T-5 Days And She's Still Comfy In My Belly

I'm still not in labor. Just in case if you're wondering.

Went to my regular pregnancy check-up at SDMC yesterday (6th May 2010) and to my surprise, my weight has dropped from 68.2kg to 67.4kg. I still wonder how did I loose that 800grams of weight. My belly is still huge, my body is still huge and the baby moves just fine (more than 10 kicks per day). Quite a mystery, right?

Yesterday, the doctor did Pelvic Examination (PE) to see if the baby's head has dropped or if my cervix has opened. According to her, I have dilated at 2cm, but the baby's head is still high. She gave me the options to either induce or wait.

Since I have no other health issues (except for GBS), so that makes me left with no specific medical reasons on why I should induce my labor. Unless if I'm tired of the waiting game and look forward to have the baby delivered soon, then I can choose to induce my labor immediately.

I chose to WAIT. To tell you the truth, I'm scared of induced labor. Heard too many scary stories from friends about the horror of 'forced labor' and given the options to choose, I opt to wait until the baby is ready to come out!

Honestly, I do feel tired of waiting. I feel tired of driving to and fro my office, tired of being at the office, tired of the false labors (which conveniently always happened at night), tired of the extra weight and tired of the sleep deprived days. I want her to come out real soon but she seems like to play hide and seek with me. I'm just plain tired now and just can't wait to see her.

Had a chat with my mama yesterday and she told me to be patient. She said that the baby will come out when the time comes. I don't mind if my baby want to take her own sweet time and choose whichever date she wants to come out like a diva. The things is, there are a couple of problems:

1. On 9th of May 2010, my gyne will be on leave. So IF I am to deliver on the 9th, I will be attended my another doctor assigned to act on her place for that day. I don't want any other doctor. I just want her and no one else :(

2. If I'm overdue, I'm definitely will have to be induced. Oh my. So scary.

Not so nice choices, right. Well, all I can do now is pray that my baby will make up her mind and choose to born on either 7th May, 8th May, 10th May, 11th May or 12th May. Come little girl, don't let mama stress out will you? Pretty please? Be a good girl boleh tak sayang?

Till then, do pray for me people. Ciao!

The Longest Wait Ever

Honestly I just can't wait any longer anymore.

Can't wait to see her.

Can't wait to touch her.

Can't wait to smell her.

Can't wait to hold her.

Can't wait to love her.

This is the LONGEST nine days ever in my life....

Be a good girl and come out real soon will ya?

Nesting Instinct

I have the strangest and strongest nesting instinct with this pregnancy. It is said that it's a common thing to happen to expecting mothers, especially to those who are so near at delivering. I'm NOT saying or implying that I'm gonna deliver soon, but the urge to get the house clean and clutter free grows so strong lately.

I have so far tidied and revamped the upstairs' and downstairs' rooms. I have also successfully cleaned the clutters both in dry kitchen area and the storage area. All these were done with major assistance from my helper, Yeni. Bard involved in the furniture shopping (which took up an extremely long time, and was damn tiring!) as well as monitoring the setting-up and the installation of the furnitures in respective rooms. I personally took the measurements, did the calculation and the layout planning for the furniture set-ups and also did the thinking of the back-up plans in case the furniture layout doesn't add up. Just imagine a 37+ weeks pregnant lady with a measurement tape, a pencil and a stack of papers in hand taking measurements in multiple rooms and drawing furniture layout plan immediately after the measurements were taken (nasib baik amik QS dulu, so meks pandai la jugak lukis2 plan nih, hau hau). It's just so wrong isn't it? Heheh.

But I just can't stand the nesting urge. I surrender to the impulse and did whatever I takes to make myself happy. I just cannot explain why am I having this kind of desire with this baby and not with my previous two. You'd be surprise at the things I managed to do even with this proud protuding belly. I incessantly walked up and down the stairs hauling heavy stuffs alone. I personally crawled in the tight space of the storage area to fish out unwanted clutters. I heaved the heavy wooden wardrobe with my helper all the way to dry kitchen area. I balanced my huge body up on a small stool just so that I can store some stuffs at the top shelves of the cupboard.

