While waiting for our little monster - part two (Valentine Day 2013) ...

So here I am, 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant and one false alarm later, still waiting for my little daughter to be born.

Two days ago, as a result of lower back pain and abdominal cramps that really seemed to be contractions, my husband and I thought that I was going into labour. But after three hours, the cramps had all but stopped. I took a nap waiting for them to return. Well, I obviously wasn't in labour as not only did the pain and aches not return, I woke up another 4 hours later feeling perfectly fine with my little monster doing her nightly Gangnam dance in my tummy. Sigh...

Anyway, I thought that it would be best that I distract myself a little as she wasn't gonna show up if she wasn't ready and it wouldn't do me any good to sit around the house moping. So, as Hubby had asked for some homemade chocolate truffles for Valentine's Day, I set about making them for him yesterday.

The recipe was very simple. Some dark chocolate, heavy cream, a little butter and some rum. I remembered the rum at the beginning but didn't pour it out. As a result, I didn't remember the rum again until the truffles were left to harden in the fridge. Doh!!



Easy ingredients - Dark chocolate and heavy cream



The melted chocolate, cream and butter mixture cooling over
a bowl of iced water.



The melted chocolate, butter and cream mixture ready to be chilled
This is before I remembered the rum >.<

I have never had them myself before, and the various videos I have seen show them being cut into square blocks... but of course I had to be creative didn't I, and tried to make them into balls. They ended up looking like little turds instead.



An origami box I made to fit those turd like chocolates in

My turd like chocolate truffles for my Darling Husband!

When he came home I said "Happy Valentine's Day Darling! I made the なまチョコ (nama choco aka chocolate truffles) you wanted, but I am sorry they look like little turds," He laughed so hard I though he was going to wet himself. I was very surprised he knew what "turd" meant, and then I remembered that I had introduced him to that word a few days ago when I was reading this brilliant picture blog called Crappy Pictures (See here for reference http://crappypictures.com/learning-from-poop/) Bad wife! Bad teacher!

Sigh... my husband is like a child. I have been trying to get him to expand his vocabulary for the longest time, but he seems only to pick up the rude rude words...

In any case, Hubby's eyes lit up when he ate them little turds!! He really enjoyed them so I guess that's alright ^_____^

He surprised me with lovely pot of flowers. They must have cost a small bomb. But they made my day. Hubby's not really the romantic type, but he tries so hard and that's what counts in my book!

My little pot of happiness. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

After exchanging presents, we went and had what will most likely be our last romantic dinner out (without baby worries) last night. The restaurant we went to was a place we used to frequent quite often called Bistro Fiore, a little Japanese Italian cafe in Plaza Damas. And though we ordered dishes that were familiar to the palate, we had a great time ^.^

Potato and Bacon Pizza- Mild tasting but super with a dash of Tobasco.

Deep fried pork cutlet with cheese and salsa on the top

I can never resist these, Deep Fried Mozarella. So sinful! So yummy!

Caeser Salad. The dressing is the restaurant's own recipe and is heavenly.

One of my favourites! Mentaiko Mayonnaise paste on a toasted baguette.

There was so much food that I felt doubly pregnant after dinner!!

Now, a full dinner, breakfast and lunch later I am back to waiting for Little Miss Monster to be born...tick tock tick tock...

Post pregnancy and family support- Part 1

Dum de dum... Hubby's away in Thailand for work for three days and I am bored. I hope Mika doesn't decide to visit us early... Baby, you have a good 4.5 weeks left, please be good, listen to Mummy and stay inside.

I'm feeling increasingly nervous as my due date draws closer...I find myself worrying about so many things. Will the room be ready on time, will my labour go smoothly, will she be healthy, will I be able to breastfeed, will Hubby and I be able to cope... Obviously being Malaysian Chinese, most people would suggest I employ a confinement lady for one to three months to help out right after Mika is born. The confinement lady's role is to ensure I adhere to confinement norms to keep my body 'healthy',to  look after the baby at night so the new Mum and Dad can sleep and to teach us the ropes involved in taking care of a new baby.

HOWEVER, me being me, I have decided that I will not have a confinement lady come in as I would not be able to put up with a stranger making me eat food I don't like, preventing me from drinking cold drinks and eating ice-cream, telling me I can't wash my hair for 30 days and then insisting I learn outdated methods of childcare. Instead I will have my Mum (who incidentally did not have a confinement lady after both my sister and I were born either and who is also feeling increasingly anxious.) and the rest of my family!!!

