Dear1 Dear2

- The running nose that started from last week continued into week 25, making every work day a dread. Despite that lethargy-ness, Dear2 still manage to survive a 5 day work week, kudos!  Haha…

- Since Dear2 feels faint most mornings, especially if the weather is hot, we decided to try taking a cab to the MRT station instead of taking the feeder bus.  Oh gosh, our place to Chinese Garden MRT costs about $5 to $6.50, depending on traffic light conditions.  That’ll be about $30 per week, $130 per month!!  Let’s monitor the situation and see how it goes….

- Is the bump getting big now?  Dear2 can’t seem to get a good sitting position on our sofa.  The next best posture will be to put the 2 sofa throws at a V behind the back.  Even with that, Dear2 usually needs Dear1 to pull her up from the sitting position.

- Baby kicks are more frequent now.  Baby was constantly kicking during mummy’s msn chat throughout the afternoon, keke..

- This week marks the 8th last week of 2009.  Counting this week in, it’ll be 2 full work weeks, 2 long weekends, 2 full work weeks and 2 long weekends for Dear2 before 2009 comes to a close.  Just gotto grit your teeth, hang in there….

- After the APEC summit this weekend, I believe that the Christmas sale season will begin!!  Aussino was already starting a Baby & Bath Fair, and very soon it’ll be time for us to start sale-shopping for baby stuff!!  Yeah!!  Hmm… Gotto clear out more space to store all these baby’s stuff though.  Haha…

- Dear2

Dear1 and Dear2 returned from our Penang trip earlier in the week.  It was a relaxing and yummy trip.  Towards the end of the trip, Dear2 was just basically looking forward to meal times when the stalls open for business.  There were lots of walking done during the trip as taxis are too expensive in the island, the rarity of public transport was not an option for us, and anyway we had all the makan places nearby to Tune Hotel within Georgetown itself.  Dear2 concluded that the distance that she walked in that 4 days was much more than the total that she’d walked during the 5 months of her pregnancy (since discovering baby).

Dunno is it that work is just so xian, Dear2 fell sick almost immediately after coming back to Singapore.  We even had to bring forward the scheduled gynae’s appointment 1 day earlier as Dear2 was just feeling too unwell and faint with the running nose and sorethroat.  Though reluctant, gynae decided to prescribe Dear2 with iron pills, once every 2 or 3 days only as Thalassemic Dear2 cannot store iron very well anyway.

Dear1 and Dear2 were very happy to see baby in the scan again too.  Baby is now about 735g, slightly larger for a 24 weeks baby.  Previously, the scan always shows baby’s full view, now, gynae has to snap a few positions just to reveal the whole of baby.  My, baby is growing so rapidly now!!  Keke…  (And yes…. mummy is growing rapidly as well.  Dear2 has now officially crossed the 60kg mark, now at 60.4kg.  Huhuhu…)

Amidst the lethargyness from the running nose (or back to work?) this week, Dear2 was busy arranging collection of the spree loots.  Yeah, the breast pump, Papillo shoes, and Gymboree orders were shipped in and ready for collection, so definitely have to get my hands on the goods, after 3 weeks of excitement.  So far so good, all the purchases were suitable.  Dear2 was initially still apprehensive of ordering stuff online.  What if it’s the wrong size or an unsuitable product?  Luckily everything were good so far, so can be spared from Dear1’s scoldings, keke!  Hmm…. What else can I buy next? Hahahahaha…

- Dear2

Dear1 and Dear2 were planning to go on a short holiday this week – a holiday that after this trip, might be a long long while more before we can go on the next holiday with baby in tow next time.  And as the trip was really planned very hastily, this week was quite a mad rush for both Dear1 and Dear2 before we embark on the holiday.

Dear1 was frantically trying to finish up his work before we depart for Penang on Friday, and Dear2 was also trying to sort out all her work this week, which so happen that there will be a company marketing event on the next day when we return to Singapore.  So the whole week was really rush rush rush rush for both Dear1 and Dear2.

