Forgetfulness

I haven't been sleeping much these days not so much because of D. In fact, most nights, she's been sleeping through the night now because every time she wants to wake up for a feed in the middle of the night, I only go into her room to say hello and leave. She's caught on that mummy is not going to feed her in wee hours of the night any more.  Praise God!

So my body has decided to become an owl. I can't sleep until at least 1am these past weeks and by the time the kiddies wake up, I've only had btw 5-6hrs of sleep which is not a lot at all for me...

So because of my sleep deprivation, here are some of the stupid things that I've done recently:

1) Paid for my groceries and walked away without taking them (I did this at least 3 times now.. one would think you'd learn? nope.)
2) Take out the toaster, take out my frozen bread ready to be toasted. Get distracted by something. Puts toaster away. Takes frozen bread out of the bag and voila, toaster is gone! where did it go? I could've sworn it was there!..Literally, that is how stupid I am to even think that someone has taken the toaster..
3) In the shower - wash face, wash hair, wash body. Oh have I washed my face yet? nope. Wash face. Hang on.. dejavu! I'm pretty sure I've done this action before.. oh yes I've washed my face already. (I've done this at least ten times -what is wrong with me?!)
4) Frantically cooking downstairs while the 2 kiddies are asleep upstairs. I have two saucepans on the burner - one small, one big. I take the lid off the small saucepan to taste the food. I do the same for the big saucepan. Yes, it tastes fine just needs to cook a little longer. I place the lid of the small saucepan on the big saucepan and SPLASH!
5) Puts Davina on the changing table to change her nappy. All done. Puts her back on the bed. Goes to the toilet and wash hand. Comes out, stares at the changing table... AAAAHHH! MY BABY HAS FALLEN OFF THE CHANGING TABLE!! Lose 20yrs of my life in that one second of thought.. looks back on the bed.. oh there you are!
6) Eat breakfast with the kids. Eat 2 of my multi-vitamins (which is the max dose for the day). Play with the kids. Change their nappies. Puts D to sleep. Goes back to my multi-vitamins. Have I taken these already? I don't think so. Pops 2 in my mouth. Feels sick afterwards.
7) Goes downstairs to make breakfast for Z. Comes upstairs. D is on her bouncer chair. Her gor gor is on the sofa watching TV. I sit between them. Gets a spoon of Z's breakfast and starts to put in D's mouth.. OMG Yikes! What am I doing? she's got no teeth!!
8) Puts on Davina's shorts. Plays with her for four hours. Daddy comes home. Takes a look at her and asks 'Mummy, why have you put two of her legs in the one hole of her shorts?'. 'Oh did I?'... OOOPSSSS!
So there you have it. I have completely gone mad...
Oh memory cells, where have you disappeared to?

Mat leave is ending...

I have exactly 3 weeks to go before I resume work again. Can you believe it's been 6mths since I stopped work already?! Wow what a journey it has been! I have loved staying at home looking after my babies in particularly cleaning up vomit, changing hundreds of nappies (ok first two.. not really), bathing them, reading stories to them, feeding them, dressing them, taking them for a stroll to our local supermarket and parks, toilet training Z, practicising controlled crying on D, waking up in the middle of the night for my 1:1 time with D and of course all the mundane jobs of being a maid housewife. They were definitely not all fun moments (I'd be lying if I said they were all great!). We've had our shares of cries and insanity. But it's definitely one that I wouldn't trade for anything. The rewards you reap afterwards far outweighs any of the hardwork involved and I'm sure every parent agrees with me :)


I was supposed to be on mat leave for 7mths (which I think is a nice number b/c you can actually prepare your baby for solids which begins at the 6mth period so that you can go to work peacefully - but I guess now I have to just start her earlier). However, my new boss decided to ring me while I was holidaying in Malaysia! Yes, they were that keen to get my a$$ back to work. They actually wanted me to start in January. Yeah right! *rolling eyes*

Having said that, I'm actually quite excited about going back to work. My new job will be every girl's dream and that is managing the prestige brand with a new channel for me to focus on. Instead of Supermarket division, I'll now be handling department stores! Woo hoo! Both combinations are something I've never done before and I'm so ready to embrace it! Moreover, there's a good chance I may just meet Cate Blanchett herself too as she's the face of the brand! I really can't wait!
Oh and I find it funny too that I seem to be managing brands that compliment very well with each stages of my life. Eg. When I was a young yuppy DINK, I was managing Herbal Essences, when I was an expectant mum, I was managing Pampers and now that I am mum of 2, I am managing an anti-aging brand which is perfect for my emerging fine lines due to the lack of sleep :)

So now, my biggest challenges are to get bb D to:
1) feed on bottle (as she is quite stubborn on this and is refusing to drink her milk from the bottle after a month of all of our family members trying)
2) sleep for 12hours straight so mummy doesn't look like a zombie when she goes back to work :)
3) eat solids and have no constipation

The count down and challenge begins!

p/s All of a sudden, many of my girl friends (more like aquaintances) have told me that I am now their new best friend since finding what I will be doing. lol.

Confinement #2

So finally the day has arrived, my 30 days confinement is over & I AM FREE!!

During the 2nd & 3rd week after delivering, my beloved mother came to stay at our place to help me with confinement as well as looking after Z. Oh my goodness, she is just God sent! I can not thank her enough. Now that I have 2 kids, I think I appreciate her even more.

She helped me with the cooking, the cleaning, the washing, the feeding (feeding me has a time schedule too with confinement! as well as feeding Z too) and on top of this looking after Z and putting him to sleep.

When she finally left me on my own for my final week of confinement, I realised the extent of her help because I had to do all of it myself along with looking after 2 kids. Goodness me, someone should write a book. It was definitely not easy. I was super sleep deprived & looking after myself as well as the 2 kids basically meant to forgo sleeping just so I could eat when the 2 kids are asleep even though I was super tired.

So mummy deary, thank you! we all appreciate all so much & we definitely miss you not staying over at our house!!

One good thing that came out of my mum's absence was the fact that I had to learn how to cook confinement food. Now that I have a daughter, I took the initiative to learn it from my own mother. Boy it's actually pretty easy if you have all the ingredients & the patience too. All of the soup takes at least 1-2hours to make the broth. I will definitely pass this tradition on when bb D have her kids of her own one day. I will force her to be confined for 30 days too! lol. She may hate me at first but no doubt will thank me after wards :)

Increasing Breast Milk Supply

One of the nights during Davina's week 3 of life, I woke up to feed her only to find in sheer horror that I had no more breast milk left! yikes how could this happen I asked myself? I then traced back everything I had ate that day to determine what had caused this.

So I started to blame my mum's confinement food. I started to blame the fact that I was soooo sleep deprived. I also blamed baby Davina's petite appetite and as a result she was not sucking properly hence why I wasn't producing enough for her. Every single possibility went through my mind. Because with Z, I had an overflowing milk supply. How could this happen now?

