Dawn of a new Era

A year has come and gone. 365 days of my life gone, never to be returned, with only memories for posterity. And what a fantastic year it has been for memories. Nothing beats having kids (A kid in my case)- they make you grow up like nothing else can. Yet, you also start seeing how simple life can be from their perspective.

We ended the year with a mini getaway with Hafidz's family to Batam Island which has flourished nicely. Big malls, brand names, coffee culture, donut culture- all alive in this little nook called Indonesia- living side by side with the traditional padang food and teh Sosros. It was too short a holiday but I got to spend quality time connecting with the extended family.

Then a very nice surprise came along and we ushered in 2008 as a complete gang again (well, minus 1 family in KL). Of course, when the gang gets together its got to be a foodfest.

With all that catching up to do, we ran late for the countdown and all the roads leading to town were blocked so it was the 7 of us celebrating in our own individuals cars watching the skies light up from Benjamin Sheares bridge. I must say we got to the best point at the stroke of midnight so Arissa got a fantastic view of the fireworks.

It was a good ending to 2007. Hopefully a new beginning to 2008 with more good times to come.

Gymboree Weekend

O-v-e-r-w-o-r-k-e-d

Yeah, I bitch and whine and whinge and complain. But for some morbid reason, I find it exciting to be at work. My brain has a million things floating in it... it trickles in bibs and bobs like a leaky tap- like when I'm having lunch I will remember "WAIT! Alex's press visa for UN Climate Change Conference for Bali isn't sorted! Fudge Fudge Fudge!!" and lose the rest of my appetite...

Here's the list of projects this month:
BRAINLAB SHOOT
SCIENCE CTR CORPORATE VIDEO
SHELL SHOOT
AJI EDIT
SWISSTV ASEAN SHOOT/EDIT
QUINTUS COMPILE EDIT
DIWALI TRANSCRIBE
GLOBECAST DVCam SHOOT
APTN ASEAN SHOOT/EDIT
GLOBECAST SX SHOOT
APV MEDIA SHOOT
GUT.TUT.GUT DOCUMENTARY SHOOT
GLOBECAST - CTN SHOOT
APTN CAMBODIA DRY HIRE
EBU UN CONFERENCE IN BALI DEPLOYMENT
SWISS TV BALI DEPLOYMENT
APTN DRY HIRE
DIGIPOST RSAF TVC SHOOT

Somebody shoot me.

PS: I have 34 days of leave but can't even take half day off until things blow over... Sapna doll, sorry I havent been calling. I am drop dead tired at the end of the day- I sleep like a log. Lunch & maternity-wear shopping next week?

Bday Celebration Part II

BDay Celebration Part I

Turning 1

My little princess is turning 1- its unbelievable how quickly time flies when you're having fun.

Like a colleague said, "1st birthday parties are more for the Mummies and Daddies to show off right... not so much for the bub"- how true!

We wanted to book a chalet but it's all booked out from 6 months back. Oh well.. We have other plans to celebrate her 1st birthday and take as many photos for posterity:
1) My open house cum cake-cutting w all the relatives on 3 Nov.
2) A cake cutting ceremony w immediate family & Godparents on birthday night.
2) A trip to zoo with Faiz, Sanah and Rifqi on 10 Nov.

Mummy's hope is she turns out sugar & spice and everything nice, and smart to boot.

Arissa's 1st Eid

Bad Zen

My Zen balance has been upset.

A couple of friends are going through rough patches of their lives- 2 married couples are going through the motions of dealing with infidelity, another couple has broken up for no strong, apparent reason. I have had to deal with long phonecalls from the 'victims' of infidelity as they flit from 1 emotion to the next- one husband is blaming himself for his wife's infidelity; another wife is pissing mad at her husband and not able to cope with his disloyalty. I've had to make myself available for another friend who is on a verge of depression to help keep her spirits up.

Need a break from all this bad zen to get my balance back. A long overdue holiday is most welcome at this point.

My last entry was in Mar and now its Aug- where did 5 months of my life go!!! I installed an upgraded version of Norton in my lappy and it blocked access to this website. Argh.

