Week 27 is here

This weekly reminder woke me up this morning. I gotta say that I've been enjoying the sick leave so far, trying to recuperate, and I think I'm better now. Hopefully there won't be any migraine and other issues coming. However, I somehow think that I'm experiencing this delayed morning sickness. I didn't have it during my first trimester. No headache, no nausea, no vomiting and so on. I did experience mild heartburn but that was it. As far as I could remember, I didn't even get any MC during that time. However I begin to have these sort of sicknesses lately. Less migraine but lots of nausea and the urge to throw up. No heartburn though. And I'm going back to work this Saturday. I don't dread going to school. No. But I despise the long drive especially the morning traffic :( Hopefully I can get my transfer application sorted out soon. With Ramadhan coming up, I'm kind of worried. Will I be able to go to work and teach? Fasting? I hope so.


Recently a mommy who has been CD-ing her baby posted on the group wall regarding a show-and-tell session on CDs, and I'm pretty excited about it. I've read a lot but I still think I need to learn it hands-on as well. Here I've found a very good link on the best CDs which might be helpful.

Oh and my shopaholic friend is going to get us the Fisher-Price Playmat above as a gift for the little one. Yeay, so I'm gonna scrap it off my imaginary list of baby stuff :D We went to triple-star shop in Tg Bunut recently and found a very nice rocking cot, and still thinking whether to get it or not. DH is keener on getting the changing table though. And we also went to Dr Ding's clinic for a 3D-ultrasound but there were just so many people that we decided to come another day. Anyway, it's only the 27th week. We might just wait for another 3 more weeks and let the little one get chubbier before we finally get to see him.

Weekend is Here!

Okay, just a short post! I've been quite worried with the fewer number of baby kicks since yesterday. I'm not really sure if the baby has been kicking less frequent than usual or it's just that I have been too active to notice. Been trying to count but somehow I could only detect slight movement inside. I looked up online and learned that for low-risk pregnancy we should start counting baby-kicks in Week 26, and obviously for high-risk one the mother has to start earlier, maybe around week 24. The counting should take place at roughly the same time everyday for around two hours, and there should be at least 10 kicks within that time. I tried that this morning once I was done with all the house chores, and alhamdulillah I could feel few strong kicks and some slight movement (I didn't really count them but I'm pretty sure there were more than 10 kicks). Let's hope the baby is going to kick more later once I have my lunch :D

Oh, and one more thing. I went to visit baby Keisha yesterday. Remember the friend who had preterm labor recently? The baby girl is doing quite well despite the low birth weight. She was only 520+ gram when she popped out at the 24th week last weekend, but she's been going really strong :)) Will always pray for you little one. xx

Some thank-you cards & notes from the parents whose babies have been under the care of SCBU RIPAS. They touched my heart! Tsk~

Road Trip and What-nots

One thing I hate when I don't write here frequently is that I have more to write in each post! I was thinking of writing about the trip to KK once we got home but the journey got us really knackered that I decided to write maybe once I enter the 26th week. Well, now it has been 2 days since I entered the new week. What happened was I had been admitted to the hospital due to some health issues hehe. And it was right on the day the new school term started. Just exactly what happened in March. And now I'm on sick leave for 6 more days! More time to regain all the energy lost during the road trip :D

Let me just start on the KK trip. DH was at first reluctant to take me to KK by car due to my condition (I've been having severe pain around my tummy area and it hurts like hell whenever I walk). I figured out it would be a waste not to go anywhere and I wouldn't be able to do so for the next 9 months. As always I managed to coax him and we left Brunei on Thursday morning. I was quite worried actually since it was going to be a long journey and it has been 5 years since I went to KK by car. I wasn't quite sure about the road condition and we were going in a small car. Did lots of reading on the internet about traveling during pregnancy and I also sought advice from cousins who just got back. They thought it would be alright since the road condition has improved so much and we could always take some break at the pit-stops to stretch and relax. We reached KK at around 12 noon and checked-in. I felt just terrific, not tired at all (over-excited lah). We stayed at Warisan Square (diff. hotels for the 2 nights) and had a good time unwinding oursleves. I shall just let the pictures tell the story :)

