Fussy evenings

Phew everything is getting so much better. Baby is no longer so sleepy that he refuse to wake up for feeds. Infact, he wakes up almost every 2 hours to demand for milk! I'm a happy mom! In ther afternoon, when it's warm and he's snuggly swaddled, he will just sleep and sleep, so I've to wake him up but he feeds well after be woke up and realized he's hungry. So far, baby is feeding about 10 times day, sometimes drinking only 5min to quench his thirst and sometimes drinking up to 45min. He's asking for more milk at a closer interval which means he's growing up and needing more!

Baby's fussy evenings started this week and at first we were caught off guard, not knowing exactly why he kept crying n even spit out a lot of milk. Baby would demand for feed, but pull off or cry and cry when I offer him the nipple.

Now we catch Yun Xuan's pattern. During the fussy phase, he needs a lot of hugs, hear papa and mummy's voice talking to him, singing to him, and rocking him gently. I feed him milk when he's calm enough so that minimize the fussiness. His fussiness starts sometime around 7pm. Sometimes he can fuss until midnight or later, making us feel so exhausted. He just refuses to sleep and keep demanding for attention and feeds. I do not dare overfeed him though because there was once I fed him too much at a short interval and he vomited out the milk.

My lovely baby Yun Xuan is now putting on weight, apparent from the chubby look he now has, and he has grown so much taller! Mother in law says he's a really tall baby. He takes after his dad, thankfully! I dun want him to be 2cm short of 1.6m like me, haha.

Next week, we are bringing him to the Polyclinic to check how his jaundice is. Hopefully, the bilirubin level in his blood will go down. I have a feeling it has because he is so much more wakeful and alert now, and the yellow colour on his skin doesn't seem to be there anymore although the whites of eyes still has some yellowish stain. He doesn't seem to be a jaundice baby anymore. I wish Yun Xuan will be given an all clear by the Polyclinic doctor, otherwise it means more jabs and more blood test. So heartache.

I can recognize my baby's cry among the baby's cry at the nursery in the hospital. His cry is very unique and unlike other babies, his cry is very soft and gentle, not the loud wailing kind. But he likes to protest by making "errrr" sounds. He also makes this sound when he stretches while he sleeps. Very adorable!

I've to go back to cuddle my baby although I'm really tired. Lucky hubby is around to help me during his fussy evenings. If I handle him alone, my arms will break n I'll be so exhausted, I'll cry.

Baby feeds

I was so depressed yesterday evening that I called hubby and cried, telling him how our darling babe refused to wake up for feeds and drink so little when I put him to my breast.

When hubby came home, I was in tears and I cried as I ate my dinner. MIL and others saw and were concerned but they cannot be of any help. I need hubby to be there with me, sharing the pain and the worries.

Luckily, baby suddenly came alive in the evening. After changing diaper, baby fed 35min! He totally drained out the milk on one of my breasts! I gave him the other breast. He suckled for 5min and decided to call it a day. Hubby played with baby and I joined in the play, feeling so happy. I'm jealous of hubby. He loves his daddy and only behaves when daddy comes home. Yesterday, he was smiling and gaggling to hubby before he goes to work! But in the day when I try to wake him up, he just sleeps and sleeps like a koala.

As for night feeds, he had a good sleep after a hearty meal and woke me up at 2.30 with his cries. I can sense his impatience. I quickly pump out some milk to keep the aerola soft, picked up Yun Xuan and fed him. He's enjoying his feed very much. He drank a lot and then fell asleep. I'm so happy! After Yun Xuan went back to sleep in his cot, I kneeled down and gave my thanks to God. God blessed my little baby!

I'm happy when he feeds more and depressed when he feeds less or reject feeds. Sigh. My emotions are controlled by this little baby.

This morning, he woke up at 7am for his sun bath to prevent jaundice, and at 8am he is crying so hungrily for his feeds, he cannot play with his Papa before he goes to work. I fed him quite a lot too until he seems satisfied and then let him rest until his bath time.

