Week 20 Day 5!

So we are half way into this pregnancy now. yay me. good job mama.

We went for the detailed scan (also known as FA- Fetal Anomaly test). This is a detailed scan where the sonographer takes a close look at the baby and the womb in general. The main parts of the baby is scanned to ensure the baby growth is going on well.

The sonographer will examine all your baby’s organs and take measurements. She will look at:

• The shape and structure of your baby’s head. At this stage severe brain problems, which happen very rarely, are visible.
• Your baby’s face, to check for a cleft lip. Cleft palates inside a baby’s mouth are hard to see and are not often picked up.
• Your baby’s spine, both along its length, and in cross section, to make sure that all the bones align, and that the skin covers the spine at the back.
• Your baby’s abdominal wall, to make sure it covers all the internal organs at the front, as well as check the placenta, umbilical cord and the amniotic fluid (FASP 2012b).
• Your baby’s heart. The top two chambers (atria) and the bottom two chambers (ventricles) should be equal in size. The valves should open and close with each heartbeat. Your sonographer will also examine the major veins and arteries which carry blood to and from your baby’s heart (FASP 2012a).
• Your baby’s stomach. Your baby swallows some of the amniotic fluid that he lies in, which is seen in his stomach as a black bubble.
• Your baby’s kidneys. The sonographer will check that your baby has two kidneys, and that urine flows freely into his bladder. If your baby’s bladder is empty, it should fill up during the scan and be easy to see. Your baby has been doing a wee every half an hour or so for some months now!
• Your baby’s arms, legs, hands and feet. The sonographer will look at your baby’s fingers and toes.

(extracted from Baby Centre)

Well it was quite an interesting experience. i found out that my baby is too active! she was not in the right position most of the time, so the sonographer had alot of difficulty scanning the parts. like when she wanted to scan the hands, one hand would be clenched and the other is open. when she wanted to scan the heart beat, she would move and the sonographer had to retry to grab the heartbeat as it has to be taken in a sequence.

this is our baby’s hand when she was slightly more cooperative! her fingers showing so clearly and looks like giving us a hi 5.

i had to turn to my side and the sonographer also tried to “disturb” the baby by shaking my tummy, to try to irritate her to turn into the right position, but to no avail. i was also very amused to see my baby turning and flipping in there, yawning and stretching. arching her back as she stretched after waking up from a nap. awwww.. mama finds you so cute! as we went to a third party scanning centre, they were not in the position to explain the results. their job was to just scan and then they would send the scans to my gynae who would explain the results to us. so the visit to gynae happened a week later and glad to know that baby is growing well and good. thank god!

over the last few weeks, we also splurged on some other big ticket items. other than the cot and steriliser, we finally found the perfect car seat.

we saw this car seat at Robinsons and as we had some vouchers to spend, we decided to get this Red one to match our car. I think car seat is very important as we hope to bring our baby out often and safety is of course number 1. i know people say that babies dont sit in car seat, but i rather be prepared than not. and well, we will try our best to train her to be comfy in the car seat. maybe if she knows thats her special seat in the car and that sitting in this seat means gai gai, that would do the trick? hehe. we will see when she is out!

next thing we purchased was a wardrobe. when we did up our new house, we didnt plan for a build in wardrobe in the spare room. with the baby coming along, we decided to get a wardrobe to accomodate her clothes and all the baby items. we thought of buying a simple one from ikea, but as much as it was cheap, the quality was not so good. we managed to find one quite solid from a furniture shop at genting lane which mom brought us to. and the requirement fits exactly what we need! we didnt want a kids wardrobe per se, and we wanted something to match our house. so this shop managed to take in our requirement to drill in a 2nd hanging bar, as baby clothes are quite small so the 2nd bar would be perfect and space saving. there was also alot of shelves in the wardrobe so it was good and affordable.

finally had the chance to hang all her pretty clothes and i feel so happy looking at them!

our prenatal classes are starting soon in november. so excited. i still remember when we first signed up, we were somewhere in the 1st trimester. and now, we are all ready to attend classes, ready to be parents, ready to bring our baby into this world.

psst, anyone feels like me? baby seems like she is using my bladder as her punching bag. i can feel so urgent suddenly but when i run to the toilet, there is nothing much. argh. baby, kick somewhere else pls!

i cant wait for the next visit to the gynae. i love to see how our baby has grown each time we see her on the screen. up to now, she is 290grams and perhaps the size of a banana. hee.

i am also very thankful for the hubs who have been very supportive and helpful in this pregnnancy, he does most of the housework and when we go out, he tries not to let me carry too many things. and oh, he also satisfies all my cravings no matter how tired he is and he urmmm eats up the food which i order and cant finish. haha! thats why they say the papa also put on weight right. heee.. thats what going thru pregnancy together is all about!

alright, till the next update!

