The 22-Week Scan

Here's what happened at the 22-week scan. It was quite fun :) We spent about 20 minutes alone at the scan and here's what it consisted of:

Detailed measurements of baby's growth. The areas covered were the head, thighs, back, legs, face, heart. The lengths of the various parts of the body were taken and when it came to the thighs, they were actually able to zoom in such a way they can measure the length of the thigh bone! For the heart, they were even able to see its valves, and major nerves in the head too!

Baby was so zok guai; whole time in the face down position. So what we could really see clearly was his back. Actually, the visual was very much similar to those dinosaurs in the museum - the spinal display on the back. The lady kept saying she wants to measure nose & mouth but baby simply refuses to turn, to the extent she nudged my tummy a few times in attempt to shift him. Later, she suggested I make a trip to empty my bladder, and hope the movement will help. Well, it did help a little... she still had to try most many angles before getting some measurement but eventually succeeded.

She also kept saying that the shifting colors we see on the screen was due to the baby moving. The little one just couldnt keep still. It was difficult to get measurements when he kept fidgeting, especially when it came to measuring the heart, a moving organ.

She was very nice, explaining in detail what she was doing, and interpreting the images on the screen... all except when it came to the gender of the baby... ahhh... this is the part eh? hehehe... She simply went, oh, it's a xxx, and moved on with her measurements. Hmmm... not that I'm very interested to see the root of all evil, but it'll be interesting too, right? Ok... we're having a son and I think the happiest of all persons is my father. And that's another story altogether.

Oh, and I thought the cutest were his feet, a foot here and there waving in the "air". His arms were in the ultraman-X position. Anyway, dear friends, please pray along with us that he will grow to be a man after God's own heart. Thanks!

Thursday's the Day

This coming Thursday, we'll be heading for our next appointment with the gynae. It's also the day of the detailed 2nd trimester scan. I think I've mentioned to some before that restructured hospitals like NUH don't do ultrasound scans at every visit, only one detailed scan each trimester to check on the development of the foetus.

This is also the time for us to find out the gender of the baby. Too many people have "boy or girl?" me. If baby is cooperative, and I hope he/ she will be, we'll be able to find out.

Oh! Derod finally managed to feel baby move. For the longest time I've been telling him how active the fella is inside. Somehow baby either refuses to move when he puts his hand on my tummy, or the moves were just not strong enough. Last week, a series of "pokes" (in derod's words) were detected. I'm happy and so is papa-to-be ; )

Lethal Combination

Nasi lemak (breakfast) + Nasi bryani (lunch) + Fried rice & fried chicken (dinner) = a sick cheoklet

It's in God's Hands

As much as the family is anticipating a little new life from us, some bad news has come knocking on the door.

The man who brought my mother up has a rather confusing relationship with us. He was just a stranger who took on the burden of my mother, a man whom I've been addressing as kao fu (uncle). Not too long ago, they went through a "formal" session of getting her to be their god-daughter. So now, I have an uncle who's also my god-grandfather, but who's really my grandfather since it was him who brought my mum up since she was 2 days old.

Kao fu was diagnosed with cancer some years ago but being the ever energetic man, nothing gets him down, not even the multiple cycles of chemotherapy. You could hardly tell this was a man going through something so severe. He was eating well, still going for his outdoor photography sessions regularly, all the normal activities. It was during the final cycle that his condition took a sudden and drastic turn downward. Today, we have made major adjustments to our family routines and arrangments so that someone can be around to look after him throughout the day. He can hardly walk, stays in bed much of the time and complains of pains and aches that wont go away. The optimistic and modern man (his skills at photography and photoshop won him many an award) is now no longer there. He is currently making arrangements to "pass on" his skills and all the physical assets he possesses.

It doesnt look good, and he seems to be ahead of us in planning for it. No one knows how much time he has left. When i hear people say things like "I wish my relative can get to do such-and-such-a-thing before he/she leaves this world", I've always felt a little more objectivity should be given to life and God and His control. But today, I find myself saying, I hope Kao fu gets to carry my baby and hopefully even hear baby call him "tai gong" before it all comes to a close...

My (New) Body Parts

My mum bought Ethan a set of children's charts, one of them showing the different parts of the body. Guess it's not just one-year olds who have to learn their body parts, cos I seem to need to too, since things have changed pretty much of late. At 5 months now, here're some of my own lessons:

- Diaphragm. It has shifted out of the location I think it should be in; I think it's now higher up, nearer my stomach than before, which makes it harder for me to sing cos the breathing is just wrong!

- Veins! I caught sight of some spider veins appearing at my right ankle, the one which got dislocated in 1996. Guess the poorer blood circulation is causing this phenomenon. Spider veins, as the name suggests, are purplish-redish small veins that spread out like a spider web. The book says that it should go away after the bb is delivered. The other scary one is the potential of others developing into varicose veins on the same ankle. Some of them are looking really ... potential. Must rotate ankles more and raise feet above hips when at home.

