Gynae Visit - 26th January 2015

The visits to our Gynecologist are becoming more frequent as we approach the last lap. We are at week 34 now and Meimei's belly has grown significantly. She has been eating diligently in hopes that baby will catch up on the weight. I know sometimes she has to force herself to eat even when she feels full.

This week we had a little chat with Emily while we were waiting for our turn. She had covered her mouth in the last appointment so we asked her to give us a good pose today. She obediently obliged and gave us a good view. Even Dr Loh was commenting that Emily is very 'guai', let us see her. *kiss good job Emily!

She is making good progress at 2.3kg this week. Dr Loh is a little concerned about the position of her hands though with signs of compound presentation. Hopefully she will move into a better position when the time comes. We'll gonna find pictures of proper positioning to show her so she knows what the right posture should be for normal safe delivery.

Year of Goat Mints

Lovely mints for the year of the Goat. They make great gifts too for the new babies coming this year.

She Hears Me

They say babies can hear their parents when they are in mummy's womb. Meimei chats with her all the time throughout the day. I try to chat with Emily every night before bed. I tell her about my day, what I had for lunch, where we were for dinner, etc.

I like to tell her to be patient and stay in the safety of Meimei's tummy and only come out when we are close to EDD in early March. Chinese New Year is a few weeks before Emily's EDD so I'm confident she'll arrive as a 小MehMeh. Dad says he likes a goat grand baby, they are elegant and classy. We bought a cute goat theme trinket in anticipation of her arrival.

I think Emily hears me whenever we chat. She'll give light punches and kicks when she hears my voice. I can feel her tapping when I put my hands on Meimei's tummy and speak to her. I suppose this is the start of the bedtime rituals where I would read nursery stories to put her to bed. I'm truly looking forward to these tender moments with our little one.

Father-In-Law's Poem: Lazing Through The Seasons

I learned from Meimei that my Father-in-Law loves to doodle. He will keep pieces of scrap paper or notepads around just to draw and write things on a whim. I see that in Meimei as well. She takes after her dad very much in habits and cheekiness.

He came up with this out of the blue this morning when we were over for breakfast. Both father and mother in-law are fluent and good in Chinese. It's too late for me to pick this up but I hope our kids will take on a strong interest in Chinese. It's a very colourful and sparking language.

Gynae Visit - 5th January 2015

Today marks week 31. We had a late appointment today at 3.45pm but the queue was long and those who have arrived at 2pm are still waiting for their turn. It took another hour before we got our turn.

Dr Loh was expecting baby to be around 2kg but it seems she is a little smaller at 1.77kg. The estimated delivery date on the scanning screen showed 11 Mar so there was an improvement versus the last visit. Dr Loh said he is happy with the baby's weight but Meimei was still concerned and wants to have durian. I think baby will be fine so long as Meimei keeps to her current diet and food volume intake. We don't want baby to be too big as well or there might be complications during birth.

Our baby is a little shy today. She has her hand against her mouth and we couldn't see her tiny lips. I should talk to her next time to give us a good pose :-) Anyways I'm happy both mother and baby is healthy and doing well. The next appointment is in another 3 weeks so we'll see her again this month.

Beancurd Goodness at Din Tai Fung

Love the beancurd skin, could have been slightly softer. Can't beat having soup for lunch.

New Year's Resolution 2015

It's that time of the year again. New year, new goals, new aspirations. 2014 has been an awesome year. We are finally having a baby and we are eagerly awaiting her arrival. I've completed my MBA so that's off the table. Things can improve on the work front but I'm taking it as it comes. Hopefully 2015 will provide me more opportunities and stability I'm sure I'll need with a new baby in the family.

My 2015 resolutions revolves around family:

1) Help out as much as possible around the house and baby

2) No temper tantrums when I wake up in the middle of the night to help Meimei with baby feeding

3) Give Meimei the most attention even when baby is here so she won't feel jealous

I'm expecting an exciting 2015. Surely there'll be more blog posts to share our baby's everyday. We have to keep our hand phones and cameras close so we can capture all the precious moments.

Helping Me Play

I've always been a gamer ... my first computer game was played on a 286 PC (I think Dad got it at a 2nd hand shop). That ancient equipment was followed by a 386 (again might be 2nd hand), an extremely overpriced Compaq Pentium II ($4.5K ... what the hell), a Pentium III lappy during my poly days (it weighted a ton) and finally my last 2 PCs, a Pentium 4 and Pentium Core 2, which I used for years to play FFXI.

Since giving up FFXI and I've rarely played another desktop game. The PCs were replaced by a Macbook and iMac, which doesn't support most games. So I've been on a gaming hiatus since I left FFXI and didn't have an avenue to play till Meimei bought me an iPhone in 2011. Granted the game play on the phone is not as sophisticated and engaging as those on the desktops. But still you could spend hours and hours jabbing at the little screen for entertainment. And the best part is you can do it anywhere. 

The initial games I played were those that Meimei played too as I wanted to stay in touch with her and share common hobbies. I tried Nemo, Candy Crush and Farm Heros. But they were simple games and soon enough I was gravitating towards more RPGish turn-based games like Battle Nations and Summoners War. These are more my cup of tea and I've spent countless hours playing those games.

I can imagine how some wives or girlfriends are frustrated when their partner buries his head into the phone or tablet to play his favourite mobile game. I'm sure Meimei gets irritated as well when she is trying to speak to me and yet I'm buried in the game and not listening. But she doesn't react like other partners and will simply let me be and try again later. I'm really grateful Meimei gives me space to play the games. 

Now the most incredible thing happened today. She offered to help me play Summoner's War while I was driving. You cannot imagine the excitement and glee I had when she made the offer. It's like when you were young and someone offers attention to what you are doing. You get a joy having the opportunity to share your hobby and interest with someone. 

