Oh great....

Today is the 36th week and we had our midwife appointment at night. Bronovo hospital started night-time appointment service, which is great because now hubby can join me for the checkup.

The midwife checked the baby's heart rate... fine. She also went through a checklist about when we need to call the hospital and what to watch out for when labour starts. Basically, bits and pieces of what we have all learned from the childbirth class. Both of us were just nodding our head. After awhile, I sensed that she thinks she doesn't need to explain any further... Thank God we took the class together!

However, after she did a position check, she suspects that the baby's head has not turned yet! So, I'll be off for another round of ultrasound (ouch) within the next 2 days so that they can decide whether to continue to take me under the midwife department or send me off to a gynae's care. I guess I'll be spending some time reading up on c-section tonight, just... in.... case... the baby decides to have some fun.

I have one last jewelry-making workshop to run and that's it, I'll be sitting at home not going anywhere. Weather is not good either, I hope hubby do not need to push me to the hospital with a wheelchair under a heavy rain. He is starting to feel anxious. I'm showing him around the hospital (like where to buy food and drink, where is the emergency entrance, how to get to the hospital from our place etc...), and also typing out instructions on what number to call and when to call, especially for the kraamzorg service.

One good news is that I've put on another 2kg! Finally, I'm approaching the normal weight gain range. Trust me, this is the one and only time that a woman will feel happy putting on weight than not.

Ultrasound Updates

My ultrasound result turned out to be normal. Obviously they compared my size to the Dutch's average baby size and because of that, my baby's growth is 3 weeks behind their average growth, but still falls within the normal range on the chart. Most Asian mothers faced the same problem here. So I'm not surprised to find myself doing this episode to REALLY make sure that everything is alright.

However, the baby has not turned yet. According to books, the baby is supposed to turn to the head-down position by week 33th for the first pregnancy. I'm in week 33th now, and his buttock is still at the bottom. So, now I'm sleeping on my left most of the time to give him the optimal position for him to turn. Other tips that I read that can encourage the baby to turn is to sit upright with the knee position always lower than the hip.

I've also bought my kraampakket and now going through the final checklist to make sure everything is in place. I also need to start packing my hospital bag...

The baby's Chinese name seems to be progressing well, with more idea coming through, at least, we have got names that both of us like and happy with, and now we just need to decide on which one.

Baby Vision Trip

Just when you want to be punctual and not late for appointment... you missed the bus.
This happened when both of us went for our Baby Vision appointment last Saturday.

The timing was just not right that once we came out of the train station, the bus just left the bus station. Of course, we waited for another half an hour under the rain for the next bus. It is a new bus station, so it doesn't even has a bus stop cover!

The technician can only spare us 15m for our session because another customer is waiting to do her scan too.

But it is all worth it!

It is such an experience for me and hubby that we feel that paying EUR 55 for a 15 minutes DVD session recording the baby's movement with narration from the technician, plus us asking stupid questions, laughing throughout the 15 minutes is soooo worth it. Not only we get the DVD, we also have 2 printed ultrasound captures in colour (yellow) and another 4 black and white prints of the baby. This is no normal 2D captures. These are the 3D captures which you can see the baby face clearly. We feel that 15 minutes is just right, not too long, not too short. Enough to keep the viewers entertained.

Initially the baby was sleeping, all cuddled up like a small ball, with baby's arm on top of his forehead, and one foot under the chin. We tried to wake the baby up by pressing my tummy and making noise. Our baby usually sleeps in the morning. After all these commotion, the baby started to move.

We managed to see the baby sucking thumb, stretching, smiling, pulling umbilical cord as if pulling away a curtain, open mouth (drink water), eyes, nose, mouth, ears, feet, arms, opening fingers and all sort of other small movements. The technician commented that the baby is very happy inside. I think so too!

For those who are planning to do a 3D or 4D scan, please note that you need to do it before week 25 so that your baby will not be too big to fit into the screen. I have a friend who did it too late so the pictures didn't come out clear (either you miss the head or miss the feet, you don't see the either body).

