Week 18: Itchy Belly

This week, I noticed that if I eat slowly, in small quantities and earlier in the evening, I don't feel the effects of indigestion as much. For a couple of nights now I haven't had to take Gaviscon after my evening meal and can sleep peacefully through the night. Also, I have found that eating a couple of Rich Tea biscuits near bedtime helps to settle the stomach and stop the churning, so I snack on one or two of them in between meals just to keep the acid at bay. 

I can feel Bean moving everyday now, twitching, stretching, punching. Some days he's a bit more active and other days he prefers to be laidback. I feel him moving the most when I sit cross-legged on the bed or sofa, or if I lie on my sides with my belly touching the bed. 

On Tuesday I went to Marks and Spencer's to get measured for maternity bras. The sales advisor was really friendly and gave good advice on how to go about selecting suitable ones. I tried on a few and with her help, managed to pick two which fitted me well. 

I decided to get the maternity bras because I could feel I was out-growing my usual underwear and I felt it was necessary to give my ever growing chest the right support to minimise on stretch marks. On that note, I am also now wearing a bra to bed every night. Thankfully, maternity bras do not come with underwire so they are extremely comfortable. 

As my skin on my belly and boobs stretch and expand, I am itching like crazy everyday. I ought to be wearing mittens because my belly already has ugly red lines caused by my excessive scratching throughout the day. But the itch is so unbearable even Bio Oil doesn't help! 

In two days I'll be having my 19-week scan and I do hope everything goes well. Watch this space for updates!

Can you keep a secret?

I am scheduled for a 19-week ultrasound scan next week where Bean will hopefully reveal to me whether it is a BOY or a GIRL. So for those of you who haven't voted on its gender yet, hurry up and do so! You don't have very long. 

The annoying thing is R doesn't want to know the sex of the baby, so he will be leaving the examination room when the sonographer tells me what she can see. Because of this, I will not be able to reveal the exciting truth to family and friends when I return to Singapore in February, in case they let slip during conversations with him. 

But be patient my dears, I will share it with all of you when he's not looking at this blog, but shhhhh keep it to yourselves! 

Competition: The Name Game

If you have been reading me here or over at Tinted Glasses, you would know that I am now four months pregnant. Naturally we have been thinking about baby names but R and I are having trouble deciding on something we both like. Whenever a name comes up we would go, “It’s too poser”, “With that name s/he is going get made fun of”, “That doesn’t sound right” etc etc.

So we think perhaps it would be a good idea to open it the floor for suggestions! At this point in time we don’t know if we are having a boy or a girl, so feel free to submit names for either genders. Interesting but not poser or tacky names are preferred, and it would be a real bonus if your suggested names could reflect our heritages. Oh and it’s important that it sounds nice with R’s surname, Hope.

We’ll be offering a surprise gift for the best suggestion, so keep those entries coming! Have fun!

Week 17: Stomachache and Indigestion

After regaining my appetite for about a month, I'm back to square one! This time it is due to indigestion.

I woke up in the middle of Monday night with such a terrible acute pain in the centre of my stomach that I could not stand up straight. I had to wake R up because I was at my wits' end and so frightened about my condition. I was whimpering and sweating, clutching my stomach and my pulse was racing. R made me a cup of concentrated peppermint tea and I had some Gaviscon and the pain went away.

But after that episode my stomach started giving me trouble everyday. I felt it took ages for me to digest my food and I had a lot of wind. In the evenings it got worse and I would develop stomach pains in the middle of the night. I tried cutting down the meal portions and eating earlier in the evening. On Thursday evening, I decided just to have a bowl of cereal with fruit and nuts for dinner. But still I belched a lot and developed some discomfort.

On Friday I went to see my GP for some advice. She was very nice and told me as the womb grows it pushes up against the intestines and stomach and causes discomfort. In addition, the surge in progesterone slows down the digestive process and that too causes problems with the bowels and stomach. She prescribed some liquid peppermint for me to take after each meal.