It was probably due to the stress of having to complete so many things in a week, that Dear2 was not very emotionally strong this week.  When Dear1 gave her the task of doing up the trip’s itinerary, Dear2 suddenly totally went ‘blank’.  Dunno where to start, and dunno how to start, and all these have to be done in 2 days’ time – Dear2 just completely went blank.  Luckily Dear2 was able to quickly voice out her weakness to Dear1, so from a ‘big assignment’, Dear1 broke it down into smaller tasks for Dear2 which she completed 1 by 1.  :)

The morning heat continues to be the biggest bane for Dear2 every morning, making the journey to work a daily struggle… Maybe we should consider getting out of the house much much earlier, before the morning heat starts.  And that might mean stepping out of the house before 7.30 am…. Groan..

- Dear2

This week has been a tiring week, because Dear2’s body is busy fighting the season flu bug.  You know when the bug is in the air, when everyday you see a few Medical Leave Applications – Fever/ Cold from around the office.

So this week has been a tired, tired week, and Dear2 was really just hanging on for the weekends to come. Its worse when every bedtime was an effort to get in bed and be able to fall asleep. Dear2 has started to notice a pattern – mornings are faint, afternoons are ok, and nights are very full.  Despite me eating enough breakfast before setting off from the house, the morning journey to work is still a struggle.  Only upon reaching office and having a super early lunch at 11am, den does the day really starts.  An afternoon snack around 4pm, plus a normal portion of dabao-ed dinner, and plus a fruit or 2 at around 10pm, and Dear2 is off to bedtime.  But by this time, the tummy is so heavy such that every movement to get onto bed and every turn to get into the right position makes a groan.  Hmm, our only conclusion is that the tummy is now very stretched with the dinner contents.  Sigh… Usually the discomfort eases into the night, and by the time of waking up the next day, the tummy feels soft again…

Because of this nightly ordeal, Dear2 is afraid of eating too much now.  No more ‘can eat a cow’, even though the appetite is still good in the day, and after-dinners still do get that ‘eat not full, feel like nibbling on something’ feeling, but ‘if you eat now, you’ll suffer later in bed’ torture is too much for Dear2 to dare to eat more than the necessary.  Dear1 and Dear2 loaded our cupboard with quite a bit of snacks and biscuits and sweets at the beginning of second trimester when Dear2’s appetite was tremendous, but 2 months on and the biscuits are only about halfway done. The super cheap offer of kiwis at NTUC – 8 for $5+ seemed like a very good deal since Dear2 can eat 2 kiwis every day, but barely 2 days later,  it became a ‘wait tomorrow than I eat’ kind of phenomenon…  The moral of the story – only buy what/ how much you can eat.

Pregnant mummies should really watch their diet.  Dear1 and Dear2 heard about the ‘no lamb cos the baby may have yang2 dian1 feng1′, or no crabs cos the baby may turn out to be super touchy, aka ‘many hands’ from old folks.  Though these seem to be founded on traditional nonsense, but no harm just avoiding these foods since Dear2 don’t normally eat these as well.  But for foods that have a scientific disbenefit to the baby, these ought to be paid attention to.  Dear2 had an almost narrow escape with Luo Han Guo.  A common cooling herbal tea, Dear2 wanted to get a bottle to cool her body down, as well as to expel the phlegm in her lungs, benefits known for the Luo Han Guo.  Luckily the auntie at the herbal tea stall (Westmall, Basement 1) was observant enough to notice Dear2’s bump, and kindly advised that pregnant women should avoid this as the tea contain xia4 gu1 chao3.  Not too sure what harm is there in this herb, but Dear2 is just very grateful to this auntie.  Kudos. (This stall will remain as Dear2’s favourite herbal tea stall.  Dear2 found that only herbal teas from this stall are effective, probably because the teas are brewed and sold freshly.)

Dear2’s 1/3 brain is really having very limited processing capability. New information, especially those on lengthy paragraphs are a total turn off, and you’d better not ask me to remember any new knowledge, simply because my brain cannot process these  now, haha.  But for old knowledge and information, Dear2 can surprisingly still execute them very well.  Give me an old problem sum anytime and I should be able to systematically work out the solution, but this may take a slightly longer time than before, haha.