Arissa is 9 months and 8 days today:
*She has 4 top teeth and 2 lower ones
*She can crawl at olympic speed
*She prefers to curl up between Mummy & Daddy in the big bed at night (there goes the Romance)
*She bites, pinches, smacks anyone who dares irritate her
*She participates in most of the games we play with her (peekaboo/monster chase ..)
*She gets sleepy automatically at 11.30pm
*She sits in the toddler car seat now
*She relishes her Baby Bites anytime
*She rocks back and forth and shakes her head when we recite La Illaha Illallah
*She clenches and unclenches her palm when we sing Nang Neng Pong/Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/Pok Amai Amai
*She puts everything she finds on the floor/table/bed in her mouth
*She loves to jump on your belly and throw her head back to an upside-down position
*She giggles with glee when you throw her in the air
*She hates wearing shoes/hairband and tugs at them
*She hates having to 'salam' anyone and hides her hand when she hears anyone saying "SALAM?"
*If you make her lie down, she will get offended and pop back up like Jack-in-the-Box.
*She needs her pacifier during bed/naptime
*She loves to shred tissue paper to bits
*She know how to plant a kiss on your cheek
*She says MAMAMAMAAM for food
*She yells in her top voice just to be funny and laughs along with you

:op

Old mates

Been bumping into all these old mates lately from Anderson... I think a reunion is highly overdue.

First bumped into Sulaiman, whom I hadn't met since I was in NUS and he was in SP. He was a high school 'boyfriend' in a monkey-love situation. I think we were in Sec 2 when he decided he liked the geeky me, glasses and all. I still wonder why..Of course it didn't get anywhere past the 'going to school together' date.

Then I bumped into Marlina. Once upon a time, she was the 'happening' one. She was the oldest in the clique and introduced the other naive girls to tea dances (remember those!?!?) and Giordano (when Giordano was HOT HOT HOT!). She also persuaded the other girls to do a dance routine on National Day (on stage!) to Janet Jackson's "Escapade". I remember Razif and Joe sitting beside me in hall, laughing so hard at the lot of them in tight skirts that they were rolling around on the floor with tears in their eyes. She's now a mother of 2.

Last week I bumped into Sunarti- the smart one. She sits with Sanjay in Malay class- the Sanjay who never got a Malay sentence correct his entire secondary school career and relentlessly let him copy all her work. She was in NUS with me, though I hardly ever saw her (as I was always skipping lectures and most tutorials, that was how much I hated NUS). She is married to Razid, who is another Andersonian, and they have an 18 month son, Zikri, with another Zafira on the way.

She told me Suzanna, my Malay class desk buddy, has just given birth to her 2nd one. She is married to a rich ang-mo banker and is a tai-tai (my favourite form of existence). I'm sure both her kids are gorgeous.

Then I called Aisyah who is the loopiest amongst us who insists on visiting Sunarti when she is in confinement so we can all have a reunion at Su's house. Sounds loopy? :-P

Postnatal hair loss

The word of warning came from my hair stylist Omar in late October when I was heavily preggers and getting a haircut in time for Eid Mubarak. "Watch out for the hair loss later" he says. 3 months after birth, my hair is still ok and I'm thinking he doesnt know what he's talking about, him being a man and all.

One day sometime in the 3rd month, it just started suddenly. I think i must've pulled out 50 hairs when I shampooed that morning... and it hasn't stopped til this day, some 1.5 months later. I get so freaked out when I shampoo my hair every morning that I've decided to shampoo alternate mornings. Same result. Although I've always had fine hair, I start seeing more of my scalp in the mirror and figured I need to do something before I develop a bald patch that would complement my eye bags (not!).

I went back to Omar who sat back wisely and said "I warned you...". He gave me a short spunky hairstyle that didn't need blowdrying everyday and some Redken products that ought to fix my problem but also sets me back S$200. I like my hair do but my wallet still hurts.

NB: Will post new face soon.

Finally in my Dream job.

I joined IFA as 'Office Manager' in 2004. Little did I realise I was to be the "know-all, do-all" person taking instructions from 5 bosses, managing the accounts and sitting in the office all day. I love my office job during its busy period, but I what I love more is the exhilaration of being posted out to some disaster location.

Before I went for my maternity leave, my MD asked me what I'd like to do as they've hired an accounts assistant for me. I suggested they let me do the marketing for the company as that's what I've been trained to do.

So now, I'm finally able to get into my dream job- and I'm going all out on this one.

www.infocusasia.com

*Bintang*

Hafidz has been so busy at work with Timur TV for the shoot of Bintang. He comes home at 5am, up at 11am to go to work and work 24-7, I hardly ever see his face anymore. One day, I got a classic shot of a tired man- sending an sms in his sleep.

