Still waiting

At the moment, I'm still waiting to give birth which can happen any time now until end of the month. My ob/gyn said big chance that I'll give birth during this week because everything is ready. The baby's head is engaged very low. The cervix has diluted 2 cm. I just have to wait for a big major contraction that is strong enough to break the water. After the water breaks, the delivery of the baby will be pretty fast. So, I have to make sure I am not too far away from the hospital at this moment.

But now, I'm still waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I've been having painful contractions but not too strong. I can't sleep because I just got too excited and I keep on thinking about my son when I have to stay in the hospital to give birth. If only I could just take him to the hospital with me so that I can always see and monitor him....
I've got super paranoid about who will take care of my son other than me. I don't trust anyone at all, including my hubby.
Besides, I don't know why, my body feels extremely hot and I sweat so much even though I've set the air conditioner in my room to 16 degrees Celsius.

I want to be able to do so many things and also traveling around but at the moment, my mobility is really limited with such a huge tummy.This waiting period makes me feel agitated so easily. I also get bored and tired so easily. I get bored over so many things I usually love to do. I even get bored of checking emails, browsing internet, even writing a blog. So, I really need to finish this before I'm completely turned off.

Please pray for me so that I can have a smooth and quick delivery with my husband by my side (he's been tired of waiting also and just cannot wait to go overseas for his work assignment). Thank you so much in advance!

37 weeks pregnant

Starting this morning, I have to see my ob/gyn for a check up once a week until I'm in labor because I'm into my 37 week pregnancy counting by date. I can be in labor anytime now until 6th September. If on the 6th September I'm still not in labor yet, then I have to be induced. I really hope the baby will come out naturally without an induction. Though I've never done that before, I heard from many people after the induction, the mother will experience tremendous pain and will run out of energy to push the baby. The baby can become distressed as well.

On this morning check up my ob/gyn did an internal examination and swept my membranes because I have been experiencing a number of strong contractions for the past 2 weeks. It was not a pleasant experience though. It's rather painful but not too long. After the internal examination, I was informed that the baby's head is already very low and the cervix is opening up a little bit. Because of this, I was sent to do the Cardiotocograph (CTG) test for an hour in the labor ward. The CTG test is done by using a machine that has an instrument to be attached to my tummy to record baby's heart rate and to record any contractions. At the same time, I had to monitor the baby's movement. This test is important to monitor the baby's well being.

For an hour I could listen my baby's heartbeat. It sounded pleasant to my ears. The baby sounded very relax and when the baby moved I had to press a button for 3 seconds.
I had to bring the result back to my ob/gyn to be examined. According to the CTG test, there was no major contractions and no fetal distress so I could go back home. I was told to return to hospital immediately whenever I experience any signs of labor such as any bleeding, water breaks, or any major painful contractions. I hope I won't be in labor tonight because my husband is not around until tomorrow. I'm not afraid to face this alone but what I am worried the most is that my husband will be missing his chance to welcome his child again for the 2nd time. It's really not cool because he has missed the 1st one.

Makan pagi di rumahku

Ketika orang tuaku datang berkunjung, ibu bertanya kepadaku kenapa tidak pernah ada sarapan tersedia di meja makan. Beliau meminta pertanggung jawabanku sebagai seorang ibu, istri, dan ratu rumah kenapa aku tidak menyiapkan makan pagi untuk anggota keluargaku.

Jawabannya mudah saja; karena memang anggota keluargaku tidak suka makan sarapan yang aku buat untuk mereka. Bukannya aku sama sekali tidak pernah menyiapkan sarapan untuk keluargaku. Untuk anakku, sebagai seorang ibu, tentu aku selalu mencoba untuk memberikan dan menyiapkan makan pagi yang bergizi dan sehat untuknya, karena bagiku, makan pagi paling penting untuk memberikan energi yang cukup untuk melakukan aktifitas sepanjang hari.Tetapi, aku sudah capek hati karena setiap kali aku menyiapkan sarapan, selalu saja aku sendiri yang pada akhirnya menghabiskan semuanya.
Di rumahku aku selalu memastikan ada persediaan makanan untuk makan pagi yang sehat dan bergizi tinggi tanpa MSG, seperti: hash brown, roti gandum, keju, selai rasa buah beraneka rasa, coklat meses, coklat selai, cereal/oatmeal berbagai rasa lengkap dengan pernak perniknya seperti biji bunga matahari, kismis, apricot kering, dan teman-temannya, ada juga bihun/mie/nasi yang bisa digoreng atau dibuat sup karena aku punya banyak kelengkapannya seperti sosis, daging, tuna, dan sayur mayurnya. Untuk minuman: ada teh hijau, ada teh lipton, ada susu (susu segar dan susu coklat), ada kopi juga.
Buah-buahan segar pun tersedia lengkap: ada pepaya, ada pisang, ada jeruk, ada mangga, dan sebagainya. Buah-buahan kering pun juga tersedia.
Aku juga mencoba menyediakan makan pagi English breakfast or American breakfast.

Tetapi sayangnya, suamiku dibesarkan dengan selalu membeli sarapan di luar. Jadi, meskipun disiapkan sarapan yang sama persis (tanpa MSG) dengan yang dibelinya di luar, tetap saja tak disentuh sampai sarapannya jadi dingin dan tidak enak lagi dimakan, karena, kalau pagi-pagi belum keluar untuk makan mie yang pakai banyak MSG, belum sarapan namanya. Kalau tidak pakai MSG tidak afdol makananannya. D'oh sedih banget rasanya tiap kali ribut masalah MSG.

