Maternity Clothes? No way!

I am sure glad that I didn't need to buy maternity clothes at all durring my pregnancy! (also didn't buy any when expecting Cavan.) They are expensive, mostly frumpy and, what am I going to do with them after birth?

Friends ask me where I get my clothes from so I share a few tips with them. Actually during this pregnancy, the boho style were in, so I did not have to worry. Loose clothings, flare tops were common, so almost every retail shop carried something I could wear. My normal size some more!

I could also always count on dear Mango, which carries a range of stretchy tops and bottoms with elastic bands.

Now I can still wear them, in my post-natal-neither-here-nor-there kind of size and figure. Some people still have to resort to wear maternity clothes post-birth cos they still can't fit into their normal clothes. So buy smart, and save money!

*Ahem*! Fashion Show below:

20 wks preg.
Top: Esprit, Skirt: New Balance

22 wks

Gold top: Mango, Flare pants: Pasar Malam

23 wks
Top: Esprit, Hipster denim skirt ($10): Factory outlet

24 wks
Top: Esprit, Flare pants: Pasar Malam

25 wks
White top: Giorgano, Jacket: Padini, 3/4 hipster pants: Billabong, Belt: Esprit

31 wks

Top: Pull and Bear, Skirt: Mango

33 wks

Black camisole: Mango, Linen skirt: Mango, Knitted wear: No brand

33 wks
Top: Baleno, Skirt: Pasar Malam

34 wks
Top: Giordano, Long skirt: Fox

39 wks
Top: Ebase, Skirt: Mango

See, Mango is every preggie's best friend!

Counting the kilos

I was determined not to make the mistake of putting on too much weight, as I did with Cavan (whooping 18 kg in all).

The determination was there but the flesh was weak. I was hungry all the time. And I fell prey to enticing cakes, pastries, chocolates and ice cream. Usually, I'm a strict non-coconut milk consumer. This pregnancy, I loved my chendols, bubur char chars, laksas and red rubies.

I blamed it all on my little gal.

And blessed enough, I put on 10-11 kg for the whole of my pregnancy. Well, for the 1st trimester, I lost a bit of weight. Towards the end, my weight gain was negligible, not even enough to cover the baby's gain.

What was the magic? Less weight gain despite eating more "sinful" food? I did control my carbs intake during dinner, eating mainly the dishes and soup. But after that, I could polish off 1kg's worth of rambutan/ longan and had ice cream for supper.

Maybe it was due to my activeness. I was still conducting full-day workshops, running full day events, running about to prepare materials etc. Back home, I was still running around with Cavan, carrying him and busied myself. Maybe these helped to burn off calories.

Whatever the magic was, I'm not complaining. Just too glad the weight gain wasn't too substantial. Now, post delivery, just to burn the rest off...

What a burden.

Not Ready

Babe was already down but position was not correct. She was facing up. Dr said if she were still facing up during delivery, I’d scream like mad. At the same time, I was not dilated yet. These sounded worrying to me. When I had Cavan, I was already dilated 3 weeks before EDD. Why did it seem more difficult this time? Didn’t they say 2nd one would be faster, earlier?

Dr then exclaimed happily, hey it was unusual to have baby facing up near full term, so can do 3D scan. Will be a beautiful pic.

Thanks so much for the optimism.

Baby dreams

Babe is still in there... thank God.

I was negotiating with her not to come out too quickly as I was involved in organising a week-long event for my organisation last week. After so much preparation, I just HAD to be there for the action. Everyday, my colleagues were prepared that I would not turn up, or go into labour. When Friday came, they marvelled at how "obedient" my babe was, still in there! Of course, how could she come out without "parental consent"?

After Friday, I've been having dreams. A dream of holding her in my arms. A dream of my bulging tummy going flat (or rather, flab). Another dream more shocking, babe is not a gal, it's a boy!

My colleague said, to my amusement, babe must be sending dreams to me asking for permission to come out. Err... ok, but things aren't ready yet. Moreover, she isn't due till next Wed so I'll feel so cheated if it's anytime earlier.

Hang in there!

Innovation Baby

Cavan was termed “SQA Baby” cos he was in my tummy when I busied with SQA in 2004. This baby was termed “Innovation Baby” cos I busied with Innovation.

Today, I got a scare. Was running errands for the preparation at Bras Basah when I slipped off a flight of slippery stairs. Thank God I wore pants that day (I seldom do!) otherwise my fall would have been worse. I only suffered bruises and a bleeding toe.

Babe was still blissfully sleeping. Cushioned by mommy.

