GTT

I had my Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) this morning and I shall find out the result on Wednesday at the earliest. I had to stay at the hospital for nearly 3 hours so I really appreciate it that James took an extra day off work to come and keep me company. Fingers crossed I am negative for gestational diabetes. xXx

Foetal Movements @ 27 weeks

These are the gentlest kicks at the moment. Unfortunately he makes the huge waves in my tummy late at night between 1am-4am and big kicks again at 6-7am so I've been unable to film the exciting shapes he makes on my tummy when he is most active.

26 +3 weeks

Today I felt my son's elbow roll through my tummy for the first time! It was kind of freaky seeing that sharp peak rolling across my left side and it hurt for a second but the excitement over it trumps everything else. I can't wait to feel it again!

Getting the cotbed ready

Collage to be printed off and framed for the nursery

a First for Dad

Today, Daddy felt you for the first time. You gave 2 good kicks whilst his hand was on my tummy :) And then you quieted down as you always do when dad puts his hand over mum's tummy. His touch seems to soothe you even from the outside. xXx

Foetal Movements @ 25 weeks

It doesn't look like strong kicks and punches but believe me they feel super strong. His favourite spots to kick are on my right side as shown on the video clip, my ribs just below my left breast and my bladder at night so basically he goes around like a clock. At times he keeps me awake at night but I don't mind, really. I would rather miss out on some sleep knowing he is healthy, alive and kicking in there than not feel him at all.

I have been super busy lately sourcing furnitures and decorations for the nursery so I haven't really had the time to write much on here even though I have so much to write about. As I enter my third trimester, I start to feel very anxious. I have so much in my head - from booking antenal classes, whether to do aquanatal exercises, make an appointment with my dentist, doing our birth plan, fear of the GTT results (glucose torelance test) to getting the nursery ready in case the baby comes sooner than expected. A lot of people seem to think I will give birth at 36 weeks including my mother-in-law. I just want to be ready when my son comes.


Fears of a First Time Mum

I'm not going to lie - I am scared as I enter my third trimester. In fact, I am absolutely terrified. There are many reasons behind my anxiety and fear but mainly I am scared to make mistakes. I have never really been scared to make mistakes. In fact I remember telling my mother when I was 14 that she should let me make my own mistakes because she was constantly telling me what I should do and who to be friends with. I didn't like it then being a teenager but later on I realised it was all for me.
All throughout my life I was never one to live life as if walking on eggshells. I never cared about what other people thought of me as long as I am not hurting them in any way then I just do what made me happy, because after all that is how life is meant to be lived. But ever since being pregnant I have constantly thought that I should not allow myself to make mistakes, for a tiny mistake could have such an impact on my son. I was never a perfectionist but I want life to be perfect for my little one. People say perfect does not exist, but to me perfect is like success - it is relative and yes it does exist, but it's neither continous nor constant. The thing is I want to make life for my son as perfect as possible and if I make a silly mistake and it had a massive impact on my son's life, I know I'd forever blame myself. I guess I can only try my best and pray that my best is good enough.

And then there is the fear of labour and delivery which I never really thought about until now! There is this award-winning documentary called One Born Every Minute that I used to watch before I even got pregnant and recently a US version of the show started airing. It's amusing to watch how they endorse epidural in the US version and in the UK, the midwives and nurses encourages the women to do natural birth.
At the moment I want to try natural birth because I have read about the short and long term side effects of the epidural drug to both the mother and the baby and I really wouldn't want to risk the health of my baby at any point if it's within my power to do so.
In 4 weeks time, I would need to make a birth plan with my midwife, Maggie. My pain threshold is low but as I said I can only try my best. I can't promise I am not going for the epidural but hopefully with prayers and James as my birthing partner I will be successful at the natural birth I am wanting for my son.