Now baby Yun Xuan is lying down, and resting, fully awake after a good bath. But not hungry so I can't feed him. I had wanted to feed him after bath but he's too hungry before bath so I had to feed him before bath.

Hugs my dearest Yun Xuan baby. Everyday, we wait for daddy to come home to accompany us. It's really a torture doing confinement. The food is great coz my mother in law cooks very well but I can't shower and drink cold drinks in such hot weather. This is horrible. I switch on air con time and again to cool myself down. My MIL likes to swaddle Yun Xuan up and he's very red and hot after awhile because there isn't even fan blowing at him or air con! Back at our own home, I will keep baby cool with air con. If babies are swaddled too hot, they are at risk of Sudden Infant Death (SID).

20 more days to baby's full month! 2 more weeks and my confinement will be over. I can go wherever I want provided I can feed baby when he demands. Hugs dearest hubby and Yun Xuan. They are the most precious to me.

Jaundice fear

We were so afraid that baby's jaundice will persists and his bilirubin level will go up because lately, he still looks so yellowish. You can see his skin is yellowish and his eye whites are yellowish. I was so worried that I cried and cried. My hubby too was very very worried. We consulted our friends, anyone we could think of who can give advices, read online articles, forums etc, and looked for another pediatrician to seek a second opinion. The previous one whom we saw kept asking me to feed baby water in the day and infant formula at night so I am very unhappy with her.

Hubby's aunt told us about a pediatrician that her ex-colleague recommended. I read online that he's good and highly recommended by many mothers in the forum. Sure enough, Dr Ong EK of International Child and Adolescent Clinic is experienced and patiently explained to me about jaundice and other baby issues like baby acne, white spots in baby's mouth, etc. He is very detailed and even noticed that baby's umbilical cord is not so well cleaned and clean the sides for us with alcohol swipe. Very nice doctor. Kinderclinic initially arranged for baby to do blood test again this friday. I asked whether we could change the blood test to his clinic instead. But the nurse misunderstood that I requested for baby to have a blood test done. Lucky another nurse saw that the bilirubin level is 12.6, not that high and said my baby should not be required to do another test. She went to check with Dr Ong again and he said it is not necessary. Lucky! Coz I dun want my baby to undergo another poke and drawing of blood again unnecessarily. So heart pain.

My dearest baby still is very sleepy and won't wake up for feeds every 2-3 hourly. He also falls asleep very easily 5-10min into the feed. If I'm lucky and he's very hungry, he can feed for 25min-30min with some intermittent stopping to burb or when he accidentally unlatch. My happiest is when he feed 35-40min at one feed! But that is rare. He usual pattern is feed 5min, sleep, wake him up, burb, feed 10min, sleep, wake him up, change diaper, feed 5min sleep. Sigh. When can my darling baby feed longer and wake up more?

I think I don't really want to worry about the night feeds anymore. Just let him sleep through the night since he is so sleepy. Coz last 2 nights I worried so much that I had nightmare and hallucination. Couldn't sleep well at all.

I am so concerned about his feeding because he needs to feed well and poo mustard yellow colored poo often in order to clear his jaundice. Every time I explained his situation to pediatrician, they say its normal for baby this young to sleep often but make sure he feeds well. But sleep so often and so easily how to feed well?! Sigh, the problem is my own to face. I told my hubby to not be stressed and worried like me, and instead be my support and pillar and keep me positive when I am stressed up. When both parents go crazy, its difficult to make good decisions. I'm so emotional lately that I'll cry so easily. I was so desperate for my baby to stay awake and feed just now, that I prayed to God to let him feed longer. Please God, bless my little baby and keep him healthy and glowing.

Baby Kieran Sia Yun Xuan is born on 10 Oct 2010!

My dearest baby Sia Yun Xuan Kieran is born on 10 Oct 2011. A wonderful date, isn't it?!

Haha.

The whole delivery process goes like this:

Early morning, hubby and I woke up for breakfast as usual. Rainy day and Hubby said rainy days are usually lucky days for him. He has a feeling something good will be happening today!