Mum's bought a book on confinement foods, and we have gone through it together deciding what to cook, so I am quite looking forward to it. For theoretical information, Hubby and I have been to ante-natal classes together and have bought several books as well. As for looking after Mika, I am living with my parents so they will be able to teach us all the practical skills we will need to know.

My parents have been incredibly supportive, so much so I don't want to move out!! Mum's even come to my breastfeeding class with me and she says it was an eye opener as so many new things have come up. Thank goodness I will not have to put up with old folks saying "Aiyah, you don't have enough milk, better go and make some formula milk for Mika, she's hungry" instead I foresee Mum being very supportive =)

My Dad's also taking his role as Grandad very seriously and has recently bought a little baby tub. Although no one has said anything, Dad declared that he needs that tub as he will be relegated bathing duties anyway. I haven't had the heart to tell him that his son-in -law will have to bath Mika at night as a means of bonding. He's also starting to think of nursery rhymes to sing to her already...

Mika's only aunt is excited in her own way, coming to me off and on and talking and making weird noises into my tummy to see if her niece moves. Very cute. My baby sister is excited about the baby.

Meanwhile, Hubby's Mum all the way over in Japan keeps wondering (and I think secretly hoping) that Mika will arrive earlier as she cannot wait to see the baby ^.^ I think she would be so chuffed if her first grandchild was born in January as that would mean they shared the same birth month! Plan are already being made to come over to see Mika although dates have not been finalised.

Mika darling, you are one lucky baby. Everyone's doting on you even before you see the light of day. I dread to think of how spoilt you could become if I am not strict as your Daddy's already admitted he will not be able to say no to you and your Grandad has declared that it is the job of grandparents to spoil their grandchild. >.<

Next checkup this Saturday... can't wait to see you again my preciousssss...

A question of poo

At 35.5 weeks pregnant, I still feel completely unprepared for the arrival of our little monster.

The baby crib we bought in October has been delivered, but sits idle in the hall. My excuse is that it's waiting for a replacement part that will only arrive at the end of the month.The reality is that I just haven't sorted out the junk in my room to make space for it... Bad Mummy I am.

At the moment the one thing that I am preoccupied with, apart from worrying about if Mika is going to arrive early and my blood sugar levels,  is diapering. Hubby was dead set on disposables, while I am a little more idealistic and am considering using disposables for when we go out and cloth diapers at home.

After a lot of discussion, and as neither of us has ANY diapering experience, Hubby decided that we will start off with a starter pack of two cloth diapers with additional inserts and a small pack of disposables first. This, he claims, will enable us to assess the the benefits of both and make a more informed decision.

I hate to say this but the environment doesn't really factor into our decision. For us, the baby's comfort level is paramount, followed by convenience and cost. So if Mika is able to use both, then we will most definitely be using a mix. But Hubby says we may inadvertently find ourselves using disposables most of the time as they are just so convenient. I would love to say otherwise, but the thought of not having to worry about laundering a stack of dirty diapers  in addition to taking of Mika is strangely seducing.

He's also mentioned that while it's a given that we will save more on cloth diapering in the long run, it would be nice to see a simulation of how much that would work out to be in a year... Damn engineers and their numbers. But if I am going to win him over to the cloth diapering side (my own conviction is weak so I am not able to insist as strongly as I would normally do in other matters) I will need to spreadsheet it for him. Poo (sic).

So, once we decided that we would get at least 2 cloth diapers, Shopaholic Mama took to the internet to make her first cloth diaper purchase. I had already done rounds of surveying the market for cloth diapers, and am very taken by a local brand called Geboo (http://www.geboo.com.my/en/). Made from bamboo fibres and hemp, they are very soft and best of all, come with inserts that have wings to prevent leakage!!! So after a couple of clicks, I bought Mika a starter pack costing RM125 with free delivery, can't wait for it to arrive in the post =)

Mika's cloth diaper starte

Mika at 31 weeks and 4 days- 旦那と一緒に親ばかになちゃった。。。

La Di Da, we went for our monthly ante natal check up today.

Mika has GROWN!! A little too fast my OBGYN says...this could be caused by my blood sugar behaving eratically in the last three weeks.

