When will it happen?

Ok first of all,

Aunty Chantal! 

Why in the world would u wanna watch the whole process?

Eeewww.

It's like the most un-glam moment of my life la.

Haha!

No audience please thank you very much :p

Anyway, even if we wanted, the hospital got no free wi-fi...

Which, btw, also means there won't be much online updates until I'm out of hospital and back home.

Sad :(

Unfortunately, the hospital stay for me will be 5D4N (like holiday sia),

unlike the usual 3 days in SG.

Unless I can get permission for early discharge la.

Oh well.

But I promise you guys will be one of the first to know.

If I am up to it, I'll personally call each of you okie?

And Jude'll be responsible to distributing the first photos :)

Speaking of giving birth,

we went to our OB appointment yesterday.

Xander is in the right position, 

with his head low low low down in my pelvis.

BUT...

doctor says be prepared for him to be in there for a while more.

No signs whatsoever of him coming soon.

I think I felt a rather huge sense of disappointment when he said that,

cos we're so ready for him already!

And I don't wanna be growing any bigger.

:(

The longer this drags on,

the bigger I grow, 

and the more chances of stretchmarks to appear on my belly.

So far, none yet.

All my stretch marks are on my butt cheeks and thighs.

I can deal with that.

Not the nicest view but I can deal.

But fingers crossed for my belly.

AND I don't want the little guy to grow any much more bigger!

Bigger he gets, the more difficult it'll be to get him out from there.

And bigger he gets, the more he'll have to stick his feet into my already tender ribs.

Boo...

Earlier on in the pregnancy, 

I had this feeling I'll be early.

Like he'll be born at 37/38 weeks.

But seeing that we'll be 37 weeks this weekend,

that feeling has vanished into thin air recently.

Now I'm beginning to think he's so darn cosy in there that we're facing 41/42 weeks.

Doctor said he usually only considers induction after 42 weeks.

AFTER 42 weeks.

Uh oh.

42 weeks is 19 Dec.

5 weeks from now.

5 freaking weeks!!!

And that's when Chloe's gonna be here...

Ehhh... I don't want leh.

Earlier can or not?

I still don't want an audience other than my baby's daddy :p

I know it's best for him to come whenever he's ready,

and that he WILL come whenever he's ready,

but....

I so don't wanna wait for another 5 more weeks :(

AND I DON'T WANNA BE INDUCED!!!

My hopes and dreams of an all-natural labour would go so far down the drain if it comes to that :(

Xander baby, 
my son,
my love,
please come on your own before the final bell rings ok?

Some time in the next 3 weeks would be nice :)

That said, 

I know things can change in an instant and we still never know.

Doctors have been known to be wrong, right?

Mothers have been known to be wrong too, right?

So yes,

I still have a sliver of hope.

Baby must be getting so sick and tired to listening to me whine about how I want him here already.

Sorry baby :p

Oh and usually, appointments are every week from 36 weeks onwards.
Which means I should have my next appointment with Dr R next week right?
Well, it seems he is SO REALLY REALLY confident that I'm doing so well with this whole pregnancy thing,
that he will see me in 2 weeks time instead.
Like everything is going so well with my pregnancy that I really don't have to see him every week even though I'm already almost 37 weeks.
Eh, I should be happy?
Yeah ok, I'll be happy :)
So next appointment will be in 2 weeks, on 25 Nov.
Then the receptionist said I should book in for my NEXT appointment for the following week on 2 Dec as well, since I'll be full-term that week.
Looks like everyone's really confident I'll make it to my EDD huh?
Well, at least that would mean baby and I can celebrate our wedding anniversary on our own for one last time?
Ok I'll be happy.
Wouldn't it be nice to have an anniversary baby though?
:)

Ok stop obsessing, you crazy loony mama!

In the meantime,

I'll continue enjoying and marveling at the wonder of carrying a little person in my belly.

But poor kid...

At yesterday's appointment,

we got an ultrasound to confirm his position,

and he looked so squished up in those cramped confines.

Arms and legs all tangled up,

Feet, ankles, knees, elbows are just everywhere.

Anywhere that had space for him.

Including my ribs and right out the side at my previously-situated-waist.

