I have been promoted =D

We welcomed our LO on 10th October 2014 at 4pm. She's a cute little one. Hearts.

XOXO

Read more about my pregnancy and future posts on darling Josie on the dainty mummy blog.

Psst... I was too tired the first week plus to do anything besides my duty. I think I will be just as busy adapting. Hence, pardon my lack of blog posts. For now.. Good night.. (though it's only 12 in the afternoon).

Pregnancy by the week

Here's the breakdown of my pregnancy by the week. Morning sickness, swelling, insomnia, they are all part of the pregnancy. Back ache starts as early as in the first trimester and lasts all the way through.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

W 6:	Morning Sickness, Headache, Nausea started.
W 16:	Morning Sickness subsided.
W 20:	Detailed ultra scan. LO was very shy, had difficulty seeing her heart and nose. Took us 4 hours at the centre and overdued for the Doc's appointment.
W 22:	Swelling feet and spider nerves started.
W 23:	Heat Rash started. LO started moving in the bump.
W 24:	Bumps slowly infected my body all over for two weeks. From underarms, elbow fold, knee fold, thighs, belly, lower abdomen, hips.
W 26:	Insomnia. Wake every two hours and only able to sleep after 4am.
W 27:	Rash and itchy bumps subsided.
W 29:	Insomnia worsened. And I wake every half to one hour. Once I managed to fall asleep only after 4am.
W 30:	Stretch marks start to show. LO weighs 1.608kg at 30w2d. Doc banned me from ice cream, durians, burgers and anything fastfood. He's worried that LO will be too big for V delivery
W 31:	Insomnia got better, Waking up only once around 4.30am
W 32:	Middle fingers on both hands start to lock up. Wake up with locked and painful fingers. Fatigue got really bad, very easily tired.
W 33:	Experienced LO's hiccups. Having difficulty breathing as LO starts pressing on the rib area. LO learns to protest when I accidentally placed the iPad on the top of the tummy.
W 34:	Insomnia came back. Painful ankles, finger joints, wrists and frequent toilet trips keep waking me up. Sometimes I can fall back asleep immediately, sometimes, it may take me hours to fall asleep.
W 35:	Experienced Braxton Hicks. I assume that's what it is. Tightened belly and I can feel LO body parts protruding out. Not painful, just alittle freaked out whenever that happens. It is like am I hurting my LO? I had heartburn for the first time, and it was terrible. I was unable to sleep. Doc says LO is growing well, and so am I. LO is about 2.68kg.
W 36:	I wake up in the middle of the night sweating big buckets, even though the air conditioning was on. And the frequency to the toilet increased. Bad aching feeling at the joints.
W 37:	Lots of contractions-alike-feeling. Tightening of bump Doc mentioned that my weight loss maybe due to the lessening of water and he's worried. So I will be seeing him again on the 39th week. LO is about 3kg. Wake up every half to 1 hour from breathlessness or bump tightening or the urge to go to the toilet Bad aching feeling at the joints
W 38:	At 38w3d, I had my first real contraction. It really felt like bad menstrual cramps, with LO pushing all the weight down to the bottom and stabbing pain at the bottom. Waking up nightly about every 2 hours from the urge to go toilet. I would wake up feeling extremely hot and bump feeling very tight, with the "head" pushing up to the surface. Some leg cramps while walking. Felt at the back of the thigh. Cravings for food happens right after dinner time >.< All those unnecessary weight gained.
W 39:	At 39w2d, we went for my doc appointment. And we were given a surprise. I have to admit into the hospital in another 5 hours. 12 midnight. Feeling nervous yet excited.

My Hospital Bag

As the time draws nearer to my due date, there are still many things not done yet. At least my hospital bag has been packed. Although... There are lots of things that requires to be added in last minute, like mobile charger.. I still need to use it now. And the prenatal record book, I still need it for my gynae appointment.

