Jensen's First 2 Months (in pictures)

Picture paints a thousand words. So, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Hungry-looking for milk

Favourite pass time

You'll only see his double eye lids once in a while


Full moon gift from grandma-a rabbit pendant set

Play time

Sleepy time


Chill out time


First smile captured on camera


He ain't heavy, he's my brother


Bonding time


Mummy's favourite shot

Jensen James Is Here

Our little bundle of joy arrived on 31 August 2011 at 9.20am weighing 2.92 kg. My due date was 2 September but had a show in the morning of 30 August and admitted, induced at 2pm, and delivered the next morning at 9.20a.m.

Who ever said that the 2nd time around should be easier......no, it's not. In my case, the labour was longer and the pain was much much worse. I almost wanted to give up when I was 6cm dilated. With every contraction at the peak, I thought that it couldn't get worse but it just did and I was surprised a human being can go through such pain without passing out. I closed my eyes tighter and tighter with every contraction and when it was at the max, I couldn't believe that my eyes just pop open (against my will). I must have screamed too (I can't hear nor control myself at that time) so much so that I felt my throat was dry and sore after the delivery. But I remember myself crying at the peak of each contraction.

Like the 1st labour, I didn't opt for epidural, just asked for the gas and the pain killer jab. After all the drama, moaning (almost like screaming) and crying, baby Jensen arrived safely. Then, the cord snap leaving the placenta inside me. The doc had to call the anesthetist to numb my lower body so that she can retrieve the placenta by hand. I can't explain how relieved I felt after that, no more pain. Then I thought that I should have taken the epidural in the first place to save all the sweat and tears.

I felt so embarrassed after the delivery, thinking of how smooth the 1st delivery was and how well I handled that compared to this. The whole labour was like a dream to me, like I was outside my body, hearing all the conversations between the midwives, nurses, doctor and my hubby but I just couldn't respond nor control my body.

What I remembered clearly was I told the doctor "I don't want anymore babies after this".

24hrs of Contraction but It's a False Alarm

Mummy is 36 weeks & 5 days preggie.....

Weird isn't it?

About one week before that episode of false alarm, I had contraction for 12 hours, which started on 28 July (34 weeks & 6 days preggie). We were watching the Malaysia vs. Singapore football match at home that evening. I started to feel the contraction at around 10pm+ and wasn't sure about that. So I observed for about 20 minutes and the pain is still coming at about 9 minutes apart. Hubby was still watching the match when I stand in front of him and told him to get the bag out from the wardrobe. He looked at me with eyes wide opened and said "baby coming out ah?" I said "I'm not sure but I feel the contraction". After taking the bag out, I started to pack the hospital bag and he continued to watch the match until finish. I told him later that it's still too early to tell but if it continues throughout the night, I need to see my gynae the next morning.

I only managed to sleep after 2am that night. So many things went round my head. Luckily, I have briefed my boss what are the outstanding things on my hand that need to be monitored. The pain was still there until the next morning at about 9 mins apart but there was no spotting and water bag is still intact. We went to see my gynae after sending Ethan to school. He did a scan on me and checked on the cervix. Baby was doing fine, weighed about 2.3 kg and his head is down but not engaged. Cervix is not dilated. He gave me a steroid jab (cannot remember the name) to strengthen the baby's lung, in case he decided to come out early. The baby is not yet full term and it's best to carry him to at least 36 weeks and his weight should be ideally above 2.5kg. The jab will also help to stabilise the contraction/womb and my situation should improve by 80% after the jab. I need to go back for the 2nd jab the next day. It was a darn painful jab in the @$$.

I was actually on leave that Friday, which I have applied 1 month ago coz I so so wanted to go to the Parenthood fair. Before going to the clinic, I told hubby over breakfast that I'm going to ask the doc if I can go to Midvalley later (he has agreed to go with me a week ago) and hubby quickly answered "you cannot go lar". I said "aiyah, let me ask first lar". Before I could say anything, my gynae already told me that after the jab, I should go home and rest, cannot go around and shopping. Wah, he can almost read my mind. So, I looked at hubby and just laughed. Darn....I'm so disappointed. Really disappointed. The contraction slowly faded away after the 2nd jab. I was given mc for 3 days (Friday, Monday & Tuesday).