Instead of dwelling on the problem any longer, I jumped online and on the phone to find some 'cure' to my problem

Here are all the things that I read up on which apparently helps to increase your breast milk supply:

1) Use your breast pump and pump regularly for at least 10mins each breast at every 2hr interval (do this even after your baby has had his/her feed). If you don't have a pump, then breast feed your baby every 2hours (even if it means waking them up) - Ok this some what worked.
2) Eat & Drink during breast feeding - which was recommended to me by the Breastfeeding Association here in Aust - didn't work
3) Get enough rest/sleep - some what worked but still not enough to feed my baby!
4) Have the baby lie on your chest with skin to skin contact to trigger the hormones in your body to produce milk - didn't work

All of the things you should eat to apparently stimulate milk production:
5) Avocados - Ate 1 avocado in a day (gosh I had to force myself to eat it cos I don't particularly like to just eat it off the spoon here!) - didn't work!
6) Fennel - didn't try it
7) Protein & lots of it - I even bought a protein bar - but that didn't really work
8) Omega 3 - lots and lots of it.. I ate the tablets & ate lots of fish - but that didn't work either
9) Fenugreek - An ancient herb capsule available in the health food stores which apparently works! I didn't try it - I was going to leave this for my last resort
10) My mum went to the Chinese groceries and they recommended her to make steamed pork leg with loads and loads of peanuts - I ate it for two days and some what worked. Still not enough to feed my baby!

Finally it was day 4 already and my poor baby was becoming to look like a starved baby, so I called up my obs and asked her for advise as I recall that she once told me that GREEN PAPAYA SOUP definitely works. She told me the ingredients over the phone & I had passed this onto my mum who then went to the shops to buy for me to cook it (as I was still in my confinement). After making it and rinking a bowl of it, I was back to normal with my milk supply until even on certain days, I would have over-abundance again for my darling bb D! AMAZING!

So here's the Recipe which I absolutely swear by:

GREEN PAPAYA SOUP
INGREDIENTS
1) 500g of pork bones
2) 2L of water
3) approx 5 dried scallops all broken into pieces
4) half cup of raw peanuts from Asian grocery stores
5) Half of a small Green Papaya (yes it must be green and not the riped ones) nicely chopped into big cubes (ie. twice the size of ice cubes) as once cooked, they will shrink
6) Shredded ginger about 2 tablespoons
7 ) Dried squid from Asian grocery stores (optional - I didn't use it)

Method
1) Boil the water in a big saucepan
2) Add in pork bones and boil for 15mins
3) Throw in peanuts, scallops & ginger and boil for another 30mins
4) Throw in green papaya & boil for another 15mins & voila - Green papaya soup!

You can add a little bit of salt to taste if you like. Without it is fine too as the dried scallops give it a lot of flavour! Even Mr M loves the soup which mind you is extremely good for overall digestion & has a lot of anti-oxidants for natural immunity against the cold and flu season.

After drinking one bowl of it, amazingly my breast milk came back. I drank it for at least a week and stopped for 2 days and thank God I still had good supply of milk (cos my doctor did say that if you stop drinking it, your milk production may stop completely too. But thank God that didn't happen to me).

It must be the enzymes in the green papaya that triggers the hormones to produce milk. I was in much relief! My baby slept better too and cried less. Hallelujah PTL!!

I call this new discovery as my liquid gold soup!

Labour #2: The whole ordeal

Warning: This post contains explicit details.
Please leave the site if you're under 18y.o./not up for it.

(This post has been written purely FMI only so that I can be reminded of the bitter sweet moment of when my child(ren) was born)

Having already had the experience of labour the first time with Z, I somewhat had a pre-conception of how labour pain would be like. And I say somewhat because I had used the T.E.N.S machine with Z and then finally took the epidural shot so I really didn't really know the full extent of how it feels to go through the 3rd & 4th stage of labour.

So for the 2nd round of childbirth, I had a very clear birthplan & I knew I would do all in my power to 'stick' to it. So let's see how I went.

1) I will definitely NOT use the T.E.N.S machine because I knew that the last time I had used it, I was all tensed up (excuse the pun) and as a result I did not dilate as fast as we hoped. This means there was a high chance the baby could be distressed which ultimately means emergency C-Sec - Tick

2) I will not use the epidural..well more like I had prepared myself NOT to use it because the last time I did, I needed intervention which means poor little Zach's head was vacuumed out and as a result he had really bad jaundice and had to undergo phototherapy which was extremely distressing for us as parents to watch. Also, my yummy mummy friends (about 4 of them) all said the second child would be extremely fast and usually it's half of your first child's labour (which to me meant around the 4-4.5hours mark). So I knew there would be too little time for an epi any way - Tick

3) I will not use the pethidine as a pain relief because I knew this drug has side effects which will make the mother vomit and the baby very drowsy when he/she comes out into the world - Tick

4) Which means the only pain relief I will opt to use is GAS which apparently a lot of ppl had told me it doesn't do anything - Tick

5) I will not lie on the bed as I did with Zach the first time. Instead I will stand up, sit up, and sit on a yoga ball if it was possible - Semi Tick

6) I will not eat anything prior to my labour kicking in cos I know when you're in the intense stage of labour, you will want to vomit which was what I felt with Z the first time but thank God I didn't vomit cos I didn't eat anything so nothing came out. The only thing that I will eat are jelly lollies to give me energy for the pushing - Semi Tick - I didn't eat anything the 2nd time around not even the jelly lollies

It turned out that I had to be induced after all even though Mr M was wanting me to go natural this time around (b/c we learned that with Z, he wasn't ready to come out yet but b/c we forced him out, he wasn't in the right position and as a result he turned sideways which caused me an immense of pain that to date I can still remember). The reason was because my obstetrician was going for a 3 day conference which I knew in my gut would be when bb Davina would be ready to come out and because I had paid so much for her to deliver me, the last thing I want was another doctor that I was not comfortable with.

So once again, the night before, we checked into private hospital at 5:30pm ready to have the prostin gel to be applied on to soften the cervix in preparation for the induction the next morning (which mind you after application could trigger off labour in some women). However, when the doctor did a VE, she told me that I was already 3cm dilated. So no need the gel! Hooray!

At around 8am the next morning, my marathon commenced.

(Before getting induced)

First thing that needs to be done was breaking the water. I was hyperventilating at the thought of her holding a big stitching knitting needle (like the first time) to pop the water bag. However, to my relief, she used her hand & it did the trick. I didn't even know my water broke until she told me. It was definitely a different feeling from Z this time around because with Z, water came out of me uncontrollably. Whereas with D, I couldn't feel a thing but could only see it.


After that, a needle was poked on my the top part of my hand ready for the oxytocin drip to be injected into me (hormone used to trigger labour) along with all the heart monitors placed on my belly.

By 8:30am, my labour had begun...

I must thank God that I chose a different hospital this time around because this hospital was absolutely fantastic! I couldn't fault anything about the birthing experience. They had a yoga ball in the birthing suite and had 2 midwives with me the whole time leaving me alone to concentrate on my labour in a beautiful room that looked just like a hotel and even a huge plasma TV too (vs Knox Private where the room was just like a hospital - white, cold & sterile, with about 5 different nurses fussing over me the whole time whilst walking in and out. There was no yoga ball at Knox too and apparently heat packs are not allowed there).

This time around, the midwives was so nice to let me stand up and use the ball for the first 3hours. Mind you, when you're being induced, there are so many wires attached to your hand, to your belly (ie. heart monitors on baby & on mine). So for them to move me around took a lot of effort from the midwives & I was just so thankful they never complained and said no (like the way Knox did).