Dangerous, right? Tapi tak bley tahan uols, I cannot fight this stong sense of nesting! As the result of this instinct, I managed to get more space in all areas cleaned, found out that I have multiple expired vouchers amounting to RM500 (that's sucks doesn't it), found money amounting to RM15 (give or take) and successfully threw out all 'treasured' rubbish in the house (broken childrens' toys, broken stroller, broken telephones, shoe boxes, etc). It seems that having a cluttered house does not profit you in anyway. Maybe I should implement 5S Housekeeping concept at home too, hahaha.

Now, it's time for baby check-up update :)

The head is still not engaged. The doctor is not worried about this. I am too not worried about this. As I mentioned in my entry before, it doesn't really matter if the baby engages now or later. The doctor even speculated that the baby might engage herself on the day she's going to be born.

According to scan yesterday, the baby has grown quite big and looks good on the screen. Things got pretty crowded in my utero, and she looks so cramped up in the tight space. Lately, she hiccups a lot too. The doctor said that it's a normal thing and asked me to monitor my baby kicks everyday. Eventhough this baby is not as playful as Amsyhar before, she does move more than 10 times daily for sure. My gyne even mentioned that if I do a lot of brisk walking now, I might be delivering soon enough. Adakah anda memberi hint yang saye dah gemuk dan perlu bersenam doktor? Just to let you guys know, I'm already 68.2kg now! Ouch!

I guess this conversation WILL take place between Bard and me in near future, hehe.

Till then peeps! Ciao ;)

So Pregnant

I was  barely 60kg when I was with Amyshar. I was weighed 67kg on my last check-up (22nd April 2010)! I gained about 1.3kg in only two weeks. Damn! What the hell did I do to myself? Arghhhhh.... >:(

Everytime people see me now, they can't help but to say this:

Mak oi, besarnye perut!

Alamak, macam nak meletop bila-bila aje nie!

Haiyo, so big la you!

Eh, berapa banyak ko dah put on yek? Hahaha.. *haram punye soklan*

Bila due nih?

Bila nak meletup nih?

I know I'm fat. But at least I am pregnant okeh. Huhu.

On another note, I have made some enquiries about GBS risks during my delivery later. I asked my pediatrician about the risks of GBS infection to my soon to-be-born girl. The doctor is pretty confident that the risk can be managed and avoided altogether. She explained to me briefly about the steps they're going to take right after the delivery and the measures to be taken if the baby is tested positive for GBS. She said that if I am to be given antibiotic IV during labour and delivery, the chances for my little princess to get GBS infection is close to none. Normally the observation will take up to 24 - 48 hours long. Both mother and baby are required to stay in the hospital until the health caregiver gives the OK for both to go home. As for me, I don't mind staying at the hospital and letting my baby to stay in the hospital for as long as it takes. I don't want to put my child at risk of getting the infection. At least if she stays in the hospital, I know she's in good hands.

My pediatrician also mentioned that she handled few GBS infected babies before and Alhamdullilah, so far the babies recovered with no late onset infections. I asked her if GBS test is mandatory in all hospitals and she said NO. SDMC just made GBS test their standard practice after a death of a baby with GBS infection few years back. The mother was obviously NOT tested for GBS colonization during her pregnancy. The case was quite huge as the parents threatened the hospital to take necessary law actions based on what happened to their child. My doctor didn't mention if the parents really DID sue the hospital in the end or not. However my point here is, so far not EVERY hospital here in Malaysia insist on expecting mothers to get themselves tested for GBS colonization.

So please expecting mothers, do get yourself tested for GBS when you're already 33-35 weeks pregnant.