The False Alarm
On 2 August (35 weeks & 4 days preggie), I had the 1st appointment with another gynae at UKMSC, where we have opted to deliver the baby. I waited for 2 months to see this gynae. Can't believe the waiting list is that long. I was so worried when I first experienced the contraction coz I was not sure if the specialist centre will accept me or not if I were really in labour before I see the gynae.

I was so relieved after the check-up. Firstly, I know I can surely be admitted there if I'm really in labour. Secondly, baby was 2.6kg with head down but not engaged. Thirdly, the hospital bag was packed. So, I can deliver anytime now without worries. I told the gynae about the contractions and the jabs I was given. She said things are under controlled and I can go back to work the next day.

That very same night, the contraction came again. We went to bed about 10pm+ and I started to feel it at about 11pm. Ethan and hubby were asleep and I didn't wake hubby up. Again, I have another sleepless night. I monitored the contraction until I dozed off at about 3am. It was 9 mins apart lasting about 5-10 seconds each. I woke up at about 6.30am. the next morning and the pain was getting stronger. I woke hubby up and told him about it but I still think it's too early to go to the hospital. I told him to go to work and I will send Ethan to school and then go to my mum's house to monitor the contraction. I will call him if there's anything.

The contraction was getting stronger and more frequent on that day, from 9 mins apart to about 5-6 mins apart in the evening. However, there was no spotting and my water bag did not break. I asked hubby to fetch Ethan after work and go to my mum's house for dinner before going to the hospital for a check. We had put the hospital bag in the car that morning. By the time we headed for the hospital at 8.30pm., the pain was quite intense. The MO checked on me and asked tonnes of questions. The CTG showed that I had contraction but not consistent. Baby's heartbeat was normal. Cervix was about 1cm dilated.

It was exactly the same scenario when I delivered Ethan 5 years ago - 12 hrs of contraction and 1cm dilation when I went to the hospital. Ethan came 3 weeks early, which makes me think this baby might come early too. After all, everyone has been telling me that the 2nd baby will come earlier than the 1st one. The only difference was that I had spotting after a few hours of contraction when I delivered Ethan. I remembered I can still walk to the ward when I was admitted last time, which means the pain was not that intense compared to this time, which I don't think I can walk to the ward.

After checking on me, the MO told me that it's too early to tell if I'm in labour. It could be Braxton Hicks contractions and I can choose to be warded or go home to wait. However, he will discuss this with my gynae first. I read many times about Braxton Hicks and all the resources said that Braxton Hicks contractions will go away after a while but mine didn't. He called my gynae, whom I just saw the day before and after discussing for a while, he handed the phone to me. I told her the contractions were getting stronger consistently from the time it started and she advised me to stay in the hospital for monitoring.

They wheeled me to the ward at around 10pm. and hubby stayed with me that night. I managed to fall asleep after 2am and throughout the night I was awaken by the pain but I gave up to check how far apart it was. I just wanted to rest as much as possible to gather energy for the labour. The nurse came and check the baby's heartbeat at 12 midnight and the CTG at 6.30am. the next morning. It showed that the baby's heartbeat was ok but the contraction was not that strong. I too felt that the contraction was further apart and slowly faded.

We waited for my gynae to come and by the time she arrived at 11am, the contraction has gone. I just didn't feel it anymore. I told her I'm confused. She said it happened and saw a few cases like that before. I can be discharged. She checked on my tummy and said the baby's head was not engaged. I felt so tired at that time, having to deal with the on-off contractions and sleepless nights. So I asked her if I can be induced but she said NO. I just have to wait.

So, here I am back to work and still pregnant.

Cherating Revisited

Mummy is 33 weeks & 3 days preggie.....
Ethan is 5 years, 1 month, 3 weeks & 5 days old.....

