39 weeks on 30 April

I believe I can fly..cos I am 39 weeks high..baby Ethan

Tomorrow we're moving into the month of May, will baby Ethan make his move tomorrow, May 1? That remains a question mark. Nothing much happens today, felt some poking sensations that cause me to urine more frequently (at least twice an hour). I assume it could be baby moving downwards.

Last night I dreamt that I've given birth to baby Ethan, and it was PAINLESS! I couldn't believe it could be that easy, and when I turned my head around, I saw baby Ethan sitting on the chair! So fast can sit up already?! Haha, of course that didn't make sense, and as I looked at the date it was 29 April, and I was like 'Oo..2 days short from May 1'. Well, that's just a dream lar

Anyway, let's see if something happens tonight or tomorrow. If not, guess I'll continue with our waiting journey in the next 1 or 2 days. Happy Labour Day to everyone!

I'm Still Waiting

I'm still waiting...
When is he coming?

Baby Ethan is still taking his sweet time in the womb, as to now, there's no false alarm yet. I'm waiting as each day passes by, it's been 2 weeks since I came back to Sibu, preparing for labour. Went to see gynae last night, apparently baby's head is pretty low so according to him, it should be quite soon, but then, only God knows exactly when he'll be out.

In His time,
In His time,
He makes all things beautiful in His time..

Just heard from my friends that 2 of my other friends whose babies are due in May have already popped out. So fast! That makes me the more eager for my turn to come. Even more so each time I visit the singaporemotherhood's forum I read about the excited mothers spreading the good news about their babies' arrival. Awww..

Well, actually I've been hoping that baby Ethan will come out on 1st May which is labour day (labour as in giving birth) so it'll be easy to remember, and also meaningful as we celebrate Ethan's birthday each year and he'll be reminded that this day x years ago, mummy was in labour for him, hehe. That's my wishful thinking, wonder if it'll come true? Hmm..

How's everyone's week going along? Guess most of my friends out there are busy harvesting their works, so is daddy Len, whereas I'm right here waiting for the bundle of joy to come along. Have a blessed week everyone :)

I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever

This morning, a piece of thought came to my mind to write a song for baby Ethan. I didn't have inspiration for new tune as it has been long since I last wrote one. Somehow, one of my favourite Hillsongs played in my mind, so I decided to improvise the song
'I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever'...

We Will Sing Of Your Love Forever

Over the mountains and the sea
Your gift of love for Len and Lis

Your river runs with love for me
Ethan's his name our son to be

And I will open up my heart
Strong, steadfast, wise, his name carries

And let the Healer set me free
To show the love You have for him

I’m happy to be in the truth
With thankful hearts we bring to You

And I will daily lift my hands
This song of praise and love for You

For I will always sing of
For we will always sing of

When Your love came down
When Your love came down

Chorus :
I could sing of Your love forever
We will sing of Your love forever

I could sing of Your love forever
We will praise Your name forever

I could sing of Your love forever
We will love - You, Lord, forever

I could sing of Your love forever
As a family we'll sing together

Green denotes the improvised lyrics of this song. It's more of a song of love and praise to God (You) from us (we - Len, Lis and Ethan :) )

38

Yeah, the title says it all. Baby Ethan is 38 weeks today :) No significant signs of labour yet, felt some minor menstrual cramp pasts 2 days but they only lasted for a while, so can't say these are true-enough-to-be-false alarms.

This noon, Mom and I went to check out the maternity ward and delivery suite where I'll be delivering at Rejang Medical Centre. Sibu is just a small town, so is this private medical centre which is built among a few row of shophouses. It's operated by 2 gynaecologist brothers, and one of them, Dr Peter, is my gynae. They have 2 delivery suites, and 10+ wards. Met up with the midwives who're mainly retired nurses, friendly aunties who managed to assure me they know their tasks well. What I'm worried about is the availability of the ward during the time of my labour as the rooms are fully occupied today, so prayerfully baby Ethan's arrival would be timely whereby the nurses and rooms and doctor and...papa Len would be available. One of the midwives said my tummy looks 'ready' to give birth, estimate one week.