Earthquake Evac

When the first quake hit, my colleague Jacintha and I were hangling over who gets to pay for coffee at Qiji. My phone rings and it says IFA Yazid (another colleague), I hear him panting on the other line:

"Rina where r u? We're evacuating the building, there's been an earthquake!"

I immediately went on high alert, recalling that week in Nias Island where we had worked 20hours on the earthquake devastation of the island.

"Will I be posted out to wherever the earthquake is?" "Who will take care of Arissa when I go?" "How will she cope without me?"... questions popping in and out of my head as I turn to my boss Joe and told him. A seasoned news cameraman, he immediately got on the phone for deployment news. I felt an enormous anticipation, hoping and not hoping to be sent there. No one knew where it happened yet and the phone lines were jammed up from people calling here and there, searching for answers.

We went back indoors after 20 mins (standard quake procedure, says Joe who has lived in Japan) and I went to the USGS website for some information.

Epicentre: Padang
Magnitude: 6.6
Tsunami threat: negative as quake happened under land

When the 2nd quake hit, I turned to Joe and stared at him wanting to get an affirmation before I hit the panic button. He looked back at me, then s-l-o-w-l-y the realisation dawned and he ran into the gallery and told everyone to evac. In the meantime, I could REALLY REALLY feel our 1974 building swaying and saw Anthia and the rest of the BBC people hitting the stairs. I fled shamelessly jumping 2 stairs at a time, clutching onto Lawrence. All I could think of was "You've been in worse situations than this! Why are you panicking?" and the answer to that is sweet and simple- my daughter. I have a baby who needs me and if anything happened to me now, what will happen to her?

So here I am awaiting news of deployment, hoping that there aren't too many deaths to interest those in London.

NB: Today Arissa has learned to laugh @ 7.30am. And I mean a full throttle laughter, not the chuckles she usually gives out.

Suraya (Mentel/Mental)'s Bday Dinner Pictures!

suraya.fadzil@dhl.com
1800-Call Me Baby


Post-pregnancy figure (Phe-weet... buntot cam J.Lo)


Fidza looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights
Syifaa & Me always look sweet
Suraya looks like Patpong girl with sore eyes


The money shot

Oii... tengok sini lerrrr...

Sume montel-montel so hv to squeeze a bit (except me la).

Jgn marah, nanti kena jual...


Do we hv to stuff our faces for every birthday!?! Whatever happened to the original plan of going for a spa treatment for anyone of our birthdays.... Thank God I'm still stick skinny after all that binging (the only one, mind you). Happy Bday tua. Ok la, kau pun tetap maintain, cuma buntot cam kuih Lopez :o oink-oink

Mini Holiday (KL, Bukit Tinggi & Genting Highlands)

Just what I needed after 9 months of pregnancy, 8hours of intensive labour, 3 months of confinement and 2 weeks back at work- a mini break!!

Arissa is 3 months and a darling. She's a social butterfly and even melted the hearts of the burly guys at PS Boutique (hence giving me a good bargain) with her giggles and smiles.

Welcome F-r-e-e-dom!!!

Its great the freedom that I have regained. The ability to pop into the shops or go meet some friends or just have a nice dinner somewhere. Things I have sorely missed whilst being in confinement.

Must say though that my body is not 100% back to normal- I tend to stoop now (from the oversized boobs? soft jelly-belly?); I get spells of faintness when walking or standing for too long; my knees are forever wobbly and I tire more easily.

On 23rd Dec, we had a 'cukur rambut cum open house kenduri' for family and close friends. It coincided with Hana Arissa's 44th day of living which also spelled the end of confinement period for me (hurrah!). Since our house was a work-in-progress, we had to madly clean it out and prep it up for the open house. It was so tiring that I started spotting again- either my stitches came undone or it was the beginning of a period, I don't know which. It was very alarming and I continued spotting throughout my open house function through til the next day when it suddenly stopped. I confined myself to home voluntarily and the pain and spotting disappeared over that Xmas weekend.

On 27 Dec, the girls came to my house and as usual it was utter chaos. Balqis smacked Rifqi on the head with Arissa's bottle- Balqis falls off my bed- Balqis tries to choke Rifqi when their moms aren't looking- Blaqis squashes Arissa affectionately- Suraya changes into the tightest pair of jeans her pregnant body can squeeze into- Batrisya dribbles porridge all over my floor and plays with my fan- Fidza undresses and snoozes (her excuse is "I'm pregnant and tired and Balqis kept me awake last night"- yeah right!) while Sanna & I chat away...

