Well, the contractions have been getting closer. Two days ago they were anywhere from 10 to 30 mins apart. At the moment it's pretty close so we're going to the hospital. Argh...I'm actually sick down with a throat infection but the gynae says it doesn't matter. The baby can still come out today.
God I pray for a healthy me, a healthy baby and a sane husband. Help us to be good parents Amen.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Slow and steady
I see Dr. Fong tomorrow. Still no bloody show or water breaking or anything remotely dramatic. All this waiting is turning my brain to mush. I don't dare start any new project in cash the baby comes. I guess I'm irritable because I've had trouble sleeping. Must be the seafood noodles that I had the other day.
However, I've discovered that physical activity does bring on more contractions. I did some light aerobic movements last night again for 10 minutes. The whole night up till about 4am, I was having contractions every 30mins. Gynae says that that's a sign to go to the hospital but as usual by morning, nothing...*Bump* Ooh, I just felt her kick way down below. It's like your arse having a hic-cup...The only consolation is that these few weeks away from work has given me the chance to stay away from situations that make my blood pressure go up. Already I feel so guilty subjecting the baby to months of my shouting and scolding.
Unfortunately, getting a new maid a few weeks ago didn't help. She maybe understands 50% of what I say. Even with minimal grammer. It's been 2 weeks and she still gets a lot of stuff wrong. At first, I got really upset and worked up. I still get upset but I'm trying to minimize the effects of and calm down faster.
Oh well, this is what happens when you live in a fast paced society with many demands on you from all sides. You learn to multi-task and be efficient. I can't help but be high-strung. To the point where you can't tolerate somebody else performing tasks in an inefficient manner. Everybody's telling me to cool down and chill. However, they're not the ones handling the maid directly so I don't think it helps. I suppose I'll just deal with this in my own way and talk it through in my head: ways to cope with my inefficient maid. Part of the problem is that I'm not used to having someone invade my space. Deep down, I don't know why I'm spending $600 and up when I don't really need the maid. No, the maid's purpose is actually to accompany the baby while she's at my mother-in-law's place. I'm wondering if I can still do this job, accept a lower performance grade and still make time for my husband and child. Perhaps hire a part-time cleaner instead of a live-in maid. Kelvin will have to chip in and do his share of housework I suppose. We'll see. When the baby arrive's we'll see.
However, I've discovered that physical activity does bring on more contractions. I did some light aerobic movements last night again for 10 minutes. The whole night up till about 4am, I was having contractions every 30mins. Gynae says that that's a sign to go to the hospital but as usual by morning, nothing...*Bump* Ooh, I just felt her kick way down below. It's like your arse having a hic-cup...The only consolation is that these few weeks away from work has given me the chance to stay away from situations that make my blood pressure go up. Already I feel so guilty subjecting the baby to months of my shouting and scolding.
Unfortunately, getting a new maid a few weeks ago didn't help. She maybe understands 50% of what I say. Even with minimal grammer. It's been 2 weeks and she still gets a lot of stuff wrong. At first, I got really upset and worked up. I still get upset but I'm trying to minimize the effects of and calm down faster.
Oh well, this is what happens when you live in a fast paced society with many demands on you from all sides. You learn to multi-task and be efficient. I can't help but be high-strung. To the point where you can't tolerate somebody else performing tasks in an inefficient manner. Everybody's telling me to cool down and chill. However, they're not the ones handling the maid directly so I don't think it helps. I suppose I'll just deal with this in my own way and talk it through in my head: ways to cope with my inefficient maid. Part of the problem is that I'm not used to having someone invade my space. Deep down, I don't know why I'm spending $600 and up when I don't really need the maid. No, the maid's purpose is actually to accompany the baby while she's at my mother-in-law's place. I'm wondering if I can still do this job, accept a lower performance grade and still make time for my husband and child. Perhaps hire a part-time cleaner instead of a live-in maid. Kelvin will have to chip in and do his share of housework I suppose. We'll see. When the baby arrive's we'll see.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
To induce or not to induce?
Well, we went to see the gynae today. I'm dilated to about 2 1/2 cm. There's some discharge which the doc says is the mucus plug coming loose.
He also said that since this is my 39th week, he could break my water bag and get the whole process started. Another week in me could mean that the baby puts on another 100g ~200g? The concern is the size of the baby versus the size of my pelvis. As a doctor, I'm sure he's just playing it safe. I mean, to dilate to the point where I start active labour could take a few days or a week more. I've been telling people "akan datang" for 2 weeks already. On the one hand I'm getting really tired and bored. On the other hand, once the baby comes my life will change and part of me isn't ready yet.
Whatever it is, we've decided to wait for another week. Afterwhich, if there's still no baby, we'll break my water. I figure next week will by my 40th week anyway. Actually, I was fantasizing about how my water would suddenly break and I'd have to call Kelvin. He'd then have to come running out of school and we'd have to drive madly (but safely) all the way to the hospital. My gynae looked at me like I was high on something. He said why go through all the messiness if you can be calm and have control over the whole situation. Kelvin asked if I was determined to stress him out. I guess it takes the element of surprise out of the whole process you know? I had wanted the baby to choose her day of emergence into the world, not the other way around.
