April Joey?

Looks like Joey's not going to be a March baby afterall. It's already 31 March today and I am still feeling quite alright. Just some minor contractions now & then, with little pain. I guess after Dr Chew told me I am starting to have contractions, I have become more aware of them now.

Oh well, it might be good too, since I just remembered that there is an event on Sunday which I hope to attend. It'll be a good time of fellowship & good food, so I am actually looking forward to it.

Dr Chew said she might want to induce me into labour next week if I don't give birth within this week. I wonder if she's serious about it. Cos people usually don't induce unless the baby is overdue right? I am only in my 39th week next week, so theoretically, it's still quite alright since 90% of all babies are born in the 38th or 39th week.

My mother in law is not in favour of me getting induced into labour because she totally believes that God wants it natural and since baby has not tried coming out, it means she needs to be inside longer. Hmm.. I really don't know. The dilemma is that my gynae is going on a holiday to Japan on 8 April! That's 2 days before my EDD (Expected date of delivery)! So, if I do not give birth before that, she will get another gynae to deliver my baby, which is quite a daunting thought considering I would probably be saying hello to that gynae for the first time just hours before my delivery. Hmm..

Tomorrow is 1 April. I am alittle skeptical about having my baby's birthday on 1 April. Yet, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be lah.. : )

Exciting Times Have Come

Went to see Dr Chew today and was so happy to hear from her that Joey is fully engaged! Infact she did an examination for me and she said that Joey has dropped so low that she can touch the tip of her head! Oh my... Anyway, Joey has gained more weight today. She's about 7 pounds heavy now! wee..

So Dr Chew predicted that I would give birth within this week. And if I still do not give birth, she wants to induce the baby for me next week as the baby is already lying very low. So I really hope that my baby will come this week naturally!

Anyway, I told Dr Chew that I haven't been feeling any contractions except some cramps here and there which are not that severe. So Dr Chew did a CTR for me to see if there are any contractions and whether baby's heart beat is normal. Here's the printout from the CTR:

The first zic zac line you see at the top is Joey's heartbeat. She was sleeping throughout the whole CTR that Dr Chew got a little worried. She said she ought to be moving and thus heratbeat should have some variations. But her heartbeat was so steady throughout cos she was sleeping! Ha... Sleepy Joey. Even the missy was amused by how steady her heartbeat is.

The second line at the bottom shows my contractions. They are only mild right now, so I can't feel the impact of it. Nevertheless, the contractions have begun and they are there. They will get stronger as I near my delivery date. Dr Chew says when my contractions shoot high to the 80 and 100 region, I won't be smiling and joking with her already. Haha... well, we'll see.. : )

Anyway, she wants me to admit into hospital immediately if I feel any pain because she is sure the baby will be born anytime now. Wow.. so exciting!!

Before we went home today, we bought Joey a mini fan. It can be clipped onto her pram or cot. Just to ensure Joey won't get too hot when the weather is bad. : ) See! The fan is made of foam so that it won't hurt her even if she tries to touch it.

Halfway Engaged?

It's Monday so it's my usual checkup day with Dr Chew again. It'll be a weekly affair until Joey comes into the world.

Thank God my sugar level is normal today. Blood pressure's OK too, as usual. When Dr Chew scanned Joey today, she managed to find a good midline of her head to measure her weight. For those of you who do not know, gynaes can find out the size of a baby by measuring the midline of the head. But sometimes, the midline's not that clear, so the weight & size can only be estimated.

Apparently, the last few times Joey's head was not really in the right position, so Dr Chew was only estimating the weight & size all along. Today, Joey was not being cooperative at the beginning too, and her head was flexed up, as if trying to look upwards. But after Dr Chew poked her for a few times, she turned her head down and there it was! A clear midline!

So Dr Chew managed to calculate a rather accurate weight & size of Joey today. She said she's only 3kg, and not the 3.2kg she estimated last week. This would be a fairly accurate gauge, so she said Joey's not a big baby afterall. She's just like a normal baby. Praise God! And Dr Chew said that's really good because some babies are so huge that even when their heads can come out, their shoulders get stuck. And that's when the mother will feel super painful & frustrated, and the baby's shoulders may get bruised or injured in the process too. So thank God it was a miscalulation last week. Baby Joey is not fat afterall. Wahahaha!

I was anxious to find out if Joey is engaged yet. If she has dropped down to the birth canal, then birth will be pretty soon. But Dr Chew said she's halfway there only. Hee... Good progress lah, cos last week she was not even on her way there yet. I do feel the difference nowadays. Especially this evening when I woke up from my nap, I felt that Joey was sitting on my lap more than ever. That means she has dropped even further down than this morning. Yey!

