ALMOST at the last week of my pregnancy journey! (12/8/17)

Back track to last Sunday, when I'm 38 weeks and 3 days:
This week is a big week of ups and downs.
Lets start from Sunday.

We met up with Sheri for lunch after church. We had a great catch up till 3 pm.
Then I got a hair cut at the korean hairdresser. Oh finally I have my hair trimmed. And also wash! Oh my hair felt so dry now. I'm glad that my hair length of  almost half waist, is now nice and short around the shoulders. I request that I should still be able to tie up my hair. Should labour become tiring and messy, the last thing I would want is hair sticking everywhere on my face. That's also one of the reason I'm contemplating if I should get it cut or not. But getting it washed at night is such a breeze now. And drying it takes only minutes~! ^_^

Anyhow, after the haircut, we went to the Westfield shopping centre to stock up on grocery. As usual, the purchase is too much for us to lug back to the car. So Eric offered to walk up the hill to where our car was parked for church, and drive into the carpark to pick me and the goods up. On the way to the carpark, we stopped by a party shop to buy a 70th birthday card for my FIL. After we loaded up the car, strapped in, and ready to go home, Eric realised he couldn't find the parking ticket!

We spent the next 1 hour, looking through the car, looking through the shopping centre for that bloody ticket. Oh I was fumming. >_<
He lost the ticket after just 10 mins of parking the car and meeting me and the trolley full of groceries, and getting the birthday card. Plus this is not the first time he has lost things in public places. Always have to remind him to put the car keys away, stop dangling it on his fingers, be alert of where he put the thermos flask when he goes to uni.... And the fine for losing the parking ticket is $50!!!!!

So in the end, after combing through the floor of Westfield, tracing where he had been, he finally found the ticket at the party shop, among the candy rack, next to the cashier. And boy I was annoyed and exhausted.

Being home late means I need to start thinking about dinner. Eric dropped me home while he went over to the renovated home to put down some of the things we bought. At home (aka MIL's place), the first thing I saw, was Eric's sis just siting there (probably ther for the whole afternoon) stuck in front of her computer playing computer games with her fiance. With dishes from her brunch still in the sink. I'm sick n tired of working for his family. So I went downstairs and wanted to hide away. The next thing I knew, MIL came back home from her Taichi-fan-clubbing, and the first thing she asked was: 'What are you cooking for dinner?'

OMG, can feel my blood pressure rising. If Eric was here, I'd have scream at him to deal with his family.

The night ended up with  Eric's sis cooking some inedible dinner, which I had to rescue it afterwards, so it's not a waste of food for the whole family. Sigh....

After washing up, MIL started questioning Eric on what he's doing at the renovating house. Hello? Were you living under a rock or something? And she kept saying how she 'thought' he's getting someone to work on the toilet renovation job. *face palm*
Then I casually ask if she could come help clean up things, as there's quite a bit to do and I can't do many because it's difficult for me to bend down.
MIL gave quite a few excuses, and in the end said : NO.

Eric and I looked at each other, and we were so disappointed with her answer.

I hope he finally see how his family are really like....I mean, never in the past 5 years have they offer, even just offer, to help with some tiny things. Even friends at church, Rong from SG, and my parents who are coming to help look after me during the confinement time, has offered to help. Especially my parents, who are coming TODAY, yet the whole place is still in a big mess. And my parents will have to end up cleaning and organising things PLUS living there. And Eric's family just don't even want to open their mouth and offer to help. *rolled eyes*

On Monday night, 7/9/17, I woke up with another episode of epigastric pain. It's similar to the last episode, where by it comes in waves and is quite intense pain. Unlike last time, I didn't wake Eric up as he's suppose to go to uni the next day. And if this turn out to be a false alarm again, I don't want him to be equally exhausted plus going to uni. So I went and hover around the kitchen, eating and trying to time the contractions. I went back to bed with the pain, and the contractions lasted till midday. After that the pain was gone as if nothing had happened before.

Since then I am quite afraid of going to bed at night. Fearful of having the pain again that will disturb my sleep. Emotionally, I am anxious, worried and just not sure what to do when the baby comes in as the renovation is not done yet. My parents are arriving on Saturday

 I was teary and felt very overwhelmed. One of my church friend came and check on me, and told me that this is quite normal before she gave birth.

True to that I started having contractions starting from Saturday night to Sunday morning. It was very mild, just like period pain. In in the morning on Sunday morning, just before we got ready to go to church, I found out that I had some bleeding!

