Firmed

It's confirmed....bb2 will be induced on 1st July 2012, sunday. We will be checking in at 9am.

The visit was a fast one, check bp, scan. Baby is head down, shown heartbeat, tummy etc. He did spenda little more time scanning around which I assume he is watching for waterbag fluid level. I am still bearing hope that we could wait and see.

Then returning to his desk, another string of questions; are you working? would you be free? etc. Issue admission letter and was asked to meet him at the labour ward. Asked if there is a possibility for us to wait and he advised that most likely once the waterbag level reduce, it will go down further. Most of the time mummies would perfer to have the baby out soon. Meanwhile would need to monitor baby's movements, at least 10 times a day.

Guess I have no choice but to respect his professionalism (hopefully) but I was greatly disappointed about having to induce. It's hard to hold back the tears as we discuss it among ourselves (with the hub). Mixed feelings since I would wish to carry meimei slightly longer in the tummy and have all the excitement noting the signs of labours while on the other hand, knowing a fixed thingy could be a good thing.

Well, all is firmed now so nothing much to ponder and reconsider over again though we did toy with the idea of inducing on 2nd July instead so meimei share the same date as mummy's birthday. On 2nd thoughts, we decide to let it remain and being Youth Day on 1st July, meimei will have school holiday on her birthday all the way till secondary school.

Anyhow I prayed for a short and fast labour, a smooth delivery and meimei will be a happy and healthy baby, nothing matter more than that!

37 weeks

Had our 37 weeks appointment last monday and there was quite a crowd too at the clinic. The boy is sleeping in the car with mom and just nice before my turn come, the hub had to return tothe car cos he just woke up. So I went in for consultation alone and hope that the hub return in time.

Sat down for bp check and was questioned about my choice on Mount Alvernia. He warned that he might not be in time for the delivery seriously and I told him I am aware of the situation and if possible, still prefer my choice of hospital. A string of questions followed, epidural for 1st born, arrive early? any plans for early delivery (induce) etc to which I replied would want to go natural for the last question.

Proceed to scan and was later told that waterbag fluid is a little low thus would need to see him on friday morning for review. If everything is okie then we will wait and see otherwise might have the need for induce. I asked if there is any thing that could be done to improve the situation and was told no since it happen sometimes as baby matured.

I can't helped but feel a little suspicious and started doubting if it could have any relation to my choice of hospital that he is reluctant to go to especially so after the string of questions asked before the scan!! It certainly don't sound good and unwise to doubt the professionalism of your gynae at such advance stage of pregnancy but I could not help it after putting the pieces together. Such a dilemma situation to be in!

Even though it is still a 50/50 case on friday but I do have a very strong feeling that induced birth is going to be confirmed and I do not like it a single bit at all. Google and read online that drinking more water might help so going to give it a try, no harm.

First Love

My first love have been pretty challenging these days.

He turned very rebellious, talking back at us, throwing tantrums, hitting me etc which is quite a jaw dropping period for me since he had never displayed such bad behaviour before and I am the type of mummy who would never ever allowed such attitude. I could not even recall when is the last time he had a meltdown in public, not to mention a pretty severe one.

It doesn't help that I am extremely quick tempered these days thus he had been sent to the naughty corner very frequently lately with lots of wailing, jumping and to my horror screaming!

Certainly hope that this will be a quick passing phase especially with the little sister arriving anytime now so do not wish that these behaviour will be escalated when she come, add on to the problems. Meanwhile I am trying my best to control my temper, provide him with more TLC and trying to close one eye on the not so bad behaviours instead of punishing him for every little issues. Yes I do know that inconsistency is not the ideal way of discipline and setting boundary but still there is a need to balance things up at this crucial moment of time!

36 weeks

I have never ever missed someone so badly during his absence and was so glad that he is finally back! That's referring to my gynae anyway!!! LOL.. 2 simple reasons; the irritating flu that bug me for the almost 2 weeks the moment he goes on holiday and the mystery of did-the-gal-turned?!!

The clinic was really packed mainly because he just came back and I am perspiring buckets and at the verge of melting in the terrible weather while waiting for our turn. It was pretty much a long wait since we reached the clinic for registration late, took us almost close to an hour before getting to see him.

Weird as it is, the moment he see me, he asked - Hows your appetite lately? Told him that it's not very good or rather can't eat much just like the 1st trimester otherwise discomfort and heartburn became my best friends. Checked blood pressure and was reminded to do GBS test. Went for the scan and was so relieved and happy to know that bb2 turned head down!!! However he measured a few times and remarked that baby is a little underweight. This came as a surprise as most of the time, practically almost everything is normal to him. Complained about cramping once again which was again normal and advised to slow down in all that I am doing. He reminded once again to try and eat more. I asked beef and durians to which he replied, durians, ice-cream, chocolate etc. To see him again in a week's time.