Hubby received call from the company he went for interview at and he was informed that he is offered a placement. He called me to talk about handing in his resignation and asked if there's any sign of labour yet. I said no. No bloody show, no nothing. I'm still at 38 weeks 4 days pregnant.

I went to take a short nap.

10.30am, while lying down on bed, resting, I heard, or rather felt a "pop" sound below, somewhere at my lower tummy. A few minutes later, I felt warm gush of fluid there, much like period coming.

Heart pounding, I rushed to the bathroom and saw my pantyliner stained with pinkish liquid. Washed and saw clear liquid with some blood stains flowing up continuously.

Called hubby and asked him whether he has tendered. He said yes. I told him water bag burst. He was shocked. I told him I was very frightened and nervous. He asked me not to be afraid and asked me to call my doctor and my dad immediately. Dad will come to drive me to hospital.

Dr Ho's clinic nurse asked me whether the flow of liquid is a lot. Its trickling but not a big gush. So I was advised to go to the clinic first. We did a fetal heartbeat test and Dr Ho checked the dilation. I was already 3cm dilated! I was like huh, 3cm and I felt no contraction?

He sent me to the labour ward. I didn't have anything except breakfast at 8am in the morning. Dr Ho said it's better not to eat anything in case an emergency surgery is necessary. When I'm in labour, I won't feel like eating anyway. A nurse in his office is so kind to give me a pack of biscuits. My parents, and hubby are with me. My parents in law are on their way. I couldn't believe it. My water bag broke at 10 Oct 2011, exactly the date I wish he will be born. My little angel!

I was so nervous when I went to the delivery ward. I was told to change into the hospital gown but leave the back unbuttoned in case I need epidural which needs to be injected to my spine. The nurses are so friendly and kindly answered my questions. Their calmness made me less nervous and afraid.

I'm so glad hubby is with me throughout the whole process. I am lucky to have such a loving and supportive husband.

The contraction was really painful. It started soon after I lie down on the bed with IVF inserted. I am relieved the anasthesist finally came and injected epidural. One painful insertion of the needle and one rather painful insertion of the catheter and then there's no more pain. I used the laughing gas because I thought it can help me alleviate the pain but the gas doesn't have much use. Gripping hard on the handle of the laughing gas pump helps though.

Then we waited another few more hours. Dr Ho came to check and said its still 3cm. My contraction isn't strong enough to dilate the cervix. He ordered the IVF medicine to be increased and within 1 hour, my cervix was dilated another 4 cm. Soon, the nurses came and said they want to prepare for delivery. Lucky that I used epidural. Hubby said the scale went really high up during peak of the contraction.

Then, I was 10cm dilated. Dr Ho came and told me he is going to deliver the baby now. He will use a vacuum but he still need me to push. I couldn't feel anything there after the epidural but the nurses and dearest hubby encouraged me to push when I should. I pushed not so hard at first. Then with their encouragement, I pushed harder and harder.

We heard baby's cry and there! My darling little angel Yun Xuan is born!

I immediately felt my stomach went "down" and the nurse put a crying little baby on the cloth on my chest. I was amazed and I really am not sure whether I should touch baby or hug him or what... My hubby is so brave! He watched the whole delivery process and see baby's head emerge from my vagina. He said baby came out facing side ways.

Then we watched and took photos of little Yun Xuan while doctor stitched me up. After that, Dr Ho informed me that I will feel pain a few hours later when the epidural wears off. Little did I know that the pain would be so intense that I couldn't sleep at all on day 1! Dr Ho came to check the stitches on the 2nd day and told me that besides the episiotomy, I also suffered a larger tear on the right side because my skin was too delicate. That explained the long time he took to stitch me up.

The lactation consultant came on the day after delivery to teach me breastfeeding but I couldn't do it well because the wound hurts so much! Most of my energy is gone to bearing the pain of the wound. I called hubby early on the day after the delivery to ask him to came to hospital quickly, I need him as I was feeling so extremely painful.