Well, I guess I'm 70-80% ready for labour now. Got some milk powder samples from mom's pharmacy friend and also prepared the place for baby to sleep in. Baby Ethan is still on his moves every now and then. One day passed = one day closer to EDD = one day lesser to seeing baby Ethan..

Baby at Week 38 :
As you know, you've arrived at the final leg of your pregnancy journey, and if you're still carrying your little love around, they've just about reached their birth weight (somewhere between 6 to 8 pounds is average depending on whether they're a boy or girl). There really isn't a lot to report on baby this week, so lets do a quick recount of where we're at: all internal organ systems are pretty much ready for the outside world, they've got their meconium stockpile building up (their first black baby poo), lots of healthy baby fat, a rapidly developing brain (that'll keep growing with them for years to come), and they've more or less reached official baby status-- all they need to do is "head out" and say hello to the rest of the world and especially their ready-to-pop momma.

Rain Down

Rain down on me
Rain down on me
Here in Your presence I am free
Pour down like rain
Come and touch me again
Lord let Your presence fall on me..

Rain is pouring again in this lil' town of Sibu. Thank God for the few drops of rains He sends almost each day to cool me down. Showers of blessings, as the chorus of Planet Shaker's 'Rain Down' plays in my mind, makes me appreciative of the beauty of this nature our beautiful Creator has invented.

It's Monday, the start of another new week. Will baby Ethan make his entrance to this world this week? I guess I'm 60-70% ready for labour, packed my emergency bag the recently passed weekend. Also been exercising my pelvic muscles (thanks to lessons taught in ante-natal class) and walking, hopefully these would help to ease labour.

Have a great week ahead, everyone, while I'm listening to the rhythm of the falling rain...

It's TGIF again

Heyo, how is everyone doing? Hope all is well :) I'm still alive here, in case some of you may be wondering if I've gone missing the past few days, well, I'm still carrying my big tummy, waiting for baby Ethan to make his way out.

It's a rainy day, thank God for the cool weather. Aunty Judy from Miri (dad's younger sis) is here for a day company trip. Over lunch just now, she and mum were discussing about how to prepare confinement food. It seems that the Foochows eat 6 meals (yes, the figure is correct, 6 precisely! haha) a day for confinement, and the menu consists mainly of 'spare parts' (different organs of animals). Apparently, they believe by eating specific organ ie. kidney, it'll help to 'bu' (improve the health condition) the mum's kidney, and the same applies for other organs. Being a 'spare part' lover, I don't have problem with that, hehe, but of course, too much of something is not good either. And thank God mama ((I'm using 'mama' to refer to my mum to avoid confusion between calling myself 'mum' and her :p) said it's not necessary to follow the culture here, as long as I'm comfortable and have enough to eat, that's good enough. Phew..

For baby's full moon, normally the main dish to serve guests is misua (long thin Chinese noodle) with chicken soup. Mama has standby 10kg of 'misua' and couple of bottles of red and white wine. I was astonished to see that as she showed my aunt what she has. Bravo mama! While they were chatting over the lunch table, I could feel baby Ethan kicking excitingly, as if he's happily anticipating his own arrival :)

Weekend is approaching again, time flies, let me enjoy the last few days being a pre-mum before the first cry of Len & my firstborn is heard. Blessed weekend, everyone!

Baby E is 37 weeks today

Baby E (Ethan) : Yuppie, I'm full term today! I can come out anytime..ngek ngek..kekke..