Mummy seat

This would be the last time I was able to bring Cavan to church by myself. In order to let him sleep longer, I asked Dar to go to Children’s Church first and I would bring Cavan to church myself.

With my bulging tummy, I was still able to carry him across the road, up and down the bus. Singaporeans! I don’t know what to say about them. They wouldn’t even let us up the bus first, after even seeing our condition!

One thing that made me uncomfortable was that Cavan insisted sitting ON my lap. At the initial stage, it was okay. As my tummy ballooned, it became increasingly uncomfortable for me. It felt painful to have him leaning on my tummy. And he was sliding off but he didn’t seem to mind.

Towards the last few trips, I always had cookie or candy. To persuade him to sit on his own. If all else fails, a stern “Mummy said sit by yourself!” worked.

Ah well.

Anticipation... D-Day #2

For the past 2 nights, been dreaming that I was on the way to "bombing".

A friend asked me, "Are you scared? Should be ok right since it's your 2nd one." I thought for a moment and replied, "For the 1st one, I was scared cos I didn't know what to expect. For this one, I'm scared cos I KNOW what to expect."

Anyway, for the 1st one, I don't know how but I managed to pull through successfully. Epidural-free.

Maybe I was ignorant, I just went with the flow of the whole birth process and didn't ask for any pain relief. Now that I have gone through the experience, suddenly the options become very tempting and suddenly I also become more cowardly.

I am so not looking forward to D-Day and wish that the girl will stay in my tummy as long as she wants.

Also bcos we've not prepared anything yet!

Now there are no infant clothes at home. No nappies. Where is my breast pump? No bottles. Haven't set up the play pen. Haven't washed the baby's bedsheet. Haven't washed the steriliser. Haven't registered and get the cordlife kit. Haven't got a name yet.

But we're still not fretting. That caused me to fret. Not fretting.

So, anticipation? Not really.

It’s a Girl!

People have been commenting how my tummy protrudes out, so it must be a boy. As usual, the theories. Today’s detailed scan confirmed it’s a girl!

Cavan was there to see his mei-mei. But to him, it may seemed like a monotone animation without dialogue. The only sound the animation had was a chi-gog chi-gog galloping sound of his sister’s heartbeat.

A Sibling for Cavan

Initially I thought end 2006 would be a good time for Junior #2. But there were other schedules overridding the plan. I was offered by my company to take up a 9-month course, starting in July '06 till May '07. After that, need to serve 1-year bond. Take it, my colleagues goaded. After that, take maternity leave and shave 3 months off the bond! Good idea.

But still need to have some responsibility right. So we counted to make sure I needn't to leave halfway through my course. Okies... a good time to start planning would be Oct '06. Wait, wait, wait... I already signed up for the marathon so must wait till Dec!

So there, now I'm 19 wks.

Bump not showing much. Managed to keep the news from my parents till 2 weeks ago when Cavan started to chant "Got baby, got baby" while perching out his little tummy. My aunt got suspicious for a whole week (or 2) and finally pulled me aside and interrogated me. Finally, the truth was out. If I hadn't confessed it, they couldn't even tell...

Boy? Girl?

We wanted a surprise for our first baby. For the 2nd, we figured it was more interesting to find out the gender. Friends joked that we were more likely to have boys than gals cos we were meat lovers. And Dar always thought well of his vigour (ahem!).

However, we suspected that this time round should be a gal. Cos we suspected that she was conceived right after our 42.195 km marathon. Either that or that day when Dar was nursing a flu. Go figure.

1st Trimester

I expected lethargy and loss of appetite, as with my 1st pregnancy. On the contrary, I was still active, and had hunger pangs most of the time. I was famished every breakfast and was happy to have a cuppa in the afternoon, with chocolates, muffins, cakes and what-nots in the office.

I could still work out at the gym and did so till I was 5 mos. I worked out on treadmill, gliding machine and rowing machine. As I grew bigger, I stopped as people were looking worried and I didn't want unnecessary attention.

At 5wks

At 10 wks

Secret

Didn’t mean to keep it from my family. My mom’s health was declining with her arm and legs swollen with water retention due to the removal of her lymph nodes. Perhaps it was not the right time to disclose to them yet. Dar said perhaps this good news could lift up everyone’s spirits. Perhaps. But I was not ready.

Violating the no-nos of 1st trimester

My gynae is quite a careful person. As per the 1st pregnancy, he would instruct the following no's:

No alcohol
No smoking
No sex
No raw food

Apart from the 1st 2, I violated all the rest. I also still continued with my coffee. I still love my sashimi and fresh oysters (ok, I ate them the day after I discovered #2. Clem was prohibitive. I argued that if I hadn't have the check. I would still eat anyway, right? He retorted that now I knew, I had the moral obligation to stay off. Ok, you win. Today's the last time. But can continue after 1st trimester.)

