35-weeks pregnant

While I'm still able to sit in front of computer and have sometime for myself, I would try to allocate the time to update my blog as much as I can. But at the moment, I can't sit too long anymore now that I am entering my 35th week of pregnancy. My tummy is growing bigger it makes me difficult to sit on a soft couch and to get up again, especially if I have to get up after sitting on the floor. Sleeping, walking, and breathing have been proven to be more and more problematic during this period. I cannot walk too far and too long anymore because I will run out of breath and I will experience strong Braxton Hicks contraction at night. It's so strong it can take my breath away and I'll be gasping for some air while praying and whispering to the baby to stay longer inside my womb.

I do not want my baby to come out prematurely. My first child was born exactly on the 36th week (2 weeks earlier than the due date) and it was a very easy and quick normal delivery with no epidural involved. While the easy and quick normal delivery part has always been what I ask for in my prayer, the earlier-than-due-date part is not what I want. 3 of my son's cousins were born earlier than the due date as early as 32 - 35 weeks. I talk a lot to my baby inside the womb to stay longer at least until 37 weeks. I do not want my baby to come out too late as well (overdue). Overdue baby usually is quite big so I'm afraid I will have a difficult and long labor not to mention the possibility of having Cesarean Section.

Cesarean Section is never my preference because then I will have to stay longer in bed, feeling the pain after the big surgery and still have to take care the newborn and worry about when I can recover because I have another son to take care, a hubby that cannot wait to go for his overseas assignment, and a long list of my duty as a wife and a mother as well. But then, if C-section is the only way to deliver my baby, then I just have to cope with the problems later.

At 35 weeks pregnant, I'm supposed to enjoy the time with my other half as much as I can, but unfortunately, his work always comes first. I wanted to take him to go for a movie but it never materializes. He would say, "Tomorrow, tomorrow. I'm very busy today." and that tomorrow means "wait long long lah!!" Aiyoh!!!
I can just go by myself to the cinema and watch The dark knight but then I'm afraid if anything happens to me, no one will help because at this period, the preparation of my body for labor is getting more and more obvious. Anything can happen anywhere.

I have done some preparation for the baby and for staying in the hospital. I've packed the baby's bag and mine. I've washed everything including the breastpump but I haven't sterilized it. I've informed my maid to do it once the baby is out. I still have quite a number of things to be bought such as the baby mattress + bed sheet, the baby bottle/cups to store the breast milk, and the baby car seat. I'm still looking for the most suitable baby car seat around because my car is very small and I have installed 1 car seat for my 1st child. If I want to put another car seat, I have to make sure, the car seat is slim enough to fit the back seat of my car and still have some space for my maid to sit. Oh yes, my maid always wants me to take her whenever my hubby and I go out. She complains when she has to stay at home. When my parents came over to visit me, she had to stay at home because the car can't fit too many people and my maid was not happy about it. She scolded my parents for coming over and causing her to be left at home during family outing. My hubby and I have no plan to upgrade the car soon because we still have no budget for that. Besides, big car means more petrol. I still need to allocate the money for more urgent things like all the newborn needs and the house that is still under renovation. I want the house to be completed as soon as possible because the apartment I stay at the moment is getting smaller with the new addition to my family.

Ok, I think I've been sitting here quite sometime and I need to end this post quickly because my back is starting to ache and I'm getting hungry. Oh by the way, so far I've only put on 7Kgs in total and my body weight keeps going up and down. When I was pregnant with my 1st child, I gained 10Kgs in total for the whole duration of 9 months.

Potty training

My 3.8 years old son has just completed his potty training project. Now he is completely free of diaper, day and night. Yeah..I know..I know...it's a bit late but I am very satisfied with the process and the result. Basically, my son has already passed his potty training project for no-diaper during the day long time ago when he was only 2.5 years old. So, the potty training project this time was only for the night.

Only about 2 weeks ago, I finally got a green light from my husband to potty-train my son for no-diaper at night though I've been quietly training him as and when my hubby was not around but no good progress because my son knew he could still wear diaper when daddy was around.
My husband was very concerned about my son's lack of sleep if he had to be waken up in the middle of the night to pass urine and worried about me not having enough sleep if I had to wake up my son. But I believe, he was just very lazy to wake himself up to help my son to go to toilet at night and he didn't like our maid to put on her long face when she had to do more cleaning and washing of bedsheet, etc.,so my hubby requested me to keep my son diaper on longer.

So, after some jokes about my son not being able to let go his diaper until his teenage time, my husband finally opened up his eyes and agreed to help me to wake my son up and even to carry him to toilet every night to pass urine.

The project didn't go well for the first 1 week and of course, my maid really didn't like this project because she had to wash not only our bedsheet but also the blanket and pillow covers (though we put mattress protector, my son just couldn't sleep on 1 place), but she had no more supporter anymore since my hubby was on my side..wha..ha!
After the 1st week when my hubby was not around, I had to do the job of waking my son up and drag him to toilet (I'm pregnant so it's imposible to lift him up). Everynight before he sleeps I keep on telling and whispering to my son's ears not to pee on the bed. Miraculously, up to present, he nevers fails to wake up by himself and wake me up instead to help him to go to toilet.

Wha..ha..ha..I'm so happy that my son and I completed the project successfully only within 2 weeks. I thought it would take longer. This is great because then I don't have to buy more diaper for him. The cost can be allocated for his baby sister later.

32 weeks pregnant

I'm 32 weeks pregnant at the moment. Since the day I entered the third trimester pregnancy, I could feel that the most comfortable period of pregnancy has slowly been going away. My tummy is growing bigger everyday and it gets heavier. My body puts on weight as well though it is not too much compared to my first pregnancy. So far, I only put on about 7 kilograms.
My center of gravity has moved too and this makes me walk like a penguin. I have trouble sleeping every night because the baby tries to adjust her position all the time and I feel the pain in my lower hips every time I change position while sleeping. According to the scan, it's a baby girl, by the way. I hope it's right so I can 'close shop' with 1 boy and 1 girl... :)

Two weeks ago, I went for check up because I felt that the baby's position was already very low and I felt a painful cramp in my lower abdomen. I thought I was about to give birth already. But luckily it was only a false alarm. The baby's head was still in breech presentation. My ob/gyn asked me to stop walking too much but to sit up right and stand straight instead so that the baby could turn the head down by the force of gravity. I think this false alarm was triggered by the incident I had during the day when I had to walk up and down the staircase of more than 11 floor because the only 2 lifts in my apartment were malfunctioning.

Today, I went for my check up again and the good news is that the baby's head is already in the right position (cephalic presentation). I also had my tetanus jab (my 2nd time. I had it before when I was small) and now my left arm is very very sore... :(
The bad news is that my urine contains a slightly high level of protein. My ob/gyn is a bit concern about this because high level of protein in urine during pregnancy can lead to preeclampsia condition.

According to this website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050111122343.htm,
if it is not monitored, preeclampsia can rapidly escalate to eclampsia, a condition in which a massive rise in blood pressure causes the mother to suffer a series of potentially fatal complications and forces premature delivery of the infant.

So far, I do not suffer from high blood pressure and my sugar level is still normal. Hopefully my protein level won't bring any danger to my pregnancy and me so that I can continue the pregnancy to the full term and the mother and baby will be in good condition and healthy during delivery. Please pray for me and my baby.