I know she still doesn't take to the games I play. But this simple gesture of helping me press the start button and collect the loot really makes my day. What they say is true, its the simple things that keeps a couple happy together. And I am extremely thankful she tries :-)

Grandma Pampering~!!

Meimei's appetite has been erratic. I think she is past the craving stage but still gags sometimes when she doesn't like certain smells. This has given Mama a greater challenge as she tries to cook a larger variety of dishes incase Meimei is unable to stomach a particular food. So we are getting more dishes these days hehe.

She has been preparing special dishes for help boost Meimei's strength and immunity and also for baby too. The first is lobster! I can't remember the last time we had lobster. It is such a rare delicacy that you don't normally have it for normal dinner meals. She buys them fresh and whole from the wet market and fries them in a light batter. Everyone leaves them for Meimei and baby ... Love~!

The other delicacy Mama has been whipping up is Bird Nest! Although Meimei only takes it every other day or so, Mama boils a small pot everyday. Our fridge is being filled with bottles of bird nest goodness. We learn from the baby lessons that Meimei should not take too much of it so she is diligently moderating her in-take of this delicacy. I have a slight suspicion Mama may spoil our baby rotten, seeing how she accommodates Meimei in the choice of things to cook.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing ~

Our baby has been very active the past week. I think our baby has strong musical inclinations. She's been twirling and kicking, especially when Meimei is humming a tune.

We're happy that our baby is active, it shows signs that baby is alert and growing well. But sometimes she gets Meimei into awkward moments, like when she kicks her bladder and Meimei has to make for the ladies. Other times Meimei is left grimacing in pain after being punched at the stomach.

I tried to tell our baby not to kick Meimei but Meimei told me not to confuse her. She goes on to rub her tummy and tell Emily its ok. Awww ... the love of a mother. Emily, you have to be a good girl and pamper Mummy too when you are older, ok? Oh and dont forget to sing lovely tunes to us when we are old and frail. :-)

Gynae Visit - December 2014

We are about 28 weeks into the pregnancy. This marks the start of the 3rd trimester. We had the usual ultrasound to see baby again. We couldn't make out the 3D outline of baby until Dr Loh point it out to us. She is at 1.2kg which is a tiny-winy smaller. We noticed it when the on-screen EDD came up at 18 instead of 8 March. So baby was about a week behind in terms of size. Dr Loh didn't look too worried and just casually mentioned it. 

Maybe we didn't get enough healthy food during the last fortnight since Mama was away in Jakarta. Thankfully Mama is back so Meimei is having wonderful home-cooked meals again. I know Meimei is trying her very best to stomach food so baby gets adequate nutrients. It's been hard on Meimei but she is surprisingly preserving in making sure she takes enough. The sacrifices and motivation a mother has for her child is an amazing force.

Forever Daddy's

Xi Yan @ Shaw Centre

Colourful Chinese Cuisine. Refreshing dishes with twists to brighten the palate.

Self Inflicted Inconvenience

Today is the last baby care lesson. This session is more of a marketing campaign rather than a true lesson. We were at a different venue, Singapore Chinese Girls School Khoo Auditorium and it was conducted for everyone from the various classes. I estimated there were about a hundred odd couples who came to attend the doctor's talk.

The doctor talk centred around post birth baby care and facilities, post-natal TCM care for mothers and shared several other Thomson post-natal care programs. The lobby area had several booths paddling baby products and sign-ups for stem-cell preservation etc.

Well I didn't write this post to talk about the lecture, it was boring at best. The interesting and somewhat laughable part were the participants. Specifically those that took up seats at the edge of the rows of seats, pictured below circled in dotted line oval.

Every had to enter the auditorium to the right of the stage. When we got there, the front half of the seats were pretty full. So we filtered along with the rest up the auditorium steps, marked in red arrows, and try to move into the empty seats. Meimei and I didn't like to trouble the folks already on their seats at the edge so we moved to the centre pathway and made our way to the seats in the centre part (marked in yellow).

As we settled down, we started looking around and watching the people on the left edge get up and down to let other parents in. As more people move in, the heavily pregnant mothers had to get up multiple times to let others in and out. You can see the pent-up irritation and discomfort on their faces. At that moment I couldn't help but let out a sheepish grin and shake of disapproval at them. This is a classic example self inflicted inconvenience. They know they are being inconsiderate by sitting at the sides and compounding their misery, yet they just can't bring themselves to move in.

Why can't you move to the centre so others can get in? How is it better to sit at the side and having to get up consistently throughout the lecture? I mean this is an entire audience of pregnant mothers with constricted bladders that have to go to the ladies every so often. So I can't help but laugh at their awkwardness. Muhahahhaha.

Oh well, I suppose Asians in general still have a long way to go to being more socially conscious and considerate.

Pre-Natal Classes - Week 5 : Baby Care

This is the last of the sessions with Fonnie. I've become accustomed to attending the training on Saturdays.

We watched a video on baby bathing. The baby boy was shivering constantly. I thought it was cruel of the presenter to let the baby shake in cold until Fonnie explained later during the course that babies are going to shiver as their nerve systems have not fully develop in the first few months.

Fonnie recommends that we talk to baby often, letting her know what is going on, where she is and sing to her. It seems babies are cognitive of their surroundings and need to be assured so they feel safe and secure. I've made a point to chat with Emily nightly. I hope this will help with our bonding since I don't have the luxury of being as close to as Meimei.

I thought today's session was a little rushed. We had a bit of hands-on practice on folding a nappy and a swaddle. I wished we had more time to repeat the exercise so I can remember it clearly. I wonder if I can recall the folding steps in another 3-4 months when baby comes. Well I supposed I'll just have to rely on instinct to get it right then.