Kcan

37 weeks 5 days

Woke up with severe epigastric pain at 4 am. As usual, I ate my dippits biscuits, hoping that it will subside in no time. However, it didn't happen. So I woke Eric up to get some warm milk from the kitchen. By then, the pain comes in waves and it's very excruciating pain. Is it contractions?

Had diarrhoea at 4.30 am. Hmmm my body clearing the bowels to prepare for labour? 

At 5 am, vomited out my milk, and cheese crackers. Yucks!

The contractions like pain is quite frequent and lasting mins. Quite unlike the contraction pain I was taught. 

Called up the hospital, and the midwife reckon I should keep on monitoring, and have some hydrolite to keep up hydration since I've diarrhoea and vomiting. She said it sounds like gastro. Wanted us to call back in an hour.

Eric made a hydrolite drink from the Gatorade powder we have in pantry. It's orange flavour. I sip it slowly, but within an hour, I threw it all up again. 

And similar thing happen again in an hour's time. By then, I was dehydrated, in waves of pain, with vomiting and diarrhoea. Then I realised, I should not have citrus flavour drink during labour. So I got Eric to make warm water with sugar and salt, and within mins, I'm much better. By then, it's already 9 am. I was exhausted. Pain is less frequent and intense. We called up hospital again to update them, and they reckon I should just monitor my condition. 

I finally able to sleep after 9 am with just waves of cramps every 30 mins. 

My first meal is at 12.40 pm, and it's breakfast oats. Oh it tasted so heavenly. 

We decided to head to the midwife appointment in the afternoon and they reckon I just had a gastro bug. Not contractions. Baby is still well. So they are not too worried. 

So let's hope tonight will be a better night, and baby will be safe and happy, staying in for a few more days. 

Thank you Eric for your support throughout the night and skipping a whole day of uni to look after me. Hug! Oh what an experience. 

Kcan

35 weeks and 6 days and beyond...

I'm now almost 36 weeks!~

Last Saturday (15/7/17), our church pastor's wife Beth, organised a baby shower for Eric and I. I'm so touched and thankful for Beth and the many ladies that came to help out and make the day so special for us. Beth approached me back 3 months ago, asking if anyone has put their hand up to organise a baby shower for us. I said no, and she eagerly volunteered and start organising from there. What Eric and I did, was basically just came up with a guest list, and a baby shower gift list. And that's it. The rest were all a surprise.

Eric and I thought long and hard on who to invite to the baby shower. Because the baby shower location is located at Beth's house, we don't want to over-burden her house with too many guest. However, with the many people whom we knew and worked with at church, our guest list just grew and grew. So in the end, we invited all our current and past bible study brother and sisters (together with their whole family), plus a few of our close friends from Canberra, Eric's back-in-the-days uni friends, and HJ (my only uni friend that is working in Sydney).

We prayed for a nice sunny day, as the weather leading up was rainy and cold for the past 2 weeks. And thank God for answering our prayers as it was a nice a warm afternoon last Saturday! It's so nice to be able to spread out into the backyard, and let the many children guest run around and for many people to sit in the backyard, enjoying the sunshine. The guest numbers reached about 46 adults and 14 kids! =D

We had a lot of fun, and after the whole event had finished at 5pm, we lug a car full of presents and pass-me-downs from our dear friends. Now, I'm still in the mids of sorting and opening presents. Thank you all for your love for our baby~!

37 weeks. 28/7/17

I'm now 37 weeks! Baby can come out any moment now!!!

I'm weighing 69.1kg. OMG This is really a new record high. I've gained 11 kg since pregnant, and I hope this will stop soon. Last Sunday, after church, Eric and I had a mini-photo shoot session at the front yard of the renovated house. Yes, he used his camera and bump and I are the cute model. =p

This week, Eric was suppose to finish doing the house renovation before the uni starts next week. However, on Monday night, he realised he was called in to student clinic the next day!!!
And then a few lecturers decided to start a week earlier as well. So ended up he has to go uni everyday this week except Thursday. And guess what, Thursday was taken up by picking up MIL from airport. T_T

There goes my plan to move out when MIL returns....
And my stress levels are rising....

Tomorrow will be my last day at work at the IVF clinic. I can't wait to finish work!
However, now that the fact that I'm still living at MIL's place, means that I can't rest at all. Sianz to the max. And the fact that lazy SIL is now coming back home to eat daily (because MIL is back), means that I have to cook for her as well. Double annoyance, because she don't help out, she don't help chip in groceries, and she don't clean up after her cat! Breath in... breath out... We'll be moving out soon... it's ok... just be patient.