On 30th Dec, we were again at the new house watching "Underworld" and there was a commotion outside the window. I stopped patting Arissa and turned to my hubby and asked "Dear, is it New Year already?" and he boredly looked at his watch and said "Ya, its midnight" and we both snorted and he went back to watching TV and I resumed putting lil bub to sleep. THAT is how things will be for the next year- we will be missing out on many parties and exciting things in order to put Arissa to sleep. Sad, sad, sad.

On 2nd Jan, baby learned to smile. I was babytalking to her and she responded by going "ggghhh" and smiling her schweet baby shmile and I melted right there and then.

Happy Holidays!!

Awwww

Pictures!

Age old pals

Aisyah, me holding Arissa, and Melor holding Nabil (Aisyah's lil bub)

A rare sight

Hana Arissa with eyes wide open. Usually they're sealed tight and she's snoring happily away..

My Confinement Schedule

Last time I was counting down to meeting little bub, now I'm counting the days to when my confinement will end and these chains around my ankles will eventually be loosened.

Ok, I exaggerate. Mom isn't very particular about me staying at home but having a baby dependant on you for nourishment every 2 hours very much limits your mobility. The last thing I want to do is dump her on Mom who has been taking excellent care of me.

As a forewarning to those thinking of having a baby, let me explain what my typical confinement day is like:

10am: bathe bub -> bottlefeed -> burp -> bub sleeps
11am: sweep/mop house & sterilise bottles
12pm: breastfeed -> burp -> bub sleeps
1pm: wash dirty clothes/ fold & keep away clean clothes/ iron clothes
2pm: lunch then breastfeed
3pm: switch on laptop to work (yes! workaholic me works from home)
4pm: bottlefeed, nappy change
5pm: back to laptop
6pm: breastfeed, play with bub, then wipe her down for the night
7pm: breastfeed
8pm: dinner, then breastfeed
9pm: sterilise bottles, prepare room for the night
10pm: bottlefeed
11pm: nappy change
12am: zzzzzz
2-3am: breastfeed
4-5am: bottlefeed
6-7am: breastfeed
8am: hot brekkie whilst Hana sleeps
9am: zzzzz
10am: [back to top]

I'm just wondering how long it will be like this and when is the acceptable age to send her to boarding school.

:op

Thank You

I must thank all friends/family who have come bearing gifts for Hana Arissa- all the lovely little girly clothes, ballerina shoes, mobiles, toys, baby carrier, and various other knick-knacks... we love them all!!

(in pic)
Little Hana on her HUGE rocker... given by Deon, John & little Isaac

Clothes compliments of Auntie Pim from Bangkok

Woollen blankie (and a dozen other things) given by Frank from Bangkok

Pictures!

The last thing I went to before popping- Angela's wedding on 1 Nov.














Mama & Papa, calm & smiley before the drama began.













2 minutes old












with Godma Dara who flew in from Bangkok to cuddle her














5 days old, snoozing after a feed












12 days old, snoozing after a visit to the Polyclinic for a jaundice check

What labour felt like

This one is for my (curious) girlfriends...

8 Nov 06
1830h
Went to gynae with Hafidz & gynae did an internal check. Told me I'm 2cm dilated and that he'd have to admit me that night. I was flustered thinking "Wait a sec.. is this guy for real? I don't feel anything!"

2230h
Checked into Thomson Medical and sent to normal ward. Still feel nothing. Godparents Sapna & Anil kept me company til almost midnight when I started to feel a little mild period cramping.
Important! Have a hearty meal at home before you go. You won't eat anything anytime soon and you really really really need the energy.

2315h
Godparents & Hafidz left. Gynae did another internal check and said I'm still 2cm dilated. If no action tonight, he would induce me at 0830h the following morning. I went to bed.

2330h
The mild cramping got progressively stronger. It feels like a horrible period cramp and comes and goes in waves. I tried to snooze but the pain was getting unbearable.

9 Nov 06
0130h
I timed my contractions on my hp (Hafidz had taken my watch home) and it was coming at regular 3 minute intervals. I remember reading that at one should leave for hospital when one's contractions are 4-6minutes apart. I rang for the nurse and asked if I should call my gynae. She said "We will monitor you and call your gynae if there's anything" and left me alone. I'm like WTF!!!! What the hell does that mean, I was in so much pain already!!

