My 2nd Pregnancy

Planned to have a Dragon baby before the Snake year comes, as Kayla is turning 3 years old in the year of Dragon. We started trying late 2011 but there had been no good news for the first 4 months of trying. Gotten dismayed whenever I tried using the ovulation calendar, ovulation test strips, then anxiously using the pregnancy test strip to test for the results - cuz' it all shows "negative".

When I finally got fed up and decided to stop using the ovulation test strips (yet still knowing my ovulation cycle at the back of my mind), a surprise came when I tested on 27 Apr 2012 (the day which I should have my menses). In the morning, the pregnancy test strip didn't show any positive signs and I was disappointed that it didn't happen again, and time is running out as this is the 2nd last month which I could try for a Dragon baby! Then at night when I returned from work, I realised that the test strip shows a faint pink line, meaning it's POSITIVE! I am glad that I did not throw away the test strip immediately and a miracle results show! We were both excited!

Went to the doc on 30 Apr 2012 to do another pregnancy test in order to confirm the results. Waiting excitedly for the results and oh my! We were so happy when it's confirmed. Yeh! We did it! The EDD is 2 Jan 2013. Hope it will be a New Year baby as I prefer January babies to Dec babies, and also less competitive when enrolling the kid in school next time. (*praying hard in the heart and mind*)

• Symptoms felt for this pregnancy:

- Swollen breasts and nipples
- Easily giddy
- Gets hot flushes and chills intermittently
- Mild tummy cramps
- Cravings: Prefer tea to coffee, sudden liking for sweet & junk food

First time had brown spotting during first trimester (ard 6 wks). I was so worried when it became dark red on the very night. It didn't stop. I could have over-exerted myself when I ran up and down the stairs in the office. Walked in to see my gynae the very next day, and waited for very long before it's my turn. The gynae gave me a hormone jab and prescribed hormone pills to stabilise the pregnancy and the situation. Gotten jittery and worried as I pray this pregnancy to be smooth & stable.

• Weight Tracker:

Mummy's weight @ 8 wks: 58.8kg
Mummy's weight @ [final wk] : To be determined.

Trying not to gain too much weight like the first pregnancy, but hard to attain as I have a growing appetite when I reach 2nd trimester! Cravings for sweets, chocolates, ice creams (desserts stuffs), chips (junk food) which I seldom touch before this pregnancy. Hmm..seems like this baby prefer sweet food!

• Feeling Good!

Generally feel quite comfortable during 2nd trimester. Seem not to have swell like the first pregnancy. And this baby is quite cooperative! More awake and kicking during breakfast, lunch & stimes dinner time. Then asleep together with me during night time haha... I hope the baby can be as cooperative after he is born!

My tummy is more pointed than round. And I can eat and sleep quite well. So naturally I feel good!

1st tri scan:

2nd tri scan:

Kayla Jie Jie first time seeing baby at the gynae clinic! & heard the baby's throbbing heart beat sound!

When Dr Wong asked if she wants didi or meimei, she said didi. During the scan the gynae almost wanted to say its a girl when she checked there's nothing visible & I was ready for the verdict. Then she went "wait wait... I see something..." that's when she detected the organ of a baby BOY!

Gosh I was half laughing & trembling due to the cold Aircon. It was like 'my wish came true! God is good to me!' I secretly wished for completeness & he granted my wish! Hope the baby boy will be as good as her Jie Jie!

Took a memoir pic with the gynae 3 yrs after she delivered Kayla!

Kayla's prediction before the 5th month detailed scan:

Results of the Detailed scan!

3 Sep 2012:
Finally the Husb felt & witnessed the lil boy's movents ynite when he was busy bloping up & down! Haha. The Husb was smiling so happily... He must have missed those precious moments! Initially I thought he may not be so eager to look fwd to such moments from Tis boy, cux firstly he has to spend more time with the older one during sleep time and tts when the baby is slightly more active. And secondly he may not have the patience & time to wait for the little waves since he is busy with the older one. Thirdly I thought he may have less preference towards boy...Well he has proven me wrong when I see the beam on his face when he brightens up upon feeling the movements!