I love my little darling. He had jaundice on day 3 and his bilirubin level went up to level 14. So I stayed one more day to accompany him. I tried to breastfeed him as best as I can and to relieve his agony of taking off all his clothes and going under the phototherapy, I asked the nurses to feed him formula milk if he cried too hard. Then the next day, he level is 11.5 and the doctor said he can go home. Babies can go home if they are below level 10 but the doctor said he can go home but we must feed him well, make sure he passes urine and stool well and he has some sun bathing in the morning between 8-10am.

I really love my darling baby. Now, he is suffering because his bilirubin level is still high, he keeps sleeping and sleeping, not waking up every 2-3 hourly for feeds. My breasts are engoarged and I really really want to feed my little darling like I did in the hospital. I don't know what I should do. I'm at such a lost. I just want my little darling to get well as soon as possible. If he don't get enough breast milk, his bilirubin level will go up, and I can't bear my darling baby doing back to hospital again. If he needs to be admitted, what should I do?

He's not feeding well like other babies. He just kept sleeping. I'm useless at waking him up.

I was miserable that I was crying since this afternoon. Thinking of my little baby suffering makes me cry more and more. Other people around me showing concern made me cry even more! I just hope they would just leave me alone so that I can spend time with just me and my baby and I don't have to feel terrible with people disturbing me when I feed him and I don't have to bother with unwelcomed advices. I just want my hubby to be beside me, talking to me, reassuring me, caring for me and telling me baby and I are just going to be fine.

I hope everything goes well for my beloved and we can be happy again.

Baby cold

Oh no, we are so sad. Baby was only 23 day old when he suddenly developed cold symptoms. Yesterday 3am, baby woke up for milk but after drinking, he still woke up at 4am, 5am and 6am, crying but not drinking a lot of milk when I offered him nipple. He started coughing a lot and making weird noises with his nose. We realized that its not normal and wanted to take him to polyclinic as we had planned to bring him for his jaundice check up. But in the morning, hubby and I decided its better to bring him to pediatrician instead. He seemed to be feeling really terrible.

Dr Ong saw him and explained to us some coughing and sneezing is normal but checked and said baby has a lot mucous. But he dun recommend babies this young taking medicine. He said there are babies who stopped breathing altogether and turned blue after taking medicine that cause drowsiness. He told me us to use a saline spray to spray into baby's nostrils to let the mucous come out. He said baby will sneeze it out or it will come out as runny substance.

We used it once yesterday and baby was crying and crying. We had to hold his head. Poor thing! We used it again this morning and afternoon. He seemed more relieve after using the spray. We'll use it again this evening a few min before his feed and then let him sleep. Hopefully he'll be fine. My poor baby. I hope he will get well soon. In the day he's ok. The worst usually happened at night, usually when he wakes up for night feeds... and that will be my problem alone coz at that time, nobody can help me :(

What's worse is that mother in law had cold and its probably her who passed the virus to baby even though she already took good precaution like wearing a mask. So its more tiring because we dun dare to let her carry baby. We have to care for baby on our own and hubby has to learn how to bathe baby. Sigh. Its all so tormenting... but I shall survive this, and baby will get stronger!

Baby's head is engaged!

Baby's head is engaged

Today, I met Dr Ho for regular weekly check up again. He did a scan and immediately said baby's head is engaged. I had a feeling baby's head is already in my pelvic bone cavity even before he announced it because the usual symptoms:

1. Increase urge to urinate
2. Feeling baby has "lightened" and tummy looks like it dropped lower
3. Heavy feeling at tummy, walking more like penguin

applied to me over these few days.

Occipito posterior position

Unfortunately, he also said baby is engaged in a face up orientation. This is called the occipito posterior position, where usually, baby faces up when I lie down and his back faces my back towards either right or left side.

The problem with this is that whenever a contraction occurs, baby's head will be forced to tilt in such an angle that it hits against nerves at my spine which causes extreme backache. Dr Ho's suggestion is that I request for epidural once I felt that I cannot tahan the pain. I asked him usually how much dilated should I be when I request for epidural, and he said there's no hard and fast rule, but if I'm 3cm dilated, feeling super painful and there's a long way to go coz cervix dilate only 1cm per hour, then it is advisable to get epidural. If I'm too exhausted when it is time to push, it will be worse.

