Third trimester - week 36

1st of September, 36+5weeks

I've washed all my baby's clothes, got the infant car seat fit in the car, got my hospital bag ready and waiting for the day to come. In exactly one week time from today, i'll be seeing my little bud. Im having a mixed feeling; excited, nervous, worried and scared. After going through so much ups and downs for the past 9 months, in a week time it will all be over and my life is going to change forever. All i pray for is a healthy baby.

I've been very sticky to my hubby for these few days, because i know that very soon our relationship will not be just the two of us anymore, and it will take us some time before we can have dates again. Is there any mummies out these having the same feeling too? Suddenly i want to do all the dating stuffs again all in one week, just so that we will remember this feeling of two us.

I started to miss my baby bump, knowing that in one week time i won't have this feeling of little bud kicking me, nudging me, moving my bump out of shape, irritates me when i want to sleep at night... All of the these will be over in a week and i suddenly don't want it to end so fast. My friends told me don't worry, you can reminisce it again during your second pregnancy, but who knows the second pregnancy will happen or not? :p

This last one week, i just want to have as much date with my hubby as possible, sleep till i wake up naturally, relax and do nothing, go for hair spa, massage, mani-pedicure and facial, because i know when little bud comes, I'm going to give him all my time, my sleep and my love.

Baby Elliott, daddy and mummy think we are ready for you, you are going to come to the world as our healthy little baby and we will love you with whole of our heart!

Third trimester - week 32 - 34

Week 32

Visited Dr Ravi at Hospital Sultanah Aminah for the follow up, and this time my amniotic fluid is on the high side. He suspected that i might have gestational diabetes, even though my previous glucose blood test came back to be ok. So i need to monitor my sugar and carbo intake closely.

Two days later, we visit our own gynae Dr Mohan of Johor Specialist Hospital, and he commented that i've too much amniotic fluid, a symptom called polyhydramnios. Dr Mohan said that it could be caused by gestational diabetes, and required me to go on a strict diet with no sugar and very low carbohydrate, and have my blood glucose measure before and after every meal. He had given me two steroid jabs to strengthen baby's lungs, as he suggested that we have the baby out as soon as possible to prevent any later complication. I was kind of reluctant because preterm baby has his risk too, and he assured me that with the steroid jabs, the baby lungs will matured in 48 hours time and baby will be fine. It will be better or the baby to come out, than to stay inside with a lot of unknown and uncertainties. Well, at one point we have too little and not enough for little bud, now we have too much. No matter too little or too much, it's just not good for the baby. Just when we thought we can have a breather till baby's arrival, now we are having this issue, which set my mood to the bottom again

We bought the device and started pricking myself everyday 6 times, recording down the reading and also the food i have eaten, so we know what can i take and what will cause the sugar level to go way higher. It's really a pain because we live in asia whereby most of our day to day cuisine consist 60-70% carbohydrates such as rice and noodles, in order to avoid carbs, i started eating western food such as chicken chop, pork chop, beef and salads with meat, whole meal bread sandwich, well the choices are rather limited and we always have problem finding places to eat.

Week 33

We're back to visit my gynae Dr Mohan of Johor Specialist Hospital again, and this time the scan showed that the water level has gone down and it's in the normal range again. Dr Mohan checked the placenta and umbilical cord diligently through the ultra sound and told us that everything seemed fine and baby is growing well and doing well, and still suggested us to schedule for csec on the first week of September which is on my week 37. We're a little lost to be honest, we thought that everything has been fine now probably we can go through normal delivery, but Dr Mohan think the best is to get the baby out soon. We went to see Dr Ravi at Hospital Sultanah Aminah, he advised us to follow what Dr Mohan has suggested because he knew us better.

Looking back at my pregnancy journey, i am truly Dr Mohan star patient! From first trimester bleeding, second trimester oligohygramnios, and now third trimester polyhydramnios and gestational diabetes, i guess it will be best to get baby out as soon as possible. I've read about the risk of all these symptoms, one of it is stillbirth, which gets me very paranoid everyday whenever i don't feel my baby moving. I guess it is good to have baby arrive earlier than to worry so much.

