Baby Lim at 31 weeks

Went to Dr Fong's on Saturday. It took quite a while for her to move into position. However, this is a pretty good sonograph photo. You can see her little fingers really well. She's kicking more than ever now. At 1.8kg, I can feel her when she stretches, punches, kicks. An unusual feeling, sometimes painful.

Serious conversation

In the papers one and a half weeks ago: "$64000 for Nursery School". $3200 a month is how much one couple was willing to pay to send their 2 children to one of the best schools in Singapore. This is craziness to me. However, a quick check with my sis-in-law told me that my niece's mid-range nursery fees were a little over $400 after the govt. subsidy for working mothers.

That weekend, Kelvin and I had the serious conversation. The one where I should possibly stop working or work part-time. The thing is, the best person to take care of a child is always the parent. However if I work, I'll have to compromise on time spent with my child. If I stay at home I'll have to figure out a way to make do with less money. Less money for us means less for the child as well. Sigh...what to do? We still haven't asked Kelvin's mom whether she'd be alright with taking care of the baby and the maid the whole week while we're at work. Of course, when the baby is older, she can go to playgroup for a few hours every day.

Had an episode just this week where I thought my degrees had increased. This made me really depressed. Coupled with the fact that my right eye just won't stop tearing. It got pretty bad because I was giddy and couldn't see well at all. Everything looked like I was looking through some sort of haze. It didn't help that Kelvin had to leave me alone for two days to attend his grandmother's funeral in Ipoh. I wanted to be with him but it's considered taboo for pregnant women to attend funerals. So there I was, having dinner at Thomson Plaza all by myself and having to squint to see the menu at Hanz. Finally went to see my eye doctor when Kelvin came back. I took a day off because I just felt so handicapped not being able to see. The doctor told me that my degrees had actually decreased due to the pregnancy hormones. How that happens I don't know. However, it's temporary. Unfortunately, I still have to spend money on a new pair of glasses. Don't know if things will go back to normal but we'll see.

Lai Family reunion dinner

Photobucket Album

Just crossed the 7 month Mark

Well this is the 28th to 29th week. The baby's kicks are getting more interesting. This morning, I felt her turning, pushing and doing the running-man all at 6am. She's active in the early morning and late at night. I'm starting to be able to predict when she's going to kick. I can feel her squirming movements. So I've managed to let Kelvin feel her twice more. That's a grand total of 4 times. I think it's become a little game I'm playing. When she kicks, it's as if she's talking to me already and I want Kelvin to share the experience. In the books it's called "bonding with the bump" for the husbands.

I'm transitioning to more maternity wear now but refusing to wear everything maternity coz it's expensive. Some colleagues say that from behind, I look mostly the same as before. They say that I still look very active for a pregnant woman. I suppose it helped that I was active before the pregnancy. All in all, this has been a very blessed and easy time. Lots of people are really nice (especially the women who say I carry my bump really well) and aside from feeling strained after exerting myself too much, needing to pee all the time and pudgy looking calves and ankles, I'm really feeling good.

Of course there are other minor things like forgetting how big I've gotten, bumping into things, no longer being able to stand close enough to the board to write stuff, calves cramping up in the middle of the night...

I'm trying to remind myself also to keep my temper in check. Work can be frustrating still. I'm trying to let go more and do any scolding I have to do in a calm and pleasant manner. Not easy believe me. However, I think I have to start letting go. Otherwise, this baby is going to end up high-strung and I don't want that. Kelvin helps a lot . We destress when we see each other at the end of the day. He's been really lovely and sweet. I'm so glad that I'm going through all this with him by my side. Of course, if it weren't for him in the first place, I wouldn't be pregnant but still...

still able to wear yoga pants but the tops are from a maternity shop.

This dress (which cost as much as the top above) is from a normal shop but I bought over-sized. Bought it on sale. Hopefully, I'll be able to alter afterwards.

On another note non-pregnancy related, I've been doing some reading on how to raise smarter children. I've come to the conclusion that all mass education systems are fundamentally flawed coz they focus on conformity and limit creativity. This has lead me to start thinking about 1. being more active in our child's mental development and 2. how I can teach creativity. First of all, creativity is not something that can be taught. It's more of a frame of mind, like a blindfold being taken off; something that has to be awakened and then stretched like a muscle. We'll see how it goes. I've got some ideas that I'm going to try out. If it works perhaps I can take a new direction in my professional life that I've been lacking. Been feeling lost as of late.