SyGie

I am exactly 32 weeks pregnant today. It is exciting but at the same time nervous and scared; I suppose I really do not know what to expect on the grand opening day. How does contraction feel like? How long will I be in labour? I am sure there is a reason why they named the whole process “labour”. Emotionally I cannot wait to meet this little human being that I love so much already and I am boiling with anticipation to meet him/her.

Physically I am stating to hurt more all over everywhere these days, it is really a bittersweet experience and my bump never fail to surprise me every morning. Sleeping is not getting any easier, I find my hands getting numb sleeping on my sides and not mention the never ending bathroom visits. Did I mention that my ribs get ambush all the time? Isn’t pregnancy wonderful?

Despite all these complaints, I must admit that I love being pregnant and I love my bump very much. I’ve been feeling lots of baby action these days, even some people at work got to feel some big movement. Snowflake seems to have develop a routine itself, thank goodness, it sleep when I sleep and is awake when I am, hopefully it stays that way when is out.

I have 8 weeks to go…almost there.

Gie

As a Chinese, I am a big believer of confinement after the birth of a child.  I believe that a women need to be well looked after so that she can recuperate and be strong again; after all giving birth to a child is not a straightforward process.  A confinement is basically a month of rest and recovery based on traditional Chinese knowledge & wisdom passed down by generations to post-childbirth women.  It helps to restore health; beauty & youthfulness after immerse efforts, sweat, tears & loss of blood & “Qi” during labour.  Most importantly, confinement period is crucial to help reduce women’s diseases related to limb numbness, water retention, pain, infections related to a polluted environment & incorrect diet.

Elderly people believe that the future health of the laboured women are largely depends on the care taken during her confinement (eg. nutritious foods & supplements), in which not only helps to reduce the occurrence of diseases, but also provide therapeutic effects for chronic illnesses.  A lack of care during this period may lead to wound infections, colds & flu, insufficient breast milk or worst, it may cause depression.  Therefore, it is crucial for a post-childbirth woman to convalesce during confinement period, so that her organs & tissues can recuperate & be restored to their original state of health.

SY is not much of a big believer of such thing, his sister did not have confinement month after the birth of her two kids and she is doing absolutely fine.  SY has lived in Australia for most his life and hence these Chinese belief and culture are not much of an inclination in his upbringing.   We had a few debate on this issue and we just cannot seem to see eye to eye on the importance of confinement, I have come to a point where I just don’t care anymore and will just go with the flow.  My daddy initially wanted to hire someone from Malaysia to come over for six weeks to look after his precious daughter but the generous offer has been turned down.  I am not a big fan of having a stranger in my house; I feel like I need to keep an eye out for the person and I would be restless, secondly I am only concern about the food I will be consuming during the confinement period and also the energy level I will have in looking after my new born.  Somehow we have this two major concern underway and I am currently happy (not overly) with the arrangement.

SY’s father has retired and is now experimenting with his culinary skills; he has kindly offered to cook the nutritious food for me after the birth of my child.  SY on the other hand has been obtaining some confinement recipe book from Asia so that his father can look into it and maybe try it out first, I am sure he won’t make me the white mice and I believe what will be served is all YONG tested. I am really grateful for his generosity and him actually wanting to cook it himself; I admit I was a bit sceptical in the beginning but soon realised it is how he wants to contribute.  SY on the other hand might be getting two weeks paid paternal leave after the birth of our child and has promised to help out; I might not have the energy, I am sure he does as he did not go through labour. 

Gie

YAY! I am really glad that I only have 20 more weeks to go with my pregnancy. I am not complaining, in fact I love being pregnant, the feeling of knowing a life growing inside you is just marvellous. From the day I found out that I am pregnant, I have been very careful with my pace of walking, what I put in my mouth and what I breathe in. People around me kept throwing me advice, superstitious believe, what is safe to eat, what I am not supposed to do and so on. Well, all advice and comment has been well received and appreciated.

I am lucky as I did not have much morning sickness or any other pregnancy heartache, my only problem was that I sleep a lot; I mean lots, I could sleep all day all night if I am allowed. SY is amazed on how much I can sleep; over the weekend, all I literally did was sleep and sleep. I suppose it’s not a bad symptom compared to all others that I have heard. It did not take me long to stop making plan on the weekend as I know I will be cancelling it last minute due to my pregnancy fatigue. I struggle through the week at work, finding it hard to stay awake, thankfully a few minutes cat naps here and there helps. I felt sick a couple of times due to some funny smell and something I ate that Snowflake did not like, other than that, I have been well.

We recently did our scan and everything is well and normal, fingers crossed that all will be fine and Snowflake will be a healthy bub. The often asked question; “is it a girl or a boy?” Well, we are not finding out; after 9 months I believe we need some excitement and surprise at the end of it. Here is a scan, go figure if it is a boy or a girl!

Gie

Sorenson and I would like to announce the good news that we will be having another addition in our family!!!

Yes, I am pregnant, I could not believe it with my own eyes when I saw the double lines; was in shock and kept referring back to the instruction.  It was an incredible feeling; happy and nervous at the same time. 

I took the in stream early pregnancy test (one that you can test 6-10 days prior to your period due) on 28 December 2011, I anxiously waited 3 minutes looking at the result bar and it looked negative but when I looked closely there was a second faint pink line.  I google and was read that faint lines are usually positives, it is faint because there isn’t much of the HCG hormones, and it makes perfect sense as my period is not due anyway. 

Went to the doctor on the same day but the urine test was negative; he advised that the home test I did at home maybe more sensitive hence would have detected the lowest amount of HCG.  However, he did give me a letter to do blood test and ask that I do it 2 weeks after my miss period.  At the same time, he also advised of the higher chance of miscarriage during the first 12 weeks.  It was a bit scary to hear that from a doctor so I google again and apparently they give such advise to every pregnant women; which I think is fair enough, preparing us for the worst but hope for the best.

Anyhow at the point, being pregnant is all I’ve though about.  SY being the practical person obviously isn’t as excited as I am and kept reminding me that is not confirm yet.  I think he is really concerned about my emotions if this ends up being negative, but I am pretty sure I am.  We agreed to do the blood test mid of January and will see a OB by the end of the month, by that time it should be 8 weeks.

As I am impatient, I kept buying more tests just to make sure that my HCG levels are high, the very next day I did a urine test on the “normal pregnancy test” and this time the second line was faint as well, I was not satisfy so I did another test with the in stream early pregnancy test but this time the second line came up really quickly and it was bright pink, I am so glad and promised myself not to test until I miss my period.  Obviously after the miss period, I have done countless tests just for the peace of mine and every time the second line appears quicker with striking pink.