The checkpoints

Breakfast at OldTown White Coffee

Checking out (Imperial Boutec Hotel)

Breakfast takeaway for the journey home

Pit-stop at Sipitang Mosque

 We reached home around 2 in the afternoon and was planning for a surprise birthday party for the not-so-little adik. Texted all her bestfriends and close cousins. Just a mini celebration and yet quite a fun one.

A surprise birthday party for lil sis on Saturday night

 Stayed at home the whole Sunday getting ready for work. And I just remembered on Monday morning that I was supposed to get mt GTT test done. Went to the hospital at 8. My last meal was at 6.30pm the night before and when they took my blood for the second time around 10am I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt weak and my head was spinning. Went to ER and got admitted for 2 nights.

My lil visitor during the stay at the hospital

Now I'm home and was given a six-day sick leave. But I've been thinking of going back to work earlier, as soon as I think I feel better. Owh and the doctor did the US and it's a BOY! And he has been furiously kicking around! SS said that she will  get us the baby box :D I wanted a Winnie-the-Pooh one but DH said it is too girly :S Now that the gender has been confirmed (we saw his 'pistol') we just can't wait to do more shopping weeheee!

Hello Week 25!

What I love the most about Tuesday is that I always get this notification from one of the pregnancy Apps, notifying me that I've entered a new week of pregnancy. And today, it's the 25th week. Alhamdulillah, I believe the little one is progressing quite well in there based on the numerous kicks I get everyday.

And many things have been happening for the first few days. A dear friend has lost one of her twins last week :( She was 23 weeks along and it was her first pregnancy when she started to bleed and was kept in the 1st stage labor room for a few days before she went into labor. The baby weighed 480 gram and he survived for only an hour, completely formed except that he couldn't open his eyes, meanwhile the twin is still inside, alhamdulillah. I pray for her/his wellness as well as the mummy's. Went to visit her yesterday and alhamdulillah she was recovering. It's a bit confusing though (we actually laughed a little about this) as the mummy is partly in the post-partum state and yet is still pregnant with one more baby. And from the look of it, I knew the mummy and the lil one inside will be doing just fine insyaAllah. She was one strong mummy, kept on saying that she believed Allah had His own plan and there would always a hidden blessing.

This morning I went for an appointment at the combined clinic. The clinic is for pregnant mothers with several medical problems where they get to see both the gynecologist and a PHY specialist at the same time. In my case, it was my migraine that got me sent here. And I think it's going to be until I safely deliver. Reached the hospital at 8.45am and only got called around 10.30 :s Apparently they couldn't locate my file and the doctors had to write on a loose sheet. Let's just hope they don't lose that sheet as it will be needed for my next appointment. And as usual, more urine and blood tests to be done soon.

Back to baby stuff, I have been trying my best to complete the list of items I'm going to need for the baby's arrival. Found a good one on Mothercare's website :D but I need to be more selective and specific I guess. It's quite hard to decide though, like should I get both strollers and baby slings? Baby bag or box? A cot or just a Moses basket? I prefer the latter ones though. I always find Moses baskets cute, especially the cream-colored ones. As for the baby box, I think it's much easier to organize baby's stuff in there than in a bag. As for the clothes, a friend of mine in UK is willing to send any stuff I buy online via Royal Mail as they get discounted rate for shipping. I've been ooohing and aaaahing over the stuff I found on UK's MC website and have been eyeing on some baby clothes but the shipping is way too expensive. The base rate is GBP32, so that is the minimum I will have to pay if I ask them to ship straight to me. Oh, and I've also asked a cousin to get me some maternity wear from MC, and since the parents are visiting him at the moment, they are going to bring the clothes back with them. Can't wait for my yoga pants! I guess that is all for now. I need to get ready for some 'photo-shootings' with DH.