Despite not using the TENS or any pain relieft, I was fairly surprised that labour pain was tolerable from 3-8cm of dilation. 3 things that helped me immensely were:

1) Standing up on an angled position (eg. leaning forward onto your partner's back to ensure every contraction was in line with gravity to push the baby out helped a lot!).
2) Heatpacks - I remember reading in the book/websites that by around 6-8cm dilation, most women find their backs to be in excruciating pain and true enough, I was having this really bad backpain when I reached to that stage of labour. Because of my backpain, I could no longer stand so I went back onto the bed, sitting upright with my back against the heat pack and with each contraction, I couldn't feel the backpain any more. Funny enough, the heat packs on my back really helped to counteract with the labour pain on my front (much better than the TENS machine I thought).
3) Remembering to breathe consistently - Many of the books/websites always tell you to 'breathe' through each contraction so that the cervix can be more relaxed and therefore dilate faster. So I remembered this while I was in labour. I would close my eyes & focus on my breathing and boy it really worked for me to get through each contraction.

However two painful experiences which I still remember were:
1) The midwife/doctor doing a VE during my contraction
2) From 8cm-10cm (which no books had told me in advance), I started to feel the urge to push which is a big NO NO as you may tear your cervix known as perineal tear and if it's a 3rd degree tear, you may bleed uncontrollably & this could be fatal. So I started to panic and I totally lost my control of the breathing techique. I can still remember vividly that 2 of my contractions during this time, I totally lost it and started to push and just couldn't control how to 'not' push. I could also feel that I was bruising & tearing my cervis.
This was when the nurses told me to use gas to help me get through the very very intense labour pain. So I started to use the gas and of course it didn't do much for me physically but it definitely helped me mentally because the action of using the gas reminded me how to breathe again. If anything the action of holding the gas aparatus onto my mouth made me focus on my breathing again. I think next time I will just use a paper bag instead :) Then probably 15mins after that, the pain & the urge to push just got stronger and stronger. Before you know it, the entire room had changed. The nurses were getting out the scissors/clip/baby cot/weighing machine/wearing gloves & aprons etc etc. When I saw them getting everything ready for the baby, this gave me motivation to keep on going cos I knew it was so close to the finish line to getting this baby out of me meeting my daughter for the very first time.

Finally, the second stage of labour aka pushing the baby out has arrived. This time around took only 3 contractions and 12mins of pushing vs with Z where it went on for 1 whole hour until I had no more strength left. I recall with much embarrassment when my doctor had asked me to push the first time. Just like with Z, I had forgotten how to push again and started to push with my face. When my doctor said in the most nicest & positive way 'ok, with the next contraction, push as if you're going to the toilet', I could remember my mother telling me just before I was going to experience labour for the very first time to not push with your face like she did and I just laughed at her thinking how silly she was to do that and how I was never going to do that. Boy did I have a taste of my own medicine again. So after doing 2 big pushes, a little bit of panting (to stop the urge to push) & a little bit of coughing (to slow down the pushing as baby's about to come out), Baby Davina was finally born! I tell you that must've been the most strangest feeling ever. It felt like this round ball was coming out of me in little pieces - this PLONK PLONK PLONK feeling and then everything else inside of me all started to fall out..

I must admit, after D was born, I wasn't as happy as I was with Z mainly because I was totally exhausted with feeling every bit of my labour (vs with Z where I was numb during the pushing stage). So when she was placed on my chest, instead of just enjoying her, I just wanted to go to sleep. I was totally exhausted. Everything happened so fast during the pushing stage to the delivering of the baby that my doctor forgot to double check that she was in fact a girl. So after she was placed on my chest, she asked me to check my baby and in sheer relief, I thanked God that she had a V instead of a P :)

So while Davina was placed on my chest with her eyes completely closed and doing her loud high pitch screaming cry (vs Z who had his eyes opened and was quite content and not crying) which was about 15mins after D was born, I was onto my 3rd stage of labour. My doctor pushed the top bit of stomach down to push the placenta bag out of me. Boy was that process painful but not as painful as when I was 8-10cm dilated. Before you know it, the placenta bag and all the other organs fell out of me. My doctor also told me I had first degree tear (thanks to my panic attack of and not knowing how to control my breathing) which meant I needed 2 stitches. The first thing going through my head was.. great this means I will have a needle down there for this to happen (injection of anaesthetic) but to my surprise, the afterpains which was like period pain overrode the pain of the injection. In fact, I didn't even feel the needle at all which shows to you just how painful labour really is! And after I was stiched up and cleaned up, I lied there for 2hours recalling what just had happened enjoying my baby before she was weighed and cleaned up.

I must admit, even though I could 'feel' the entire labour process with Labour #2, I would still pick labour #2 any day over my labour #1 despite having the epidural. The pain of when Z turned his entire body to the side during my contraction resulting his poor head hitting my pelvic bone was definitely the MOST painful pain that I've ever felt in my entire life. Labour #1 also took much longer to recover vs this time around. After labour #2, I could walk almost instantly and had so much energy where as after labour #1, I was walking in little steps as if I was learning how to rollerskate.

I will end this post on a funny note --> While my doctor was stiching me up after my painful and exhaustive 4hours of marathon, she asked Mr M & I 'so when is baby #3 coming?'. She wasn't joking either.

Pregnancy 2: 40 weeks - Davina is Born!

Today is exactly 40 weeks for baby Minga #2...
We are very proud to introduce to the world our daughter,

Davina Lai Chun Ming

Born: Tuesday 10/08/10 @11:39am
Weight: 3.19kg
Head Circumference: 35cm
Length: 52cm
Picture taken at 2hours old

Meaning of Name:
> Davina - Hebrew for 'Beloved'
> Chun 春 - meaning 'Spring' in Chinese

Why we chose this name:

1) Ever since Mr M & I were friends, he has always wanted his first born son to be named David as he loved the story of David found in the book of Samuel and of course all the beautiful poems He wrote for God in the book of Psalm. I told him that since David would be too popular amongst the kids, we should name our first born daughter Davina instead so that our child wouldn't be asking the teacher every time 'which David are you referring to Miss'?

2) Just like the name Beloved, we want Davina to grow up to be a beloved child of God. A woman of courage & after God's heart just like David was.

3) I gave my daughter 'Chun' as her Chinese name because ever since I was a teenager, I always loved the name Chun. Just like the name suggests, she will be the season that everyone looks forward to. As well, she will grow up to blossom in everything that she does.

Click here to read the meaning of Zachariah's name.

Mr and Mrs M praises God yet again for giving us our indescribable gift... She is just so beautiful!