But yeah, do it if you can... it's fun!

It's the fingers, it's the toes, no... it's a...

NO, I can't tell you yet.

Because we haven't got a chance to inform my parent-in-law yet! And yes, we know the gender now, and we are both very very happy!

Now it's summer sales period, so I'm off to shop for baby clothes! The baby is coming during winter time, I need thicker clothes instead of those that we can find in KL. I'm still going to stick to neutral colours so that the next child will still be able to wear.

We are in the midst buying baby stroller from US, and we are looking for people who can help us to bring them over!

I'm also very proud about myself because really, we managed to save lots of money through a second hand market place that was recommended to me by C. People here take good care of their items, and all the items that we managed to buy are in good conditions! The only thing that I need to do is to scan through the marketplace very very often so that I don't lose out on the good deals! Trust me, when you see good deals, you can recognise it! It's woman instinct!

My tummy still not that big yet. Most people whom I met still can't tell that I'm expecting except those who are closer to me. I'm enjoying this fun and lovely 2nd trimester to the max!

Oh... baby is getting bigger

Today, both of us went for another round of ultrasound. The purpose of this ultrasound is to measure the length of the baby's neck to check whether the baby is a down-syndrome child or not. It is also the first time my hubby sees the little one 'in action'.

Well, the baby is not really in action. He/she is totally curled up like a ball, sleeping!

The obstetrician who did the scan is superbly friendly and motherly. She has such a sweet voice and man... she is fast in interpreting the grayish image on the screen! She quickly measured the size of the baby (normal), showed us the fingers (10, she said) and toes, the beating heart, perfect skull, spine is good... and she also let us listened to the baby's heartbeat. It was like thousand of horses galloping, strong and fast.

While she was doing the scan, I asked, "How do you find the neck?" She turned the scanner on my belly in a few directions, and stopped, pointed out to me using the scanner pointer on the screen and said, "There, you see..."

It was jaw dropping... I mean, how? The black and white screen is totally meaningless to untrained eyes because we can only read the general outline of the baby.

Then, the little one turned (just like how we turn to our side when we sleep), and kicked his/her legs a bit, and then continued sleeping. My hubby was so amazed and he pulled his chair even nearer to the screen.

The baby has grown to about 6+ cm now, still very little.

Expected due date is 11 Nov, exactly 1 week before the baby father's birthday.
Well, we never know when the baby decides to come out, but it will be very interesting to wait during that period.

First Gynae Visit

Yesterday was 23 April, my first gynae visit in the hospital.

The gynae whom I met up with was a tall and handsome Dutch doctor who speaks very fluent English. He asked for my medical history, explained to me how the Dutch delivery system works and did a simple short ultrasound scan with me just to verify everything is normal.

It was the first time I see the little one.

Merely 5.7cm from head to toe, 11 weeks and 4 days! The gynae showed me the head, the mouth, the heart and a little part of the toes poking out at the bottom. The baby made a turn while the gynae was doing the scan. It was soooo cute!

I was asked to do a blood test, which is a normal procedure to check for abnormalities and he also helped me to arrange the next ultrasound scan with a radiologist to further examine the fetus growth on 8 May.

After all these, if everything deems normal, he said, I still have a choice to choose to deliver with a midwife at home or in the hospital, or I can continue to go under a gynae's care and deliver in the hospital. It was then that I was told that this particular hospital near our place do not handle delivery. All baby deliveries are done in another hospital in town, which is about 10 minutes away by car.

Morning sickness is almost gone. I sleep lesser too. My appetite has improved a lot over the past 1 week. But I craved for Malaysian food. So I collected many recipes and cook differently almost every day now. Few days ago was fish ball noodles, cha kuey tiow (didn't turned out well) yesterday was sambal petai prawn and steam tofu with fried onions. Plus I used my slow cooker to cook lotus root soup, it tasted so good that I regretted to exchange my Citibank points for such a small slow cooker! Now I wish I have a bigger one, 2 liter or 3 liter. Today, I think I will try porridge... the lucky one is my hubby. He said my cooking improved already wor... hehe...