Yea, baby is in his 37th week today, and this means that if he arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though actual due date is still three weeks away. This morning I asked baby, "When are you popping out ar?" Almost instantenously he responded with several kicks for quite awhile. Haha, not sure if that's an eager remark that he's looking forward to the big day, or either that, he still wishes to swim longer? Whenever it will be, will just leave it to nature to take its course, our Creator to orchestrate the wholesome event :)

At 37 weeks :

You are considered full-term now and your baby's final touches are being made. The crown-to-rump length of your baby is now 14 inches and the total length is around 21 inches. Your baby weighs approximately 6.5 pounds. Your uterus may be measuring about the same as it has been and is probably about 6.5 inches from the top of your bellybutton. This week your baby should engage into your pelvis. If this is not your first pregnancy, it may happen later. When your baby engages, his head drops down into your pelvis and you might feel a slight sensation called `lightening` as the pressure on your ribs eases. As your baby drops into the final postion for delivery, you may experience a buzzing feeling and shooting pains in your groin and leg. Normally, you will be able to breathe and eat easier. However, your uterus pushes down harder on your bladder and you will have an increased urge to urinate more frequently. Even if your baby engages now, you still possibly feel his feet in your breastbone around week 40. Your baby is now fully mature and ready to be born. However, your baby is still growing and developing every day. Fat is still be laid down at a rate of a half ounce a day. If this is your first pregnancy, you can expect to deliver closer to 40 weeks or shortly thereafter. If this is not your first baby, you might go earlier than 40 weeks! Make sure that your bags are packed for the hospital and remember to preregister for admission. Your doctor may begin doing weekly pelvic exams to evaluate your cervical changes and progression. Your healthcare provider will make sure that you are not leaking amniotic fluid and will also examine your cervix to check for effacement and dilation. Before labor, your cervix is thick and 0% effaced. During labor your cervix thins out and right before delivery it will become very soft and 100% effaced. Research shows your baby can be affected by stress hormones. Make time to relax, to have fun, and to rest. Your baby has learned to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing so it can do all three when breastfeeding after birth. Babies practice shallow breathing before birth, using amniotic fluid.

Hmm, that means baby's head could be engaged anytime soon. I'm already at the peak of my weight (74.2kg, having put on 16 kg so far!), am already calculating the amount of fats that I need to lose after this, tsk tsk.

It's Another Day

Another day is slowly passing by, it's been a rest-and-relax day. Went out for breakfast with mum, maid and grandpa in the morning. Did some surfing (now updating my blog) at noon. Maid shared with me her dream last night, in her dream, there was a 'comel' (in BM - cute) baby boy chasing after her asking her to carry him. She was running round and round in the living room and the baby kept following her. Then mum told her 'ini anak Tuhan, kasihlah ambil' (in BM - this is child of God, carry-lah him). Haha, so funny when she told me that, I suspect she must have sub-consciously dreamt of the baby as she was washing the bundle of baby clothes that my dear friends gave me (thanks,Yvonne and Evane for the baby clothes. I'm blessed as I've more than enough clothes for Baby Ethan at least for the first 3 months :))

When grandpa heard about her dream, he told me earlier he also dreamt that he saw me carrying my child, and my maid carrying her child, haha. My maid was shocked to hear that, she said maybe if she eats more she may become pregnant. Hahaha..fyi she's (Harti) about my age, a pleasant hardworking girl who has been a blessing to our family for the past 8 years. She's quite seasoned in Chinese cooking, so I guess she'll be helping to prepare confinement food for me later, hehe. Yeay :)

Good To Be Back

Yea, it's good to be back home again :) PTL for the smooth journey from S'pore - Sibu yesterday. It was shining hot in S'pore/JB, but was drizzling in Sibu. Didn't encounter any problem in check-in (as I was worried initially that the Airasia staffs might stop me if they think I'm too 'big' to enter the plane :p), flight took off 15 mins earlier so I reached 15 mins earlier too.

Went for check-up to see how baby Ethan's doing today. He's currently weighing 3kg, wow, that was a surprise for me as he was only 2.2kg 2 weeks ago. Perhaps a late boomer, but so long as he's healthy, mummy and daddy are more than happy. The size of his head is of 38 weeks, body of 37 weeks, hmm, that makes me wonder if he would come out 1-2 weeks earlier. Asked gynae if this is an indicator or is there anything I can do to make him pop out earlier, he smiled and replied 'It's hard for me to say. Let baby comes out naturally, don't upset him'. Haha..