Pregnancy 2: Preparation for bb #2

I've spent the last month preparing for the birth of our second child. As much as everyone is telling me to put my feet up and just rest, there are just heaps of things to do to just waste time and lie in bed. So here are some of the list:

Buying New things for the 2nd child:
1) New car seat (more for Zach - toddler seat & BM2 will use Zach's old bb car seat)
2) Double Kit/Toddler seat for our Phil & Ted's Sports pram.
3) More 000 jumpsuits cos I remember how many times my poor mother had to wash & dry out Z's limited jumpsuits whenever his poo leaked. So this time around, I'm going to get just a little bit more to ease off that pressure.
4) Buying her a new tallboy to store her entire collection of clothes!
5) More bibs - Z's bibs have been worn out from the long duration of use since he loves to drool so much. So I need to buy a whole new set for the 2nd one.
6) Nappies - of course you will need new nappies & wipes. Luckily working on the Pampers brand means I got some for free! yay :) but I did buy some myself too in preparation for her arrival.
7) Muslin wrap - I didn't have any muslin wrap with Z so this time around when my manager asked me what I wanted I told her just that please :)
8) New baby girl shoes - Once again, I can't really dress her in all of Z's boyish shoes so when LW asked me what I wanted, I told her just that please :)
9) If anyone else wants to get me something - then perhaps some nice accessories for her like headbands or a nice girly hat etc? b/c to date, so many ppl have already gotten her clothes already ;)
10) Maternity/breast pads - yep all to use as soon as the baby is out!
11) New Maternity bras - I realised my old ones are falling apart so I had to get new ones! Bonds I found has the best and most comfortable maternity bras vs the other brands although they're a bit more expensive vs the rest but well worth the price!

Getting things ready:
1) Washing all of her new clothes/her gor gor's old bb clothes
2) Taking out the breastpump/bottles/steriliser unit ready to go
3) Setting up the cot all over again
4) Moving the cot & the changing table into our master bedroom (for the 1st month at least)
5) Setting up the playgym
6) Getting out my breastfriend pillow for breastfeeding
7) Fitting 2 car seats in our car! 1 rear facing & 1 upright forward facing.
8) Getting all of the batteries ready to replace all of the toys (eg. for the hanging mobile, playpen, jolly jumper etc etc). Thank God for P&G b/c Duracell is one of our brands too! I got it for free along with Vicks Vaparub, Vicks Baby balsam & Metamucil as well. Not to mention Oral B stages brush for the bub :)
9) I've also wrapped some toys/new clothing ready to give to Zachariah at the hospital especially since he will see that his mei mei will be getting all of the attention. I've told my parents/in laws to do the same and tell him that 'his mei mei' has given it to him. I know he LOVES to rip apart unwrap presents!
10) Packing the hospital bag for myself, Mr M, BM2 & Zachariah for when he stays with his grandparents. I feel like everyone is on this big vacation except that there will be no sleep or relaxation involved!
11) Cutting my hair SHORT - With Z, I had left my hair long during my confinement cos I wanted to keep my neck warm during the cold winter nights of waking up to feed him. However, I found that it was really impractical b/c I would always have to find a hair tie which kept on missing by the day. And when I did decide to cut it all off as soon as my confinement was over, I only had a window period of 3hours to do this in before having to rush home to breastfeed my infant again. So this time around, I've decided to take my time in the world & pamper myself with a nice hair cut ready for labour, confinement & nursing a baby without vomit in my hair :)

Diet during the final month:
1) I've been eating a lot of fruits during the last month of my pregnancy. In particularly pear/papaya (to help with constipation), oranges (to give her beautiful skin), strawberries/berry smoothies (to increase my anti-oxidants intake in an attempt to boost my immunity since I'm always waking up every 3 hours).
2) Soy milk - I love to drink Soy Milk during the last month of pregnancy because it helps to give baby a beautiful complexion before she is fully baked. Besides, it also helps to boost my calcium intake! When my mum came back from overseas, I made her make a whole batch of soy milk for me again just like the last time! thanks Mah!
3) My mum's made me eat the Vitamin C tablets from Amway as my cousin sister who is an Amway representative told her it was extremely good for the baby in its last trimester. I take this along with my Blackmores Pregnancy/Breastfeeding multi-vitamins. At times, I also take Omega 3 fish oil (to prevent weak joints in my fingers like the last time) and calcium tablets.
4) Red meat - since I'm low on the iron side, I need to boost my level of iron before I loose some of it giving birth!
5) ABC live culture yoghurt (eg. Jalna) - to boost my calcium & assist in digestion

Preparing Mentally for the labour:
1) So I've been reading a lot of pregnancy mags again from all of my bounty bags to get a refresher on what to expect in the different stages of labour & when to call the hospital etc. Ahh.. it's all coming back to me now after 2yrs!

2) Since I've decided not to use the T.E.N.S machine this time around as it really made me tense during my labour the first time round and as a result, I wasn't dilated fast enough. Thus, I have been reading on the natural birth techniques in particulary the Lamaze method on the different positions you can be in to help ease the labour pain. Now I just pray that the hospital midwives will allow me to move around the room as opposed to last time when I was bed bound.

Ok please pray for me everyone cos I'll need every prayers I can get to deliver BM#2! Yikes!

好笑好笑! 哈哈哈...

Remember during my final week of gestation with BM#1, everyone around me seems to be more nervous than I and were constantly asking 'has bb come yet, has he come yet?'. Grrr.. if only I knew right?!

Now 2yrs later, the same thing is happening again! I'm getting sms'es, emails, FB msgs asking if I've delivered yet. And if I don't update the FB status for a few days, EVERYONE will start to message me to ask if bb has arrived! Grrr.. This really frustrates me cos c'mon guys, I ain't God, how am I supposed to know when she's coming out? Just leave us alone please!!

So, I decided rather than letting it get to me, I will stir up everyone instead. So today, I posted on FB status in Chinese (so that it only reaches the selected few who can read Chinese) to say 'I am about to meet my little precious one soon! hehehe' (which could mean anything right?). Then all of a sudden bang bang bang.. all these ppl commenting on it straight away saying 'are you in labour?'. Then before you know it, Mr M is getting phone calls from ppl asking him the same thing! lol. C'mon guys, if I really was in labour, you shouldn't be ringing Mr M cos he would be fully abused by me!

Ahh... as you can see, I'm really enjoying my maternity leave! ;)

Pregnancy 2: 39 weeks!

1 more week to go!

I must admit, I was getting really impatient last week especially after 2 of my g/fs all delivered earlier than their due date. I think this little one will be coming late again (as per my theory on genetics as my mum was late for 2 of her kids & Z was technically going to be late too if I had not induced him).

Anyway, then it hit me just this week that I should be just thankful that the bub has not come out yet and that I should just enjoy my maternity leave with just the 3 of us. I should just enjoy my time with my firstborn & give him my sole undivided attention and enjoy going out just the 3 of us before the chaos arrive.

To think I had actually forgotten how much work a newborn baby is!!

> The 3hourly feed which means technically I only have 2 hours to sleep in between
> Losing the plot on what time it is and suffering from memory loss & extreme moodiness
> Waking up in the cold night, doing the feeding, the burping, the changing, the putting of bub to sleep... oh dear!
> Sterilising all the bottles, the breastpumps etc etc.
> Being confined for a whole month and not being able to eat anything 'cold' (eg. ice cream, smoothies!) or having a shower whenever I please
> Putting two kids to bath, feed, sleep.. Yikes!
> And in the midst of all this, Mr M & I have to some how 'protect' our marriage too...

Wow am I really ready for all that all over again? um um um.. ok I think I'll be happy to just wait for another week at least.. enjoy my freedom while it last.

Anyway, I went to my obs yesterday for my weekly check up. All is well. Baby is happy. She is engaged however still in the posterior position. The Dr also did a VE on me & told me that the cervix is soft but definitely not dilated yet. So no signs of baby coming any time soon... (blessing in disguise I guess).