Going away later tonight to pick up a pressure cooker.

kcan

31 weeks 3 days

31 weeks and 3 days.

I'm finally in the last trimester of my pregnancy!! How exciting, yet daunting as so many things are yet to be finalised and ready.

The main thing that still worries me is that Eric has yet to finish with the bathroom renovation so that we can start moving in to the house. And yes, there's only about 8+ weeks to go before my due date, and baby could come out any moment now.

We finished our Calm Birth class the 2 Sunday before. I felt at little more confident in my body now that I know what to expect and how I should react to different scenarios. It's really amazing how God made our body so intelligent and carefully so that we can form a life and bring it out to the world. One thing I get a lot out from the class is to believe and trust in our body, and learn the techniques that allows a smoother birth. Why wasn't this something that passes down from our parents/ teachers?! And why are the typical hospital scenario for births are always lying down when pushing? Generations of women has proved that being in an upright position (squatting, kneeling or even standing) helps to 'drop' the baby out with less energy and pain. So why is it that most doctors wanted women to lie down and give birth? One answer: for the doctor's benefit. 

34 weeks and 3 days

Oh how I feel quite big and clumsy at this point. I knock myself onto things easily because I'm much bigger. The other week, I swipe my thermos flask off the kitchen bench, causing a dent on the kitchen cork floor. And that's because my sleeve manage to catch onto the flask. My fingers are getting more stiff and it gets locked up even in the day. So my grip is not as good and I drop things easily. And that will be very annoying as I will then had to bend down with my big belly and it's so not comfy. 

My feet are swollen most days now, but it's not as bad as previously. Daily foot massage are part of my bedtime routine at the moment. Part of the routine also involves applying coconut oil onto my big belly to help to moisturise it, and maybe also help prevent stretch marks. I had been using the sample coco butter creams which had been given as part of the gift bags from the Calm birth class. There were discounts coupon in the gift bags which we were going to buy from the Chemist Warehouse. However, I found out that there's so many chemicals in the cream! As someone who don't even use moisturiser, sun block or any makeup, this is like at the other extreme of chemical usage. So I decided to look up Mr Google, and realise that the big jar of coconut oil that is just sitting in the kitchen pantry is the perfect solution! Before anyone start to copy and go get coconut oil for preventing stretch marks, STOP!!

Stretch marks are due to the skin elasticity being over stretch by the baby's growth. Which means that the skin is not growing as fast as the baby. There are not enough collagen fibres to make new skin to accommodate baby's size. So the best way to help prevent stretch marks, is to have enough collagen building substances to help your body build the skin's elasticity. And we can get that from our daily diet! Eating collagen rich food such as bone broth, chicken feet, pork skin, pork legs, beef tendons, gelatine powder are all essential during pregnancy. Basically anything that will gel up into a jelly when you put it in the fridge to cool down. Add on top of it, skin collagen also needs vitamin c to help make new skin. So lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. (Or in my case, vit C tablets) Many of my patients who followed my advice to have at least a serve of collagen a week since pregnancy, didn't get any stretch marks at all. I'm going to do that too! 

Baby wise, at last week's midwife appointment, he's head down but posterior facing. I know he's not in that position most time as I can feel him swimming and turning left and right. So please dear baby, do turn back to the front and stay there when the space in the tummy gets tight. 

He's not too much of an active baby, but at times, he'll makes his presence known by doing big stretches and doing his favourite kicks on the belly. He still hates it when I lie a little to much on my tummy, and will do a wriggle to get me to back off. Haha. When I think I've not felt him much, I'll lift and shake my tummy left and right, and that will certainly wakes him up. Haha. I sound like an evil mum eh? 

I hope he enjoys the music routine I've put him through since second trimester. Research said it'll help calm the babies when they are born as they've listen to and be familiar with the music since in the womb. Let's see if it's really true. = D

Kcan

27 weeks and 5 days

This week, I felt like a swollen elephant. My ankles were so swollen after going to the Pregnancy Baby Children expo, that it felt horrible. I could feel my feet almost bursting from my shoes, and I couldn't even flex my toes! Looking at my ankles, they were BIG! *shocked*

This is the first time I had experience real swollen feet. I remembered seeing those of my patients who had that while they were pregnantm but never did I expect to get them. Haha. My ankle was basically gone. Just a straight leg from my calf to my feet. And I usually have skinny bony feet! Suddenly it's like 'meaty' and big. Eric gave me so much massage last night, and it's much better today when I woke up. I think I'll have to wear my compression socks all the time from now. Time to go for more socks shopping!