35 Weeks & I'm Diagnosed With GBS

Remember what I mentioned in my last entry? I wrote that I do not suffer from any kind of infection which I can feel or see physically when I did my HVS (high vaginal swab) during my last hospital visit. How confident I was then! Silly cocky woman. Little that I know that I am one of those women in this world whom unknowingly carry Group B Streptococus in their bodies. Group B Streptococus (or widely known as GBS) is a very nasty bacteria which lives in human body and most of the time do not show any severe symptoms or ill effects and stays in the body without the carrier's knowing it. That's what happen to me. I don't know that I am colonized by it until my HVS result shows its existence in me.

I was ignorant and never knew about GBS before. During my check -up yesterday (8th April 2010), the doctor mentioned that GBS is a nasty kind of bacteria and can cause the baby to have pneumonia during delivery. She also said that it is a common type of infection among pregnant women. I was given a 5-day course of antibiotics (Ampicillin) to be taken 4 times daily. My doctor allowed me to keep my lab report and I saw that there were two bacterias identified in my HVS culture. They are Klebsiella Pneumoniae and Streptococus Agalactiae (Group B). Word 'scanty' was written right under the 'streptococus agalactiae' word.

Out of curiosity I did my own Internet search today about GBS. And the result is not so good.

Meningitis, pneumonia, high fever, septicaemia and death. What a terrible list of options for a child with GBS. A pregnant mother with GBS has the potiential to pass the infection down to her child during delivery and when it happens, all she can do is to watch her newborn baby fight the illnesses alone and prays to God that her little one survives the horrid blow. What sad situation it would be if that mother is ME.

No particular reason on how I got it. I may have it all this while in my gastrointestinal or genital tracts, and I never knew about it all along. I never had urinary tract infection in this pregnancy, no weird looking or funny odored discharge, and definitely never experience rashes or itchiness. My urine always come clean each time it was tested. According to the articles I read, sex has nothing to do with it and GBS won't be transmitted to your partner even when you have sexual intercourse with him.

So, yeah. I was devastated and worry myself sick this early morning. Bard called me up and asked me not to worry myself too much, as it may affect my pregnancy and my baby. I told him it's not easy to NOT to worry as it is happening to my body and my baby is in MY body. Received loads of consolations and prayers from friends after I posted my status up in my Facebook, and I'm so grateful and thankful to God for being blessed with such wonderful loving people around me.

After reading comments and experiences shared by mothers in rollercoster.ie, I feel at least 10-folds eased. I understand that my GBS infection is only at 'scanty growth' rate, or in other words: the colonization of GBS in me in very scarce or insufficient in quantity. However, my doctor didn't want to take any chances and therefore prescribed me with oral antibiotics medication even when I'm already at 35th weeks of pregnancy. I read from the articles on the Net that I should be having intravenous antibiotics during my labour and delivery to lower the risk of infecting GBS to my child. Having the baby delivered at premature state (before 37th weeks) will increase the risk of GBS infection. Having the water break at 18 hours or more before delivery will also increase the infection. C-section is believed to increase the infection risk too.

But all these can be managed and be avoided altogether.

My doctor said that GBS is treatable. Most moms in rollercoster.ie support group also strongly believe that early detection is the key factor to manage GBS. Some hospitals and caregivers never insist on having HVS and GBS test. Some even nonchalantly dismiss the need of doing swab during pregnancy! I'd say it's a disgrace for us women to be ignorant of our rights and NOT having ourselves tested for GBS during our pregnancy. I was ignorant once and I'm so lucky to have a very good doctor to take care of me. To all pregnant mothers out there, please be alarmed and have yourselves swabbed and tested for GBS before it's too late. As for me, I'm still in 'grey area' as the infection won't happen until I give birth to my girl later. I pray to God real hard that I'm going to give natural birth and hopefully the infection won't be transmitted to my little princess later.

Lets take a little break from this distressing update okay (-_-)...