BB2's weight was estimated to be around 2.57kg and comparatively among the peers, she is indeed a little smaller at 36 weeks. So officially I fall into the 'cheong' group as opposed to many mummies who fall into the 'banned' group. This could be a good thing since the hub heard it from the horse's mouth and stop accusing of my food intake. Best is when requested to eat something out of craving, no questions asked! Haa

It's been really tough since the past week to walk even at very slow pace as there is tremendous pressure at the V area and just some walking apparently seem to worsen it. Monitoring too on the extra food intake namely durians and beef, crossing fingers that bb2 will gain the weight instead of me which will be a nightmare then again what to do. Tomorrow will be 'judgement day' and hope that bb2 remain head down and gained some weight from the 'cheonging'.

In fact few days back I woke up suspecting that my bump did 'dropped' and appear lower than the day before, just my gut feel. I have a nagging suspicion that this girl will most probably arrive around 38 weeks just like the brother.

Just turned 37 weeks today and started to feel the jitters and cold feet badly despite the fact that this is bb2, in fact worst than Zethan's time. It was only yesterday that we have decided on Z girl's name, bad parents huh, how late can it be. So officially the waiting game start like now and it's her call, anytime from now though secretly I wish for her to stay in for a little while more.

35+ weeks bump

Break



train ride after a long while

ever since the term break started and now that we are nearing the end of it, seriously I felt that I have done nothing much with Zethan and much of the term break so far have been spent on Ipad and watching telly which is very bad.

Had plans to bring him out for a few activities but never really got down to it partially because of both our flu saga so no movies, no ducktours, no POLW sentosa but mostly feasting and shopping!

had wanted to do some activities workbooks with him too but again never even got down to buying them. Yes that's how bad a mummy I can be, Gosh..

Zethan had been quite a handful for the last week or so. What I could not tolerate the most was he is turning to be very rude and leaning towards the rebellious streaks, wonder has it got to do with sensing the arrival of bb2 very soon. I can be high on tolerance on most issues to the extent of closing both eyes and ears turning deaf BUT rudeness is a big no no that burst my tolerance scale. He is talking back at us, using our words against us and throwing tantrum when he does not get his way, all happening within a matter of days, extreme total change which he had never ever been.

I am wondering too if it could be due to the fact that he is observing the various preparations the past week for the sister thus feeling abit left out and jealous about it. I have tried to get him involved in the preps e.g. when doing the laundry, will get his help to load into the washer, keeping the laundry - got his help to place them in the basket etc. Certainly hope that my suspicion is uncalled for.

on the other hand he is still a very much pretty sweet child, saying goodnight to everyone every night without fail including the little sister in the tummy. He will requested to lift up my shirt and say goodnight meimei to the bump and of course I had to reply meimei say goodnight Zethan. An interesting joke which happened a few nights back.

Z - Goodnight daddy
D - Goodnight
Z - huh, Goodnight who?!
D - Goodnight Zethan (with a frown on his face) LOL

Preps

Been having very strong nesting instincts since a few weeks back and had wanted to start on the preparations at home but the hubby keep pushing it back with excuses like too early, stuff get dusty and blah blah blah.

Finally I decide to ignore all these excuses 2 weeks back and started on my 1st load of washing which consists of both new rompers, burp clothes as well as some hand me downs for 0-3 months thereabout. As we are still uncertain on the size of BB2 yet, I have supposed that she will not be a big baby and should be around Zethan's size and birth weight.

The 2nd load of washing was done last weekend and we should have completed what is necessary or required to last us through the 1st 2 months at the very least. I was tempted to do more washing for the bigger size clothing since after confinement, I would be largelt left alone to care for the 2 kids thus leaving very little time for housechores or laundry for that matter. Well, I guess nothing is impossible and we will manage it when the time comes!

The hospital bag is 50% packed at this point of time (1 day shy of 36 weeks) and just this afternoon, got mom to come over and help babysit Zethan while we set up the baby cot and did some organizing in the kids room. So yesh it's another major item down!

Tomorrow will be another laundry day for washing of cloth napkins, cot bumpers, fitted sheets etc. Should time permits, will be washing up the bouncer, infant carseat, swing bed padding etc all the major & bulky items.

by the way did I mentioned that the July mummies are popping fast & furious like popcorns! Mid of june today and we are welcoming the 5th baby, pretty much a strong reminder to get things done FAST!