On Cloth Diapers

Salaam,

Alhamdulillah, I entered the 24th week of pregnancy yesterday, which means I have around 16 weeks to go. And the school holiday has just started too. Just a perfect time to sit down with DH and list down items that we must get before the lil peanut pops out. At least that's what I thought. I have tonnes of exam papers to mark and other school-related work as well. Officers from the Inspectorates' Department will be visiting the school and conduct an intensive inspection (yikes!) during the first week of July. More work I guess but I must not complain. Been teaching for 5 years and this is actually the very first visit from the Dept ever since I joined the school. Consider myself lucky.

Back to the topic, I've been so caught up with the thoughts of cloth diapers that I can't stop browsing about them online. Listed down the best cloth diapers found on Babble and several others and ended up with different reviews on each diaper. Luckily a friend posted a very good advice on the FB CD group wall, which calmed me down a bit. According to her, who has been CD-ing her daughter for almost a year, regardless of the brands, all CDs do leak at night sometimes (I'm quite worried about night CD-ig actually). And another good news is that she's been using Autumnz, a malaysian brand, which is quite cheap and affordable and easily available here. At least I don't have to worry about ordering some from eBay (though you can actually find some good bargain there).

Apart from shopping for baby's stuff, DH and I have been planning to rearrange the furniture in the bedroom and make some space for the baby's nursery. Since that room is already creamy white in color we have no intention to repaint it with a new one. It's neutral enough :D

Browsing babble also gave me an idea on how else I can document this special moment. I decided to take a picture of me at least once a week, get it printed and write something at the back of the photo (or if I feel so malas I will just label it with the week number :p). I only started this yesterday. Just a nice timing as the bump has started to show in the picture unlike previous shots. InsyaAllah I will share some decent ones here (if there is any). The one I took yesterday was me lying on the couch holding my bump. The baju was okay, the pose was alright but I wasn't covering my head, so it is strictly for personal view only. Apart from that, I'm also using BabyBump apps on my phone to record my pregnancy. I actually bought an islamic pregnancy diary from an online shopper when I just found out that I was carrying this lil one. The diary is quite good but again I'm just too lazy to write down anything so it ended up sitting on the shelf and has started collecting dust. I hope I will be able to fight off this laziness and continue writing here in the near future.

And I seriously have no idea on how to end this post nicely hehe. And I'm not really sure if there is any reader out there but it's okay it doesn't really matter. Again, this blog is merely a way for me to let out my thoughts, not to be heard or read but just to make more empty space in my head for more thoughts :)

Till my next post, I pray for the little one inside me to keep growing healthily and safely. Amin Ya Rabb.

Blog Revisited

Salaam,

Wow! Last post was dated back in August 2009. It has almost been 2 years since I stopped blogging. Blame the poor time management skill :S

Nothing much to share at the moment, except that DH and I have been enjoying this special moment and will try to enjoy it more during the coming holiday (which is just few hours away :D) This is going to be the first time both of us manage to get off work at the same time, so it IS indeed going to be special.

Talking about the preparation for the arrival of the lil one, we haven't done anything yet. YES. Just lots of reading and listing of items. Been surfing online stores and the only thing (thingS) that I can think of are Medela FS and CDs! Can't stop thinking about these two items and been listing down the stores that sell FS (eBay so far has the best bargain) and good CDs. Thanks to all mommies who have contributed a lot of information in DDLS' forum as well as the FB BCD group.

On the health side, alhamdulillah I have been coping well with this pregnancy. No baus and no mengidam sort of thing so far, just terrible migraine which I think I can still handle by taking some bedrest. DH has been quite helpful as well. Doing the laundry, applying the stretch-mark cream :p getting nice comfy food and the most important of all, making sure that I take my prenatal vitamins everyday. Alhamdulillah.

I hope this won't be the last post yet. Laziness is so unpredictable especially during this period :p