My pelvis and pubic bone pain is much better this past few days! Yay! All thanks to the ear seeds. I highly recommend women to get them put in by acupuncturist. 

I get more hungry easily these days, and keep wanting to snack away. Probably because baby is now on the putting weight stage of his growth. Just have to remind myself to choose better snacks than the sugary ones. 

Talking about the baby expo I went to on Friday (on my own) and Sunday (with Eric). There's basically just one item I'm interested in getting, and that is the Phillips breast nipple shell. It's something my sniokies friend recommended to help collect the dripping breast milk from the other breast when it's engorged. You know, not want to waste the precious milk! I went on Friday, asking for the expo price, which the sales lady said will be $18. While retail price is $24. I said I'll think about it and she said they will stock it up daily, so if I come on Sunday, I can still purchase it. After a few google research and consulting with Eric at home, we decided to buy it from the expo for $18. And guess what, when we got there on Sunday, the lady on the floor serving, wanted me to pay $20 for that last box on the shelf! 

I questioned the lady, as I remembered looking at the price sheet on Friday, and it was to be sold for $18. And her reply was: ok, you'll get it for $18. And she just key the price into the efptos machine, and asked me for my card. -_-"

I know it's the last day of the expo, and you want to get rid of the items on the shelf. But also cannot anyhow state a price you like and charge people mah. Good that I didn't rip you off by saying that it cost <$18, cause you didn't even bother to check! 

For the rest of the afternoon, Eric and I went around to check out the different brands of breast pumps and collect food samples for baby J. I'm definitely going back to work part-time at about four months after giving birth, so I would need to have breast pumping equipment on standby. Thank you to Eric's brother for giving us their breast pump, so we are saving quite a bit of money. However, our horror when speaking to the breast feeding association people, that the brand of the breast pump we are going to be inheriting, was prone to growing mold! Googling also shows it's quite common topic amongst mums with this brand of breast pump, as it's an open system. Have to be careful when using it next time and to dry it well to prevent mold from forming. 

The expo ended at 5 pm. Eric and I dragged my big swollen self to the train station and then to our car. As my feet were so swollen, we decided to have a simple dinner of take away Roast pork rice, with an additional box of veges to go with it at the next suburb. However when we got there, all the roast pork were sold out. We settled instead for a box of Char Siew rice plus a box of vegetables. This is our favourite place for takeaway boxes, as they stuffed so much ingredients and rice in each box, that it can feed both Eric and I! And for just cost $9!!  So with $15 ( additional vege is $6), we can have a very yummy and healthy meal of veges, meat and rice that makes us so full! We usually ate in the car after buying the food. But on Sunday, my bladder was bursting as does happens to many women who are pregnant. So we drop by at the local train station again, looking for toilet. And what better place to have dinner after that, than sitting on the benches at the platform, under the platform light and under the starry night sky! Sounds romantic right? 

Our day ended with a nice hot shower at home, with feet massage by Eric for my elephant legs. 

I hope this swollen feet phase is just temporary and won't get worse. It's really scary looking at my foot and can't recognise my own. :( 

Oh, and my sniokies friend Qing has given birth last Thursday! Congrats!! 

I can't wait to meet my baby J soon. 

Kcan

Baby Shower Invitation

Beth (our church leader's wife), has kindly sent out the baby shower invitation to our guest!!

THANK YOU!!

It's now making having the baby seems so real and I'm feeling excited! ^_^

So apparently, baby shower is usually only given to the first baby that's going to be born to the couple. I'm feeling loved! And I hope you are too baby J!

So many of my students touched my belly today at the class today. I must be showing a lot more now with this big size tummy. haha.

Eric and I had a hard time deciding how many people to invite. But in the end, we invited almost our whole church service people. We were so blessed to be welcomed and added into the church family. And we all shared so many laughter, joy, and even sadness together. So we do want them to be there welcoming our baby to the world. The location of the baby shower is going to be Beth's house, so lets see if everyone is going to come or not. If yes, we may need to find a bigger venue. haha.

Now, Eric and I will have to set up a gift list, which I think it won't be too much items. We are so blessed to be given so many hand me downs from our church families. Even my dear patient Nikki, has also given me bags of baby clothes, toys and even high chair for baby J. That saves us lots of money in getting baby clothes and the essential items. Thank you!! We are more than happy to get more pass me downs items. So do pass it our way!