In exactly a week's time, baby will be full term. So I'm just going to enjoy my last week of freedom. Going out with my boy(s), my parents, my friends, house cleaning etc etc. It will be me time this whole week & I've finally learned to embrace it. So baby, don't come out just yet ok? Mummy has decided that it's best for you to stay in the oven for as long as possible :)

Baby Clothes - Done!

My folks finally came back from their 6wks holiday to Malaysia & UK. I remember before they left, they were asking me what I had wanted? My only request was to buy anything from GAP kids in UK only if it's on clearance especially since Australia don't have any GAP here (although I found out just yesterday that GAP will be opening its first store in Australia here in Chadstone in October! ! Zara & H&M will soon follow early next year! HOORAY!).

While they were in UK, my dad told me that my mum has kinda gone a little bit crazy doing shopping for our 2 kids - predominantly for BM#2. I thought he was kidding until I saw an ENTIRE suitcase of clothes for both Z & BM#2 and the other 5% was for Mr M & I. Errr.. something must be wrong with the picture here! lol.

Anyway, to my amazement, my mum who is very old fashioned & not really aware of all the fashion labels, came back with clothes from Baby Gap, baby Ted Baker London, Pumpkin Patch, adult clothes from MNG, Zara, Lee Cooper & Lonsdale London! Wow I was super impressed by all the clothes she bought for us! We were super spoilt especially BM#2 & Z! Z also had his first pair of shoes with these cool neon blue lights. He is totally in love with them.

My mother in law has also bought her fair share of BM#2 clothes. Two bags worth. From cute leggings, to skirts, to dresses, to tops, to jumpers, to vests, to booties and the list goes on. Everything is pink of course.

I really hope this little one is definitely girl b/c if the doctor got the sex wrong, then he will be in a heap of trouble with me!

I can't wait to dress my little munchkins in their new outfits!

Maternity Leave - Week 1

I finally got a hold of Mr M's laptop so that I can finally come online & have a moment of 'me time'.

Maternity leave so far has been somewhat costly. I have been doing lots of shopping for baby clothes all at discounted prices of course. Yesterday, Mr M & I walked into matchbox and finally found the set of Anolon cookware that we have been drooling over for a while now and saw that it was at least 60% off (cheaper than Ebay!!). To top it off, we also bought an entire Scanpan titanium forged knives set! The total damage was just over $700! We bargained with the staff for them to throw in things for free like the knife sharpener (RRP $60!) & steak knives (RRP $80) & Scanpan's scissors at half price! So yes, we were happy campers although I definitely suffered some post purchase dissonance afterwards. Now I'm hoping with my Donna Hay cookbook, I will learn to cook up a storm of good quality food for my 'little' family during my maternity leave :)
The funny thing was, Mr M said to me, this will be a present he will get for me as a post delivery present (which happens to also coincide with our 3rd wedding anniversary coming up). I chuckled and said 'I can see a trend.. all the things you give me nowadays has to do with cooking just so I can use it to feed you! :)' What a smart husband hey?!

Anyway, work wise, I haven't been letting go! This week at Coles marks the launch of my baby that I've been working on for over 2months. It's basically National Oral Health Week in Australia this coming Monday. Knowing this, I convinced my buyer to basically give me a full catalogue page featuring some very HOT specials on Oral B (basically 25% off the entire Oral B range excluding Powerbrush range). About 3wks ago, he also asked me to come up with the content for the catalogue page. I forward to him what I thought would be great to feature in the catalogue (eg Educational blurp on Step 1 Toothbrush, Step 2 Toothpaste etc) & finally yesterday when I got my Coles catalogue in the mailbox, I looked at the page & VOILA, he had used EVERY SINGLE WORD that I gave him as part of Oral Health Week at Coles! Oh I was super proud!! To think that my inputs have been rolled out nationally in Australia! I couldn't be more happier. Apparently everyone in P&G was stoked to see the catalogue page too.
You can check out the catalogue by going onto the Coles website, then click on Catalogue tab and enter your postcode (eg. 3150) (flip to the dental special page & you will see Oral B dominating the entire page! woo hoo!). Do check it out before it expires next Wed night! My 1 week of fame I like to call it :)

Pregnancy so far has been a little bit difficult. For the first time ever, I finally had my experience of Braxton Hicks (aka false labour). It was very much like bad period pain which come and go every 5mins from 4pm-10pm continously! Gosh I thought I was ready to deliver this baby but knew it was false labour b/c the contractions didn't get any more intense like the real thing.

Spending every bit of time with Z has also been challenging. For some bizarre reason, he has been extremely clingy to me. I wants me to carry him every where. He only wants me to put him to sleep & at meal times, he always want to sit on my lap making it impossible for me to eat. The other day Chai's little man came over to visit too & Z was just filled with jealousy. He wanted me to take all his toys away from Rykan & started crying when I said 'no you have to share'. A good glimpse of what is to come.. haiz.. I can see him being more and more mischievous by the day. Terrible 2's are just around the corner I guess. I definitely do love spending time with Z but it can be at times over bearing especially when I can't even do anything without him crying for my attention.

Gosh I can't wait until we see our folks tomorrow especially receiving all the gifts they bought us too of course! I know Z have really missed them too!

Pregnancy 2: 38 weeks! 等待

Ok so I'm on my 38th week of gestation & I've finally finished work! Praise God! A lot of ppl have called me insane for dragging it out as long as I did. Would I do it again? Absolutely not! Next time I think I will finish up at least 4wks out cos I really felt so drained out from the 37th week onwards.

Anyway, pregnancy now is becoming even worse. I get bad reflux now that my tummy literally expands from my ribcage. I have no more room left! This means I actually eat a lot less now. A small bowl and I'm done cos I literally can not digest. I really have no appetite for food. I dread eating actually because indigestion has become a major problem. Sometimes I can feel the acid in my throat when it should be in my tummy! The food just doesn't seem to make its way down! sigh.. I think 2 nights ago must've been my world record in going to the toilet; I think I got up at last 8 times to go to the loo. God is truly training me for the inevitable wake up calls from my little one really soon...

This week, I can feel my little one's head engaged in my cervix b/c as soon as I woke up the next day, I could feel like as if there is this 'wedge' feeling in btw my legs making it impossible to walk like a normal human being. I try my hardest not to waddle like a penguin but it's not easy olright.. Bleh! Only 2wks of penguin walking to do I guess...

I find that being pregnant gives you so many scenarios of contradictions. From the moment you see the double line, you are hit with this overwhelming joy that you're finally pregnant! But then immediately you also realise that you have 9 months to prepare for the invitable painful labour! Then whilst you're pregnant especially during the last month, you can not wait until you get this baby out of you so that you can finally get some sleep! But the reality is, when the bub is out, you get absolutely no sleep! You and your partner are also feel with immense joy to welcome this little one into your world but the truth is as soon as he/she comes out, you & your partner will be spending less & less time together. Instead, the two of you will at times irritate each other due to the lack of sleep. Life is funny isn't it?