I was more worried about something else. Preggies are not supposed to go for hot spring or sauna. Unaware of my pregnancy, I went for hot baths during my hols in Taiwan, supposedly 3-4 weeks preg. I prayed hard that my baby was not harmed.

All said, I was adopting a more laissez-faire attitude even though I was already quite chin-chai during my 1st.

#2 Discovered

Missed my period so thought I'd better check with doc. Usually sychronised with a colleague's (EJ). If mine hadn't come and hers came, mine would be triggered by hers (amazing but true!). This time, nothing happened.

So I went to see the company doc at Capital Towers. I was having mixed feelings. Somewhat the same when I was seeing the doc when I suspected my 1st pregnancy. What if I wasn't? Then I would have felt let down, given my anticipation.

The doc this time was a different one. A lady. Oh my, she was super positive. Asked me if I had xxx and yyy symptoms. When I said yes, she exclaimed these were very good signs. This is not good, I thought. What if she raised false expectations. I asked these could be pre-menstrual signs too right? Yes, that's right. So I needed to do an urine test.

Came out positive. Well, we plan to have #2 in end 2007 so this was earlier than expected...

Smsed dar who called and expressed his excitement. Went back to office and handed my colleague my doc visit slip and she asked, "Are you pregger?" I just grinned and simply asked her to sign my slip.

That night, as Dar was on duty, I went to catch a show with Brenda and EJ. Oops! I left my wallet in the office! Brenda commented that I always become stupider during my pregnancy. Ya hor...

EJ commented that I seemed to take this announcement pretty well this time. For the 1st one, I was in shock the whole day and in denial for weeks.

Verdict- 31 Jan

Just yesterday we were having games with cell. Better enjoy our last lap of freedom.

My check today showed that I'm 3 cm dilated. So Doc asked when we want to deliver Bebe. We decided on 1st Feb. Ok, we'll admit into hospital tonight at 10.30 pm.

After the check, my mucuous plug dropped out and I began to bleed heavily. Thank God I was still in the clinic. I was somewhat elated cos this was one of the signs.

We went back home and I quickly tried to complete whatever work I could. Dar did the final packing.

After everything done, we just lay on the bed. After today, we'll come back home with a different lifestyle. Suddenly, I was overcome with emotions and began to sob. I had been overwhelmed with Dar's patience and hard work throughout my pregnancy. He had been such a wonderful hubby and it must have been hard on him to handle everything at home. We cuddled for some time in bed - exactly the same scene when we found out about the pregnancy.

Soon it was time to go. We were late.

At midnight, Doc came to insert pill to soften the cervix and bring about wider dilation. I told him about a ache that I had been experiencing ache at my hip and buttock area. Hearing this, he told the nurse he would insert 1, instead of 2, pill.

After that, Dar and I prayed before we slept, still believing in God that He would bring about a natural delivery. That I would not need to be induced.

For the 1st time in months, I slept soundly till the next morning at 7am.

The check on Monday just shown that I'm 2+ cm dilated. Today, it remained the same. But Doc quite pleased with Bebe's position although still on the high side. EDD on 30 Jan. Doc said if nothing happens on 31 Jan, we'll induce.

Disappointed at the progress, Dar and I discussed about the date. We decided that we'll do it on the 1st or 2nd. The wait is really agonising. Somehow this last month seemed longer than all the 8 months of pregnancy...

Waiting...

Everyone had been commenting that my baby will come early, incldg Doc. He said Bebe should be here at 38th week. Well, I'm at 38th week now...

Had a check today. Bebe's head down but facing up. Not ideal, said Doc. I'm already 1 cm dilated but no other signs. So Doc gave me an MC- my first MC in 1 year 7 months. Anyway, Dar and I went shopping and high tea.

Having sleepless nights again due to pressure and weight against my rib cage. My tummy seemed to go higher up, than down, which made me frustrated. We've praying for Bebe to get engaged but it seemed to wriggle up whenever I'm lying down. So I no longer lie down to sleep. That really caused a strain on my tailbone...

Took pm off today with dar. Din sleep well last nite again. Had this persisting ache from lower back to hips. Dar & I both dreamt about Bebe...

Bebe moving

A movie clip of our little darling responding to Daddy's voice. Turn up your volume. See how Bebe moved!


or click here: http://www.zippyvideos.com/5928984703396726/mov01842/*clementsoann
Bebe moving

Wk 36