My gynae said one more thing which Kelvin found very amusing. Kelvin and I are always making jokes about how short I am..you know...him calling me 'strawberry shortcake' and stuff like that. Well turns out that by medical definition, 151cm is not short. I'm borderline. This means that going by my height, my pelvis is on the small side. If I were 149cm tall, I would be medically defined as short. So all through lunch afterward, Kelvin kept going, "you see, you're not short." Sigh...so by medical standards, I'm not short...just borderline medium height? Geez I feel so much better.
Actually, height doesn't really bother me. I once asked my father if he minded that he was shorter than my mother. He told me that it's not your height but how you use your brain that matters. Every day I face pupils who tower above me so you find strategies to assert authority even though you're at a height disadvantage.
Hmm...I wonder if Baby Lim will have her father's height or mine. Kelvin's actually 179cm tall. Yes, he's almost a foot taller than me.
He also said that since this is my 39th week, he could break my water bag and get the whole process started. Another week in me could mean that the baby puts on another 100g ~200g? The concern is the size of the baby versus the size of my pelvis. As a doctor, I'm sure he's just playing it safe. I mean, to dilate to the point where I start active labour could take a few days or a week more. I've been telling people "akan datang" for 2 weeks already. On the one hand I'm getting really tired and bored. On the other hand, once the baby comes my life will change and part of me isn't ready yet.
Whatever it is, we've decided to wait for another week. Afterwhich, if there's still no baby, we'll break my water. I figure next week will by my 40th week anyway. Actually, I was fantasizing about how my water would suddenly break and I'd have to call Kelvin. He'd then have to come running out of school and we'd have to drive madly (but safely) all the way to the hospital. My gynae looked at me like I was high on something. He said why go through all the messiness if you can be calm and have control over the whole situation. Kelvin asked if I was determined to stress him out. I guess it takes the element of surprise out of the whole process you know? I had wanted the baby to choose her day of emergence into the world, not the other way around.
My gynae said one more thing which Kelvin found very amusing. Kelvin and I are always making jokes about how short I am..you know...him calling me 'strawberry shortcake' and stuff like that. Well turns out that by medical definition, 151cm is not short. I'm borderline. This means that going by my height, my pelvis is on the small side. If I were 149cm tall, I would be medically defined as short. So all through lunch afterward, Kelvin kept going, "you see, you're not short." Sigh...so by medical standards, I'm not short...just borderline medium height? Geez I feel so much better.
Actually, height doesn't really bother me. I once asked my father if he minded that he was shorter than my mother. He told me that it's not your height but how you use your brain that matters. Every day I face pupils who tower above me so you find strategies to assert authority even though you're at a height disadvantage.
Hmm...I wonder if Baby Lim will have her father's height or mine. Kelvin's actually 179cm tall. Yes, he's almost a foot taller than me.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
End of 38th week
The whole professional photographer didn't work out in the end. He had a family emergency yesterday when we were supposed to shoot. I suppose I can always get him to come over to take a portrait of all 3 of us after the birth of the baby. I took this shot myself with an auto timer and a lot of cropping. You can see that the bump is now a lot lower now.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The panic starts
Last night I really thought that this could be it.
During American Idol I felt this continuous clenching sensation that lasted well over 2 hours. I was just praying that I'd be able to last through the night coz I was just so tired. Then I started to panic because the crib had not yet been made and the baby bottles had not been washed. We haven't gotten the new car so the baby car seat had yet to be installed. The car was supposed to come last week by the way. So while in pain, I started running about trying to get stuff ready. Couldn't ask Kelvin to help because he's got marking and 2 papers to set by morning.
In the end, I only slept 2 hours because I was just laying there monitoring the contractions which were about 15 to 20 minutes apart. I had no idea how painful they are supposed to be while in active labour but they were twice as bad as whatever I'd been experiencing so far. At that point I was thinking that they could either get worse or it could be that my body's practicing and by morning the whole situation would evaporate. At dawn I was still having the contractions but not to the point where I couldn't talk or walk (that's what the advice on the web says). I didn't want to run to the hospital and end up having a false alarm or have my water broken unless I was in active labour. It turned out to be the latter in the end; it's 10:30 now and no regular contractions.
It's not time to go to the hospital yet. Phew!
During American Idol I felt this continuous clenching sensation that lasted well over 2 hours. I was just praying that I'd be able to last through the night coz I was just so tired. Then I started to panic because the crib had not yet been made and the baby bottles had not been washed. We haven't gotten the new car so the baby car seat had yet to be installed. The car was supposed to come last week by the way. So while in pain, I started running about trying to get stuff ready. Couldn't ask Kelvin to help because he's got marking and 2 papers to set by morning.
In the end, I only slept 2 hours because I was just laying there monitoring the contractions which were about 15 to 20 minutes apart. I had no idea how painful they are supposed to be while in active labour but they were twice as bad as whatever I'd been experiencing so far. At that point I was thinking that they could either get worse or it could be that my body's practicing and by morning the whole situation would evaporate. At dawn I was still having the contractions but not to the point where I couldn't talk or walk (that's what the advice on the web says). I didn't want to run to the hospital and end up having a false alarm or have my water broken unless I was in active labour. It turned out to be the latter in the end; it's 10:30 now and no regular contractions.
It's not time to go to the hospital yet. Phew!
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