Week 34

Follow up with Dr Mohan again and scan show that amniotic fluid is in the normal range and baby is growing fine, placenta and umbilical cord working well, and we told Dr Mohan that we are going to choose a date for baby's arrival and will let him know next week. He said that it's fine, and i've been doing well on my diet, and baby will be fine and will be able to wait till 37 weeks.

We were searching high and low for geomancer to select an auspicious date and time for little bud's arrival, and i suddenly recalled that I've seen this Master Tay in Singapore and with his prediction and some elements balancing help, he said i will have a Monkey baby this year, and indeed it happened! So we decided to seek his professional advice on our little bud's birth day and time, and chinese name too.

Master Tay has been very patient and explain to us on the dates he has suggested and the reason behind it, and what does it symbolises. He's also given us a selection of baby's name for us to choose from and tell us the elements of the names and the total number of all the character strokes symbolises what. Lastly, he asked us to text him the date and time of birth together with the name we have selected when baby is here. He will do a final check and let us know about the name. Hubby is very happy with his service, being a baba, my husband proficiency in mandarin/chinese is rather poor, and Master Tay has been very detailed in his explanation on the different dates he has given.

Here's Master Tay contact -  Master Ricahrd Tay

Third trimester - Week 31 - Staycation + wedding dinner in KL

Week 31

We're heading to KL over the weekend for hubby's cousin wedding, so another chance of staycation before baby's arrival! We took a slow drive up north to the capital of the country, just the two of us in the car enjoying the scenery and our favourite music during the journey, because we know this kind of moment will be hard to come by once baby has arrived. We cherish more of such moments as we are nearing to the arrival of little bud!

Once again we are staying at Hilton PJ. My parents-in-law are regular and memberships with them so we got upgraded and have access to the club lounge. We went there for small bites before meeting my dad for dinner, and to my surprised it was crowded. Food were okay with free flow of alcohol not for me :( And here's our room for the next two days.

We went to the lounge for breakfast the next day morning to enjoy the view and it was much quieter than downstairs buffet breakfast restaurant, lesser option for food here but it doesn't matter much for us. After breakfast, we are ready to go out and about!

Came back early to prepare for the wedding dinner tonight which is at Ritz Carlton.  The groom is an australian while the bride, which is my hubby's cousin is Malaysian. The couple has done their vows and ceremony back in Melbourne weeks ago, and came back to KL to hold a small dinner banquet for the family members here in Malaysia. Its a very small yet cozy wedding dinner filled with much love and warmth.

Hubby and I with the 31 weeks bump! Most probably our last wedding dinner with baby in me, I've got a hard time looking for dresses that fit me and my bump, it's an old dress that I've bought years ago and surprisingly fit me well still, and yes I'm wearing about 2 inches high heels, if not i might tripped over myself with the length of my dress. However i was seated, except toilet breaks, throughout the dinner so it's fine for my back n feet.

31 weeks and I'm enjoying my pregnancy so much in the third trimester, with baby kicking me almost every 2-3 hours, and I'm enjoying food and still agile and mobile to go places i want to go with no aches and pains. To the rest of the mummies to be - Jiayou!

Third trimester - week 29

Week 29

Suppose to visit Dr Ravi at Hospital Sultanah Ahminah last week, but due to the long Hari Raya break all over Malaysia, our appointment has been pushed back, and Dr Ravi has some urgent meeting in KL, we were seen by Dr Eliza. Our blood test result has came back to be negative of any infection, thus leave our oligohydramnios a mystery. The scan this time show that we have sufficient amniotic fluid and baby is doing fine and growing well, and he is in the acceptable weight range. That gave us a super big relieve i must said! After all the drama, we are finally on the right track. 

A lot of mummies feel that third trimester is tiring because baby bump is so huge and heavy now, it has caused some sleepless night, backache and water retention. For me, third trimester is the best for me, i have recovered from all the pregnancy symptoms and happily enjoy food and shopping. I don't usually get backache, maybe because my bump is not that big, according to a lot of people I've met, they always comment that I've a small bump, oh well... I've my brisk walking regularly thus i don't have problem of swollen feet too. I didn't buy a pregnancy support pillow to sleep, instead i use 3 pillows to support myself to get a good night sleep. 

I've been watching my weight closely too, as i don't want to gain too much weight than i suppose to and have problem loosing them post natal. At this moment as of week 29, I've gained 9kg so far, and before pregnancy, i have a BMI of 20.3, which means i should not gain more than 16kg, or less than 11.5kg. 