• At 25th wks scan: We saw the baby yawning! How funny the sight is! Simply endearing

7 Nov 2012:

I put Kayla's hand on my tummy and she felt Baby Kai Kai's Hi-5 kick for the first time! I told Baby Kai Kai that is Kayla jie jie. Then she also felt the wobbles too and found it interesting and funny! An amazing moment for the 3 of us.

My 3 year old.

Kayla's 3 yrs old:

• Started not to wear diapers during naps yet managed to stay dry!( thou there are accidents too). Good improvements!

• Able to write letter l, i, m, b and number 0, 1, E

• Like to sit at the dining table with us & not wear bib cuz she said she's a big girl now!

• Feeling encouraged by being a big sister-to-be, she takes more initiative to learn independent skills like washing her own hands, learning to dress & undress herself, feed herself. Then she will want me to tell baby what she has done. I think she will be a very proud sister to the baby!

• Started teaching her how to wear her own socks. She tend to give up when it gets difficult to stretch open her socks opening. But we keep encouraging her by letting her try & try, with some help from us.

• Surprised us when she started to slip in her feet into her sandals by herself! We always wanted her to learn independence in doing such simple chores.

• Got her a new watch & learning clock so that she can learn to tell the time & also to learn how to keep her on track of activities without knowing the time

Proud of her!

• Play "Happy Birthday", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars", "London Bridge", "Jingle Bells" on the piano independently. (We seldom play the piano with her, but she will look at the music book and memorize the music scores by the color & letters of the keys)

• Learning to cut along the line on the paper

• Able to spell her own name!

- Also learnt to spell words like "Stop" (Keep asking the father to stop whenever sees the Stop sign on the road), "No", "Daddy".

• I can draw a tree!

• Learning to color within the boundaries

Character Display

• She displays an observant & sensitive character towards people ard her, esp when she sees People sleeping, or talking on the phone, she will initiate for us to ssh (be silent).When we tell her we are not feeling well, she will also be concerned for us and ask us what's wrong with us. Subsequently she may also follow up & ask if we are well already? Or are we still in pain? Stimes she will even take her toy doc's kit to give us a check up! Haha

• Tantrums Throwing:

First time seeing her having a nasty tantrum throwing by throwing everything from the table to the floor (gently) and putting the chairs down (not slamming them down). She had a very short nap in the day and that likely explains why she's in such a cranky mood towards the evening time. We didn't stop her immediately. Instead I felt she needs to vent her frustrations. We sat there quietly and observe, then we tell her calmly that she is to pick up everything later otherwise we are going to throw everything away. When her frustrated mood calms down, and is able to listen to us, then we pick up everything together.

I realise, dealing with kids nowadays, cannot be totally autocratic. They are mostly stubborn and refuse to listen, unless you put up a tough & long shouting war with them. Instead I prefer to do it the flexible way. Think of what may prompt them to listen. Entice them instead of forcing them. If this minute the child cannot/refuse to do it, then give them some time. At the next minute, maybe they are more prepared and more willing to do the things you want them to do. And, I always try to have fun with her when I want her to cooperate in doing something. No point making it a chore for them. Instead, making it as play will be even more interesting for them!

New Class!

• Went to a Pre-assessment by Mindchamps Reading, she is found to be willing to try despite that she may not know certain things, giving interesting ideas such as a full stop is a "wrong circle", being able to convey subsequent consequence analysis when she was asked why do you think the boy climbs the slide? As she is only able to recognize her alphabets & not by words, and no knowledge about phonics sounds, we have decided to sign her up for the reading classes since she has the interest & potential to develop further in this area (+tis mummy duno phonics! Haha)

Activities that she likes!

• Likes to go to the library!

Side-track:
This mummy of hers can finally "graduate" when I eventually conquered the last "mission impossible"- making her to sleep! I have never able to do that for the past 3 years...never without a hard battle with tears! She's now finally closer to me and always like to have me for accompany. I hope this is not just a transition stage whereby she's feeling jealous of the impending arrival of the younger sibling, and only got attached to me becuz of that reason. I do hope I can have such girls bonding time together with her in future even when the baby arrives. I love that personal bonding time with her!

[To be continued....]