Our baby shower will be held on 15 July. ^_^

kcan

26 weeks + 6 days

This week has been a painful week. Starting with waking up at 3am in the morning on Monday by a severe pain in my epigastric region. It's so painful that I thought if I'm going into labour or something. >_<

However, it also felt like the gastric pain which I sometimes get if I skip/irregular meals. So I woke Eric up to bring me some warm milk and a slice of bread. *sorry Eric!*
The pain came in waves. And after taking some milk and eating some bread, the pain gets less frequent and less intense. Finally after 1 hr, I could manage to lie down and sleep again. Sigh...
Thinking back, I think I've been having lesser food portion for dinner than before, because the baby is squashing the stomach. BUT, I think I'll just need to have another 'pre-supper' before sleeping, so that I won't wake up with this pain again.

Thankfully, baby was ok throughout the painful episode. He didn't even move! He's probably sleeping through it. haha

I've also been experiencing more hip pain and swelling on my palms and legs this week. I've left out the ear seeds for about 3 days. And by the 3rd day, I realised I couldn't walk up and down the stairs at home properly. Turning in bed became such a chore (because it needs my hips to move) that I couldn't get comfortable in bed. So back in my ears are the ear seeds.
My palms are swelling up every morning when I woke up. So bad that I couldn't even move my wedding ring! Strangely, it'll subside as the day goes by. However, it's not the case for my feet. My feel + legs swells up gradually during the day, especially if I've been out the whole day seeing patients. Compression socks are now my must have/wear when ever I go out for work. Overnight, the swellings will come down,

Since Sunday, I've also been feeling some palpitations in my chest. Not sure what it was about. It was especially bad on Monday afternoon, after not sleeping well from the epigastric episode in the morning. Thankfully it's much better now in terms of frequency.

I went for my midwife visit again on Wednesday afternoon. The glucose test results are good! Yay! Don't have gestational diabetes. I will continue to do my cycling at least 3/week to keep my circulation going. The blood test results were good too, even though my Haemaglobin levels went down a little, but still in the normal range. I did have some worry about my Iron levels during pregnancy, as I didn't want any red meats during my first trimester. And 2 weeks ago, I had a sudden cravings for beef. I'll have to remind myself to eat more red meat now. During the visit, they also checked the baby's heart beat and position. He's heart is beating well, and on the time of visit, he's lying down low horizontally in my belly. The midwife said that there's lots of amniotic fluid in there, so he's can keep swimming and turning inside. That I agrees, as some times, he kicks down low at my cervix, while at times it's on the upper ribs region. Have fun swimming and playing inside! BUT please don't bounce on my bladder like a trampoline. >_<

Tonight, we are skipping bible study to attend this music event held by EMU music. It may be the last 'concert' that I'll get to attend without any kids. So I'm making full use of this opportunity! ^_^
Pray that it'll be a good and fun night for both Eric and I.

Oh, and just as I'm typing this, my dear friend Qing from Sniokies, is in labour!!!
Pray that labour will go smoothly and both mother and baby will be safe. Look forward to meet another of our sniok junior!

anni

26 weeks pregnant!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for not updating earlier. Things of life got pretty busy since my last post 2 years ago. And plus my laziness, new hobbies, distractions and many other excuses, I couldn't update more frequently. I apologise. 

I had a post fully typed up back when I'm 16-17 weeks, on my way to Singapore back in March. But for some reason, it disappeared! And I lost the entry forever. :( 

So here I am, introducing my little baby. Lets call him J. He's 26weeks + 1day old at the moment. Kicking and rolling around in my tummy all day.

I know I should have update here more frequently so that I can remember all the milestones and happenings throughtout my pregnancy. BUT, time was quite tight with running of clinic and teaching and Church's activities. And in a blink of an eye, it's more than halfway of my pregnancy!

Let me see if I can recap and update bits and pieces of my first trimester.

Eric and I had been trying for a few months after our last miscarriage in July 2016. It was sad, as we were quite shocked by the loss again after our first in August 2015. Looking back, over worked and being constantly tired, late nights finishing, traveling everywhere for work doing home visits. These would have contributed to the miscarriage. I was back home almost 11pm daily throughout the week, with minimal breaks in between. Thinking back, I think I should have focus more on my own health than the patient's health at that time. Back then, Eric was again quite unsympathetic with my second pregnancy, thinking that working will help distract me from constantly worrying. He also reasoned that many women in a worse off situation than I am, can get through pregnancy just fine. So I just had to suck it up.