Week 18 Day 6.

Trimester 2 have been great so far, other than the aches and pains from the growing belly, the nausea has disappeared. it is the time where most mummies find their energy back to do the baby shopping. we went to hongkong/china recently for a short trip and i wasnt thankful at all for all the stairs we had to climb at the MTR stations. it was crowded and human traffic was bad. i couldnt take my time and had to rush up or down the stairs. it ended up with super bad back aches at the end of the day. my feet were also dying and i couldnt feel them anymore after the trip.

the thing about being pregnant and sitting an airplane…… the economy seats were too uncomfortable. we took scoot. our flight were past midnite there, and when we came back it was early morning. so i wanted to snooze badly but the design of the seat didnt allow me to snooze much, soon my tailbone was aching and there wasnt space to stretch my legs. oh well, i guess if we had to go for another trip, i would opt to upgrade to the biz class seats on scoot! haha…  oh yes and the air in the airplane was so dry, i felt my nose going to drop off any moment.

but overall, it was a good trip, we managed to get some goodies for our babygirl. we bought pyjamas and socks, about 11 items for SGD$37. it is not bad right?

we heard about the takashimaya baby fair happening now, and we heard good things about it. that the deals were worth going for and we decided to take the plunge to brave the crowds to check out the big ticket items for baby girl. we saw the bonbebe cot on the flyer, it was going at $399 with free organizer (like a mini shelf to put diapers/towels etc), a night light and 5 piece bedding. my bff got the same cot at $399 without the freebies. so we made our way down yesterday. seeing that it was a saturday, surprisingly it was not that bad a crowd. there wasnt a need to queue at cashiers, there was space to walk, in fact alot of parents were pushing their strollers around. it was all about personal space and giving way. so it was one of the best baby fairs i been to.

we purchased the bonbebe alexa cot and arranged delivery next week! so excited.

this cot is a 4 in 1 which means it can be converted to a toddler bed, a day bed and even a kids bed in future. the wheels also will be useful when we have to push the cot to our spare bed room in the event my mom wants to take care. overall i would say it is a good buy!

we intended to only buy the baby cot, but when we saw the offer for sterilizer at the pigeon booth, going at $168 for loads of things, we had to take a second glance. in the end we also bought it. it comes with a food warmer, washing liquid, washing brush, 2 small milk bottles, 2 big milk bottles, 1 limited edition horse glass bottle, etc etc etc.

comparing to the Avent one, this sterilizer is more spacious, it can accomodate about 8-9 bottles as the “trays” are adjustable. in future we can also put in baby bowls cos of the round design of it. it is also a rapid steamer which means just 6 mins and ure done! the separate food warmer is also useful when we have to heat up milk bottles for night feeds. there is also an attachment to warm up baby porridge in future if need be.

other than all these, we also purchased small frivolous items like onsies, socks, pacifier, detergent. we also bought a breastmilk cooler bag! it is endorsed with the Fridge to Go and it was going at 49% off. why not! haha.

phew. ok so we checked off some items off the checklist, i guess we are just about done with the big ticket items. we got robinsons voucher and we will check out the car seats there.

having a baby is expensive. so girls and boys, before you get pregnant, think carefully!

on a separate note, baby movements have increased. mostly at night. baby toh has a habit to jump and roll around when papa is playing music. she loves listening to music, so when papa toh plays twinkle twinkle little star on the piano app in his tablet, baby toh will dance to it. too cute. and i cant explain how or why but it just feels so amazing to feel her kicking in me. some days (usually day time) when i dont feel anything, i get slightly worried. but now i figured she is most active in the night. and also because the kicks are not so obvious yet, i tend to miss alot of her movements when im moving around in the day.

baby toh, mama and papa didnt plan for you so soon, but we are struggling to get everything ready before you arrive. all you need to do is grow and be healthy. love you much. cant wait to see you in the FA scan next saturday.