- Hair. I always found it gross to hear of women who grow hair on their stomachs when they are expecting, anticipating them to be like those on the mole on the lao tee koh's face. But apparently, it's not all that gross hehe. I found the hair on my tummy (like those on hands and legs) growing thicker and at a faster rate. Perhaps it's due to the moisturizers I'm been slapping on? Derod says now my tummy looks like a man's chest. So exaggerated *bleah*

- Baby in the tummy! Bb's movements are really precise, and much more frequent now. The other day, I was lounging on the daybed and decided to observe whether there are any visible movements. Well, I'm not disappointed ; ) I can see the tummy pulsating and twiching with some of bb's movements. Got so excited, so told derod he has to sit down and watch too. But bb seems to know and refused to move at all! My mum said they know... and purposely refuse to move just when u want to see.

And other things have changed too. I can no longer do simple actions like lift my feet up to wash my toes during bath time. Have to find some other acrobatic postures from now. I can no longer change my sleeping position from my left to my right in one smooth motion. I can no longer sit on the small stool and have my dinner at the coffee table while watching tv. Tummy's in the way and the food cant go down as well. I can no longer sleep through the night. I'm either up peeing, or just get awaken for no reason.

Well, these changes can be quite fun, but let's hope the next few months wont bring about too many that are hard to adjust to. ; )

Trip to A&E

Made a trip to A&E on Tuesday afternoon.

It began on Monday morning while I was on my transport on the way to work. Not too long after boarding did I experience this acute pain on the side of my stomach and it didnt let up at all. After 45 mins of it, I finally threw up into a plastic bag on the bus. Uncle was quite taken aback. The remaining part of the morning saw more plastic bag episodes. The pain was quite disturbing so I called up Joanne and asked for advise. She said better call the gynae and check. His nurse took the call and said that it could be something bad I ate since I had diarrohea the previous night. But if it doesnt let up, then I should just come to A&E, or visit gynae on his clinic days.

But things were quite fine, until Tuesday afternoon. After lunch, it was that same acute pain, and let's just say I wasted time eating the lunch. So I decided to go to A&E to check things out. Vince was so sweet, he came and drove me there. Derod said his class wont end till 4 pm and he'll be there as soon as he could. But he got so distracted and worried that he ran off to cancel his class and took a cab down to NUH. After waiting for more than 1.5 hrs, we finally saw the doctor, who narrowed the diagnosis down to two options: one, I have kidney stones; two, it's just a gastric thing and he'll prescribe some magnesium-something to take care of it. But I should watch it and come back if the pain persists or make an earlier appointment with the gynae.

They gave me a day of rest yesterday and I'm back at work again today. Hope that all things will be fine. I'm starting to feel baby move; the movements are more precise now. Come end of this month, we'll go through a detailed scan and also find out if it's a boy or a girl.

Are you prepared?

Can one ever be ready enough to take on the role of parenthood? How does one react to the responsibilities that come as a result of having a child? I suppose these are some thoughts that run through the minds of every parent, or every parent-to-be. But I certainly did not expect that these begin tumbling onto my lap, not at the birth of a child, but at his/ her conception.

June, July and August consisted of trying days of simply feeling sick. I cant even explain where sick, why sick, what exactly I mean when I say I feel sick, but I just feel sick. There are also days where my body feels like I'm hot from the inside, but cold from the outside, yeah, that kind of feeling you get when you're about to come down with a really bad fever. But no fever ever develops out of this. So, I suppose it's just part and parcel of the unique symptoms each woman experiences at this point in life.

Late August and September saw me starting on feeling nauseous to the point of wanting to throw up, 24:7. Then, when I hit the 12th week of pregnancy, I started the dry vomit stunt. You know how those women on drama serials gag and gag yet nothing comes out, then they suspect they are pregnant? Yeah, I was doing that. To my horror and disappointment, this phenomenon turned into a real puking episode, again, 24:7. From then on, everyday could be a potential "day". If I'm fine, I'm fine. Once I go, the whole day will be plagued with threats of retching and eventually, you know...

I'm still here, at 19 weeks of pregnancy, still going through what would have abandoned most women after 3 months. So, who said motherhood begins when your child is born? Isnt the 9-month journey of carrying this growing child the beginning of my journey as a mother? (Oh gosh, I'm gonna be a mother!?)

But I thank God that through all these tiring and trying days, I've not once entertained irritation, impatience and other bad thoughts, despite the character that I am. And, derod has been a really great support. He's so accommodating, so nice to take over some chores on his own initiative and never complaining, so sweet to accede to all my requests like a glass of water here and there, a massage for my ever-tense shoulders, etc.

So well, let's hope the baby will continue to grow healthily and normally and may my days of agony pass soon.