0215h
I felt something ooze out of me. I though "Ahh... waterbag! No need to be induced!" then reached down and saw blood. Immediately I had a sense of foreboding, many people tell me that if your first leak is blood, it would be a long and painful labour. I made up my mind to go down the epidural route and skip the whole 'matyr' act. I rang for nurse again and they wheeled me down to delivery ward.

0245h
A really rough, unfriendly Filipino nurse (if only I had the energy to punch her face!) put me on foetal monitor and injected something to make me go poop. It irritated my bowel like shit (no pun intended) but between the contractions and the bowel pain, I was almost delirious.

0300h
Hafidz arrives but was told to wait outside whilst they wheel me to from delivery ward to a sterile delivery room. At this point, moving an inch was a nightmare and I couldn't speak from the pain. I ask for gas as my first pain relief option (ok, being brave by going down that matyr route).
Important! Put the mask FIRMLY over your face and breathe as DEEPLY as you can when the contractions start. Stop breathing when contraction is at its peak. It feels like being high on pot- you feel the pain but you're distanced from it. Just imagine yourself somewhere else- I transported myself to the wonderful days in Perth throughout the pain.

0300h - 0717h
1st stage
Already dazed. All I remember is pure bright pain, praying and praying to Almighty God to let me get over this quick and asking my hubby for water (gas makes your throat scratchy). I also remember asking for epidural but getting pethidine instead but anything was better than gas alone. I was already hugging the bed railing praying "Dear God, please let me get through this. Please let my baby be healthy" but was too absorbed in the pain to make a decibel noise. But with the pethidine and gas combination, I managed to cope with the pain well enough to forget about my request for epidural. I even managed to doze between contractions (or maybe I was just high enough to think I dozed off). The 1st stage pain felt like a huge squeezing pressure on your belly, similar to period cramp but a million times worse. I was steadily bleeding throughout this stage, my hubby says the nurse filled out 2 trash bins with my soaked waterproof sheeting.

Transition stage
The moment I started groaning, I knew I was in the transition phase (see what information can do for you mentally?). Now, many books say this is when a lot of women lose control and now I know exactly WHY. At this stage, the pain is so immense that you automatically start pushing. The nurse pressed HARD on my belly and through the fog, I remember her saying "Push!". Then I heard myself whimpering "Where is my gynae!?!?!?" and she replied "Just push, he's on his way". Every fibre in my body says stop pushing because my cousin Lin pushed before her gynae arrived and the baby stayed in the cervix long enough to come out looking like Conehead. But the pressure inside my belly had its own mind and I find myself pushing a little bit and felt her head crowning. In my drugged state, I thought "I'm NEVER taking this f***ing gynae again, where the f*** is he! I'm going to deliver my baby without a f***ing gynae!!" but minutes later he came in looking like he stumbled out of bed. Every conceivable swear word was in my head directed at him. Hafidz says my waterbag burst at this stage and he finally can see water. I had to call out to him cos he was busy looking south instead of offering support.

2nd stage
The pain was everywhere that I only saw bright light (I think my gynae had on a mining hat with a torchlight mounted on it but hell, maybe I imagined it). It was just pure exquisite pain that nothing else is painful in comparison, I didnt feel anything even though I heard his scissors snipping me up. They put my legs in the stirrups but I got my stupid foot cramp at this point which was kind of funny. I remember going "ah... foot cramp! foot cramp!" and the nurse massaging my legs. Hafidz was holding my hand and I squeezed so tight I left nail marks on it for 2 days. Then everyone did the cheerleader routine "Push! Push! Puuuussshhh!" and I took a deep breath and pushed with all my might and accidentally yelped at the same time (to which the nurse said "Don't shout, conserve energy!") but nothing happened, only I felt MORE pain. Now this is cos her head is at the entrance of my cervix. Then my hubby's voice going "Na, you can do it sayang, push sayang" and the gynae said "Take a deep breath Shafrina and push one more time" and I did as told. It felt like my intestines dropped out of my body as Arissa slipped out and I remember crying out loudly in relief/surprise.