Honestly, the number of medicines and vitamins I have to take has increased two-fold since I got pregnant and it's really a task to have to remember when and how to take them. But the liquid peppermint has definitely helped, but despite that, night time indigestion and discomfort seems to be a regular thing now.

As for R, he has been busy researching on breast pumps and push chairs and buying nappies, nipple cream and wet wipes. He's been talking to mothers about breastfeeding, stopping women in the streets to ask them about their push chairs and checking me for stretch marks. I'm glad he's so involved in the pregnancy and taken up the task of researching and sourcing the best valued baby products, because that's something I don't particularly enjoy doing.

As it turns out it's not been too good a week for me but the best thing so far has to be the increased quickening I've been feeling these days. The best way I can describe it would be like someone gently prodding you from inside. It's such a lovely, lovely feeling and whenever I get these flutters, I melt and think everything is worth it!

Week 16: Blessed

On Monday, I discussed my maternity leave plans with my employer. Although many women in Britain take 9-12 months off work, I am planning to return to my job in 7 months. But whilst I am off work, I'd like to spend as much time as I can afford to be in Singapore so Bean can be with family and friends. 

On Friday, I had my bloods taken again - this time it was for Down's Syndrome screening. 

This week, we also got some Bio-Oil from the pharmacy to rub on my belly and breasts to prevent stretch marks from developing. And one day while rubbing the oil in, I noticed how big my bump has become! I am certainly not used to seeing myself so fat and bloated! 

Although I really don't feel like I want to be up to anything much, I have decided I must force myself to do some exercise and yoga, because I have heard that would really help in having an easier delivery. 

Now the size of an avocado, Bean's hearing is developed by this week so we have been reading Beatrix Potter's stories to him/her in the evenings. Bean is also really getting active as I have been feeling more flutters in my womb. 

Yesterday, K and I went to Weston-Super-Mare, a small seaside town in England 90 minutes away from Cardiff, to visit one of our friends who had moved there. 

She has a three-month old little boy and had plenty of useful tips and insight to share with us. After cooking us a lovely nutritional meal of noodles and seaweed soup, she brought us to her room and placed heaps of baby clothes onto the bed for us to take home! 

Her son had outgrown all the little newborn outfits so she was happy to give away all the clothes. The plan is for K to have them all first and then when Bean comes along two months after her son, she would hand them down to me. We were both glad we haven't bought anything for our babies! 

In addition, I also inherited e a lovely Moses basket, which Bean can initially sleep in during his/her first few months, until s/he is big enough to go in the cot. 

Bean and I are so blessed! 

Week 15: Enjoying the ride

This has been one of my few quiet weeks. Apart from the visit to the obstetrician in my local hospital, who confirmed my brown spotting is nothing to worry about, I feel so well this week, I could even forget I am pregnant! 

My uterus has shifted upwards and is about 3 inches below my belly button, which means it is no longer pressing on my bladder and I am not running to the toilet 4 times a night. I get up at least once every night to go to the toilet, but there have been some nights where I sleep through. I am also sleeping a lot better compared to during my first few weeks of pregnancy, and as a result, I feel a lot better in the day. I am less moody, I concentrate better, my appetite has improved and I just feel happier! 

On some occasions I have been able to feel tiny movements, known as quickening. At the moment I don't get these feelings regularly, but as Bean continue to grow I will get to sense his little kicks more often. This week, Bean has been busy practising how to breathe by inhaling and exhaling fluid in the amniotic sac, while I have been finding it hard to catch my breath sometimes since my heart is working 20% harder for the both of us. 

I am planning to do aqua-aerobics and pregnancy yoga classes as I have heard the exercise really helps to make the delivery quicker and easier. I've also been thinking if I should take 6 or 9 months off work. I only get a fraction of my salary toward the last months of the maternity leave, but while you can always earn the money back someday, you can't get back those moments with your baby which you have missed out on. 

We are also making plans for my mother to visit and look after me when the baby is born and for us to spend a few months back in Singapore later this year. 

