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December 26, 2012

My little drama mama - Sascha

Was admitted to Mt. A on 25 November, a day after our trip to Pontian, as there was watery discharge. We weren't sure if the waterbag had burst or it was hind leakage, so Dr. Ben suggested that I get admitted in order for his relief gynae, Dr. Claudia, to get me checked.

Put on CTG for monitoring

 Got discharged on Sunday, after confirming that waterbag was still intact. Although, we were encouraged by the relief doctor to induce labor (since cervix was already dilated and contractions have started albeit irregular), Hubby preferred to wait for our gynae to return from his holiday.

That same night, regular contractions kicked in.

Poppy reminded me to take my last belly photo. Hah!


0200hrs - 0800hrs
After the day's false alarm, I decided to quietly time the contractions on my own, lest I raise another false alarm. 

0800hrs
Got Hubbs to SMS gynae for advice.

0900hrs
While waiting for clinic to open, had a bloody show. 

1030hrs
At the clinic, we were told not to panic, and to admit to hospital in the evening, unless pain relief is required immediately.

1130hrs
Waiting game commenced. Laid around in bed for close to 4hours after brunch, before leaving for hospital. Contractions were regular, but still manageable.

1930hrs
Dilation: 2.5cm
Gynae arrived to break the waterbag. Sascha's hand was lodged in the pelvis with her head, and I was advised to take epidural as there could be a possibility of emergency C-section. Was pretty disappointed at that point in time, since I've endured so far. Told gynae I'll sit on the idea a bit and see if things take a turn. Put on saline drip for hydration, and waiting game resumed.

2130hrs
Dilation: 3 - 5cm
After some pep talk, Sascha has miraculously shifted her hand away! Again, the nurse offered option of pain relief. (I have yet to use the nitrous oxide up to this point, simply because I've clean forgotten about it). Under desperation (contraction readings peaked at 127), and thinking that she was referring to epidural, I quickly signed the papers.

2200hrs
Dilation: 9cm
Anaesthetist Dr. Yvonne Lim arrived but epidural is no longer possible since cervix is almost fully dilated. Within minutes, it was at 10cm, and I could no longer suppress the urge to push. Nitrous oxide was administered. I was cautious about the quantity I inhaled, thanks to the horror stories I've heard about the post-partum side effects. In any case, the gas pretty much did its job and I was rather zonked out.

2230hrs
"Pop! Goes the weasel."
Of course, I wish it was all that easy. Good thing was, the bursts of contractions became "windows of opportunity" for pushing. Under the influence of the gas (ya, right!), I suddenly turned into an emo freak, and remember repeatedly apologizing for the futile attempts at pushing, and taking so long.

Hubbs and the nurses pressed on and repeatedly motivated me by telling me that they can spot BB's crop of thick, black hair. Now, I can fully comprehend the phrase "
用了吃奶的力", because I practically squeezed every possible ounce of energy I have in each push.

Suddenly, there was a huge sense of relief. I could feel the depressurization in my tummy (akin to the sudden deflation of a balloon). 

2246hrs
The "poop" is out!
It was surreal. And boy, was that a huge piece of "poo".

Everything was a blur from then. I've clean forgotten about the fact that at Week 36, she still had the umbilical cord around her neck. And, I couldn't even make out if it was Poppy or the gynae who cut the umbilical cord. But, one thing's pretty clear. When Poppy thanked the gynae, I could hear the tremble in his voice, and it was obvious that he was trying to stifle his tears of joy (or that of fear, for what unknown horrors his Princess is going to bestow upon him). Haha.


Smiley Baby Sascha

November 20, 2012

Lack of Updates

Ooh, pardon my lazybones for the lack of updates.
I'm going to conveniently blame it on pregnancy (again). For all the blunders and bloopers I've made the past 9 months, my standard answer to Hubby is "Hey, you can't blame me, I'm pregnant." Hohoho.

Anyhoos, I'm into the final lap of the (pregnancy) journey. Ended my hospitalization leave a couple of weeks back, and now work resumes. It's been a tough road thus far, but of course, it's a choice I made and I'm more than happy to suffer this little bit. I know, I know, accepting doesn't mean I can't grumble mah... After much begging, crying, and making noise, Poppy finally relented and brought me to Hello Kitty Town a couple of weekends back!