Sayangnya juga, anakku itu picky eater. Setiap kali mau sarapan, lebih baik aku tanya dulu dia mau makan apa karena kalau tidak, percuma saja dia tidak akan menyentuh makanan tersebut. Meskipun dia sudah memberikan jawaban mau makan apa, tetap saja, banyak makanan terbuang percuma karena anakku bisa tiba-tiba mengganti seleranya.

Sementara pembantuku juga sama saja. Aku selalu memberi kebebasan kepadanya untuk memakan apapun yang ada di rumahku tetapi yang selalu habis duluan adalah mie instant.

Jadi ya untuk apa aku capek-capek dan pusing-pusing menyiapkan makan pagi kalau setiap anggota keluargaku sudah punya kebiasaan makan pagi sendiri. Lebih baik aku siapkan makan pagi untuk diriku sendiri saja. Berhubung sekarang aku lagi hamil, jadi aku tidak bisa makan sembarangan lagipula, aku dibesarkan untuk selalu makan pagi di rumah. Lebih bersih, lebih sehat, dan lebih hemat.

Too many questions

My son is coming to 4 years old and he is entering the age when he knows he can use how, why, what, where, who, whose, and when to ask questions to every one to feed his curiosity. He will ask questions about anything to the very detail until you really have no idea how to answer him and wish that he stops questioning you. His questions can be very ridiculous or sounds weird and funny. For example, he asked me "Why today is raining?", "Why am I a boy and aunt Hanna is a girl?", "Why baby is inside mommy's tummy?", "How can baby go inside mommy's tummy?", "Why the train track is very long?". When I gave him the answer, he would continue his interrogations until I run out of answer.

Some people who have no patient will just keep quiet, don't bother to answer him and let him repeating the same question again and again. But my husband and I will try our best to answer every question he poses to us as tactful and careful as possible. There are times that we really gag because we need to think the best and the most appropriate words to explain to him so that at one point he will be satisfied and end his interrogations with "Oh I see." When he says that, we know he is satisfied and will stop questioning us for a moment before the next questions come up again about a different topic. We try to feed him with information as correct and accurate as possible because we don't want him to get the wrong understanding over things he asks. We will also refer him to his encyclopedia books, his children dictionary, or the information from TV shows to give him visual information so he can digest it easily.

It's not easy really. It's very frustrating sometimes because we just can't do anything when he starts to bug us with his questions. He will chase us and corner us until we give him answers that satisfy him. His teacher also informed me about this. At school, my son will ask his teacher so many questions about things he is interested in but when he is not interested in the subject, he will just sleep in the classroom...:)

The only time my son will stop asking questions is when he is busy doing his art work such as painting, coloring, and drawing, and when he is playing with his computer. He will be very silent and concentrate fully on his work. Even when he sleeps he will still ask questions! My husband and I have to wake up and answer his questions until he is satisfied with our answers and he'll go back to sleep.

Geez... he is like a computer that is hungry for some data. He takes all the answers, stores in his brain to be retrieved whenever he needs the data. If it's not enough, he'll try to get more input from any sources... :D

My husband and I can't wait until he can read so that we can guide him to get the answers from many sources not only from books and TV channels (TVIQ, Discovery, National Geography, Animal Planet, and The History Channel) but also from the internet.

In the mean time, we are quite happy to read things for him and try our best to feed his curiosity with the best knowledge possible.
This reminds me of my favourite McDonald commercial I saw in New Zealand years ago. The ad showed a little girl was having a conversation with his daddy and asked him where baby came from. Her daddy gagged for a while because he was a bit reluctant to answer her so he came out with "McDonald!" and the little girl was happy to talk about what to order and end her sentence with, "then you will tell me all about it." Which means she would still require her daddy to answer her first question "Where baby comes from?"...:D

A mother's story

Oahemm...sorry, I'm yawning. I'm extremely sleepy at the moment. I have not been having enough sleep for the past 1 week because first of all, the weather is very very hot. Ipoh has been so dry and hazy. Second of all, I have this terrible flu that makes my nose blocked. Even without the blocked nose, I already have difficulty breathing because of my growing belly that compresses my lung capacity. So, every night, I'm like a fish that needs some water.

I'm sorry about the whining and the complaining. I'm not in the mood of talking about good things. My brain is half asleep already but I still can't sleep because I have to watch my son who suddenly for no reason, has developed rashes all over his body since yesterday morning. I have to make sure he is not too hot otherwise the rashes will worsen and he won't stop scratching here and there until his body is very red. I can't stand to see him suffering like that.

Last night I didn't not sleep at all. Every time I was about to shut my eyes, my son woke up and started to scratch his body and I just had to put the lotion to soothe him down so that he could sleep again. The rashes go away as soon as I apply lotion directly on the affected area. I have no idea what causes the rashes to develop. My hubby thought it was the Dettol soap that my son used 2 days ago because his baby soap run out. But the rashes actually developed when he did not even showered with that Dettol soap and since that rashes developed, he has been showered with his own baby soap. Still the rashes come out when my son feels hot.

I'm going to take him to see his paediatrician soon. Hopefully, tonight, my son will be able to sleep well. I am very exhausted. Oh well, this is part of my duty to be a mother, right? It is in my job description as a mother that I have to stay awake at night and take care of my children's well being while others snore so loudly. I take this as an exercise before my baby comes out. Once I'm in labour, whe..he..he.., I can say 'good bye' to a good night sleep until at least a year later. I have known this when I choose to become a mother. It's tough but the reward is the heaven under my feet... :)
There is a saying in my language that goes like this: "Surga dibawah telapak kaki ibu" - The heaven is beneath a mother's feet. So, yeah, despite all the sacrifices and the complains I make, I am very proud to be a mother.