Anyway, I have already washed all of my little one's clothes/blankets/wraps/mittens/socks etc etc (80% of which are Z's and 20% new) & have put them nicely away in her new Tall Boy which we bought off ebay for $135 (made of beautiful pine wood too! it was such a bargain!). We've also bought the double kit for our Phil & Teds pram as well as Z's toddler car seat (so that his old one can be transfered to his mei mei :) Now all Mr M needs to do is install Z's old baby seat to face rear view which he tells me he will do when I'm staying in the hospital. What a contrast to the last time when it was all done on the 38th week....

Tomorrow, I will be handing my laptop back to work. So this means I won't be blogging as much... and with bub #2, I can't even seem to see the day that I will be blogging again. Nonetheless, be patient, I shall return back to cyberspace once in a while to catch up on my glimpse of the world.

Thanks to everyone who have sent in their kind wishes & prayers so far. I will need every prayer I can get for the next few weeks ahead. Please please please keep me in your prayers for a smooth, quick & pain 'tolerating' delivery!! Thank you in advance! Now bring on the labour!! I want her out now!! :)

Pregnancy 2: 37 weeks!

Tomorrow will be my official last day of work before I take 7 months off! Yes I was meant to finish next Friday but seriously P&G is working me too hard even though they said I was supposed to take it easy. Everyone seems to want a piece of me even though my replacement has fully transitioned already. Grr.. so I got my gynae to write a letter for me to go on sick leave next week. OMG I can't wait to finally stop work cos I have so much to do to prepare for the little one's arrival.

For all your readers, this means my mobile # will be changing since I will no longer have a work one. I will FB message to you with the new number :)

Anyway, an update on the pregnancy:

As soon as Monday night arrived this week, I could literally feel my baby grow twice her size. All of a sudden, shortness of breath has worsened. Sleeping at night is just impossible. I would lie there staring in the dark tossing & turning for hours! Then going to work looking like a zombie.

Many of my colleagues thinks I will pop before August even hits based on the size of my watermelon. Really? do you actually think so? A lot of them are betting on the dates that I will be popping. Too funny.

I've since put on 13kg at 70kg (yikes I hate it when the scale hits the 7 mark). This time around, my hands and legs have not swelled up as much as when I had Z. I can still wear my wedding ring which is great considering that wasn't the case with my 1st pregnancy! My face has remained the same (not as chubby as last time). In fact a lot of ppl who sees the top half of me doesn't even think I'm pregnant until I get up. This has happened at work, in restaurants etc.

But, I definitely feel my hips & butt area expanding. I've since gone up an undie size & realised it's still a tad too tight cos it's making marks on my skin. So this means I'll have to go 2 sizes up thanks to my fat arse hips! not happy Jan!

My test result for Strep B swap came back negative! woo hoo! which means I don't need to be on antibiotic drip when I'm in labour. The less needle poking my hands the better! I hope to be able to move around this time around vs being bound on the hospital bed the entire labour like the first time. I still have low BP & is slightly anaemic (just great!). Baby's head is down but has not officially engaged in the cervix yet. She is also still in the posterior position. Sigh.. Oh & yes Dr Chew also advised Mr M & I to be 'naughty' again to kickstart labour. Moreover, she was deliberately making Mr M go red by saying 'are you blushing already?'. LOL.
Click here to see a comparison of my 37th week of pregnancy with Z 2yrs ago.

Anyway, not long to go now.. baby can come any time from 38weeks onward which is next week. So I guess it's time to twiddle my thumbs & play the guessing game again...oh & I better start backing my bags along with Z's as well! I am sooo not organised.

Any last words of advise for all you mummies out there cos I'm absolutely petrified to go back for round 2 of PAIN?! ARGHHHHH!! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

My Baby Shower #2

I ordered these from Gautier Cakes
Thanks Cheryl (Cam & Wong's older sister) who baked these beautiful cupcakes for my lovely baby shower!

I must admit, it's not easy to be the first in your circle of friends to have babies. Why? because you kinda go through the journey yourself alone because after all, they don't fully understand the journey of having a baby until they are in it themselves. It's definitely one of the downsides of going first in your circle of friends. Oh and not having a sister is also a big disadvantage too! I really wished I had a sister to share girly moments with. sniff sniff..

However, despite being the first in my circle of friends (both Singapore & Australia included) to have babies, I must count my blessings for having great colleagues who are older than me and of whom already have kids and can give me so much advice on everything you need to prepare yourself for when you're expecting a little one. Moreover, it has always been my colleagues who offer to throw a baby shower for me without me even asking. Gosh I was blown away!

Usually the tradition is that you only have one baby shower in a lifetime because baby shower is meant to help the parents in preparation for your baby for things like furnitures, clothing, electronic gagets, clothes, toys, bottles, blankets and the list goes on..

Now, I have already been blessed with a very lavished one when I was expecting Zachariah held at the beautiful Ritz Hotel in Singapore and was spoiled rotten by my colleagues.

So when my colleague here in Australia, Kirsten R, said to me she wanted to throw me a baby shower, I was so embarrassed saying 'no.. I've already had one!'. She then proceeded to say, but you've never had one here in Australia which was a fair point. I then told her to wait until I knew the sex of the child. If it was a girl, then I would be more than happy to have another baby shower since I own nothing PINK and boy was I in for a treat...!! I was so thankful to Kirsten cos not only did she organise the baby shower, but she also offered up her place to hold the event AND personally came to my place to pick me up & chauffeur me to her place! It's these kind gestures ppl give you in life that you will never forget to treasure them forever...

Anyway, here are the pics! Talk about the contrast in colours vs when I had Zach!

All the yummy food prepared by everyone who came


Here's my xiao mei mei (little sister) I like to call her who always like to put her ears on my tummy every day at work in an attempt to 'hear' my little girl talk to her..

The host of my baby shower - Kirsten R, far right of the pic, the one on my left


With Grandma Rosey (yes she's a grandma already of 3!), Kirsten C, Amanda & me. Since I will be finishing up work 10 days before I deliver, Rosey & Amanda are convinced that I will be delivering in the office so they've kindly offered to be my midwives. They've also forced me to name my daughter 'Amarose' - Ama from Amanda & Rose for Rosemary :) It's actually a really pretty name!


With Aveena & Jen


Opening presents time!


Oooohhh I so needed this! It's a Pumpkin Patch baby sleeping bag blanket perfect for when BM#2 is out of her swaddling b/c it'll be summer by then! This gift was from Aveena (who became a mum in Jan this year) & she even timed the weather & age of my little girl so it can be used on time. I tell you only mothers will think of these things!! So very thoughtful!


Donna Hay cookbook! Omg I was laughing my head off when I saw this gift from Jen cos earlier this week I had gone to her place for dinner & she cooked up such a delicious meal. She told me her secret recipe was Donna Hay magazines! So I told her I am going to get some cos I really have to master the art of cooking since I'm going to be a mum of 2 soon! And boy was it a nice surprise when she bought me the best collection of Donna Hay magazine cookbook! Just what I wanted & I didn't even expect it at all!! :)


The next 3 gifts were all from my boss Kirsten C (who was also make up artist from my previous post). She was the only person that asked me what I wanted so I told her something that I can swaddle my baby girl in. So she got me blankets & muslin pink wraps!! I later found out by accident that all 3 gifts costed AU$100! I couldn't believe how much she spent on me! So pai seh man..