This week finally, I am starting to fully enjoy the experience of being pregnant! 

Pregnancy talent #1

I have recently discovered I can cry on demand, thanks to my surging hormones. And it's such a different feeling when I cry. It's so intense when I start and I can't seem to be able to stop it! With my newfound talent, I must audition for one of the roles in Qiong Yao's soppy dramas. It's a pre-requisite for the actors to be able to cry every few minutes. 

p.s. have you voted yet? 

Worry over!

Finally, after two weeks of fretting, I went for my antenatal check-up at the hospital and finally found out what is causing the brown discharge. 

The obstetrician did a cervical examination and told me the bleeding is not from the uterus but from the cervix. I have what's called cervical ectropion, which is common among pregnant women. 

Because the reproductive organs are so swollen with blood during this time, the skin is sensitive and can break easily. I have a 1cm little tear which is slowly bleeding, which explains the brown spotting. It should resolve on its own in its own time. 

Aside from the cervical examination, the doctor also pressed and felt my tummy to ascertain the size of the baby, which she found satisfactory. 

Now that I know everything is normal, I can finally start to enjoy being fat and pregnant! 

Week 14: Clothes shopping

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! This is my last week off work (I've been on holidays since the 16th) but sadly I don't feel like I'm ready to get my act together. Who does eh, after such a long break? 

I'm having difficulty squeezing into my old jeans and I've decided to get some new clothes instead of forcing myself into what I've got and ruining their shape. So I hit the sales in town and managed to get a few bits and bobs but I didn't go too crazy because who needs so many maternity clothes? I won't be fat forever right? (with any luck that is)

I managed to get a pair of denim bermudas for when I go back to Singapore, a cotton A-line dress, a cute slogan t-shirt, a pair of black track pants which I think is too small so I'll now have to exchange it, a chiffon printed dress in size 16, a black classic floaty dress from H&M and a printed top. 

I also managed to take the maternity jeans I inherited to the Thai seamstress in the market to get them shortened. And! R's sister picked up a lovely pair of slim black trousers in the sale for me, which I will have to grow into over the next months. 

I've been looking high and low for a white rocking chair but little did I know that there is one right under my nose! I only found out after speaking to R's sister, who told me there is a rocking chair handed down over the generations. Apparently it is over 60 years old and is specially handcrafted. 

I went to see it a couple of weeks ago in my nephew-in-law's house. He used it for his 5-year-old daughter when she was just born and with their youngest child pushing two, there is now little need for them to keep the chair. 

I love the idea of handed down items. When you think of how many different mothers and fathers have sat on the chair and rocked their children to sleep, you realise having stuff which have such a rich history really beat getting some plywood rubbish from IKEA. 

This week, I've also gotten some of my appetite back and I even manage to like fish and salad again! I've also started to have a whole load of other cravings. They include flavoured teas, McDonalds's breakfasts, potatoes, and I'm convinced Bean is trying to get in touch with his Western heritage (whatever that means). As long as he doesn't make me crave for parsnips or swedes (yuck!), I can pretty much stomach anything. 

The brown discharge hasn't really gone away though and my boobs are still dreadfully tender. I did another blood test earlier in the week to monitor my thyroid levels and they are still satisfactory. But because of my hypothyroidism, I will be under the medical care of the obstetrician in addition to the midwives. 

Also, lactulose is now officially my best friend because I have trouble going to the loo! Another one of them joys of being pregnant. Argh!

Oh! And this week I received a Christmas card from Singapore, from an ex-colleague who had gotten married in July. The newlyweds, like us, too found out they were going to have a baby shortly after their big day! Our babies will be months apart, and I have only just realised that I actually personally know three other women who are pregnant and too will be delivering in the first half of 2010. It's amazing! 

I've also started to wonder if Bean may be a girl?! I would love to have a little babe to dress up. By the way, have you taken the polls yet? If you haven't, do vote!

Bean and I are off to bed. We hope you have a good week ahead.