Baby Kai Kai

Kai Kai - the name which we called affectionately for the past few months - seems to have caused great impact in our lives despite still inside the womb...

1) The 1st tri brown discharge scare
- Makes us cancel our Phuket trip ✈ last minute (think he doesn't want us to go without him) but also make us closer while we pray hard for his life
- The Husb gave up his smoking habit starting from then. A big change in his and our lives.

2) The 3rd tri brown discharge cum preterm labour scare
- Makes us cancel our maternity Photoshoot as I have to be on bed rest. (Maybe he wants to be in the Photoshoot!)
- The scare happened when my in laws have to be away for a wk's long holiday, makes us Realise we have to stay knitted and strong during this period of time when reliable help may not be available. And to appreciate each other's efforts more while we stretch our limits to survive this delicate period. We show more care & love as form of support for each other. And reflect more upon our actions in the treatment of the older kid when she threw tantrums in midst of our tiredness.
- I always complain that Husb never send me to work at my last difficult month of my last pregnancy & secretly hope that he can send me to work this time round. With this scare, he is finally spending that extra money to drive his OPC to send me to work. Maybe Kai Kai wants him to dote on mummy more. Hee...
- Because of this condition, my gynae gave me medical leave for the subsequent week to rest more & walk less. I am thankful for this as I Realise my body can't take it any longer beyond that 3 days in office clearing my work & doing handover. If not I would thought I could continue working till end of the year. I am grateful for a good rest now, in preparation for the big challenge (labour & taking care of the newborn) to come! And the early maternity leave that I have to take is actually good for me & my baby cuz less stressful for both of us.

Baby Kai Kai seems to have his special way of bonding the family as he works his magic inside me.

3rd Tri : Appreciative Thoughts

Due to my unstable condition & had to get bed rest as much as possible (or at least I can't walk too much), the Husb has to take care of Kayla by himself, run in and out of the house for errands by himself (or with Kayla). He gives me more hugs & gentle concern tender words more recently, that makes me feel more supported. I am really appreciative of his efforts he has put in for the family as I know he must be tired out from all the stress & running around. I feel so helpless not being able to help him. And I wish I quickly recover so that we can do things together as a couple, sharing the load together.

3rd Tri depression

I m feeling some signs of depression ever since I got admitted to hospital for emergency that day. My in laws will be on holiday this week, so no help available this wk. Next wk my gynae will be on holiday, so no gynae next week. Feeling kinda worried what if baby comes during these 2 wks? My work in office got disrupted & unsettled, causing one of my stress & helplessness. And with my wk's of bed rest & fatigue, I feel another sense of helplessness when I can't run my errands, & settle the unsettled work in preparation of the baby's arrival. I can't even go out & take a walk to relax myself. Practically No mood & physical energy to do anything. I just want to do nothing except to rest with my mind set at ease. I Duno why I m feeling that way. I m feeling both vexed, worried, unsettled yet have no mood & energy to do anything about it.

From babycenter:

Symptoms of depression could arise due to-

Problems with your pregnancy. A complicated or high-risk pregnancy can take an emotional toll, particularly if you're enduring weeks of bedrest or numerous genetic tests. (Women who are pregnant with twins or more often fall into this category.) The strain of having to endure difficult procedures combined with fear about your baby's well-being is often difficult to shoulder. Likewise, not being able to work or do other things you're used to doing makes it tougher to maintain your emotional balance.

I m quite worried I will bring my Prenatal depression into postnatal depression

Pre-labour alarm!

Sun 2 Dec 2012, 11.50pm - found that my panty liner got stained with brown spotting & got a scare! Woke Husb up & we decided to go to the hospital to check juz in case...

Initially thought its false alarm & can be discharged really soon, as I do not have any dilations or feel any contractions... Then they kept me under observation longer as the machine detected mild contractions. On the safe side, they gave me a pill to stop the contractions & an injection to boost the baby's lungs JUZ IN CASE he decides to pop out at 35th/36th wks! OMG! Pls don't... I was praying really hard inside my heart. I m not prepared yet. The logistics are not complete yet too!

My gynae came over & check my condition ard 4am. Inserted finger to check & realised there's still quite a bit of blood inside despite no dilation. So I have to be hospitalized till next day 12 noon. If still no signs of labour & no more blood then I can be discharged. Argh... I was expecting that I can go home real soon but it's taking longer & longer than expected. My gynae says her worries are not unfounded cuz she has/is delivering a few patients who have same due date as me! So they are all delivering ard 35th/36th wks already! That gets me more worried what would happen if I really have to deliver so early? My office work has not been hand-overed yet & I feel uneasy thinking of that alone. Plus my in laws are going for a week's holiday Tml!!! Who can help me with my confinement & Kayla when they are away? A lot of worries & questions running thru my mind & I can't do anything but pray things can go smoothly...

Now I m getting "Pre-exercise" routine of hearing all the newborns' crying at the nursery room... Makes me Realise that very soon (Duno how soon) I will be facing that...

With an elder kid at home, the Husb has to go home to relieve my in laws who were helping to jaga her when we came to hospital while I stay in the ward myself. Realised I have been more independent as the need arises... Well, we just have to grow as we go along the journey of parenthood...

I hope labour will not start so early & I can still enjoy my Xmas & New Year's Eve in peace...

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....]

New Blog domain is up & running!

After exporting all my old blogs from Multiply (soon to be closed wef 1 Dec 2012) to this Google Blogger, my new blog domain is finally up & running!

Hopefully with a Blogger app, I can blog more easily, anywhere & everywhere I go!

Thank goodness my 8 years worth of blog entries are able to be saved with this exporting tool. Otherwise I would have to take ages to archive them...