BMI	Recommended weight gain (kg)	Average weight gain per week after the 3rd month
Underweight (less than 19.8)	12.5 - 18	0.5
Healthy weight (19.8 – 26)	11.5 - 16	0.44
Overweight (26.0 - 29.0)	7 - 11.5	0.3
Obese (more than 29.0)	6.0 - 8.0	0.3

taken from - http://www.nestle-family.com/nutrition-for-all/english/how-much-weight-can-you-gain-during-pregnancy_215403.aspx 

Friend of mine who has a healthy BMI and only gained 8kg throughout her pregnancy, which made me so envious! I have only planned to put on 8kg max for my pregnancy, but now it seemed quite impossible, because your weight will only go up during the last trimester instead of going down, so i shall just stick to this chart to make myself feel better. 

However in JB, it is just so weird that people mostly think that pregnant ladies must gain so much weight and eat double the portion to be "healthy" which got me really annoyed at times. Whenever i go for my facial, manicure, massage and dining, people who tend to be surprised at my size and bump size when they knew how far I'm into the pregnancy. 

Ultimately, everybody wants a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. I may not have the biggest baby and in order to buff up my little bud, I've been drinking avocado milk shake, eating durian and also having beef at least once a week. Hoping that little bud can get enough protein and grow well! These are tips from the mummies from the FB group, tested and proven effective, so if you want buff up your baby - avocado, durian, beef and mama milk helped those mummies and it can help you too! 

Here's me at week 30! 10 more weeks my little bud! 

ThirdTrimester - Week 29 - Antenatal Class

We are both first time parents even though we are so lucky to be surrounded by many couples who already have children, still i think it's necessary for us to go to antenatal class to get ourselves prepared and equipped with the knowledge we require for little bud.

Us waiting for the class to start.

There are a lot of folklores out there on how to take care of newborn from the older generation, we appreciate all the advices but we do want to know the medically correct way of taking care of a baby. I've read some horrible stories online and heard some horror stories from a nurse friend working in baby/children ward, and i think knowing what is right and what is wrong is very crucial especially when we talk about handling a fragile newborn.

Besides taking care of newborn, antenatal class gave us an insight of how to take care of yourself better, as in pregnancy diet, exercise, signs and symptoms which need to raise an alarm and signs and symptoms which are normal during pregnancy. The doctor also gave a talk on the process of normal delivery, different types of pain management, signs of delivering, when to come to the hospital, where to go to etc. While the nurse strongly promotes on breastfeeding, how to store breastmilk, how exclusive breastfeeding can be done and its benefits, and water intoxication for baby 6 months and below, which some mummies don't know about it.

Johor Specialist Hospital hold antenatal class on every third Saturday of the month, 2pm-5pm, and charges RM35 for a couple. It's partly sponsored by cryocord, a cord blood and cord cell storage company which they will present a talk on the benefits of cord blood and cord cells storage for your baby. You will receive a goody bags with drinks and snacks, and some samples of diaper, diaper cream, soap and washing detergent too!

You may call them to enrol even if you do not give birth at Johor Specialist Hospital, 07-2253000 ext 735. I strongly suggest first time parents to attend to get yourself better prepared of the changes ahead!

Ending Second trimester, into third trimester - week 26 - 28 - Pulai Desaru Resort

Second trimester 

Week 26 

After a week of drinking loads of water, and a friend told me that chia seeds can retain water well, and I've been drinking water with chia seeds everyday. It's time to visit my gynae again. And it's good news time time! The AFI level has gone back to normal! We were extremely delighted I must say! Cos if you google about oligohydramnios, which is the name of the symptom of not enough or little amniotic fluid, it really got us very very worried. It can hampered the growth rate of the baby, and may be some abnormalities. We were glad that we did the NIPT, so chromosome abnormalities issues had been ruled out. And now, with enough amniotic fluid which means baby has enough space to grow and stretch. With all the specialist assuring us that with the scan, our baby is doing fine and has no abnormalities, which gave us a little peace of mind, but I’m a paranoid mummy and I’m still a little bit worried. I just pray that my little bud is healthy, that’s all i wanted!