Because I am diabetic and because babies are so sensitive to their mother's blood sugar levels, I am due back for another check up in two weeks. In the mean time it means I will need to monitor my blood sugar closely and try to do more activity after meals, especially dinner as it appears that the problem lies in the insulin produced when I sleep. Sigh...I hope everything goes well. I have been very careful with what I have been eating, and keeping to my allocated carbohydrate count but I guess sometimes not everything is within our control. I just hope I don't have to go on insulin >.<

On a happier note, our little monster looks like a real baby now!! She can smile and even purse her lips in what looks like slight dissatisfaction. A friend asked if I teared up when I saw her on the 4D ultrasound, I know it sounds juvenile, but instead of feeling touched and warm and tingly, I felt excited and wanted to pinch her cheeks. I said to my doctor "Ohhhhh! She's so chubbehhhhh!" And my doctor laughed. My little monster's going to be in for some serious cheek pinching when she's born.

Another highlight to the day was the moment my husband said, "Oh... she's so cute" and then he said "ここから親ばかが始まるかな。。。” which roughly translates into "Here's where we start being the type of parents who think their children are the cutest and the smartest in the whole wide world." I thought that was just so cute. If the pregnancy to me has been surreal, to him it was like watching a movie... so the fact that he felt like that reassured me a lot.

My parents are also fawning over Mika's latest pictures... I think she's going to be one lucky girl. Everyone is just waiting to see her. Fingers crossed she's not a crier...

Here're a few stills of her and and an edited version of her 4D ultrasound.


She's so chubbehhhhh!



Our little monster looks like she's smiling!

 

In the video, you'l see that she appears to be smiling until 0.03 seconds, and then it switches to her looking more surly. I have actually pieced together two different clips for this one video to safe time and space. She moved about a lot during the ultrasound so halfway through each one the visual became distorted...

Attached to my little monster

Today I had a little scare. It was a pretty busy day that started off with a class that led into lunch and a short walk about at a local shopping mall. The whole time our Little Monster was quieter than usual, but I didn't think twice about it as she is sometimes less active in the day.

Earlier tonight however, I started to feel a little concerned as not only was she moving less than usual, she was completely still when her Daddy spoke to her. As she usually reacts to his voice by wriggling and kicking, I got so worried I started to cry. This reaction came as a huge surprise to me as I expected myself to be more rational.

Anyway after sniffling for a bit, I did a quick search on the Internet, and found a site that said I should try taking a sweet drink and lie on my side for 2 hours while monitoring her movements. She should move at least about 10 times in those two hours. If she was in deep sleep the sugar in the drink should give her a rush and encourage more movement. I did so, and lo and behold, our little monster started to wriggle not 10 minutes after I had finished the drink. As I write this, she is back to complaining about the position I am in.

Can't really explain how relieved I am, but I have come to realise how attached I had become to this little being with no voice that is growing inside of me.

Another 12 weeks to go...Here's hoping that both the Little Monster and I stay healthy and have a safe delivery.

Chubbier cheeks at 28 weeks and 6 days

Went to the doctor for our monthly checkup today.

I am pleased to say Daddy's Little Twin is doing well. She's almost doubled in weight and has much chubbier cheeks now =) In the 4D ultrasound here, you can see her being fussy and at one point where her mouth's blurred, she's actually sticking out her tongue!!

Our little monster is just over 1000 grams and according to the doctor, should be between 2800 grams to about 3000 grams at birth depending on when she decides to grace us with her presence. Other potential complications not withstanding, that's music to my ears as it means I won't have to deal with an XL baby trying to get out of my body!!!

The little monster obviously disliked being prodded during the ultrasound and made sure to let me know both during the ultrasound and up to an hour later as well. Ah... looks like she's going to be a handfull.

27 weeks along- Developments to date and her first hiccups!

My baby can hiccup!

Hubby and I were in bed and chatting yesterday morning after eating breakfast when I felt Mika move. We said good morning to her and continued our conversation. She then moved again, in little spurts, like mini kicks, over and over with short pauses in between. Thinking she was just being fussy about the position I was in I shifted. But she continued fussing, I got worried and did a quick search online. Turns out our baby was having hiccups!!

I still can't believe I am already 27 weeks along and will be giving birth to another living being in approximately 13 weeks...more amazing are the changes in Mika as each week goes by. At this point in time, she gets startled by loud noises around and reacts by kicking. In the mornings and evenings she responds to my voice and her Daddy's voice by moving around gently. She is very 'vocal' about how I sit and lie down and loves story time. She's a great communicator- granted this is done by kicking and some other physical reaction. All the same, her development is making us more and more aware of her everyday and is helping a lot with bringing the reality of being parents home.

I can't wait for her next ultrasound next week!

My first maternal pangs and an increased appreciation for my parents

I don't think anyone could have been more surpised than I was when I found out I was pregnant. I had never been maternal nor had I ever had the yearning like some of my other friends to start a brood of my own. I'm not saying that we weren't planning to have children, just not so soon.