Herbs

decided to bring forward the purchasing of the confinement herbs to last sunday instead of procrastinating further. It's pretty much a challenging affair in trying to decide the varieties and quantities to purchase since this time we are still not engaging a confinement lady and mum will be hlping out similar to Zethan's time.

asked around for advice from those who have engaged a CL but to no avail so rather than depending on others, I did quite a fair bit of research online on recipes for confinement food especially that of soups as I realised that soups are lacking in the last confinement and is pretty essential during a confinement. To make matter worst, there are many types of 'essential' or typical food that I do not consume e.g. pig's kidney, pig's stomach etc. This time round I am going to give a try at food such as vinegar pig's trotters, pig's stomach soup (not the stomach still) etc. I have been told times and times again that it is important to have a good confinement for the health to get back into good shape especially since this is very likely to be our last pregnancy thus I have requested to mum to have more soup and even double boiled soup for consumption before bedtime.

anyhow back to the topic, after the necessary research done, I have discovered that typically there are just a few types of herbs necessary for cooking and soups and I would not be buying the expensive ones since we have no experiences with them and no basic knowledge as to what is genuine or not. I mean paying for the genuine stuff regardless of the price tag is acceptable but as layman, how do we tell if they are superior, genuine or being chopped like a robert.

so we went to the shop armed with my own shopping list and while we were there, was given another list for reference. I did not purchased the recommended quantities by the vendor too since I gathered I couldn't take too thick or high dosage of the herbs otherwise end up with bad flu like the last confinement as my body constitution belong to the heaty side and coupled with the intense heaty food, the body just breakdown and caused alot of issues.

one more thing down!

Flu

Down with a terrible and massive cold. Wanted to see gynae on Monday but he is already on leave. Its just weird that whenever he is on leave, I would be under the weather.

Caught it from Zethan who is also down with mild fever last week (the first day of term break), recovered 2 days later and flu, cough, phlgem came 3 days later.

No choice but to dig for previous cold medication prescribed by him and there's only 2 tabs left. Had to make a trip to pharmacy for more.

Taking only once before bedtime thus the flu is taking a long time towards full recovery, making me so lethargic and energy level near zero.

Bump

Just realised that I hardly post pictures of my bump or even pictures of me and my bump as opposed to the regular updates during Zethan's time.

So here you go...


29 weeks

29 weeks bump

30 weeks

31 weeks _ Mothers Day

33 weeks - Z took this pic



33 weeks

33 weeks visit on 28 May 2012 estimated weight of 2140g yet the girl still refused to turn or at least hopefully yet to turn ( I am still bearing hopes here). Been trying my best to talk to her, coax her into turning though I need better luck.

Anyway I did checked around and had a talk with one of the experienced expert in the field when I bumped into her last week. I was told that usually for 2nd pregnancy there should be bigger room and space for baby to turn at later stage and it is pretty common to see bb2 turning after 34 weeks. Sound hopefully then!

Been having quite a fair bit of cramps which the gynae say is pretty common and when asked what signs would not be normal, was told about persistent cramps that intensify and turn more regular intervals. We were given till end of June for bb to decide if she would like to turn otherwise might have to fix a date for the big cut (crossing fingers not). He can still joke that perhaps she just want to be different!

The gynae is going on leave for 2 weeks thus the next visit was pushed back to 3 weeks later after his return. The advice for any 'emergency' meanwhile was head straight to KKH should there be any contractions since it would be preterm labour and hospital bills would be highly subsidized there. No worries on the mother's bills usually but more concerns over the cost in NICU for the baby since I would only be around 34/35 weeks then so baby would be expected to be in NICU for a minimum of 1 week supposed without any complication.

Received the delivery booking confirmation from Mount Alvernia, thought I did not received such letter from TMC during Zethan's time. Surprisingly the gynae did not mentioned anything about my decision on Mount Alvernia.

Anyhow this girl is pretty much having a mind of her own. She dislike my sleeping on the left and will protest profusely with lots of kicks and squirms giving me the discomfort. This can also be clearly illustrated with her yet to turn 'protest'. It sound really weird but although this is my 2nd pregnancy, I could not identify her kicks, nudges thus is completely clueless about her orientation totally. Perhaps this is really true that the womb is slightly bigger thus more room for her to move around and the tummy get real humogous real fast.

2nd coconut @ 34W5D

2nd Bird Nest @ 33W