We had a sad memorial for our little baby whom we named Shadow, and it sort of helped us regain the trust with each other, and care more about each other. This second miscarriage experience also open our eyes to the lacking of support from our GPs and even the people in the ER at the hospital, and the Nurses who see us through after the miscarriage. I felt that the nurses at the IVF clinic I worked at, are so much more knowledgeable in pregnancy support.

So we started trying again from September, giving my body two month's of rest. Unlike the previous times, I decided to let my own knowledge of using Chinese medicine and acupuncture to help my body recover. Firstly, by regulating my period. It's been in a chaos after my two miscarriages. Periods were painful and not regular. I did temperature charting, observing the mucus discharges, ovulating testing, timing our activities at the right time throughout the month. But month after month, the period just came. And it was really disappointing for me. I felt like giving up and just go down the IVF pathway. BUT of course, Eric don't want to do that. November would be the last month we'd try falling pregnant, before stopping for the summer months, as I do not want to fly to my friend's wedding in March 2017 during the first trimester.

And so we waited... And waited... for my period. And we realised we were pregnant! :D 

Praise God!

Unlike the previous two pregnancy, I took daily herbal medicine to strengthen and calms the baby, all the way from my ovulation to 12 weeks of pregnancy. And each week, I insist that Eric gave me weekly to bi-weekly acupuncture. I also monitor my own blood pregnancy and progesterone blood levels, even though my GP don't understand and finds it unnecessary. But that's the standard protocols in IVF clinics. At 8 weeks, we had our first ultrasound and saw a healthy, on time sized baby with a strong beating heart. We named him Lumpy. 

My first trimester was thankfully during the December January time, where I had plenty of rest during the Christmas New Year break. The only complaint during my first trimester is tiredness. No nauseous, no vomiting. Just very tired. I'll nap on the reclining chair every afternoon for at least three hours. My preference of food had also change. I prefers salty food, and is put off by smells of western food that is  tomato based (pizza, pasta, lasagne), red meats, Northern Chinese food (dumplings, fresh hand pulled noodles). My cravings were Malaysian and Singapore food. I even had to make my own nasi lemak during Christmas time to satisfy my cravings. Other food includes yam cakes and char kuey tiao. 

We had another scan at 13 weeks, just to make sure baby is growing well and that I'm safely going into the second trimester. At the 13 weeks scan, we saw the placenta's position, baby was much bigger and brain, stomach, heart, kidneys, bladder, fingers and legs are all well developed. We were very pleased. Another reason we had the scan was so I know that baby is safe to travel overseas with me. Yay! First trimester is over!

My energy got better the week before my flight to Singapore. My flight there was comfy as my dear friend Rong upgraded my flight, so there's extra legs room for me. 

I first felt the baby while sleeping in Singapore. It felt like gas movement when I tried lying down to bed. Something I've not felt before. 

I ate well in Singapore, satisfying my cravings for locals food that I've missed so much. 

The flight coming back was uncomfortable as my body was so swollen from the cabin pressure. My left arm was in constant pain that I had to keep it raised the whole way back. Probably no more flying for me in the rest of the pregnancy.

At 18 weeks, we did the morphology scan to check if Lumpy is growing well. He's actively kicking and waving his arms, probably annoyed at the prop that is pressing down in his little space. His stomach circumference is on time. Thigh bone length is about a few days late. While his head circumference is a week in advance. Just like his dad! With big head and short legs. We also saw his gender through the scan, and decided to name him J. We were so happy that he's healthy and all his organs are formed well. 

By 19 weeks, J's little kicks were quite pronounced. Especially when I rolled purposely onto my tummy while sleeping on my left side. Whenever I did that, I'd feel this big strong nudge on the tummy to ask me to give him more space. And yes, I do purposely squash him just to feel is reaction. Haha. Bad mummy. 

I caught a cold around 19 weeks as well, which lasted for two weeks. I cough so much that I cracked my rib on the Sunday 2 April. It was so painful. For the next few days, I felt less of J's movement when I squashed him. Not sure if my illness will harm the baby or not, I called up and went in to the antenatal clinic for a request to check if baby was ok. Thankfully the heart beat detector shows that he's still moving lots. The explanation could be that he's just kicking a different area, aka the placenta region, where there are no nerve to relay the sensation. 

It took me three weeks to recover fully from the cough. The rib took about a month to recover. During that time, we found out that ear seeds works!! It help to reduce the pain on my ribs area, so I can have a better range of motion, with the growing belly plus the crack rib. I couldn't take normal painkillers  for cracked rib in pregnancy, so it's quite good that the ear seeds works like magic on reducing my pain. Since then, I've also use it for my hips when it's hurting from walking up n down the stairs in my in-laws's place. 