My xiao mei mei bought BM#2 the funkiest fur jacket. She is always pressuring me to doll my baby up even though I haven't had her yet. When we go together for store checks, we would always take time out for a detour to the kids shop and she would always force me to buy these cute outfits for BM#2. The other day, she managed to convince me to buy a little ballerina outfit that was so impractical to dress. But all in the name of vanity of course...lol.


Here are all of my lovely colleagues from left to right:
Aveena, Lainie, Amanda, Rosey, Kirsten C, Leeora, Jen & Kirsten R who totally made me feel so special!



And here are all of my gifts to date!! I have at least 9 pink congratulations cards & BM#2 is not even born yet! lol!


BM#2 is going to be one fashionista! She received both Country Road & Esprit Clothing and these cute Mary Jane socks which I've been eyeing on since I saw them on my g/f's bub!


Oh & Zachariah just loved the baby sign so much that he kept on holding it everywhere he went around the house saying 'baby baby baby'. It was so funny!


Ahh.. not long to go before I can use all these!! Thank you P&G Chickies!!
xo

Pregnancy 2: 34 weeks!

Picture taken at 32weeks!

So yes I have 6wks to go before I deliver & I have 4wks to go before I finish work! yes I'm literally going to finish up with 10 days to go! crazy I know but what to do? I need to work!

Anyway, I remember it was around start of this week, that my baby turned herself upside down! (thank God). Her head is down in my cervix ready to come out (well not really. She'll only be ready in 4wks time).
I now visit the toilet about 6-8 times a night every single night. It's pretty bad. I just feel her sitting on my bladder constantly as soon as she turned upside down. So this means I now look like a zombie from 33wks onwards. I have really bad shortness of breath & I get tired easily. My brains have slowed down too due to lack of sleep. Gosh I think this is all preparing me for the ride ahead. I still have low blood pressure. My gynae is convinced that this is a good thing.. well at least better than high blood pressure any way. She says baby is healthy especially since she moves soooooo much (probably like 3 times more than Zach when he was in my tummy). I have a feeling she is going to bully her gor gor. She also gets the occasional hiccups but not as much as when Zach did at 34wks.

So far, I've put on 11kg (yikes! there goes my hopes of putting on 12kg max!). A lot of ppl are telling me how small I look compared to other pregnant ladies. They all think my baby is going to be small. I think she will be at least 3kg though. Not that small! A lot of strangers too keep on coming up to me saying that they know it's a boy. And I'm like.. um.. no, it's a girl! they were all surprised considering how pointy I am. Thus, I'm convinced all these myths about boy vs girl baby are all just that.. myths! ain't true at all.

I can't eat too much nowadays otherwise I get a bad case of indigestion & heartburn (all started just this week!). I also have constipation which wasn't a problem with Zach as much but with this little one it's been the opposite despite me drinking so much water & eating fruits daily. Sigh.. I'm going to give metamucil a go next week (another proud P&G brand :)

I feel like I'm soooo unprepared with the 2nd child. I still haven't bought her a tall boy or wash all of her clothes to put it in. I still haven't got the double kit pram for our Phil & Teds. I still haven't prepared her bed, wiped all of Zach's old toys ready to hand it down to her. I am really bad aren't I? I'm hoping she doesn't come early cos I really do need the 10 days of maternity leave before my due date to get organised! A lot of ppl thinks she's going to come early. But I some how doubt it cos my mum was late for all 3 of her kids so I think it's somewhat genetics. We shall see...

Pregnancy 2: 3rd Trimester Mark - 28 weeks!

omg! how did I reach third trimester so fast?

It's true what they say about your second pregnancy. It will never be as exciting as the first nor will you be counting down every single day until you've reach the 40wk mark.

It's funny, I have friends coming up to me saying how many weeks are you now? I literally have to stop and say 'hmm.. let me think about that one..' Then I would count backwards to figure it out. Whereas with Zach, I'm sure all of you knew that I monitored his development every single week of my gestation. Of course, it's not to say I love this child any less than Z. It's more the fact that there have been so much distraction that I forget at times that I'm even pregnant! For example, being swamped with full time work doesn't do justice & then having to go back home to put on the hat of a mother & wife. It's non-stop thinking & planning. By the time I do have time for myself, I rather do nothing & just sleep :)

So now that I'm 28 weeks how do I feel?

It's funny, I remember as soon as I reached the 3rd trimester mark, I could literally feel my body slowing down & getting more tired easily. All of a sudden, the rush of energy I had in my 2nd trimester had disappeared. Moreover, I could not sleep at night thanks to the little one having a constant kickboxing match with my tummy. Because of the lack of sleep, my memory is slowly fading away. I'm definitely not as with it as when I was in my 2nd trimester. I also have less appetite to eat than in my 2nd trimester where I would be pigging out on chocolates & all sorts of junk. Oh & yes I've also done my 26-28wks gestational diabetes test where one has to drink this extremely sweet fizzy cold drink in like 2mins (which I nearly threw up afterwards) and then sit in the waiting area to kill 1hr of time so that the nurse would take your blood for the test. Thank God I was negative on the test.

Shortness of breath has also made its come back. I remember standing up and presenting to over 40ppl was so difficult b/c I would need to slow it down & breathe as often as I could. The toilet is now my 2nd home. My little girl likes to just sit on my bladder or kick it at times which is so annoying when you've just peed like 10secs ago and feel the urge to go again! Sometimes, the cervix feel like it's got needles piercing it b/c of the baby sitting or poking on it. I also find myself waddling and walking like a penguin now b/c this tummy has all of a sudden expanded to this balloon overnight from my ribcage downwards. Carrying Zach has also become very difficult now because not only am I getting heavier but Z is also getting heavier as well!
I've now put on 8kg since pre-pregnancy weight. Hopefully I can stay within the avg of 12kg max!

Man, I can't believe in 2.5mths time, we are going to finally meet our little girl & have 2 children in our family! Gosh can somebody pinch me now??!

Pregnancy 2: 21 weeks!

I'm slightly over the half way mark in my 2nd pregnancy! I've realised I have not taken any photo of my little bump until now. So this morning while catching up with my g/fs, I made them take a photo of me posing away while they, being such meticulous photographers were taking their darn time telling me how to pose so they could take a good shot. However, I was embarrassed like hell cos we were at Studley Park and there were sooo many ppl!

Nonetheless, the shot was finally taken. So here is me with my bump which is definitely much bigger than when I was carrying Z at 21 weeks 2yrs ago.

I have since put on 4kg and have started to increase my appetite! I don't have much cravings as I did with Z. Apparently, my colleagues are telling me that I'm finally starting to glow! LOL! My gum bleeds a lot when I floss. I have more energy than I did during my 1st trimester. My butt gets sore if I sit too long (eg. more than 1hr). I dream almost every night perhaps due to the fact that I am probably delirious since I wake up every 4hours to pee. I am also getting a lot of headaches thanks to my low blood pressure (which I never got carrying Z). My gynae told me to drink gatorade to increase my blood pressure and surprisingly it worked!

BM2 kicks a lot now especially at night when I am lying down in bed with no movement or when I have had a sugar fix. My gynae says she is a very happy & healthy baby. Praise God. Hopefully she will be a very easy baby to take care of when she is finally baked!

God is Faithful...

