Reflections of a mom-to-be

So, since we announced a few days back, we have been getting alot of advises from existing mummies and daddies. some are really good advises and of course we have some who gave us nonsense advise. some made sacarstic remarks like when we announced it, someone commented “wah so fast”. what was that supposed to mean?! hey! we are married and of course a bun in the oven is in the pipeline, what do you mean so fast? sounds abit sour to me.

and then there were people who try to force their ideas on us by saying this stroller good, that car seat no good, cot is better than playpen, this breastpump is better than that.  but do they not realise each parent and each baby is different? what works for you may not work for us and our baby. i know it is good intention but sometimes some people just made it come out the wrong way. so no thanks for your advise.

hubs and i are just gonna take it cool, appreciate the support we been having and grateful for the good advises that are coming our way as first time parents. in fact, as much as this is our first born, we do not mind hand me downs. like baby cot. the important thing is the mattress. so we do not mind a hand me down cot and we will get a good mattress. clothes… pyjamas… babies grow out of them fast! so why not take over from someone who probably only worn it once or twice? of course we will get some new clothes but im just saying that it really doesnt matter to us that we get everything new. but of course different people think differently.

anyway, we did the OSCAR test last saturday and seeing Dr Siow tomorrow for the test results. For the benefit of those who are not sure what this test is about, it is usually done between Week 11 and Week 14 of the pregnancy, an ultrasound is done to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of the baby’s neck. It is proven that babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of the neck during 1st trimester, hence the clear space will be thicker (larger) than average. i think the space should not be more than 3.5mm. A blood test is also taken and together with the ultrasound, the doctor can determine if there are any serious abnormalities in the fetal growth. The nasal bone is also evaluated for the presence or absence. it is definitely not 100% accurate, of course there are more expensive tests if parents would like to have a more accurate result and nowadays you can also find out the sex of the baby from the more expensive test. The test i took is called NT (Nuchal Translucency) Test, this is to assess the risk of having down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities. The whole experience took us about 30 mins and the test results will probably take 1 week.

The next big test that we will do is the Detailed Scan at 20 weeks where we can determine the sex of the baby as well as make sure all the important organs are growing well. That would be in about 8 weeks time! whee.

These days i been vomitting a bit more. in the mornings when i brush my teeth, the nausea feeling is almost unbearable. there was one morning where i gagged and gagged until i puked out some bubbly greenish liquid. yuck. the feeling in the evenings are worst. last evening, i puked out all the snacks i ate before i had dinner. just some chicken nuggets and sotong ball. but the feeling was so painful. i was gagging like mad with nothing coming out but it was non stop and then finally it all came out after vomitting like 5 times in a row. mucus and vomit coming out from my nose, i was tearing cos it was so painful to my head and throat.

yikes. ;( definitely not nice at all.

the night time run to the toilet has reduced though so i hope things just get better from here.

i also started listening to Baby Mozart and nursery rhymes when im lying in bed. Its like quiet time for me and baby.

Cant wait to see you tomorrow, Baby. and perhaps Dr Siow will give the all clear and its time to start on the next level of Supplements and Vitamins. Onward!

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Cravings

i read some articles to say that why pregnant women get cravings is trying to make up for what they are lacking of. Ie shortage of magnesium causes a craving in chocolates or grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and green vegetables such as spinach and shortage of protein causes cravings in meat and low in sugar makes u crave for sweet stuff. it is quite amazing because it is as if the body knows what you are lacking and makes you make up for it.

over the past weeks, i found out my real craving. the top 3 craving that i have would be………

1) STEAK! i know i can no longer have my medium so i have it well done and im ok with it as long as i have my steak! i dont need lawrys or mortons, even a jacks place or astons can curb my craving. and if i dont get my steak when i ask for it………. good luck to you! the preggie mama will turn crazy!