About my baby's development (since yesterday was supposed to be my boring & regular pregnancy check-up), I'm happy to report that she's growing rather well and if she keeps on growing at this rate, I might be having a 3.3kg baby girl at my full term! She's estimated to be 2.4kg now and all her measurements are good. Saw her in the ultrasound scan yesterday and she looks healthy and strong (oh, I'm being biased, I know!). Her position is good and all in all, she if a fine growing baby girl in my womb :)

The only person who's not fine and unhealthy is actually ME (oh boy, here we go again!). Ugh. That sucks. To know the fact that your baby is growing healthy and YOU are the one who has the potential to make your child sick is totally uncool. To know that GBS is a type of blood disease and therefore will make my cordblood storage not viable is also frustrating.

I just hope that I can survive another two weeks before my next visit. I'll be 37 weeks in two weeks time and if the baby is still holding on inside me, the chance for me to risk my baby with GBS infection (in one way at least) is already getting lower. All I can do now is hope and pray.

Till then, hope the next update will be a positive and a cheerful one! Have a good weekend peeps ;)

Al-Kisah Jantan Hampeh

Di suatu tengah hari yang agak terik, aku, KM, S dan N bergerak-gerak khas nak pegi lunch dari ofis. Kami berempat aje masa tu. Yang lain-lain ada hal sendiri katanya. Kami pun keluar dah lewat, dah pukul 1 lebih dah. Kami pun tunggu le lif kat lobi lif tingkat 17 yang ado tu. Tunggu punya tunggu lif, ada satu pintu lif terbukak. Dalam lif tu ada la dalam 2-3 orang makcik-makcik dan pakcik-pakcik, yang aku konfem dari Kementerian Wanita & Masyarakat tingkat atas. Bila dah masuk lif, tetiber sorang makcik vogue (MV) bertanya kat aku:

MV: Amboi sihatnye.. Twins ke?

Aku: Heheh. Taklah. Sorang aje.

MV: Ye ke, nampak macam twins.

N: *menyampuk* Kalo twins senang la kak, kan?

Aku: Heh, SENANG? *dengan nada auntie-auntie*

Semua orang dalam lif tergelak mendengar jawapan aku. Alih-alih, ada pulak sorang jantan hampeh (JH) ni menyampuk..

JH: Sapa kata jaga twins susah?

*aku terus toleh nak tengok sapa la jantans yang kata senang menjaga twins ittew.. la, pokcik tua rupanya. tak jadi aku nak membahasekan dia*

34 Weeks And Counting.. Woohoo!

So I am officially 34 weeks today. Another 6 weeks to go and the end of this journey seems to look nearer and goes faster somehow. 34 weeks pregnancy marks the time when a woman finally entered her third trimester of gestation. It has been a long trip with so many changes happening to my body and now I can't wait to see and hold my little precious in my arms! The nudges and kicks and hiccups are getting stronger. I just love to feel her movements whenever I read her my favourite novel, The Other Boleyn Girl :)

My recent visit to my Ob/Gyn was done in a rather quick mode (as if my previous times were any different). My blood pressure was good, my urine was clean and my weight has increased to 63kg! Oh dear me. Will have to put loads of effort to shed these extra kilos after delivery! The last check-up was focused more on obtaining samples from you-know-where, to screen if I have some nasty infection that might harm the baby later on. It's a standard prcedure to be done when you hit certain gestation, so I kind of expecting it even when I don't suffer from any kind of infection which I can feel or see physically.

29 Weeks

As expected, my weight exceeds 60kg! I am 61.5kg now and the doctor asked me to watch my diet :P. Okay doc. Will try my best to eat as clean as I can, huhu. Baby's weight is approximately 1.39kg, and all measurements are good. Baby head has finally turned down *phew, all that swimming paid off!*. Bard, Nadia and Amsyhar followed me to the check-up and wow, were the kids super-excited! My urine is clean and I feel healthy even when I'm so overweight. I started off with 48kg and gained 13.5kg in 29 weeks. Oh boy! Whatever it is, what most important is that the baby is healthy and developing well. My next check up will be in another 4 weeks, so will update you guys on my progress in the end of March next month! ;)

I'm So Fat

According to Baby Corner's Weight Gain Calculator, I am currently overweight with additional 4kg to my actual 28-weeks pregnancy target weight. I should weigh 56kg, but right now I'm already 60kg!!! Hiak!