He was so squished up that we couldn't even get a proper look at anything.

But what we did see, was pretty cool :)

We saw a nice strong heartbeat.

We saw the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, indicating that he is practicing his breathing in preparation for the outside world even though he's only breathing in amniotic fluid now. A really really good sign of his health and development according to Doctor R :) What a clever little boy :)

We saw strong long limbs.

We saw nothing out of the ordinary.

We saw that he was really really active, which Dr R said is a great sign that he's healthy, because sick babies slow down their movements to conserve energy.

We saw his big head lodged in my pelvis, which explains the never-ending urge to pee and why I walk like I have a watermelon in between my legs. Ok I don't really walk like that except at home when there's just baby and he doesn't care. But still.

But we saw our little baby boy and that made us happy :)

Now we just wanna see him in real life.

Can? :)

Baby said last night that I look pretty good from the back still :)

I knew I love the man for a good reason :)

These photos were taken last weekend, at 36 weeks.
I realised I haven't taken bare-belly shots in a long long while,
and I wanted them for memory :)
So I made baby take them for me in my workout gear.
That's what I wear when I do my pilates exercises at home.
Super duper old but uber comfy sports bra,
and $20 yoga pants from VS ;)

 

I don't think I have the nicest tummy because for reasons best explained by the complexities of hormones, I've got the dark line running down the centre of my belly called the linea nigra, something not all pregnant women get. 

Plus the boy's testosterone has caused weird hair growth on my belly, like a man :p 

But I know one day I'll look back at these pictures and marvel at how my lovely my preggie belly looked at almost 9 months pregnant :)

And yes, I told baby to take pictures of me from the back cos I can't see for myself how I look like from the back now.
Hmmm... ok la hor?
Not too bad :p
Yes I'm vain. 
And? :p

As for my figure post-baby (to respond to mummy),

I plan on using a combination of a good balanced diet that's good for the breastfed baby and exercise to get it all back.

And I'm confident of it working.

I'm willing to accept what you suggest,

but I still do not believe the underwear works unfortunately...

It may help,

but not without the diet and exercise.

Plus,

I'm more concerned about healing and recovering and comfort, than with how my body work in those first few post-partum months.

So yes, please help if you can, but I'll have to depend on myself for this mostly :)

Yesterday I was at Chadstone, 

reading childbirth books at Borders while waiting for baby to finish work so I could go pick him up.

And I got a call from GE Money, which is the issuing bank for my Myer Visa credit card.

The fraud prevention team had picked up suspicious activity on my credit card and wanted to confirm that with me.

Someone apparently got a hold of my credit card details and attempted to purchase air tickets from Egypt Air online for $4k plus.

They tried twice but failed.

Then they tried again on another airline for about $2k, but failed again.

And at that point, 

GE Money put the credit card on hold, not allowing any further transactions.

They called me and I confirmed that those were not me.

I have never been so glad that I've maintained the minimum of $500 credit limit on my credit card even when I was offered a credit limit increase to a MUCH higher amount.

It was this credit limit that detected the unusual activity and alerted us to the fraud.

Apparently, this person made an online transaction with some prepaid thingy for $1 a few days ago and that went through.

Then he/she tried for about $10.

That went through.

So they went for the kill for the thousands of dollars worth of air tickets.

And failed.

Hah! In your face you a**holes.

Now my credit card has been cancelled, and they'll be re-issuing a new card with new details.

Hopefully that resolves the issue.

As for the previously incurred charges for $1 and $10, their investigative team is reviewing and I shouldn't have to pay for it in my next bill.

So people, lesson learned - big credit limits on your credit card may sound awesome and gratifying, but it can back-fire on you.

So don't be greedy.

When I need more than the $500 available on my credit card for big ticket items like air tickets and stuff,

I use it like a debit card, meaning I put extra money into my card account,

so that it has the amount that I need,

then I make the purchase.

That way I know that no matter what, 

I'll only owe $500 on the card,

which I can repay easily.

And I have never ever had to pay any interest on my credit card purchases,

cos I've always paid in full before the end of each bill period.