Baby Ethan was happily munching away during the scan, I suspect he was eating the kampua mee (for those who're not from Sarawak, fyi kampua is our local-made noodle) that I had an hour earlier. Baby as 'tam chiak' as his mummy, hiak hiak

Next visit according to gynae would be 2 weeks from now provided if he hasn't come out yet, hmm..I wonder which would come first? Well, let it be natural, meanwhile, take this time to relax and eat and prepare myself mentally, physically, emotionally to welcome our new family member..

Have a nice evening everyone!

Going Home

TGIF (Today God Is First, Thank God It's Friday :))

I'm getting excited as this is my last day of work before my maternity leave starts next Monday. Yoo hooo...am taking 3 months off to rest and spend quality time with family, esp lil' prince. On the other hand, I'm also praying for smooth check-in for Sun flight at 325pm (anyone who reads this, say a lil prayer for me plss :))

Baby Ethan is still actively on his moves, think he's getting seasoned in there, happily paddling amongst the amniotic fluid. Sometimes I wish that in the midst of my sleep, suddenly I woke up, hearing baby's cries, and I found out that my baby is out! So miraculously easy!! Haha..happy dreaming lar...

Will keep this post short as I'm clearing things up before I chao from office today. Also looking forward to tonight's din with my cell friends, nice of them to spend 'farewell' moments with me before I go. It has been a makan day today, as I went out with my usual makan gang (colleagues) for lunch at Cafe Cartel. Yummy, mummy! Have a great weekend, everybody!!

I'm born today!

Hello everybody,

I'm born today..into the world of bloggers! Hmm, actually the main reason for my starting up this blog is to prepare for the coming of my lil' prince, baby Ethan. Intend to blog about his journey as a baby, my journey as a mummy, Len's journey as a daddy, and yeah, 3 of us as a family :)

Baby Ethan is due on 8th May, today marks the beginning of his 36th week. Praise God for a smooth pregnancy thus far, baby weighed 2.2kg in week 34, and I'll be going for my next check-up once I get back to Sibu this Sunday.

What is happening in week 36 of the pregnancy :

Mother:
Up to this point your baby has been floating freely. At any time now he will sink down into your pelvis. This is called "lightening" or "dropping". You may hear your care provider refer to it by saying that your baby is now 'engaged.' You may notice yourself when this happens because it will suddenly become much easier for you to breathe.
If your baby has dropped you may find yourself visiting the bathroom as often as every 45 minutes since she is resting right on top of your bladder again.
Some care providers will want to do vaginal exams every week for the last few weeks to keep an eye on the condition of your cervix. She will be checking to see whether the cervix has begun to move forward from a posterior (back) to an anterior (front) position, whether it has begun to efface (grow thinner), or whether it has begun to dilate (open). It is entirely up to you whether or not or how many vaginal checks you want to have. Some women like to have as much information as possible, others like to let things happen more naturally.
Your uterus has grown to 1,000 times its nonpregnant volume.
*I guess my baby's head isn't engaged yet because I still feel his frequent kicks, and sometimes I find it difficult to breathe, especially after climbing stairs/bridge or in crowded areas. Hopefully his head will engage in the next 1-2 weeks.

Baby:
Your baby's little knees and elbows are developing dimples now.
If you are carrying twins you will be interested to know that according to the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs (NOMOTC) the average twin birth occurs between 36 and 37 weeks and the babies weigh an average of 5 pounds apiece.
The majority of babies are now in the position, either head down (vertex) or butt down (breech), that they will maintain until birth. Any movements that they make are more likely to be rolls from side to side.
*Baby Ethan's position has been head down since week 32, so there's chance to go for natural birth. PTL! Crossing my fingers now, praying that God will bless me with an easy labour (as natural as it can be)