I'm a sad fat hag.

When you're so overweight, it's common for people to speculate that you're gonna be due soon. But NO - I'm not giving birth anytime soon. I'm only 28 weeks long (7 months)! Apart from the due-date-speculation, THIS question can be quite tiring to answer too:

Certainly it doesn't help when I go window shopping at ladies department. Everybody looks so SLIM and all the clothes look so freaking SMALL! I'm so psyched! :P

Being overweight AND pregnant definitely will challenge your emotion, mental and physical state. Frequent toilet visit shows that despite everything else expands on your body during pregnancy, your bladder size will remain unchanged and stay as small as ever.

However, knowing THIS fact does make me smile and yeah, somehow brighten my day even when I realized I'm SO FAT and SO PREGNANT!

Aku gemuk ader hasil. Ko gemuk dapat hasil apa? Ada hasil? NAN ADO! :D

22 Weeks Update

Week:22

Trimester: Second

Doctor: Dr. Dato' Siti Zaliha

Hospital: Sime Darby Medical Centre, Subang Jaya

My Weight: 54.7kg

My BP: 100/60

Baby's Gender: GIRL
Position: Breach

Expected Due Date: 11th May 2010

So it's a girl! According to doctor, it looks like a girl. Bard still hoping it's a boy cause he 'feels' like it's gonna be a boy. This little one likes to keep secrets I think. Last month, she crosses her legs and thus made it hard for the doctor to determine her gender. Today, she put one hand between her legs just to make it even more harder for the doctor to see it. However, I'm almost 100% sure that this one is a girl :). Attached below is a scanned picture of today's check-up. The doctor couldn't capture her whole body image as she's grown quite big now. My doctor just gave the picture that makes sense to me. How thoughtful :).. Enjoy! (Do click at the image to see the notes I made on the picture ;D)

17 Weeks and counting...

Week: 17

Trimester: Second

Doctor: Dr. Dato' Siti Zaliha

Hospital: Sime Darby Medical Centre, Subang Jaya

My Weight: 53kg

My BP: 110/70

Baby's Weight: About 5 ounces (140g)

Baby's Gender: Undetermined

Expected Due Date: 12th May 2010

Basically I gained about 5 kilos in the past 5 weeks. That would be an average of 1 kilogram per week. I still wonder how did I manage to do that.

Howdy! It's already December!

The last time I updated my blog was almost 4 months ago. The previous entry was dated 3 month before. It seems like I'm getting lazier lately. Oh, blame it on the hormones.

My third pregnancy (or shall I say my fourth?) is not the same as my second and my first. I'm not as fit, not as calm, not as active and not as cool as I was with my previous two. I get tired easily. I get upset easily. I get hungry very easily too. I am fat and weighing at 53kg when I'm just four months long! I can't imagine how am I gonna look like when I'm in my full term. Maybe like this?

That is scary. I don't want to cut down my food (what nonsense is that, dieting while pregnant?!). I have to eat more veggies and lessen my rice intake. I have to start brisk walking around the neighbourhood on the evenings and sleep early every night. Late nights make me cranky somehow, and I just cannot explain why. Practising positive thinking is a good thing to do too, but based on the condition I am in right now, it seems like the idea is easier said than done. Maybe I should do more yoga? I think I should pray more.

Last Friday I did blood test for the Down Syndrome, rubella and some other standard pregnancy monitoring tests. The tests result should be out this week. I'm due for another check-up this Friday and the doctor should be giving me the results then. I am praying that everything is alright. I hope I'm able to update my entry AFTER the check up. Till then, see ya again in the next post!