My company organised a family day at Cherating and we stayed at the Legend Resort for 3 days/2 nights (8-10 July 2011). The first time me and hubby stayed there was in 2003, after our ROM. The timing for this trip was good as we get to escape KL. Otherwise, we will be stranded at home due to the rally.

Although I was 32 months preggie and knew it would be tiring to sit through a 3-hour journey, I was adamant to go because I want Ethan to have some fun before his little brother arrives. I don't think we will have any holidays for the next 6 months at least with an infant in tow. It was a right decision as we enjoyed the trip, especially Ethan. He participated in 2 of the games and won a chess set and I can see he truly enjoyed playing sand at the beach. Apart from that, there were a few memorable moments during the trip:

• We got to hold baby turtles for the first time and releasing them to the sea.
• Painting batik for the first time.
• Mummy got a Tissot watch and a multi-purpose cooker for the lucky draw. Daddy was even luckier coz the watch is for men.

The only minus point about the trip is the hotel room. Some of the rooms were refurbished but most of them were run down including ours. Since we don't fork out a single sen for the trip, I don't want to complain about it lah. Will let the pictures do the talking.

Yay!!! I can see the beach, the pool and had a keropok lekor in hand.

Checking out the beach shortly after checked-in.



Mark his territory?

Happily playing sand, wet or dry, under the blazing hot sun.

Sweets he collected in one of the games.

Trying his hand at batik painting.

The finished art work (with help from daddy and mummy).

Looking at the 1-week old turtles at the sanctuary.

Highlight of the event. Everyone was so excited
to hold and release a baby turtle each.

Mummy and her 2 babies.


The watch that mummy/daddy got

The 2nd Trimester

Mummy is 27 weeks & 5 days preggie.....
Ethan is 5 years, 2 weeks & 3 days old.....

Baby

• Weight at 24th week: 590g

We found out it's a boy on my 16th week check-up. When I asked my gynae if we could see the gender on that day, he told me "Yes, if the baby is co-operative". Well, baby was really very co-operative on that day and showed us everything. I remembered hubby said in the car later "Another boy ah". I said "I thought you said ok to have another boy". He replied "I'm only worried about you. Having one boy already caused you 'dai geng pau' (thyroid), what more another boy now." When I asked him about baby name a few days after that, he said wait until the next check-up to confirm it's a boy. The next check-up showed it's a boy, again. I don't have to explain more on what he prefers right?

As for me, seriously, I don't know what I prefer. It's like 'Ok, I have tried a chocolate cake this time and maybe I want to try a strawberry cake the next time. But the strawberry cake is sold out the next time I wanted to buy it. Well, never mind, I know how the chocolate cake tastes like and I like it and don't mind having it again.' At the end of the day, what we really and I believe all parents hope for is a healthy and normal baby.

The gynae did a 3D scan for us during my 24th week check-up and everything seems ok. It's all that I ask for.







Mummy
The nausea and vomitting stopped at about 4 months+ and the appetite was improving fast. So fast that I gained 4.5kg between the 20th (55.5kg) and 24th (60kg) week check-ups. The nurse was shocked and the doctor was horrified. I was warned to watch my weight and diet. My gynae asked if I was having too much durian and I said only a couple of times but I really craving for sweet stuff. He told there is a high risk of baby being obese and hyperactive if I take too much sweet food. From there on, I try to control the intake of sugar and other fattening food (cakes, durian, carbonated drinks, nasi lemak, fried noodles, etc. etc.). My weight lingers around 61kg+ for the last few days and hopefully, it will not go beyond 62kg during my 28th week check-up.

Baby bump at 24th week. It's much much bigger now.

Preparation

• Clothing-Checked. Got more than enough for the baby's first 2 months from my sister. Some belong to Ethan.
• Baby cot-Checked. The cot that Ethan used, which was transformed into a toy storage has been cleared and cleaned.
• Mattress-Bought a new latex mattress for the cot (and got my sisters to pay for it...muahahahahah).
• Latex pillow-Bought a new one.
  