I asked him whether there's any chance baby will turn to the "correct" position which is face down. He didn't say there will be or there won't be. I guess I need a miracle... or some exercise I can do now to help. I read online that if I could be on my hands and knees for 20min 3 times a day and do pelvic tilt exercise 3 times a day, they can help baby turn face down.

A nurse who usually helped Dr Ho in the doctor's room told me not to worry, just go to pray more at religious hall for baby's head to turn. Hahaha. Everyone I met at Mt Alvernia is so nice and friendly.

Caesarean may not be necessary

He did not say a Caesarean is necessary so we assume it may not be. I read up online that a occipito posterior position does not require Caesarean unless there is fetal distress or other problems. However, like what Dr Ho warned us, it will be a difficult labour. The labour will last longer, the mother will feel more pain with each contraction, and it won't be easy for baby to come out. We placed our trust in Dr Ho. He is very experienced. Pray hard my baby will turn to the Occipito-Anterior position which ensures a higher chance of normal delivery. Aiyoh, most babies' presentation is head first and face down... why my little Kieran choose face up? I was once told my uterus, unlike most women's, is shaped vertically instead of horizontally, so my baby feel more comfortable in a sitting position than in a lying down position in early pregnancy. The radiologist told me during Oscar scan. Perhaps this influenced baby's position in late pregnancy too? I never asked coz hubby only thought of this and brought it up after we came out of the clinic.

More frequent visits to Obstetrician

Today is Thursday. I had to go back to see Dr Ho this Sat. He said he will see me more often, and not wait for a week to see me again because I have history of low fetal movement. My weight also dropped from 60.7 to 60kg today but I'm not sure why. I'm eating well. Perhaps I dressed in lighter clothing or perhaps I ate lesser for lunch today. The nurse said I have to do fetal heartbeat test for every visit (unless doctor say no need to) and its even more necessary today since my weight decreased. I lie down with 2 round disc strapped to my tummy and listen to baby's heartbeat for 20min. There's a record of baby's heartbeat on a chart. So far I've done 3 tests and all 3 are normal. Each test cost extra and are not included in the package though. But cost is not an issue when it comes to safety and health of baby.

Every night, when I lie down and feel baby moving inside me, I felt so nervous and I keep thinking about the labour and the process. As I was doing the heartbeat test in the quiet and small room just now, I felt my own heart beat increase as I imagine that perhaps doctor will advise me to give birth today due to some complications or he'll check and say I'm ready for childbirth already... I certainly do not feel I'm ready for labour yet! BUT I wish baby will come meet us sooner. My feelings are contradicting... I wish baby will give me a very clear sign that he is ready to be out, like some regular contractions or pain or mucous discharge, anything like that, then I will feel more ready to go for labour.

DIY cupcake stand

I tried to DIY my own cupcake stand after reading an article from here. Its a pretty nice blog if you enjoy making cupcakes, cakes and stuff :)

I'd like to share the process and cost of making my cupcake stand as shown in the pictures below:

View from top angle

View from the side

The materials are:

14" cake board
Quantity: 1, Bought from: Phoon Huat at Blk 422 Ang Mo Kio, Cost: $1.40

12" cake board
Quantity: 1, Bought from: Phoon Huat, Cost: $0.85

8" cake board

Quantity: 1, Bought from: Phoon Huat, Cost: $0.55
(They sell in quantity of 5 per pack so its 5 for $2.75.)

7" Dummy styrofoam cake round
Quantity: 2, Bought from: Phoon Huat, Cost: $7.00

6" Dummy styrofoam cake round
Quantity: 2, Bought from: Phoon Huat, Cost: $6.60

Wrapping paper
Quantity: 1, Bought from: Precious Moments, Cost: $1.20
(You can also get better quality thick paper from Paper House or Art Friend but here, I want to save cost so I use cheaper alternatives.)