I can still remember when we first discovered I was pregnant with the first child, both Mr M & I knew in our spirit that it would be a boy. It was always Mr M's heartfelt desire to have his first born to be a son so that he would look after me when his son was older. And just as Mr M prayed, we discovered at 16wks of my pregnancy with Z, that his prayers were answered.

Mrs M on the other hand had always prayed that God would grant her a daughter. A daughter that would share girly things with her, bond over feminine issues, cook with her, go shopping together, sharing through pregnancy/labour pains in the future together etc etc. I had always believed that God's faithfulness would prevail despite everyone saying to me that I was more likely to have sons since there are a lot of boys running in both of our families.

So when I fell pregnant with BM2, I remember looking at my 12wks scan seeing my baby's face for the first time and realising that BM2's head features was actually quite similar to mine. I started to have hope that it would be a girl until.....

I had constant nausea (although it was no where as bad as Z), breaking out zits, having pointy tummy! Everyone was convinced that I was having a boy to the point that I too, had lost hope that my 2nd child would be a girl. Then came all the news that of all of our friends & colleagues were expecting or just had a son! I was convinced too that I was going to have another boy! So I had told everyone that it was a boy & that Z would be very blessed to have a brother to have play fights/wrestling matches with :)

This morning, we finally went to have our 20week ultrasound scan. After the doctor had spent 20mins measuring BM2's organs, bone structure & features, he finally asked us 'so any questions?'
Finally, the long awaited moment has come. I quickly asked him 'Can you please tell us the sex of the child?'. He replied 'are you sure you want to know?' (which to me sounded like he was implying that it was a boy and that news would some what disappoint me). I continued to proceed with 'Of course!'. He then finally said 'ok.. I'm 100% convinced that it's a.......... (he was really good at keeping us in suspense as he literally took this long pause before finally saying) .... girl!'

It was at that point that I nearly fainted. All this time I had prepared myself to receive the news that it was going to be a boy. We had already picked a name for him & was going to start calling 'him' his name from today onwards. But God decided to startle us with our little surprise.

Mr M could not stop wiping the smile off his face. Immediately he said to me 'See I told you so.. '. He was the only 3 people out of like 80ppl that thought it was a girl. Everyone else too was convinced it was a boy including myself. I was totally over the moon. I felt like I was a million $ richer.

While driving to work, I started to tear.. I couldn't believe God had finally answered my prayer yet again. He has finally granted my longing to have a daughter. I am just so amazed & enveloped by His faithfulness in our lives. I can truthfully say that there has been nothing in my life that He has not granted me. How could I ever doubted Him in the first place with the sex of BM2?

Praise God in deed for our little Princess of the Living King! Mummy & Daddy can not wait to meet you!

"oh mummy, do you have to take a photo of me even at this tender age? Grrr"


PINK PINK PINK, DRESS DRESS DRESS ---> Here I come!

Pregnancy 2: 17 Weeks!

I can't believe at 17 weeks I can already feel my little one kick!

So far, I've gained 1.5kg. Not a bad efffort considering I don't exercise any where as much as when I was in SG. All the weight so far has been around my pointy tummy (yes another sign that BM2 will most likely be a boy). I think my butt has expanded too. Every time I sit for more than 2hrs, my butt would start to hurt cos of all the weight I'm carrying in my tummy/pelvic area. Hmmm I wonder how I'm going to sit on the plane for 4.5hrs to Perth come 33wks time! yikes!

I have had bad headaches for the past 2wks in a row. I finally saw my gynae & she told me that it was cos I have low blood pressure so she told me to drink gatorade/powerade sports energy drinks. As soon as she told me the cure, I went out to the supermarket to buy 2 bottles & voila, I no longer have any headaches! Hooray!

My zits have started to clear up and I think it's b/c my hormones are now settling into place. However, my memory loss is getting to be a common occurrence. I would do really stupid things at work like driving half hour to work only to discover at office car park that I had totally forgotten to bring my laptop! I then had to ring my boss to tell her I'm downstairs & will now be going back home to work there instead.. Thank God for an understanding boss! Then there are the times when I would attach the wrong documents in emails or forget to attach documents when my email says 'kindly refer to the attachment' etc. etc. etc. Usually I'm pretty with it, but now, I feel so useless all over again. I tell everyone it's truly b/c of my pregnancy brain and now all of my colleagues are like 'here we go again.. she's using that as an excuse again!' Grrrr...

I wake up at least 3 times a night to go pee & some times to attend Z's cries cos he now sleeps by himself on a queen sized bed in another room. The funny thing about Z is that he would sleep through the night on weekends but come weeknights (where his parents gotta go to work, he would wake up and disturb our sleep without fail... hmmmm a little bit sus here.. )

Besides all this, I must say finally at mid point of my 2nd trimester, my nausea has settled. I don't feel like vomitting when I wake up every morning now. Furthermore, I can eat normal food again without feeling like vomitting! I definitely do love 2nd trimester the best! Won't be long to go before the most difficult trimester sets in ---> *gulps*

Pregnancy 2: 15 weeks

OMG... My belly button looks like it's going to invert out any day now!! How??! it's way too soon!
So yes, I'm now in my 2nd trimester & technically I should be feeling better now. But sadly I must admit, there are many uncanny similarities btw this pregnancy and my first. I still get the occasion nausea however this is no way as bad as when I was carrying Zach. I'm getting headaches now and then too and yes my gums have started to bleed now when I do my regular flossing. I also get the occasional breakouts on my face with the zits. Grrr... Could pregnancy life get any more glam than this?

The power of the nose have also made a dramatic come back. I can smell anything from a mile away. My darling husband has given me empathy by offering to change all of Z's #2 nappies cos I know I would vomit if I changed him.

Bizarre loves & loathes have also come back to haunt me. I used to love sesame oil but now the smell or the thought of it makes me sick. I loathe the smell of beef (perhaps it's from my Singapore days whenever I had walked past a pepper steak joint). I also loathe anything creamy like yoghurt/milk although I still force myself to eat it to boost my calcium intake. If I eat anything sweet, it would leave this yucky taste on my tongue that would make me feel sick and that includes fruits too! Even if it's a nice tub of connoiseur ice cream which I used to love! So I've discovered that savoury things actually makes my nausea feel much better.

So things I love include: banana bread (I was puzzled the other day as to why I'm craving for banana bread considering I hardly eat that stuff. Mr M kindly reminded me that we used to have this when we were living in YCK in Singapore as our local bakery baked the best banana bread in the whole world. Now this was during the time I was carrying Z. So now I'm going back to my past yet again!), grapes, congee with vegemite (when I was carrying Z, remember how I mentioned that all my bizarre cravings had one thing in common & that was was all the food I ate during my childhood? so yes, this is another one from my childhood), Sour Sop aka custard apple/papaya & you char kueh (once again, I had the same craving when I was carrying Z) and Thai/Viet food because they all have a tinch of that sourish taste (ie from the lemongrass) which is good for my nausea :)

The two things that I absolutely crave for are a good cup of Teh Tarik (only M'sia & Singapore can get.. sniff sniff) & of course my beloved BLUE CHEESE! OMG I don't mind just licking a small teaspoon worth.. PLEASE! gimme gimme GIMME! I swear, I'm going to get Mr M to buy me a whole kg worth right after I deliver so I can secretly eat it in hospital before my mother starts to police me at home during my confinement :)