Thank you little bub that you don't kick mummy on the painful rib area when I'm in pain!

We did a birthing class call Transition to parenthood on the Sunday of 30 May. It was very helpful to us both first time parents, on how to help each other during labour contractions and how to look after a new born. Since attending the class, Eric is having a 'dadd's time' with J every night before bed. Talking and chatting to little J. There was once when Eric asked if little J likes his voice? Kick if yes. No response. And kick if he finds it annoying. A BIG STRONG KICK responded! Hahahahaha.
There will be a calm birth class that we'll be going at the end of this month, to help prepare me for the birth. And lets just say, little J don't understand what he likes and don't likes yet. =p

Overall, the second trimester is quite smooth sailing, except for the few weeks of coughing and rib pain. I'm thankful for the regain in energy and movement. My belly swells up bigger and bigger, that most of my normal T-shirts are now too small and short. I get occasional heart burn, which usually happens on Saturdays. But I have been managing it well so far by eating less white bread and sugary food. Eric has been giving me daily back rubs to ease my back ache. There's just days where my back feels like it's breaking after a long day of work.

I'm looking forward to seeing you soon little J!! =D
Thank you for your little gentle kicks on and off. So I know you are happy and safe in there. Sorry for the time where I shut the door too loudly and it frightened you. Or the days where I had to had lunch super late and you were so quiet as if you were conserving your energy.

Love you little one! Grow up strong and healthy with a love for Jesus!

kcan

Long overdue post: Bye grandma

Back date to September 2015:

Sorry for the silent post for the past two month. Things were very crazy busy with the in-laws visit for three weeks. Ended up we needed two weeks of recovery as we all caught the cold from the niece. Then just as I was recovering. We received the news that Eric's grandma had a fall at home in hk, and broke her hip. So it was panicking time for his mum. Calling back daily to ckeck up on her, and worried about lots of what ifs. The doctors had to keep her on painkillers and in bed at the hospital as she was on many medication. Therefore it is very risky to operate. So they had to cut down her medication one by one, but that made her mental illness worse. 

Then three weeks ago, mum txted me saying my grandma (dad's mum) is in hospital (Malaysia). She felt an oppression and discomfort in her chest the whole night. And she could not sleep. So early in the morning on Thursday, she called my uncle, and he drove her to hospital. The doctors kept her in for observation. Everything seems fine. Grandpa and many relatives went to visit her. On Sunday, I called mum to check on grandma, and she said she's fine. Dad had spoken to her on Saturday and she's looking forward to going home. However on Monday morning, kor called me at 10 am, telling me that grandma had passed away on Sunday night. 

It was crazy after that. I was in shocked. I couldn't believe that grandma is gone. She's the youngest grandma I've ever known! She should be living to her ripe old age, not now?! 

I had to quickly rearrange patients, book air tickets, send emails.....

All so Eric and I could leave on Wednesday morning, going back to my hometown to say good bye for the final time. And the last time I step foot into Malaysia was to introduce Eric to my grandparents before we got married. 

The funeral was peaceful and calming. Lots of relatives from my grandpa and grandma family came to pay their final respects. It's like a big gathering. Distance relatives from KL came as well, driving down south after work. 

As for me, I spent a lot of time bonding and comforting my grandpa. He's devastated and also coming down with a cold. Acupuncture came in useful to help him with the discomfort, fatigue and him battling cold. But nothing can stop his heart aching for his wife that is gone. 

Eric had good time bonding with the many relatives at the funeral. Many people did not know him formally yet. He enjoys the many yummy Hakka food that our village is famous for. Trying out the food that I ate from my childhood days. Even his Chinese language improves tremendously over the five days there too!

Continue from 2016:

Sadly, a week after we got home from Malaysia, we received the news that Eric's grandma had passed away in HongKong, after catching an infection from surgery to fix her hip. It's quite sad all over, especially Eric's mum, whom can't be there to bid farewell for the last time.

The rest of 2015 passed with Eric studying really hard to catch up the few weeks of missing class from flying here n there for funerals, and me driving here n there for work. I landed myself in a job working with another IVF clinic, this time a bit further away at Parramatta. It involves early morning drives of 40 mins, waking up super early at 6am. This place is ethically much better than the previous clinic I worked in. And I've gotten to know many of the nurses and doctors there. They are quite friendly bunch of people. So far, quite a few patients had become pregnant, and a few of them are under herbal medicine strengthening phase. I hope that in the coming few months, I'll be getting a few good news. 