Last but not least of my fears is my fear of not being a good mother. I always thought myself not cut-out to be a mum hence I didn't really want to be one. But now I have this burning desire to be a good mother to my son. The big question is: HOW? I should start with LOVE. Yes, that's a good idea. Everything that I started with love always turned out well because love always bounces back to you and it bounces from all corners. I can only love you to start with, my little one and we shall see how it goes from there. I will always worry and fear for you, sure that's a given so forgive me if at times I would want to wrap you in a cotton wool and keep you there. I can't wait to welcome you to the world now but I can fore-see in a not-so-distant-future that I will wish you were back in the safety of my tummy where no one can hurt you without going through me first. You shall cure my fears in time.

Lucky Number 38!

From a 34B to 38DD and waistline of 24 to 38!!! I still love you, son. You have not only cured mummy of her hypotension, low BMI, caffeine addiction, World of Warcraft addiction, crisps addiction... you also (very nearly) cured her of her vanity.

Seriously though, my priority now is the health of my baby and if it means I have to gain 50lbs then so be it. I just have to work hard to lose the baby weight if I care so much about it, which I do. Looking on the bright side there is no sign of any stretch marks anywhere - yet! Fingers crossed it stays that way. :) I have had a horrifying experience looking through images of google search result: pregnancy stretch marks . I currently am using Bio-Oil on my tummy which worked wonders on my legs. I know nothing prevents stretch marks as that is dependent on the elasticity of one's skin, but perhaps moisturising the area would help a tiny wee bit. I can hope, can't I? xXx

It feels good to feel you.

Sweetie, that's my ribs... Kick elsewhere please!

I'm nearly 25 weeks now and for the past 3 weeks I have been feeling my son move a lot which I love because it is a good sign that he is doing well in there. Soon I will be playing "guess what body part" with him!

I didn't know that babies in the womb get the hiccups and although it is a little bit freaky at the start, it is also endearing to feel it through my tummy. On the 24th week-mark, I have also felt him rolling over which creates waves in my stomach but he doesn't do it often enough for his dad to catch a glimpse of it. His kicks are strong and I can just imagine how much his power kicks will hurt in another 6 weeks time when he doesn't have much room in my womb anymore.

I feel wonderfully relieved that I have successfully reached the 6th month mark when my baby is now considered "viable". And although I have faith in the medical care and technology here, I hope he stays in there for as long as possible within the 40 weeks gestation period because he still has a lot of growing to do. He still needs to form layers of fat because he is going to need it! It's cute that my baby will be born in my favourite season of the year - Autumn.

I like to sing to my baby when I'm relaxing. I sit up or lay down propped up by several cushions and I put both hands on my tummy and sing to him. I gathered that it's not easy to sing when you're pregnant and constantly out of breath, but hey-ho, it's the only way I could really bond with my son at this point in time. :) Here's a song I've been singing to him for the past 5 months!





I was sorting out all the baby clothes we have been given so far and realised that we have enough newborn onesies for triplets, three times over! We have also started to buy nursery furnitures and accessories and hopefully start painting the room this weekend so when the rest of the furnitures gets delivered by the end of next week, I can start with the decoration. I don't really have an eye for interior decoration but I think I'll just follow my heart with this one. I also don't want to overspend because I would much rather have the money saved up for my son's future than on something he will only use for the first few months of his life. Thank God for a truly exciting and happy experience that He had blessed me with to share with my partner in life. I didn't think I wanted it but God always knew I did.

My Pregnancy Desktop seems to be stuck at 23 weeks...

A Project for Mum

When James and I started our search for a family home to call our very own, I initially said that all I want is a nice spacious garden for Taz and a large enough kitchen since I like to spend a lot of time in there. I imagined myself many times conducting a refurbishment of our new kitchen when we finally bought the house but obviously that has not happened and I'm afraid it's going to have to wait. My priorities have changed now that we have a little one on the way. There are still 8 rooms in our house that I want to decorate (9 if you count the study/computer room that I want to turn into a small library/play area) but hopefully, with God's help and His gift of time to me and James, we will have many many years together and plenty of time to turn this house exactly to our liking.

The Nursery


One of these bulky wardrobes is going (most probably in the loft).

This is basically the BEFORE in the B&A photos :)



First lot of carpet samples for the nursery.