• Bed sheets, cot bumper set, mosquito net-Still in storage. Need to clean it soon.
• Breast pump-Checked. Got a pre-loved Avent manual set from my sis. Barely used.
• Electric steam steriliser-Bought a new one (Lindam). Although I plan to breastfeed, baby will still use bottles when I return to work.
• Cloth diaper-Bought 4 new sets and 1 set used by Ethan.
• Napkins-Got old ones, which was barely used by Ethan and bought another 12 pieces.
  

There are still things that I need to buy and prepare for the baby's arrival. One major task is to prepare myself mentally to breastfeed. I failed miserably in breastfeeding Ethan. He was only breastfed for 1 month and was not even fully breastfed. This time, I want to breastfeed full time, so I'm not going to buy any formula for "just-in-case" use. If baby refuses to suck, then I'll express/pump. What I fear most is lack of sleep and sore nipple.

He is 5!

5 years & 2 days old.....

Somehow, Ethan turning 5 seems to be a big milestone for me. When he was a baby, I just like to imagine how he would be when he is 5. When he is 5, I'm in my mid 30s. When he is 5, perhaps we will have another baby (yeah, baby is coming). When he is 5, how will he look, talk and behave? I got all the answers now and I think it's a great achievement for us to have survived and cherished our lives in raising Ethan for the last 5 years. The first year was the toughest, I would say, having to cope with a baby who often falls sick and without extra help from our family. Thank God, things eventually got better and we were never happier before. We are truly blessed to have him in our lives.

This year, he celebrated his birthday at school on Thursday (19 May) and with my family on Saturday (21 May). His actual birthday was actually on a Sunday. We prepared party packs for his friends and ordered a double chocolate cake. He has chosen an edible image of superman (while I preferred Madagascar) for the cake and seemed to be very satisfied with it. His friends admired it too. We got all the party packs ready on Wednesday night. Ethan was happy to help with the packing and cutting the thank you cards. I bought colour papers and printed some simple thank you cards for his friends. Since the cake has an image of a superman, I googled for some superman pictures for the card and Ethan picked the one he likes. I think we finished everything at around 11p.m. that night.

Cutting the card. He cried when I didn't let him do it at first
worried that he might ruin the card.
Well, it's his birthday, should let him take part.


Sealed the plastic bag with the card.


All ready for the birthday.


The birthday boy with his superman's cake.

When Ethan woke up the next morning, he wanted to bring the party packs to school. I told him mummy and daddy will bring that to school with his cake later on. He was unhappy and shed some crocodile tears. He is one great drama king. I know, my son is the 'kan cheong' type, very eager to distribute them to his friends. After some coaxing, he was ok. When we reached his school later that evening, he was very happy to see us, beaming from ear to ear. His friends sang happy birthday to him and one of them asked him make a wish. He refused to because I think he doesn't know how to make one...haha!! I helped to cut and distribute the cake to his friends and teachers. We then got Ethan to give the party packs to the kids. It was a simple celebration but he was very happy. That's all that matters.

On Saturday, we celebrated his birthday at Spaghetti Grill at MidValley. I have ordered orange poppy seed cupcakes from FamilyFirst and collected them the night before. When I opened up the box, Ethan was happy to see Tom&Jerry and I was very satisfied with the look of the cake too. The nice aroma of the butter just made me salivating. So tempted to eat one that very moment. Ethan likes the cake and he ate the edible image too. Weird huh. To me, the image tasted like a paper. On the restaurant, I'm ok with the food and like their pizza too but hubby was not too happy with the food. He said Chili's and Hard Rock are better.

Orange poppy seed cupcakes.

His trademark pose.

Mmmm...can't wait to eat the cake.