As we are nearing to third trimester, the baby kicks has been getting really intense! There were times that little bud just exercise himself throughout the night, though it can be annoying as I was trying to catch some sleep, but, I bet most mummy share the same sentiments - it's better to feel your baby moving than feel nothing. Baby kicks counting has become very essential, I did not do the regular 10 kicks a day thing, because little bud can kick more than that in an hour. I used a 3 hours period count, I will always feel him moving, wiggling, kick once or twice at least in every 3 hour. At times of more than 3 hours and I don't think that I feel my little bud, I will start pressing poking my bump, talk to him and lie on my left, and he will start to give me a kick or nudge to signal me he's there.

Week 27, finally third trimester! After all the depressing moments, we decided to have a break, and we went to desaru, a beach about an hour drive from JB. Hubby and I have always been a beach lover, and since its kind of late to organize a trip overseas now, so we just go around locally. We went there with a few friends and their children, and stayed a night. I made some sandwich, we had a picnic session there and fly kites, swim in the sea as well as the pool! 

Pulai Desaru Resort is a great place to stay and this is our second time here, first time was 2 years back during my birthday. Due to the Hari Raya long weekend holiday, the resort is filled with people! I think they are not that prepared for such crowd, the buffet breakfast provided by the restaurant was disappointing! we woke up early and realised that they have too much guest, the kitchen couldn’t prepare the food fast enough to replenish what had been depleted by the guests. Most of the food trays were empty, the ala-cart eggs station queue was so long cos that’s the only station with food available! Probably that’s the price to pay for going on vacation during holiday season. 

Nonetheless, we had an enjoyable time! A picture of some of us in the pool!

Second trimester - week 25

Second trimester 

Week 25, time to visit my gynae for the regular check up, and this time round, we got a bad news. My amniotic fluid is low, it's lower that average, a symptom called oligohydramnios, that my doctor has certain concern, and referred us to another specialist Dr Ravi, at Hospital Sultanah Aminah. Dr Ravi is the head of specialist of the O&G department in the whole Malaysia, according to our gynae, he's the best to consult for second opinion. Luckily he's the best friend of my gynae, if not the waiting queue can be weeks. We manage to secure an appointment in 2 days time. 

We went home with a heavy heart and I started Google about oligohydramnios and reading about the effects of it on newborn, and stories from different mummies that has got this issue. I broke down and cried, why it just need to be me? Haven't I gone through enough? Why now this thing has to happen to my little bud. Apparently there is no diagnose as in why low amniotic fluid can happen during the course of pregnancy, however it can indicates there could be chromosomes defects or birth defects that causes it. Hence we need to see Dr Ravi to get a detailed scan of the baby. 

I read that some mothers drink like 3-4 liters of water a day to increase the AF level, I don't care whether it is true a not, I just drink and drink and drink, hoping that it worked! 

On the day of appointment with Dr Ravi, apparently drinking so much water for the past 2 days didn't help, my AFI is still low. He took a good 30 minutes to scan everything, checked all the vital organs and the placenta. Dr Ravi said everything seemed fine, baby is growing despite the fact that little bud is not the biggest size, meaning little bud is on the small side. However my placenta looked huge, the blood transfusion heartbeat from the placenta to the cord to the baby appeared to be normal too. He took a good 5 minutes scanning little bud's heart and said the valves and chambers did form nicely and the blood flow is ok. He even showed us and counted all the baby's toes and fingers to us, and tried taking a 3D image of little bud, and we saw the 1/2 profile of the face for the first time, I think he has daddy's nose. Dr Ravi wanted us to do a placenta infection blood test to check whether there's any infection to the placenta which caused the low AFI, and referred us to fetal cardiologist to have a detailed scan of little bud's heart in 2 days times. Meanwhile, he told us that everything seemed fine and stay positive! He will see us back in 3 weeks time.

I cried myself to sleep at night, thinking and wondering what have I done wrong, and blaming myself of not taking good care of myself and my baby. I was totally depressed, going through social media looking at others' healthy cute baby, I felt so envy and worried that mine won't be healthy like the rest. Hubby has been very positive and given me a lot of support and encouragement, he said doctors all said that baby is fine and doing well, and kept telling me happy mummy = happy healthy baby. He kept calling me at work to check on my well being, but I was just down, very very down. 