It was quite a small area with few activities, but I still got pretty excited. Haha. Pity, we didn't get to take pictures with My Melody, so here's one we took with Dear Daniel. Poppy took a lot more pictures with his cam, but I'm too lazy to sieve through and edit them. The queueing at the theme park almost killed me. So we quickly bought some knick knacks afterwards, and headed back to the city for lunchie.  Happy happy.

I'm still too lazy to put up the Aussie pix (yes, blame the pregnancy), so they'll be up probably next year. This may well be the last post before I "pop". Till then...

September 27, 2012

Drudging.

Much has happened but there's so little time to update.
Stealing some time off work for some brief updates on our little pumpkin.

I've finally managed to confuse convince Poppy to name the little one - Sascha. It's really just a nickname we had for her prior to conceiving her, but decided it'll be nice to name her that anyway. Hah. I finally had the time (and energy) to take pictures of all the scans we have of her. And, here's one that I particularly adore, taken during the detailed scan at Raffles Hospital when she was 20weeks. She was looking at us observing her, and she raised her right arm to wave at us!

Oh alright, maybe she was just mad at us for disturbing her rest, and actually shoo-ing us away.

We haven't been getting many pictures of her since then as she's already head-down since 20-odd weeks. She's been nestling her face in the placenta most of the time, mainly due to lack of space. At the previous appointment (28weeks 5days), Dr. Ben offered to do a 3D scan for us at random, although Sascha was hiding her face behind the placenta. What a pleasant surprise it was, when Dr. Ben managed to capture her face!

Poppy claims that Sascha is showing us "the finger".
*roll eyes*

Had a couple of false alarms, and I immediately got down to pack my hospital bag.
Our of panic, I pushed Poppy repeatedly to finish purchasing the items on the standard checklists. I'm still paranoid about missing anything essential though. But I guess there's surely no end to the lists, and we'll just have to take things as they come.

After the few false alarms we had, together with my decreasing mobility, increasing pains and Dr. Ben's warning that I am at risk of pre-term labour, Poppy is urging me to go on hospitalization leave and get full bed-rest. But with so much to do at work... how?

On a happier note, I did manage to cheer myself up with a couple of maternity dresses from ASOS, as I start growing rapidly out of wearable items, and a few pieces of cutsie rompers and socks for Sascha!

Time to return to work, pictures from our OZ trip will come another day...

August 16, 2012

Busy.

Poppy and I were at the travel fair in Suntec and Marina Square a couple of weekends ago.

Sadly, there were no East USA, Europe or Japan tickets available for the dates of our choice. Out of desperation, we gave the agent our travel dates and budget, and they managed to find tickets to Australia. And since the package they had for Melbourne was only 5D4N, we combined it with the Sydney package to make it 10D8N in total. And so, Melbourne and Sydney, it will be!

It's been a couple of mad weeks. Mad busy, that is.

Had a scary episode at the Alexandra Hospital, when Poppy complained of severe pain and blood in his urine. After 2 tormenting hours at the A&E, Poppy was told that one of his kidneys was swollen due to blockage by cyst and is severely dehydrated. He was ordered to finish a 2-litre jug of water before being discharged, and has to return for checks tomorrow. He has since been obediently taking his fluids daily. Hopefully, all's well for tomorrow's check-up.

On another note, my project for this semester has commenced again. I have started preparing bits of it, since I will be away for almost two weeks, in hope of returning to less work load (wishful thinking!).

August 03, 2012

The Only Constant Is Change

There's tonnes of changes going on everyday.
While I am regaining back most of my appetite and energy, my tummy is getting bigger and tiring me out easily (but, of course!). By the end of a work day, I'd be dead beat and would hog Poppy's "Seat of the House" - the chaise lounge. Compared to a couple of weeks ago, I'm sleeping more soundly at night now although BB is conscientiously bobbing away in the tummy. I'd be too fatigued to wake up at night to go to the toilet, and even if I'm parched, I'd rather not wake up either.