3rd stage
For someone who has not felt labour pain, this stage may be most icky as the gynae stiches me up with a fishing line and hook. But let me assure you, this stage is the best. No more contractions, and you get 2 jabs in 'there' and on the thigh and you just lie back and relax... just remember not to look down. I was also busily asking my hubby who was flitting around the room, cutting the cord and doing all the daddy things he has to do "Is she healthy? Is she ok dear?"

That wraps this drama episode up. What follows is a week of perineal pain- you need to relearn to piss, relearn to poop, learn to breastfeed, deal with engorgement as your body settles into Mum-hood. I must add after all that, the gain was worth every ounce of pain.

Happy shagging!

And out it comes...

The one I've been waiting for 9 months to kiss and cuddle...

Her name is Hana Arissa Abdul Hafidz and she was delivered at Thomson Medical Hospital under the care of Dr Lawrence Ang on 9 Nov @ 0718h.

After an 8 hour long labour; with just gas and pethidine to get by whilst I bleed profusely enough to scare the crap of out my hubby; 2 pushes and a forcep assisted delivery; out she comes crying lustily, weighing all of 2.7kg.

I'm now at home and will be arranging a baby shower after the conventional 40 day confinement period.

Is it coming yet?

37.5 weeks and waiting and waiting and waiting....

Had a gynae checkup on Monday- bub weighs 2.5kg (not bad!), mummy weights a mere 60.7kg. I was worried that I'm not putting on enough weigh (only 11kg so far) but nurse assures me that as long as baby is a healthy weight, I should not be too worried.

Arissa's position is head-down but she isn't engaged yet, in fact she is lying on her right. I told Dr Ang that I was having mild period-like cramps the whole night before and he offered to do an internal exam to check me out. Man, it hurt!!! I squeezed the nurse's hand so hard I think I saw her wince! He then appeared rather puzzled and told me that I'm already a little dilated (anxious me forgot to ask how many cm!!!) and that I should come back in 2 days time to see him.

The next day, I had some brown mucous discharge and went straight to my cousin Lin for clarification. Apparently its normal after a vaginal examination and that I should only inform my gynae if there is blood in the discharge.

So after 2 days of waiting, waiting, waiting... we're back to square one. Everyone has been so sweet, calling and asking if I'm ok but the fact is this waiting is driving me insane. Its like waiting for Mt Merapi to erupt.... a lot of smoke but naaaaaathing.... urgh!

Am going to gynae today again, will keep everyone informed.

xoxo

The Impending Arrival of Little Bub! Hurrah!!

I'm approaching 37 weeks this Saturday, which means Arissa will be deemed a full-term baby by next Saturday.

NB: For those who are clueless, babies are considered 'full-term' at 38 weeks although most pregnancies can go up to 40 weeks. From Week 38, baby's internal and external organs are already fully formed and can be born without any complications. Those 2 weeks between Week 38 and 40 are only a time when they start storing mass and plumping up.

Everyone in the office is starting to notice how heavy and tired I look, and my 'big bird walk' is becoming more pronounced. Whereas I felt very energetic and lively in my 2nd trimester, the end bit of the 3rd trimester has me alternating between feeling tired and lazy and the sudden urge to clean and re-organise baby things. It feels like the 1st trimester, I wake up feeling tired and go through the day in a daze.

The symptoms I've read so much about that points to the impending arrival of little bub are:

SWOLLEN FEET started the day before Hari Raya when we were all busy spring cleaning. I didn't realise it at first but it got harder and harder to walk about and when I looked down, I thought to myself "Hang on.... those aren't my feet" but they were!!! My ankles had disappeared to Lala Land and the whole feet looked like a water balloon with skinny toes. I went to sleep with my feet propped on a pillow but there was still a bit of swelling the next day and it got progressively worse as the festive day went on and there was no time to get off my feet. To this day, my feet starts to swell after a little standing and walking.

An old wives tale says that when the water retention recedes suddenly after long periods of bad swelling, Mum will immediately go into labour.

BRAXTON HICKS Contractions started on my leave day Monday, 30 Oct. I woke up feeling something once familiar- a dull period cramp. My whole belly was hard and the period cramp was persistent even though I laid still for a good 5 minutes. Eventually it went away, leaving me slightly sore, and I got up to shower and have breakfast. In the middle of brekkie, the pain came back coupled with another feeling- the need to do Number 2. Argh! Even after Number 2, I didn't feel any better and went to sit quietly at my laptop, responding to emails and trying to forget the ache. After about 10 minutes, it went away for good. Have been getting contractions about once or twice a day... usually in the mornings. What I do is just lie still with my feet propped up and try to relax.