Image: Unsplash.com

List Prepared on: 11th September 2014
Last Updated on: 24th September 2014

For Paperwork

X	Hubby and my Identity Cards
✓	Original Marriage Certificate
✓	Printed copy of baby’s full name, in English and Chinese characters, to prevent registering the wrong name
X	Pre natal record book
X	Doctor's order of admission
X	Prenatal medical receipts (Claimable up to $450 under the Medisave Maternity Package)

For Baby

✓	Swaddling Cloth
✓	Preloved clothes (It's a myth to wear preloved clothes home on discharge)
✓	Preloved Mittens
✓	Preloved Booties

For Mummy

✓	1 set of clothes for discharge
X	Toiletries - Comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, face wash, face towel
✓	Socks
✓	Sweater
✓	3x Maternity pads
✓	2x Disposable panties
✓	2x Nursing bras
✓	4x Disposable Breast pads
X	Mobile charger
✓	Camera + fully charged battery

For Daddy

X	Mobile charger
✓	Change of clothes
X	Car seat for LO for discharge
X	Jacket
X	Snacks (include mine too =P)

Maternity Photoshoot

We had bought a package for Newborn photoshoot for the LO, but it does not include the bump photos. With so much time on had, online shopping had been one of the favourite past time. And I had bought a groupon deal for a maternity photoshoot. It consists of a 90 minutes photoshoot with 5 edited softcopies for $25 by ChubbyFeet.

Prepared some props for the photoshoot, which we did use, but the photographer's main aim was the bump and my fatigue face. LOL and to make things worse, I did not put on any makeup.

** Will update again when I receive the softcopy, which I should receive in a week's time. I can't wait.

LO at 35 weeks 2 days

LO is 35 weeks 2 days yesterday, and we had an appointment with Dr Khoo to meet our LO. It has been a long 5 weeks from the last appointment. I was banned from fast food, icecream and durians from the last appointment and I had been pretty controlled.

According to Dr Khoo, LO weighs 2.65kg at 35 weeks 2 days, which is a healthy weight. On average, at 35 weeks LO should weigh 2.6kg. I had wanted to find reference online to support this, but it seems that the average weight for 35 weeks is 2.38kg instead. Hmm..

Nevertheless, Dr says LO is growing well and weighs healthily, I shall just listen to him. 

My dear little one. In just another 32 days, Daddy and Mummy would be able to see you. We are looking forward. Stay strong and healthy. We love you. 

Image from Dreamstime.com

I had also done the Strep B test. Results will be known in 2 days.

Group B streptococcus — also called group B strep — is a common bacterium often carried in the intestines or lower genital tract. Although group B strep is usually harmless in adults, it can cause complications during pregnancy and serious illness in newborns. If you're pregnant, your health care provider will likely recommend a group B strep test during the third trimester.

During a group B strep test, your health care provider will swab your vagina and rectum and send the samples to a lab for testing. In some cases, you might be given instructions on how to collect the samples yourself. Because you can test positive at certain times and negative at other times, you'll need to repeat the group B strep test each time you're pregnant.

If the group B strep test is negative, no action is needed. If the group B strep test is positive, you'll be given antibiotics during labor to prevent group B strep disease in your baby.

Read more: http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/group-b-strep-test/basics/definition/prc-20014969

Our next appointment is at 37weeks.

Samples and Goodies for Parents-to-be

I love freebies. I can test out maternity milk powder before I spend money on getting it in store. I can have additional stuff that I do not need to spend money on, like feeding utensils (too early to use) and milk powder container (too early to use)... I can get different brands of diapers for my LO to test which is more suitable.

Here are where I got my free samples:

• My first bag of samples was the starter pack from KKH when we first registered to be patients of KKH. There are quite alot of samples in it.
• Goodie bag from the Antenatal Classes that we signed up in KKH.
• Goodie bag from the seminar "Parenthood: An amazing journey" organised by KKH and Great Eastern. 
• Samples collected from Baby/Mummy Fairs. I did not collect alot from the fairs as I was a too thin skinned. I dare not approach them for samples. Haha.
• Goodie bag from Supermom Bazaar's seminar. 