Credit cards can be the most useful thing in the world, especially for online purchases and stuff,

but they can be the biggest financial trap you'll encounter in your life.

I never wanna be in debt the way I've seen other people be in debt.

So I'm doing everything in my power to make sure of that.

Can I say again how glad I am that GE Money picked that up?

At least all that interest we are paying on our car loan (20%!!!) is financing service like that for other customers.

Still not completely worth it,

but I'm still glad :)

While on the phone with GE Money,

mummy called and I called her back after...

she ask why I so long never call home :p

Sorry.

Hehe...

I can explain!

I can't call home during the weekdays because of the time difference.

See, we're in bed by 9.30pm every night, including Friday night.

Which is only 6.30pm in SG with the 3 hour time difference.

Care to share how many people will be at home for me to talk to at 6.30pm?

Weekends, we've been busy, plus I never know if anyone's at home at all.

Everyone's always out, and it's disappointing to call home and there's no one around.

But I said I'll call home this weekend!

So I'll call home on Saturday night... I'll try and stay up and call around 7pm (SG time) ok?

If you wanna chat, be home!!!

But rest assured, after Xander is born,

I will make sure to Skype regularly so you guys can see Xander too ok? :)

Ok to answer the other question Xander's aunties have.

Breastfeeding class was disappointing because it didn't live up to my expectations...

It's called Breastfeeding and New Mother's Workshop.

What would you expect from a name like that?

It should have a breastfeeding component, right?

It should have a new mum component like swaddling, bathing, nappy changing, etc, right?

It should be a hands-on, interactive thing since it's called a workshop, right? Not like it's called a seminar or something.

But what I got was 1.5 hours of a boring midwife talking AT us about breastfeeding.

Why you should breastfeed (I don't need to be convinced - I'm here because I wanna breastfeed!),

why breast milk is best (duh... why else would I be here?),

what kinds of obstacles you can expect to encounter with breastfeeding (attachment issues, milk flow issues, infections, etc) (erm... I know all about these. Your point is?),

a really really really OLD video about breastfeeding (like at least 10-20 years old cos the women were sporting the same kinda hairdo and glasses as my mum when she was 20) (I saw a much more up-to-date and comprehensive video on Youtube a couple of days ago actually),

and that's it.

When I walked into the room,

there was a life-sized (albeit freakish looking) new born baby doll on each chair.

There was a baby bath tub at the corner of the room,

there was a stack of wraps on the table that was used to swaddle babies, etc.

So I automatically got excited,

thinking we're gonna get to get hands-on practice on how to hold baby while breastfeeding and everything.

Well, not that I needed all the other stuff like nappy changing and bathing since I'm pretty handy at that from all that time taking care of my baby brother as a new born,

but I've never breastfed,

I've never seen anyone I know breastfeed (in real life and up close),

so I know I'm a complete newbie at it.

And every other lady in the class are first time mummies and I'm sure they wanted more hands-on practice!

But the whole time, we just sat there, holding the freaky baby doll, 

and never did anything constructive with it.

Seriously,

I learned more about breastfeeding from my What to Expect When You Are Expecting book than at the "workshop".

And I guess I'll have to depend on the Lactation Consultants at the wards after baby is born to help with the holds and latching on and stuff like that.

So yes, that's why it was disappointing :(

Oh and not to mention that I had to pay $11 for parking.

Grrr.

This is one thing I really really wanna successfully do - breastfeed Xander.

At least for the first 6 to 12 months.

I wanna give him the best start to life.

I wanna have that continued connection and bond with him even after he is physically separated from me at birth.

I wanna be able to let baby and Xander bond over bottles of expressed breast milk once he is ready for the bottle after the first month or so, so he continues to receive the best nutrition.

Not to mention that I'm hoping breastfeeding helps me lose my baby weight.

And that we really could do with not buying expensive baby formula all the time.

And that I can save a whole load of time and hassle from not needing to sterilize bottles, make up formula with a screaming baby in my arms, etc.

It's free, so why not?

Plus it'll be easy to travel.

As they say, got boobs will travel.

Right? ;)

I had a lot more I wanted to blog about,

but baby brain is playing up.

I'll be back when I remember what else I wanted to say :)