As for his present, we bought a white/black board with easel for Ethan. Hubby wanted to buy a bag for him because the current one was quite worn out. I thought of white board and have been searching for one with easel because I know he likes drawing. He has been using a small white board all this while and it is already dented. Sometimes I teach him maths with the white board and he enjoys it. I don't like the typical classroom type white board and finally found this at Toys"R"Us. When he first opened up the box, he said "For baby ar? Then me leh? Not good la". He thought it was for babies because of the picture on the cover that shows a small boy drawing on the board. I said it's a white board and you can draw on it...blah blah blah.....then he was happy again. He opened up the present on Thursday after coming back from school and played with it for about 3 hours that evening. It showed money well spent. Sometimes, he just played with a new toy for 30 minutes and chucked them away.

His favourite new toy.

Piano Class

Ethan is 4 years, 10 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old.....

We have sent Ethan for piano class starting November last year and so far he's still attending it every very week for 30 minutes. There are so many types of enrichment classes out there but I would like him to pick up some skills and put less pressure on academic stuff.

He was ok with it in the beginning and sort of enjoyed it but lately, he's been telling us every time before going out from home that he doesn't want to go. We of course insisted that he goes and if he really doesn't want to go anymore, we asked him to tell the teacher himself. He didn't dare to do it and went ahead with the class. When I observed him in the class, he seemed to be paying attention. So after class, I asked him again if he still wants to attend, I got a 'yes' one time and a 'no' the other time. I guess for the time being, we'll just continue with it until he knows what he really wants. If he's really not interested, we will not force him and will try to find other enrichment programme. I'm thinking of swimming lessons but he's so 'kiasi', so I really don't know if he'll survive the first class or not.

Pic taken during the first class

The 1st Trimester

15 weeks & 3 days preggie.....
Ethan is 4 years, 9 months, 2 weeks and 1 day old.....

We have been planning for a baby since last year and found out about the good news in January. Everyone was happy about it including Ethan. The morning sickness (or rather evening sickness) was bad but not as bad as the first pregnancy with Ethan. I can safely say that it is over now (finger-crossed). Both hubby and Ethan have been very understanding and supportive. Hubby will entertain Ethan and does most of the chores when I needed to rest. Ethan once asked me "Mummy, why you don't want to play with me?". I told him "Baby wants to sleep" and he said "Ohh" and left the room. From then on, I just have to tell him baby wants this or baby wants that, he will let me do whatever I want without fussing. I think he deserves a big present from the baby when the time comes.

About one month before I found about the pregnancy, I discovered that I have (hyperactive) thyroid. I was on medication prescribed by my GP and then my gynae referred me to a specialist for more detailed check-up/follow-up. I have to go back for check-up every 2-3 weeks. It will involve blood test to check my thyroid hormone levels and a consultation with the Endocrynologist on my condition and the dosage of PTU to take. When I first saw the specialist, I was on 6 pills a day and the dosage has been reduced to 1 pill a day now. The specialist told me that as my pregnancy progresses, my condition will improve by itself (in most cases, it do) but there will be a relapse after delivery. Whatever it is, I still have to go for check-up every 3 weeks now. Earlier on, I asked the specialist, what will be worse case scenario if the thyroid remains active? I was told high chances of miscarriage. Now that it is under control, I can put my worries aside and hope the baby is going to be healthy and normal.

Work wise, it has definitely slow down a little bit. I'm only trying to meet the deadlines of the utmost important thing. Two days before I found out I'm pregnant, I went to propose to my boss about a conference in Canada. He approved it and sent a memo up to the CEO for approval. It was then approved and I was really in a dilemma as to go or not because I was still in the early stage. After a week of consideration and a big NO NO from my gynae, I told my boss about my pregnancy and I shouldn't be travelling long-haul especially. He was very understanding and was ok with it but I still feel guilty for having to pull out and let my colleague went on her own.

Canada was out but I went to Hong Kong with my family when I was 12 weeks pregnant. Luckily, my gynae gave me a green light. Not that I will cancel the trip anyway but I will enjoy the trip more with his approval. It was really a good trip. Next is Guangzhou, a 7-day/6-night business trip that I can't say no again. Will be flying off in 2 weeks time.

My next check-up with gynae is this Friday and if we're lucky, we should be able to know the gender then. Awwwww......so excited.