Ribbons
Quantity: not very sure, I bought about 11metres and there is still some left.
Bought from: A shop in Ang Mo Kio centre selling sewing, knitting stuff and ribbons
Cost: $2.60

Small head pins
Quantity: A few

White glue
Quantity: 1
(Do not use UHU glue because it corrodes styrofoam. But you can choose to use double sided tapes instead of white glue. I used white glue because my parents happened to have one at our home.)

Of course you will need a pair of good scissors and pencil too.

The process:

1. Stick the two 6" dummy cake rounds together with white glue, and leave them to glue together for awhile. Do the same for the 7" ones.

2. Meanwhile, I draw out the shape and size of the cake stands on the wrapping paper and then cut them out.

3. Stick the cut out shapes with white glue onto the cake stands and leave the adhesive to work.

4. Use a small head pin to pin the sides of a ribbon onto the edge of the styrofoam cake round and then wrap it round carefully. Use white glue to add more adhesive. At the end of the ribbon, use another pin to secure it.

See picture below:
5. Using white glue, stick the cupcake stands together with the 14" cake stand at the bottom, then followed by 7" styrofoam cake rounds, 12" cake stand, then 6" styrofoam cake rounds, and finally 8" top cake stand.

Finished product :)
Total cost: $20.20

Scared again

This is pretty scary AGAIN...

Throughout the night, baby was moving around, stretching and jabbing and kicking me really hard. It felt as if he's not feeling comfy inside and is protesting! I talked to baby, trying to ask him to calm down and asked him to sleep well. But he still kicked hard. I felt sharp pain at the vagina area, perhaps due to his kicking or perhaps due to the cervix dilating as what my Mayo Clinic Preg book described. I also felt pressure at the rectum as he's dropping low now and when he stretched, he'll put pressure there. Advice from some of my mummies frens is that one symptom of labour is feeling pressure at rectum, urging us to push. I keep tossing and turning, going to washroom coz he's hitting my bladder too, and trying to feel if there's any gush of liquid indicating water bag burst. None of those happened. But I developed a headache which I experienced mildly for the past 2 days. Maybe I worry too much. I imagined the childbirth process and was so frightened by it. Then suddenly realized my breathing was too fast and hard, and I consciously tried to calm down by regulating my breathing.

I read online that during the last few weeks or days of preg, mummies will tend to move bowels more often. This is a way for our body to cleanse itself in preparation for labour. No wonder! I have been moving my bowels like at least 2 times and at most 3 times a day! I'm now 38 weeks and 2 days into pregnancy. Before that, during 2nd trimester, my bowels were affected so that I only go like once in about 2/3 days. Its due to slowing down of digestion for better absorption of nutrients during pregnancy.

Today, I could only sleep at 4+am. Hubby woke me up this morning when he wake up for work. I told him about last night and that today, I really couldn't wake up to accompany him for breakfast. Later, he came to talk to me before he leave for work and told me that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, had passed away. I hope Steve Jobs can find eternal peace wherever he is now. He is one great creative genius and he had created beautiful things for our world. I hope he goes to Heaven.

Today, I'm seeing Dr Ho again at 3.45pm and I'm glad Hubby is coming along. I told him this may be the last time that he can come along for check up. Baby may come anytime now. So he decided to leave office early and go with me. Its also good that he check out the new Registration Counter and Business Office because Mount Alvernia is currently under renovation and these places were shifted to temporary venues. I have yet to visit the Chapel yet which is temporarily relocated to level 5. I must remember to hand in the pre-registration form today... I wonder whether Dr Ho will check for dilation today... I hope not coz I read in forum that it could be painful and cause minor bleeding.

I can feel baby's coming anytime now and I hope he come quickly coz daddy and mummy are getting impatient! :D

Decreased movement

This is pretty scary... I got a real scare from baby on Monday morning. Every morning, by 10am he would have given me 10 kicks or movements but on Monday, no matter how I move, lie down, turn left or right side, shake my tummy, he refused to move. I was using computer early in the morning after accompanying hubby for breakfast and our usual morning chat. Hubby left for work and I was so busy at the computer that I didn't note baby's movement. We are supposed to take note of baby's movement since we wake up and he should complete 10 kicks a day. So I got a bit worried, stopped using the computer, and lied down on one side. Usually when I lie on one side, baby felt uncomfortable, felt pressure on that side and will start turning around or kicking to protest. But this time, it's all quiet. Then I stood up, walk around, went toilet, shook my tummy, bounce my tummy, drank water, still no movements...