Anyway, I'm now 24 and a half weeks along and I must say that things have changed. In the beginning, I felt rather detached from the idea of being pregnant. The only sign that I was pregnant was the horrible morning sickness I had in the first three months and constant need to use to loo after. This all came to an end when I felt Little Miss Alien move for the first time 6 weeks ago.

I was in bed, talking to my husband when I thought, "Man, today's bout of gas is bad," when I realised that it wasn't gas and that it was the Little Alien moving about. Now if she decides to have a little party we can actually see my tummy move. Amazing.

Instead of feeling detached, I now look forward to feeling her move in the mornings when I wake up to send her Daddy off to work, when I sit down for tea with friends in the late afternoon and when I chat with her Daddy at nights before going to bed. I worry when she isn't as active as usual and talk to her and irritate her by lightly drumming my fingers on my tummy. She usually obliges me with a couple of kicks when I do this and I know she's okay.

I'm glad to say her Daddy's also feeling more paternal these days after having nearly been kicked in the mouth a few days ago when he was making funny noises into my tummy =) I think she recognises his voice, or rather the vibrations of his voice, as she's always active when he talks.

I can't believe how we have matured as future parents and can only hope that we do our Little Alien justice when she comes into the world.

With the birth of these new feelings, I have come to appreciate my parents even more than before and marvel at how they brought my sister and I up. I am grateful for everything they have done for us and how they have worked all their lives to ensure we have everything we need and work. I will never be able to repay them for everything and can only hope that they are not too disappointed with how I turned out.

With my beloved Daddy. Doesn't he look handsome =)

With my lovely Mummy

With my little sister

I used to want to get away from home, but not anymore. Now more than ever I want to be near my parents, now and when my Little Alien is born. Now more than ever I want my child to grow up around her grandparents in a house filled with love and strong familial bonds. I fear that when my husband is transferred we will be isolated from my family and my child will never get a chance to bond with her maternal grandparents...it would be such a shame. My father has longed to be a granddad for a long time, I hope that he will get to spend lots of time with his grandchild.

One big happy family

From Little Miss Alien to Daddy's twin

On Saturday we went to our OBGYN for our monthly check up and managed to get a 4D scan of our little girl. At a day shy of 24 weeks, and weighing in at 572grams, she no longer looks like a little alien but looks just like her Daddy. Her eyes are closed, but you can see her fidgeting. It looks as if she's sucking her thumb... and toward the end of the scan you see her frown! I think this is where the doctor had applied a little more pressure to the scanner trying to get her turn her face. Strong personality?

She's so precious. Can't wait to see her.

It's a gurrrrrl!!!

It's a girl! Yay!!

For the last few days I have been wondering if the doctor might have made a mistake in determining the sex of my baby, but today we got confirmation that we're going to have a little girl! Now we can get on with the shopping (^_^)/

In today's ultrasound my little baby looks a little more human, but I still think that she looks more like an alien than a little baby at this point. We can now make out her head, arms, legs, torso, eye sockets and nose more clearly.

Hello there my little alien =)- Taken at 20 weeks

Having said this however, my husband and I are still feeling rather detached from the fact that we are going to be parents... I wonder why that is. I met up with my cousin who just had her baby three months ago, and she said that she's still pinching herself as she can't believe she's a mum. I guess it takes time... or at least until I can start feeling the little one kick.

Parents? Us? OMG!

Today, a little less than a year after we got registered, we find ourselves at yet another milestone in our lives.

We. Are. Going. To. Be. Parents.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't that we aren't happy about it, but I think we are still in shock.

We had been told that because I was insulin intolerant it might not be so easy for me to conceive. Also my cycle had had been irregular since I went off the pill in January so I didn't really think I was pregnant when I did the test as I thought I was just late. But something told me to check anyway as we had quite a few parties and dinners lined up that involved a lot of alcohol. You can imagine my shock last night when the results of my home test come out positive! 

And baby makes three!

Unable to believe the results of last night's home test, I went and got myself another one this morning. It was pretty high tech and cost me RM30 for just one stick! In case you are interested you can se what it looks like here  http://www.clearblue.com/uk/new-clearblue-digital-pregnancy-test-with-conception-indicator.php  As I was waiting for the results, I was intrigued by the little animated hour glass that kept turning over and over. In the end, the test not only told me I was pregnant but also informed me that I had conceived 3+ weeks ago.

Having had this doubly confirmed, I went to the doctor's office at lunch time today and got it triple confirmed. Now with my appointment with my OBGYN scheduled for the 21, we look forward to a whole new chapter of our lives.