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2) Chicken Rice! Must be roasted chicken breast with fragrant rice and i need my black sauce! i dont take spicy so chilli is not the concern for me. i just need the yummy pieces of chicken together with rice and black sauce. mmmmmm lucky for me, this dish is quite readily available and not expensive! hee.

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3) Apples!! i dont know how and when i realised i got this craving. i started eating apples as a snack to have some fibre in my diet. Then i started to study apples and realised there were some kind of apples i do not like at all. one of which is gala apples. the flesh is too mushy for my liking. and i have been introduced to Envy Apples which is DA BEST!!!!! it is so crunchy and sweet. omg. but i have to say that it is not a cheap craving. we managed to find Envy Apples at Cold Storage for $2.45 per apple! bff told me that it could be found in NTUC for 6 for $3.50 thereabouts. an alternative is Rose Apples which are equally crunchy but not as sweet. of course friendlier to the pocket at  perhaps 3 for $2.50.

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Other than the occasional cravings for stuff, these are my top 3 constant cravings. I am glad it is not THAT unhealthy. I think i have eaten more apples in the last 2 months than in my whole life. haha. also good because it helps in the pooing section. Pregnancy causes constipation so its good to have a healthy diet to ensure smooth output.  hee.

and OH! last Saturday measured Baby at 5cm. grow baby grow!

Finally announced!

Hubs and i decided to let the cat out of the bag yesterday. Also because our family members are finding it hard to keep it a secret any longer! So well, we reckon it is a good time to share the good news and so we did.

While i was glad that many of our friends congratulated us and gave us good advises, there were also a handful of negative people who threw sacarstic remarks, and bad bad advises and some who thought they were the best parents and offered their “advices”. Well i told hubs that we can always listen but ultimately how we decide to bring up our child is our decision.

Choices is aplenty and as long as we, as parents, have done our due diligence to ensure it is the right choice, noone else can fault us for it. on some days like these, i really do not appreciate negativity in my life hence i choose to ignore or avoid.

We made it for the Expo fair last friday, it was a small fair selling basically Carter’s products and some Seebaby strollers and etc. Managed to grab some pyjamas for baby! Well not easy now as i dont know the gender so we could only buy neutral colours.

Next was the suntec – Super Mom fair. it was crazy! the fair opened at 11am, and we went for the OSCAR scan in the morning and headed over to Suntec after. We were quite early and they didnt open the doors till 11.05am. But a long queue has formed!! I find it quite a bad idea because for parents who were pushing strollers, it was quite bad to have to push the stroller thru the snaking narrow queue. It was not as if you needed a ticket to enter the event, i dont see why they only opened 1 door for the entry.

There were alot of diaper booths at the fair which i think may be good for parents as the diapers were going at a good price! my best friend bought cartons of diapers. Other than that, there were booths selling learning classes for children, some apparels, some strollers, some other essentials. I figured that whilst everything was good under one roof, the discount was not good enough for me to brave the crowds again. We bought a Capella stroller which we thought was a good buy, it was the last piece in the last colour left.

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This stroller cost us $228 and the reason why we purchased it was…. it is a very basic stroller which is light (6kg) and can be folded quite compact which can fit into our hatchback car boot. it is enough for our needs as we would seldom use public transport hence do not need a too high end one.

After the fair, we walked over to Marina Square and went in to Mothercare to have a look at car seats. We saw the same exact stroller we bought at the fair.. with 3 colours available…. and it was going at $249 (with 10% off). So it ended up about the same price we paid! but without the crowd and better customer service probably!

Anyway, the OSCAR scan in the morning went well too. although there was quite a bad experience havign to turn up early for our appointment BUT the radiographer was late and not informing us kinda pissed us off, we waited for 45 mins before we could have our turn. but all our anger disappeared when we saw our baby on the screen swinging his/her hands and sucking his/her fists and just moving and squirming around. They also managed to snap a great picture of baby, i can already imagine how cute he/she will be. hee. yes all parents are bias.

Friday we will see you again, baby.

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