I'll end off here. I'm sorry for the MIA for the past few months. I'll hope to update more in the coming year.

Kcan

As good as new!

After spending $200 on a new windscreen, Tomato's windscreen is as good as new!

Here's a clearer photo of the damage done. 

Drive safe on the road everyone!

Kcan

Tomato got injured.

My Tomato has a cracked windscreen! >_<

It happened on the way to worked. While driving, this big pebble dropped straight down from the sky like shooting star. Followed by a loud 'piak', it landed at the bottom corner of the windscreen near the wipers. I'm like, where the hell did the pebble come from? No trees, no big trucks...

Sadly, the force of it made a two cm sized crack. I tried driving slowly over speed humps and avoid potholes. And when I got to the destination, the crack didn't expand. *phew!*

1.5 hours later, I came back to my car, to see this big long crack that grew out from the initial impact. >_<

Can you see it?

Sorry for the blur photo. It's a very clear and reflective day. 

 I'm so sad. Need to pay $200 tomorrow to get it fixed. I think the crack must have grew as the windscreen got heated under the sun. (Big temperature difference) 

Looking back, at least it wasn't hit on the top of the screen. Can't imagine how the windscreen will break, or even hit me! =s

Kcan

Happy 端午节！

It's the time of the year again! And this is my favourite festival as I can eat my favourite rice dumplings! =D

Similar to last year, I decided to make these today as my way of pampering myself after a hectic day. Cooking is my way of relaxing you see...

So here's the ingredients all prepared and the bamboo leaves all washed. 

I wanted to make big dumplings this year, so the huge cut of the meat. I want to make it such that I can just have one good sized rice dumpling as my meal and be satisfied, instead of having many small ones and forgot about the calories it contain. =D

Wrapped and ready for cooking. I'm using the pressure cooker this time. It cut down the cooking time. 

Can't wait to eat it for dinner. *hungry*

Kcan

Photo blog: Promiss at the end of the road

Rainbow at the end of the road. And rainbow signifies God's promises to Noah and the world. Pray that the many sad news that we hear in the past weeks will ease, and more happy news will come.

This was taken yesterday on the way home from visiting patients. 

The winter has been gloomy with rain misting the sky at times. Guess that's why we could find the rainbow yesterday. =)

Hope your day was good.

Kcan

Home baking: red bean buns

I made some red bean paste two weeks ago on my day off work. I decided to make some red bean buns to eat as I miss having these yummy Asian buns, which I had almost on daily basis back in sg. 

So I took out my Bready, and kneed some dough out of it.  I made sure it's well kneed with the window panel effect. Eric helped me rise the dough in the nice warm winter sun, and it puffed up to nice and round balls.

While I was away, Eric glanced the top of the bread with milk, and let it baked in the oven.

 

And how beautiful it looks! The bread is soft and moist, just how I remembered it to be. =)

Let's see if I have some days off again this week to make more bread. Yum!

Kcan

Dos Senoritas Mexican restaurant

For our anniversary this year, we bought a voucher on Living Social, for Mexican crusine. This is the first time trying real Mexican dishes, apart from the usual attempts of home made nachos and burritos. 

Check out their website at http://dossenoritas.com.au

We wanted to eat there last month, but my cold means I had to delay and reschedule the date night with Eric. The voucher comes with three course Mexican meals. As I read the reviews on the internet, their servings were HUGE! So we only have the starters to share. This is steak quesadilla. The steak was nicely marinated and cooked to perfection. 

The cheese in there was melted and goes very well together with the sour cream, guacamole and salsa. 

It's so yummy, that I'm looking forward to the mains.

I ordered tacos combo meals, which comes with rice and beans.

I choose beef mince in my tacos, and it's not as yummy as the steak we had for the staters. Will choose the steak next time. 

The portion was huge, that I had difficulty finishing it.

Eric choose the  Supercheesygooeychimichanga burrito. It's filled with slow cooked pork, hand pulled, and mixed with cheese, sauce and wrapped in a burrito and Deep Fried! It also comes with extras cheese, rice and beans. 

We were stuffed to the brim!

So full that I think I needed to be rolled out like a ball.

As we were so full from the starters and mains, we decided to tell them that we can just have one serving of the churros dessert. I ended up only taking one bite from it. =( 

Must make a mental note not to overstuff myself next time. Always leave space for desserts. 

Overall, this place is a thumbs up!  Will come again.

Kcan