Oh yes, I have packed my hospital bag too! Haven't put in my own clean set of clothes yet though. Still deciding what to wear on my way home. Should find something really easy to get into, cos I really don't know how easy or difficult is it for me to dress myself after giving birth. But Joey's homecoming clothes are in! Left her wrap-round blanket which we just bought today and is being washed now. She'll be coming home in white blouse, white pants attached to white socks, pink snowcap, pink mittens and a pink blanket. Heeee...

Preparations for Joey

To my concerned friends, yes I have started to pack my hospital bag. OK, not exactly pack la, but I have set aside some of the things I want to put inside my hospital bag. First of all, I have not decided which bag I will use, so by Monday, I will finally put everything together. So, ppppllllleeeaaasseee don't nag me anymore. I WILL PACK ON MONDAY, PROMISE! haha..

The wooden cot has finally been dressed with bedsheets and bumpers and blanket. I got this rather cheap set from the baby fair at Takashimaya. Though I couldn't find pink or more girly colours, i thought this blue set we found is quite cute too, so we just bought it nevertheless.

(The pillow is still missing though, cos the cover is still being washed. hehe..)

Also bought some diapers to standby for Joey first even though some friends said they will buy for us. At least have some on standby incase the gifts come late. haha! They're also very cheap at the Taka fair, so we got some really good deals!

That Evil Thing

Dear Dear did something very evil last night.

The story goes like this. This morning Dear Dear told me excitedly that he got a new ringtone on his HP which he is sure nobody else has got. Then I asked him whether he downloaded the ringtone last night because I knew he was downloading some songs from the internet. And he hesitated a while before replying me, 'err.. ya.. downloaded last nite'..

Later when he played the ringtone for me to hear, I was struggling to hear what music it was, cos it was quite soft. But it did sounded like some toad noises, like one toad in the quiet of the night croaking softly. There were some parts where the croaking grew alittle louder, but most of the time, it was quite soft.

I chided Dear for downloading such a ringtone, cos he would never be able to hear when somebody calls him. It's too soft le lah! And I jokingly told him that even my snoring sounds louder & better than that! And he bursted out laughing, 'THIS IS YOUR SNORING!' hahahahaha..

Evil right?!! He recorded my snoring when I was sleeping last night! And I bet he must be super amused with himself when he was recording it, with me sleeping innocently and blissfully!

Before you start thinking about anything else, i must clarify that I never had the snoring problem until I got pregnant. Ever since my stomach grew bigger, I have been snoring, according to my one and only faithful audience. I can't help it cos the tummy presses on me and sometimes I can't breathe properly.

I find it pretty amusing hearing my own snoring over & over again though.. hahaha.. so funny... it totally doesn't sound like me! It sounds like a big fat man's snoring! Hahaha..

* I attempted to attach the snoring as a sound wave file, but failed. Never mind, you all just don't have the fortune to listen to my beautiful snoring. hee..

Sugar = Overweight?

When I went to see Dr Chew again on Monday, barely 1 week after I last saw her, Joey has gained 0.3kg. The weird thing was that I lost 0.9kg while Joey gained. Dr Chew once said before that once I start to lose weight, that means my due date is soon. So, when I weighed myself, I was quite excited to see that I've lost weight. Yet, because Joey is still gaining weight, so I guess it's not gonna be so fast afterall.

Next week will be my 37th week. 37th week to 40th week is considered the 'due period', which means the baby can be born anytime and will not be considered premature anymore. Dr Chew tells me that Joey is considered a huge baby. She's only 36 weeks old but already weighs 3.2kg, heavier than some babies even when they were borned. Dr Chew estimates that Joey will be over 7 pounds at birth if she continues growing at this rate.

This is really weird because I eat irregular meals and I have been eating only 1 or 2 meals everyday for the past 1 week. But Dr Chew said that babies tend to grow bigger if my sugar intake is high because babies absorb sugar content for growth. No wonder I keep craving for sweet things. Of course, got to really watch the sugar intake, otherwise might become diabetic. And I don't really want Joey to grow too big inside my stomach. She's afterall a girl mah..

Dr Chew also made a very funny comment. She said it's OK for the baby to put on the pounds, because when she is born, she will take the entire weight away from me. But if I pile on the pounds, it will take very long for me to shed them. And that is why if a woman doesn't lose the weight put on during pregnancy fast enough and gets pregnant again with a second baby, she will just grow fatter and fatter and fatter.. oh haha..

And yes, I know many of my friends will scold me when they hear this. But I haven't packed my hospital bag yet. One more week of procrastination again! I promise this coming weekend I will surely pack it!

