQs to a pregger

Besides having strangers staring at your tummy, you will probably come across a lot of small talks from strangers - from the lady from your nearest supermarket, or the petrol station attendance, even the waitress during lunch.

You sometimes get acquaintances you have not spoken to ages asking you some intimate questions.

I sometimes felt uneasy having these strangers or acquaintances asking you questions like:

Are you pregnant?
I have some FB friends whom I've not spoken to in a lifetime asking me this question. I do appreciate the concern, thank you very much. But I find it a bit uneasy sharing it on FB in the beginning and I tried not to divulge too much. As I progress, I think I'm more at ease with this question.

How many months are you pregnant now? When is the baby due?
Errrr... I still find it uneasy having strangers asking me this because.... errrr.... you are not coming to the baby's birth in the hospital are you?

Is it a boy or a girl?
Totally private question that I only want to share with my family and friends. Some people are happy to share this, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy sharing with family and friends, but strangers... Seriously... Maybe it's just me. I mean when I found out an acquaintance is pregnant, I will say "Congratulations." I think I will hardly ask if it's a boy or girl.

Is it twins?
You see I'm one half of a Twins and everyone will assume I will have Twins or something! Gawd! It has NEVER cross my mind to ask other twins that they are having twins!! Why on earth these people ask silly question like this! Twins birth by nature is a miracle, it's something that doesn't necessary happen to twins mom! Come on!!!! I think I find it some what offensive because I tried so hard for so many years just to have this one precious little one in me now. How I wish too that when doctor did the ultrasound scan and he found 2 heart beat. I am still grateful to have one heart beat, and he is still my precious - even more so precious than precious.

How long are you married? (11 years now) Oh, what took you so long?
Gawd... getting pregnant is a very private matters. Just like why some couples decided never to have a child and you go asking "why not?" and gave one hell of a lecture. It's especially hard for me to answer that partly because we have gone through so many treatment to get to where we are today and I am not comfortable over-sharing our long treatment journey.

Oh you did IVF. Why not try for Twins?
I was like totally feeling the "WTF" almost came out of my month when someone I told that we did IVF to get pregnant. I had 4 embryos transferred and in the end I have this one precious surviving all odds. And I am grateful and thankful that this one precious made it this far. I seriously find this question WTF.

I've read articles where there are more annoying questions were asked to other preggers like:
- Are you going to have natural birth?
- Why are you doing a caesarian?
- You look big, are you x month pregnant?
- I bet it's a girl, isn't it? No, it's a boy. Really? But the way you carry certainly looks like a girl.
- Oh you are x months already. You still can't feel the baby kicking yet?

I'm sure the list can go on and on. So for now, I"m taking it easy, trying not to get annoyed. I'm trying my best to keep my raging hormone in check from time to time.

Worried about everything?

The moment you found out that you are pregnant, your worrying radar will increase by 100 folds, right? You'll be worried if the baby is gonna be healthy, or if you are eating enough or sleeping at the right position. You also start to get worried if you are putting on too much weight, or if you'll ever have stretch mark, or if you have breast milk to start breast feeding. Then when it's nearing to the day, you will start thinking about if you can go through natural birth or if the caesarian is going to be smooth.

After the birth, you will be worried for another 10, 20, 30, well maybe just forever!

I tried my best not to let my emotion take over me, be it now or later.

I think it is important that you have the support of your loved ones through this emotional period of pregnancy and eventually the upbringing of a child. I have a great husband who is by my side, my family that supports me in my decision, and friends who listen to all my nagging.

If you are doing this all by yourself, do not be discourage, there is always help out there. All you need to is take that first step and reach out for help.

Leg cramps

Ok I finally succumbed to my first leg cramp during pregnancy on the morning of 16 August. I heard and read so many times that preggers will suffer from leg cramps ALL the time. I'm not sure if there is any "normal time frame" where you should start having cramps, but I got mine at week 25.

I was so sure that I can escape another pregnancy symptoms quietly, sigh.... I woke up with the worst leg cramp ever! Well, in fact, I've never had a cramp from waking up before!! I'm not sure if the cramp is caused by too much walking in the day or I slept in one position for too long in the night that the blood circulation was poor.

The cramp I had was at the fibular muscle (the calf muscle), it was tight when it happened. So all I had to do was stretched the muscle, meaning try to move your feet towards you. I had to hold on to the position for a good minute for so and after which I had to ask hubby to give me a little massage (what a good excuse for morning massage!!!) so I could get out of bed. Otherwise, I think I would be limping around the whole day.