I remembered that on Sat, I saw greenish vagina discharge, put these 2 incidences together and got more n more worried, so I called clinic. The nurse advised me to go down.

Gynae did heart beat test, scan and vagina infection test for me. He said we have natural bacteria in vagina. As long as there's no inflammation and/or pain, it's ok. The test today showed no infection. Phew!

He said fetal heartbeat looks normal but he has patients whom even though normal, experienced lesser fetal movement n baby heartbeat suddenly stopped. So he told me to do heartbeat test again tml morning. I was so scared n worried when he told me that. He said if I felt lesser movement tonight, I must admit myself immediately, don't wait until tomorrow. If not, we'll monitor tomorrow. And coz my baby is considered smaller at 2.6kg, he's not sure whether he's a healthy smaller baby or smaller coz there's prob so it's better to deliver baby early if we suspect any prob.

On Tues morning, as scheduled I went to see Dr Ho again but this time with a lighter heart because last night baby kicked me a lot and with big movements! I'm so happy to be kicked! Lol. On Tues morning, he's also moving a lot and I counted 10 movements by 10am.

Dr Ho did a heartbeat test and said it's normal. He explained we cannot rely solely on the heartbeat test because accuracy is 1/400. I may be among the few, and with his experience, he has seen several cases where baby heartbeat suddenly stopped at late stage of preg. He cannot pinpoint a reason and he has to deliver the baby but with really sad news. He told me he once had a patient who did not feel fetal movements for many days and stayed for many days in KKH to test fetal heartbeat. For many days, everything is normal but one day, baby's heartbeat just stopped! They did emergency caesarean but could not save baby. His opinion is, dun just rely on tests, monitor baby's movements, report abnormalities immediately and deliver baby early if need be!

Today he also reminded me to watch out for signs of labour because now I'm approaching EDD, it could be anytime. Oh, I'm so excited and nervous to think of the delivery date!!! It's all happening soon!!! I'm wondering how my labour would start? Would it be water bag burst, regular contractions or bloody show followed by the earlier 2 symptoms or... maybe he just won't come and I need to be induced? Hmm... we'll know in time!

Belly dropped lower

Belly dropped even lower this week. Every night, hubby helped me to do Butterfly stretch. When I sat on the floor (on a pillow), with my legs stretched to the Butterfly stretch post, I realized that my belly were touching my thighs already! Previously it was pretty high up and last week, it never touched my thighs when I do the stretch even though it dropped lower.

No wonder I had to go to the toilet 4 times last night! And some were pretty urgent.

Today, I keep feeling like going toilet even though I went just few minutes ago.

And maybe perhaps I've been switching on the air-con every night recently, my belly got more itchy than it was previously and I unconsciously scratched it too much. Lucky hubby woke me up and reminded me not to do that. I put on more moisturizer. But nowadays, my body temperature rises to really high level and I felt heated up easily so I desperately need the air-con more than anything else.

Last night, as I lie awake on my bed, I imagined myself in the delivery ward, trying to push baby out, imagined the horror of the cervix stretching and baby's head emerging... I imagined holding a soft and small little baby in my arms... Finally the day that all these will happen is arriving and yet I suddenly feel lost. I am supposed to do all these that I heard from people and watched in dramas? It's unbelievable. I read somewhere that God actually made childbirth painless until human committed some sin and we had to undergo painful childbirth. I think the same goes to the menstrual cramp I had, and the only benefit of pregnancy for my body is the absence of that cramp for 10 months. haha... but I guess gradually, we are used to the pain anyway. I envy those who had no menstrual cramp and little pain during childbirth. I wish I am the lucky few! I heard people say the uterus contraction which feels like menstrual cramp will hurt really badly after childbirth... what people call "afterpains". Sigh, pay back time for missing the 10 months of period. I really need the pain relief...