Sis Yah Lan is already 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant as at today. She is overdue and yet her gynae didn't ask her to be induced for birth. But I think she is really 'anytime' already. haha.. I wouldn't dare be earlier than her though, cos her stomach is really very big now. I hope her delivery will be very smooth and easy. Mine too of course. : )

Jie Jie, Mei Mei, Gor Gor & Di Di

There are many babies to be born around the same time as Joey. Francis' baby boy is only 3 days apart from Joey's due date. Yah Lan's girl should be born one month before Joey which is now, but her baby might be late for one week. Serina's girl is one month later than Joey. Sis Ting's boy is about 2 months after Joey. Meiling's boy is approximately 3 months after Joey. My ex colleague Katherine's girl is about 2 weeks before Joey. Wow.. so many newborn babies!

Already before Joey is born, she has got so many Jie Jie, Mei Mei, Gor Gor & Di Di! heee... It's going to be so exciting and fun for Joey, growing up with so many friends! haha..

Big Girl Joey

Joey is growing big. : ) When we last went to see her at Dr Chew's, she's already grown to 2.9kg just one week after the previous visit. It didn't dawn upon me how big she is until I realised that when I was born, I was even lighter than that! I was a little premature, so I was rather light, though healthy at birth. And that day Shaun also told me that she was only 2.6kg when she was born. Hmm.. Joey is still inside my tummy and she's already nearly 3kg! Oh man.. Big girl ah..

It's been quite some time since I saw Joey's face, cos she's always facing downwards since dunno-when. It's a good position to give birth of course, but it's kind of disappointing not to be able to see her face every time. Well, I guess it just adds to the anticipation of seeing her real face when she's finally born. Will I tear when I see her for the very first time? And how would I feel when I carry her in my arms? Especially when I've been feeling her every movement in my tummy for the past 9 months?

It's all getting quite exciting. There's really an excitement everyday as I await for the big day to come. It's quite hard to explain, but it feels like you know something significant and really powerful is going to happen soon, and you can't help but feel like you are walking on clouds all the time. : ) It's really drawing rather near, you know? The missy at Dr Chew's clinic told me that if I give birth in 2 weeks' time, it's not considered premature anymore, and the baby is considered DUE. So, it could be anytime between 2 weeks to 1 month now!

At the same time though, I am starting to feel the stress. Like clearing my work, my cubicle and all the unfinished filing and business. What if I can't get everything done before Joey comes out? It'll not impact me of course, but whoever is covering my work will have a jolly hard time looking for everything. And of course, I could never imagine having make pastor plough through my things just to look for something she needed. That'll be very bad.

So, thank God next week is school holidays, and I'm thinking of asking my helpers (3 of whom are teachers! And 1 social worker with lots of love & compassion, I'm sure!) to come & help me clear and pack my stuff. I don't think I can accomplish much by myself cos work keeps piling in everyday now even as I am trying to clear the earlier pile. Ha..

In the last few days, many people have asked me why I am still working and not taking leave to rest & wait for the day to arrive. The kopi uncle at the foodcourt asked me the other morning when he saw how big my tummy is and asked me how come I haven't taken leave. When I told him I can rest all I want after I give birth because I have 3 months' maternity leave, he exclaimed out in envy "Wah... so good to be a woman!". Hmm.. I wonder if he will still say that when he is the one giving birth. ha..

Then several colleagues also have been asking me the same question. But it's not that I don't want. It's just that I find it weird to take leave now to rest. Cos firstly, I feel absolutely alright. Energetic and happy most of the time. And I don't really know when Joey will come out, so what shall I do? Take 3 days, then see? Nothing happens, come back to work? So weird right??!

Well, anyway, as the day draws nearer, I should stop my procrastination & just start packing my hospital bag. I never get down to doing it! Sigh... and my friends have been telling me to put 1 at home, and 1 in the office. That's so troublesome! I shall just trust and believe in God that He will give me ample time to get home, take a shower, put on a nice set of clean clothes before heading to the hospital. Totally no rush in Jesus' Name! =P Well, anything is possible with God, isn't it? : )

The Emergence of Monster STRETCH

Sigh.. yes, it has happened. I found them when I was looking at my tummy in the mirror the other day. The ugly stretch marks have found their way on my round tummy! They're not exactly on the 'main surface', if u know what I mean. But rather, they were right at the bottom or underside of my tummy and I had a hard time trying to see them.

For a while, I have felt some loose skin over there and thought nothing much about it. But on that fateful day, I saw the marks. Although I do understand why the underside of my tummy must have loose skin (to accommodate Joey when she drops down to the birth canal nearer to birth time), I cannot help but lament why it has got to happen to me. WHY?WHY?WHY? WHY ME, GOD?!!!

Have I not been conscientious enough in applying the moisturising cream? (I admit I do forget on some days....) Have I been haphazard when massaging my tummy??

Fate has already taken over. Like what Sis Ting told me the other day, once they appear, they will never go away................ it sounds so dreadful. "boo hoo"