NESTING mood means the need to make a cosy little nest for the bub. This includes all manner of cleaning and re-organising baby things in preparation her arrival. Even though I was feeling heavy and rather lazy, I felt well enough to pack my hospital bag, wash all baby clothes, put all bath things in one basket (baby toiletries smell heavenly!!), free up some space in my wardrobe to accommodate Arissa's stuff. Of course at the end of the day, all the ligaments in my body was stretched and sore.

Hari Raya visiting didnt go to waste despite the waddling and the swollen feet and the various other discomforts. I had many relatives dishing out a piece of advise or two on birthing but they all agree on this one thing: It will be painful as hell. Of course, we now have the magic potion called epidural but therein lies a whole host of other complications which I won't go into today. Anyway, magazines and books advise to KEEP AN OPEN MIND. I may go in there rejecting epidural but after 20hours labour, epidural may become veeerrryyy tempting. The point, so I've been told, is not to get too worn out before the pushing actually starts that bub gets stuck in cervix *nightmare*.

Pregnancy IS contagious!!!

Is pregnancy contagious? I think so... I got pregnant, then found out Angela is pregnant, then Suraya got pregnant now followed by Fidza! Is romance flying about in the haze I wonder.

4 weeks to full term & Where to Take Yoga Classes

Right-O.. No wonder I've been feeling extra lazy and extra heavy. I counted backwards from my EDD of 25 Nov and realised that I'm 34 weeks, another 4 weeks to full term; another 6 weeks to EDD.

Had the worst case of water retention last week when Hafidz & I went furniture hunting. My feet swelled up so badly, it felt like pins and needles whilst walking [see pic below]. Fortunately for me, it was just the feet and easily solved by propping them up on a very firm pillow throughout the night. Also had to cut down on my 100Plus, which I had been taking to avoid the foot cramps but which resulted in my water retention [hey whaddya know.. sodium is a kinda salt after all!]

This morning, Arissa started wiggling and everytime she did that, I felt a sudden urge to pee. My cousin, Lin, says its probably her hair tickling me, heee... I hope she's not a bald baby (quite unlikely if she has daddy's hair genes cos Hafidz is way too hairy for a Chinese boy).

She also doesnt move as much as she used too. My baby book says its cos they run out of room at this stage and they roll more than kick about.

I'm trying to join a Yoga class (yes, a bit too late but better late than never) to make my body more pliable for the birth process. My colleague Sharon, a mom to a 1 year old boy, recommends Yoga exercises over Lamaz breathing technique classes as the midwife or doula can assist your breathing in the delivery ward anyway. I'm trying to convince Sapna to buddy up with me, she can pretend she's 10 weeks preggers and no one would be the wiser- muahahaha (no offence intended Godma). Here are a couple of Yoga places offering neonatal Yoga for a reasonable price:

Check out this website:
http://www.momsinmind.com.sg/exerciseclasses.html

The most reasonable one it seems is at "Birth & Beyond" at Tanglin Shopping Centre, 4th Level. Call Ellen @ 67361636 and she will patiently explain the classes available there. The one I was interested in was:

YOGA EXERCISE CLASSES
1 Trial session : $32 per mum
4 sessions : $120 per mum
6 sessions : $160 per mum
10 sessions : $240 per mum

TIMING
Mon, 6.45pm ~ Tue, 9.45am ~ Fri, 10am ~ Sat, 10.30am

**********************************************************************************

If you prefer a private session away from ogling eyes, the Svastha Yoga Studio is for you. Debra can be contacted at 96813403. She will arrange for you to come in for a rather pricey $100 per hour session [usually on a Sunday at 10am] and teach you all the basics so you can practice at home.

**********************************************************************************

Most private hospitals offer neonatal exercise classes, packaged at 12 sessions starting from when you reach 20 weeks. Since I'm barely left with 6 weeks to EDD, this isn't an option for me.

Chew on this!

I came across this interesting fact the other day while reading Dr Spock's baby book:

Babies at birth are more likely to look like their dads than their mums.

The reason for this?
Women know that the child they have laboured for and given birth to is theirs biologically, without any doubt.
Men can never be 100% sure unless a DNA test is performed.
Nature's way is to simply let the bub take after the biological dad, so dads can be sure the mommies havent gone round the block with this one.
Sexist explanation- yes!
But interesting nonetheless...