With this constraint in mind, Dear2 was suddenly frightened by the prospect of baby coming out prematurely.  A friend narrated that her recent birth was 7 weeks premature though the pregnancy for the past 32 weeks seemed to be very normal.  Even until today, doctors are not able to detect this abnormality through blood tests and such.  So much for wanting to enjoy the bak kwas and love letters during Chinese New Year, exactly 1 week before baby’s EDD!  And we won’t have time to slowly get ready all the baby stuff if baby really is premature!  Hmm… Baby’s EDD is 21 Feb 2010, Christmas is slightly more than 2 months before that, so the new action plan will have to be, to get ready all the hand-me-downs before Christmas, and buy all the shortfalls during the Christmas sale.  And from now until then, if there are cheap buys at super good deals (haha, ie SPREES!! Yeah.), better get them now also in case we won’t have the time. :P

- Dear2

Oh, we’ve finally crossed the halfway mark at week 21.

The 40 week pregnancy is now halfway done, and there’s 5 more months to go.  Talk about long, it’s not that long, but say short, it’s not too short either.  The week 21 milestone just means that 1) There’s 2 more months left in the second trimester which is supposedly the ‘honeymoon’ trimester, and 2) This will be followed by the uncomfortable 3 months of third trimester.  Oh gosh.

2 more months till the end of the ‘honeymoon’ trimester… Dear2 has not been feeling exceptionally well this past 2 months either.  The appetite is ok, there’s better immunity compared to the first few months of reduced immunity and all that coughs and colds, and the bump is getting so big now that it’s hard to miss this pregnant mtb on the train.  But ‘honeymoon’ period….  That sounds like a far fetched tale…

Gynae however recommend that we go on a holiday if we want to, NOW, cos third trimester is gonna be uncomfortable again, and once baby comes out, it’s gonna be a long long while before Dear1 and Dear2 can go on a holiday again.  We did contemplate – perhaps bring baby on a long holiday at the end of the 4 months maternity leave, which will be in Jun 2010, but going to a foreign place for too long, you dunno if baby’s immune system is able to take it.  Plus, seeing a doctor when you are not in Singapore can be troublesome as well.  And by the time baby is old enough, say 1 year old plus, we’ll be planning and preparing for baby #2 already.  Wah, it’s really going to take a long long long while before Dear1 and Dear2 can go on a long and far holiday.

So this just means that if we really want to go, it’ll have to be NOW.

Considering our options, Penang seems like a nice quick getaway since Dear2 has not been there before, and it’s relatively a civilised place.  So we quickly booked our air tickets and accommodation, and in 2 weeks’ time, it’ll be Dear1 and Dear2 retreat at Penang.  :)

All this haste on confirming tickets and accom, Dear1 and Dear2 were busy with spreeing this week too.  Referring to the earlier post, Dear2 was very much hooked onto spreeing this week.  The store discount + (potential) savings in shipping makes Dear2 hooked onto this shopping method.  Now its restraint time, until the goods arrive and we have a good sense of how much is the shipping cost, and whether is the spree really so worth it after all.

Gas….  A blot/ punch of gas…  Muscle twitch….  Are these baby kicks?  Dear2 has been experiencing this on and off this past week, but it’s hardly what I’ll imagine as a baby kick.  Often, it’s a feeling of a blot of gas punching out of the tummy, and sometimes it’s towards the internal hips area, making Dear2 feel like letting out gas (suddenly) most of the time.  On other occasions, especially when I am lying down, the sides experience a sudden slight muscle twitch feeling.  Dear2 has not been able to find many mtb’s description of their baby kicks experiences online, but from that few that I’ve seen, plus the timing of 21 weeks seems to be already overdue when mtbs experience their baby kicks, this should be it bah.  It’s really not a pleasant feeling, and hopefully once mummy soothes the tummy every time baby kick, to tell her that mummy is right here with you, this will give baby comfort and assurance.  I love you, baby.

I love you too, Dear1.

- Dear2

PS: Oh, we went to Baby Kingdom and Baby Hypermart @ Shun Li Industrial over the weekends.  Not exactly fruitful – things are not cheaper than elsewhere, they are just the same, and there’s not exactly many things to buy.  Probably the main takeaway was that we got to know a bit more about strollers through the sales people’s explanation and demonstration.  But… some information seems to be not accurate too… Just take it with pinch of salt.  We left after 1 hour’s of pacing in the 2 stores which is really a stone’s throw away from each other.