How big am I?

For the first time after 25 weeks of pregnancy, I finally took the courage to pick up the measuring tape and measured my ever growing tummy. Thank goodness the measuring tape can still take my waistline!!!! And here it is - 40 inches! That is like HUGE!!!!! Never will I ever dream of reaching the 4x in my life!!!!!!!! I wonder by the end of my term, what will I measure?

I need to wee, again?!

Well, well, it turned out that my baby's favourite activity hasn't change after all! I thought that baby might have grown tired of stepping on my bladder, boy just when I'm happy about him retiring from doing it, he is back to his favourite pastime and return with a vengeance!!!

By now he has been doing his step exercise for more than long enough. I have been to the toilet for more than 4 times in the last hour!! I thought by the 3rd time, it's all emptied. Clearly I'm wrong! By the 4th time, I had more pee than before!!! How is that possible!!!

I get worried if he moved less but when he moves he does the unthinkable- having a great step exercise on my bladder.

His kicks are definitely stronger now by the day. I have not really look at how much if a movement is happening on my tummy physically, I have only placed my palm over it to feel. It's cool when he kicks but not when he is stepping on my bladder!

Baby, can we go back to sleep now? Or do I still have to get out of bed a few more times over the hour?

Is it Week 23 or Week 24?

We visited Dr F for review and showed him the report we got from Singapore as well. He explained the report and assured us that everything looks alright, the risk is very low. Good! But the strangest thing is during the ultrasound scan, the baby's growth is shown to be at week 23 instead of week 24. At that moment, I thought I got my weeks wrong (I realised that it is week 24 when I got home to check the diary) so I let it be.

I only recall Dr F said baby's femur measured at 4.95cm, the head's diameter is 5+cm, and the rest is blur... Oh and baby is now 600gm and I put on another 1kg since 4 weeks ago. The tone of Dr F about my weight gain seems to sound like I didn't put on enough, but boy I feel like a tonne!!!!

During the scan, baby was facing the back! I thought he's excited about seeing Dr F today because he was having a dance party right before we leave office for the appointment! So there is no face today in the scan from the clinic. Well, as long as he is well and healthy and growing. And my ever presence bump is getting bigger by the moment!

Meet the bump

Hubby bought me a new toy for my birthday - M9-P, a Leica camera, my dad calls it one of the most expensive camera! The purchase was sort of an excuse to give it to me to take pictures of the baby after birth, but I think he wants it more! Hahaha... anyway, I love the camera, it's a whole new camera that I need to learn to use.

So far, there are plenty of kicks around noon time and near to bedtime... and I do get some kicks in the middle of the night right into my bladder waking me up, telling me it's time to pee! Hahaha.. and as I was telling my sis & sis-in-law, I have been diligently spreading plenty loads of stretch mark cream to avoid having it. And below are pictures of my still-smooth belly! I certainly hope it stays that way all the way till the end of pregnancy!

Sleeping position (again!)

Yes the ever on-going topic for me- sleeping position. This is my 2nd post, I've earlier mentioned in the another post that I sleep the way it pleases the little one.

We bought a Flopsy Cushion Pillow which is used to support my sleeping positions, especially I'm not much of a side sleeper, I find it quite useful! Or I can put it under my legs to keep those swollen feet up, or even perk myself up when I'm watching the TV while in bed, it's usefulness is up to your imagination. In fact, hubby unknowingly likes it too. I've seen him hugging it in the middle of the night when I put it aside. Knowing also that I can use it after the birth to be used for feeding or perking up the baby to sit up :)

I find this better than having a normal bolster (which we bought earlier on) because this pillow is curved and you can bend it anyway you like to make you comfy. It's not cheap, and I resisted getting the pillow. But hubby decided to still go ahead & buy it from the same shop were we got our stroller saying - it's a gift :) Well, no regret getting it though!!

Oh oh, besides having the Flopsy, I have another pillow that I will put below my burgeoning pillow - a Muji Neck Cushion. It is a neck cushion but I used unhooked it so it's longish where I can place it just nicely under. It's made out of microbeads and is highly "shape-able." When I use this under my belly then the Flopsy will be used on my back to keep me from rolling to my bed.

Funny though that sometimes I still managed to push everything away, and ended up in the morning on my back! Hahaha..

So the sleeping position is no longer just about pleasing the little boss but also to let me sleep with ease with this burgeoning tummy that is ever increasing in size by the day!!