Well, bodily changes are not the only challenges. The mister's fickle-mindedness is also making me peeved at times.

We've made the arrangements for the Port Dickson trip later this month. However, on one of our dinners with Jessica and Adrian, they tried to persuade us into going Europe with them and assured him that it is perfectly safe for preggers to travel. Poppy was apparently convinced that we should have what Jess calls a "Babymoon", but I'm not into the idea of scurrying through half of Europe in just 10days with my big tummy. So it's decided that we will cancel our Port Dickson trip and head to the States again. With less than 3 weeks to the commencement of our leave, we have yet to make any travel arrangements or booking at all! Thank goodness a couple of travel agencies will be holding a pre-NATAS travel show at Suntec this weekend. Without even an idea of where exactly we want to go - East or West America, hopefully, we can get a F&E package of our choice in time. It's all such a rush and I've yet to make a list of things to do/see/buy!

July 24, 2012

Shoppeh!

Had our detailed scan at Raffles Hospital on Saturday and all's well. The sonographer and gynaes (Dr. KK Chow and Dr. Ben) assured us that BB is healthy and of good size.Yay. And, it's confirmed that we've got ourselves a 小龙女 (Dragon Princess)!

The following day, we headed over to Baby Expo 2012 and Takashimaya Baby Fair. Had lunchie at Tonkichi before proceeding to burn our pockets.

Our loot for the day includes:

Washcloth set from Gerber's
A baby bath towel
A footed romper
A mitten, sock and cap set
4 pairs of mittens
2 pairs of socks
... all from Carter's
(Sorry, too lazy for pictures)

Philips Avent Bundle which consists of :
125ml PP Bottle (twin pack)
260ml PP Bottle (twin pack)
Huggies Baby Wipes

Avent Orthodontic Soothies (twin pack)

Avent Spout Cup (340ml 18m+)



And also, the big ticket items...

SO CUTE RIGHT!

July 11, 2012

We Need A Holiday!

Work has been crazy for Poppy. And although I'm given a lighter load after my return to office, re-adapting to working hours and commuting on public transport hasn't been easy on my gradually laterally expanding body.

Since I've still got 4 extra days of leave to clear before I go on maternity leave in November/December, plus another S$400 worth of flexi benefits to utilize by year-end, we decided to go on a short getaway. Poppy was contemplating making a trip to Taiwan or Bangkok. I preferred not to take any flights and was inclined to have a eat-sleep-do-nothing staycation in one of the resorts in Sentosa or Hotel Fort Canning.

Poppy had many court sessions to prepare and attend, and we ended up delaying the decision, only to find out most resorts in Sentosa have sold out. A last minute agreement had us end up with Grand Lexis Resort in Port Dickson. Rooms come with a private pool in the room, so I can do my reading and tanning by the pool the whole day, yay!




This may well be our final trip before BB's invasion arrival, so it's a good time to let our hair down before we pull all of it off in a few months' time. Haa.

July 04, 2012

Quick update

And, so we didn't manage to find out baby's gender in the recent gynae visit.

In any case, we've decided to go color-neutral and buy some of the essentials first. Wilson and Phoebe will be passing us lots of unused stuff like reusable cloth diapers, newborn apparels, and a Cloud B Gentle Giraffe. Meanwhile Alex has kindly offered us his used infant car seat (we figured there's no need to buy one since it's only usable up to 9 months), and Veron is giving us her used baby cot. Thank you, lovely people!

So, our first payable big ticket item is the stroller. After much research (done by Poppy, of course), we're going for the Quinny Zapp Xtra. We agreed not to get reds, pinks, or blues, so Graphic Purple it shall be. Thereafter, we will probably get a Maxi-Cosi Priori XP Car Seat when baby turns 9 months.



Ok, now on to hunt for antenatal classes on Poppy's request. Ho hum.

Update (24-Jul-2012): We have changed our Zapp Xtra to the Rebel Red version and got the Maxi Cosi Priori XP in Pumpkin! Muahahah!