2 days later, we went to see the fetal cardiologist to do a detailed scan of little bud's heart, the specialist said everything is good, chambers and valves all functioning well according to the scan. I felt much relieve hearing this, but still I'm worried about my baby, I want nothing but just a healthy baby. All we can do now is wait for the result, and our next appointment with my gynae to see if there is any improvement.

Second trimester - week 24 - Celebrating my sisters' birthday

Second trimester 

Week 22, first time I felt little bud moving in me, I guess I did! It's almost like air bubbles or gas passed through your stomach. I felt this much earlier at week 21 but I thought it's just digestion in action, but now, I'm certain that it's my little bud moving in me! It's just so magical! 

I've read that from week 22 onwards, baby's hearing has been fully developed, so we bought story books for little bud! We started taking turn every other night reading bedtime stories to little bud, and I started talking to little bud every afternoon, and daddy will do the talking at night, hoping that he will recognize our voices and find comfort when hearing us after the arrival. 

One fine early morning like 430am at week 24, I felt little bud's hiccup! At first I don't know what was it, cos it's too rhythmatic I thought it was the heartbeat, but it's too slow to be heart beat, then I realized baby is having hiccups, and it lasted like a minute or two. It's kind of a weird feeling and as usual for the first time mum, I googled and it's normal and totally fine, it's an exercise to the diaphragm and also baby is practicing the swallowing motion. 

We celebrated both my lovely sisters' birthday with a high tea session at Chihuly at Ritz Carlton hotel. It's one of the best 8 course high tea that you will be stuffed to the brim! The environment is nice and quiet with live piano session and attentive servers, I like this place a lot and it's very spacious so don't worry about parking your stroller far far away. Food is good, even though there's no refill for any courses, but it's definitely sufficient! 

Me at 24 weeks at the entrance of Chihuly lounge.

My sister with her 2 little princess! Can u believe she just done her confinement and she's already lost all her pregnancy weight! She's definitely my role model! 

All of us at the high tea! My mum, my brother who came back for summer break from New York, my 2 younger pretty sisters and 2 little nieces. 

This baby girl, Clara definitely know how to enjoy the high tea. 

To the youngest prettiest of the 3 of us on the left, happy belated birthday! And to the fabulous mummy of 2, happy be earlied birthday! 

Second trimester - week 20-22

Second trimester 

Welcome to week 20! Finally it's honeymoon for me! My morning sickness is gone and my appetite got better! Still waiting for the sensitive nose and sensitive palate to go off, which I'm praying that it will soon! 

As I'm approaching a cheery 5th month, my sister gave birth on her EDD to another beautiful and healthy girl! I'm a second time aunt and so excited to carry her little one in my arms! Welcome to the world Hannah, we love you! My sister gave birth at the new Mount Elizaberth hospital at Novena, and it really feels like checking in to a five star hotel than a hospital! Made me consider giving birth in Singapore now. 

Week 21, the day we looked forward for like a long times, cos today we will do a detailed scan for our little bud! Everything should be in place by now, the lips, the fingers, the toes and all the vital organs, we were so excited to see our little bud face for the first time! Despite going through so much ups and downs, Doctor said that baby is doing great, everything is in place and the lips has closed and formed nicely. But when he was going to do a 3D scan for our little bud, little bud is too shy and turned away, perhaps a better chance on our week 25. 

My honeymoon ended in 2 weeks time, at week 22, I started the midnight vomiting, indigestion set in again and the hubby had to make milo for me in the middle of the night. We started tracking the food that I ate for dinner, cos I'm always alright and have good appetite in the day but when it comes to dinner, I just can't think of what to eat. Then we realized, processed soya products are giving me problems. The times that I vomitted, I had been curd sheet (fuzhu), youngtaufu and taugua in my dinner, so I have to avoid these food from now on. Besides avoiding these food, I'll have indigestion after dinner, but not until vomit that sort, at times that I really feel so bad, I will have some gaviscon, which soothes me at most time. 

Meanwhile, I just tried my best to hang in there, and still telling myself that it will be over someday. I guess I just belongs to the less fortunate ones, I've read online that some women have pregnancy symptoms till the day they gave birth! I just hope this won't be me. Initially we were planning for a babymoon, due to my condition, hubby decided that it's best that I stay in the comfort of our home. So no babymoon :(