Online sample redemption for maternity milk powders:

• Similac: http://abbottfamily.com.sg/products/similac-mum?&pc=tr
• Enfa Mama A+: http://www.meadjohnsonasia.com.sg/products-services/enfa/enfamama-a-plus.aspx
• Annum: https://anmum.com.sg/home/request-for-sample/
• Dumex: http://www.dumex.com.sg/ (I signed up in June but did not receive anything)

Online sample redemption for diapers:

• Drypers: https://www.facebook.com/DrypersSingapore/app_383233691688187
• Merries: http://web.kao.com/sg/merries/
• Huggies: https://www.huggies.com.sg/request-sample.aspx?icmpid=get-your-free-sample-now

Thank you for the hand-me-downs

I am very grateful to two mummies who had passed me their preloved and/or brand new items from their babies who had already outgrown them. From maternity clothings, to baby wear, to baby gears and to confinement food. Quite a number of items.

I do not mind preloved items, since they are still in good, working conditions. Some may think that, it's the first child, everything must be new new new. But we are happy and grateful for their generosity.

Thank you.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At 30 weeks 2 days

Hubby and I went for our appointment at 30 weeks 2 days in KK Hospital. As usual, be it Clinic B or The Private Suite, the waiting time was pretty long. But TPS is a a little faster (it was our first time there after all this time as our available dates and timings always do not match with the clinic's).

Dr Khoo, our dedicated gynae, look pretty tired when we saw him. Guess it was very long day at work today. It was almost 8:30pm then. He did the scan and we saw our LO on screen. Doc showed us the head, which was downwards in the correct position. Hope our LO stay that way all the way till delivery date. Next was the heart's four chambers that looks great on screen. He also measured the body circumference to measure the LO's weight. 

First measurement scared all of us. The LO was about 1.7kg. Doc was saying, woah... too big... and had asked me to cut down on durians, burgers, kfc and icecream. Guiltily, I had McDonalds twice this week, but usually I don't eat it that often and I just had ice cream the night before. Oops. Doc attempted to measure again and this time the measurement was about 1.6kg. At this week, the LO should be around 1.5kg. So still a little on the bigger side.

So... I have to watch my diet. And I am a little devastated about the ice cream part T_T It's my comfort food now. 

Then the hubby got to use the Doppler to hear our LO's heartbeat. It was only after leaving the room that I remembered, we forgot to record the heartbeat sound, AGAIN. Oh man... Feeling down...

Gotten my supplements, paid my bills and we were out from TPS by 9pm. Our appointment was 7.45pm. Not too long a wait. Our next appointment is at 35 weeks, which I was a little surprised as I thought after hitting 30 weeks, we will be seeing our gynae more often instead? Not too sure... But I do miss seeing our LO.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My dear LO, another 9 weeks 5 days to your estimated arrival. 

XOXO

75% Completion

I am at my 30th week. 75% into the journey. Excited and looking forward to the day to see our LO, though there are still many things not done/prepared yet. Oops..

10 weeks more to go...

KKH Breastfeeding Class

We just attended the 7^th lesson of the Antenatal Classes that we signed up at KKH. The lesson today comprises of Breastfeeding. Today's class has been very enriching. There were alot of things I did not know and I had learnt several new things. Things like

• Things to "prepare" before feeding
• How to see if LO is feeding well
• Ways to carry the LO for feeing
• and more...

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At the end of the class, I felt excited. I can't wait for my Little One to pop so that I can feed her, while at the same time, worried that I may not do well and also worried that I may get grouchy during feeding. The process is quite taxing.

Time to read up on the Breastfeeding book GF loaned me.
Successful breastfeeding : a practical guide by Kang Phaik Gaik.

Psst. My Fisher Price rocker arrived today. I am so happy! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A4B34HG/ref=ox_ya_os_product_refresh_T1

Fisher-Price Infant To Toddler Rocker, Jungle Fun USD44.99