June 28, 2012

Expecting the Unexpected


Wow, it's been 4 months since I last posted.
Applied and was accepted into the Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature. And, Poppy and I, started planning our USA trip. Yay! Had a wonderful trip with Poppy to Bangkok - met up with Mossu for sight-seeing, non-stop massage, street food hunting and drinking lots of coconut juice all day long! But of course, the fun only lasted for 5 days.

Little did I know, less that a month from the day all the good things happened, I was to face the most horrendous 6 weeks' leave of my life. Hospitalization leave, that is. Lost 9KG of my most treasured weight, took jabs and was on 2 packets of drip. All I did, and all I could do was alternate between barfing and laying on the bed/couch the entire day.

As terrible as it was for me, it wasn't easy for Mommy and Poppy. On one of the nights when Poppy came over to visit me, he said he wished he was the one suffering instead of me. Aww... Nevertheless, the "1st phase of fun" as Desi calls it, started to diminish from 14 weeks onwards. That was when I returned to work, submitted the withdrawal from my Bachelor's degree (sad!), and I think we may just have to kiss our travel plans goodbye.

Now at 16 weeks and 5 days, in spite of occasional puking, most of my appetite has returned. Sadly, the same can't be said of my weight, which fluctuates in the range of 39KG and 41KG.

Yes, as you'd have guessed by now, I am pregnant with our 'Little Ma'.

February 22, 2012

Balmoral Bakery

Got my weekly supply of cake treat from my favorite Balmoral Bakery yesterday, after dinner at Sunset. Poppy's been uber nice, and has been reminding me to get my cake fix every other day... sometimes, he volunteers to buy it for me.

I chanced upon this quaint confectionery during one of my visits to the vet with Custard. And I've been their loyal customer since. Every time I have their butter cream cake, it reminds of Custard. But of course, the great taste's one of the main reasons I kept going back for more.

I've been recommending it to all my friends, and I thought I should introduce them here as well. A little history from one of the contributers at Hungrygowhere.com...

Balmoral Bakery is a spin off from the original pair of Steak and Bakery restaurants at Holland Village from the 60s, Balmoral and Kingsford. These two were side by side each other at the vacant land, just next to the Fosters Cafe, balanced on a slope that descended from Holland Road down to the Lorong Mambong area. Both restaurants were forced to relocate when Holland Road had to been widened. Balmoral Steak restaurant went and joined up with Sloane Court hotel (great steaks too) and the bakery went to Clementi to revive the "Ah Koh" tradition. This tradition stems from the Hainanese and Foo chow workers who served the British Armed forces and prepared food and bakery items suitable for their palate. FYI, Holland Village was THE place for British, Aussie and NZ soldiers stationed at Portsdown and elsewhere for their Wednesday (afternoon) and weekend shopping. Unlike today, Holland Village was an Ang Moh area, with soldiers and expats mingling freely. Local Singaporeans when to Chinatown and Hill Street for their shopping.


Food: This is a takeaway bakery with no places to sit. Curry puffs were the traditional flake type, quite different from the Old Chang Kee, A1, Tip Top and Malay Epok. This is the English type of curry puff, prepared with butter (now margarine) and layer after layer of pastry filled with curry chicken and minced beef. This was the original curry puff I ate until the OCK came along. OCK was a one man stall next to Rex. Also bought their kaya and chocolate fudge rolls - better value than the curry puff, each at $4.50 per long (1m roll of cake and filling. Added triangular apple pie and walnut cake to complete the dessert menu. Also sell French crusty loaf.


Ambience: The design reminds me of the Balmoral steak house with its wooden (simulated) beams, from the Shakespearen era. Chilled counters and great smells complete the ambience. If they aircon the place, it would be like a cake stall in England.

My favorite, of course, being the butter cream cake - my weekly dose



And also the "Cake with Cream Centre" (I call it the "Butterfly Cakey"). Much similar to OChacha's "Matcha Cotton" (S$2.90), but only at, S$1.20, a fraction of the price.

Picture courtesy of ladyironchef

Haven't had my fix from Rich & Good, another of my fave, recently. But when I do, I'll post some pix here.

You may also read more about Balmoral Bakery from ladyironchef's review here

February 09, 2012

15Days of Goodness

15 Days. 7 Lo Hei's. Unlimited fun.
Shall let the pictures speak for themselves.