Bag for Labour

It's the 33rd week and I'm still not ready with the bag for labour. Went shuffling around at the Taka baby fair to do last minute preparations for baby's arrival. We finally bought a car seat. The last item for baby. All the rest have been take care of.

Still wondering if the breast pump we got is enough for heavy duty pumping. I'd love to give baby breast milk but I think I'll go back to work after 2 months' maternity leave. Thus, I'll need something that can take pumping everyday. A heavy duty one. I learnt from the Medela saleswoman that the pump I got is inadequate. However, the one for frequent pumping is really expensive. Will see how things go... Who knows. I may just quit my job for now to nurture baby.

Still quite a few things for myself. Breast pads, disposably undies, nursing night gown, nursing bras, maternity pads, etc. etc. I did it all today.

Thank God for the energy He's given to run all these errands.

Remedy

I never doubted He's in control. I said a prayer to ask the Lord for protection over my baby and got on to do what I should do as a mother -- do all I could to help baby.

Berry and I went to do some grocery shopping for healthy snacks. We bought apricot, chick peas, prunes (to aid my bowel movement), low-fat milk, wholemeal bread, Ritz biscuits, fruit juice, butter spread.

I increased my meat intake.

I can't take leave from work as the new scheme I've been working on for the past 1.5 yrs is to be implemented early next month. However, I started to make conscious effort to practise deep breathing each morning on the way to work.

The rest we left to Him...

Self-Reproach

I'd always believed that even if I don't eat a lot, baby will still be able to tap on the reserves my body has stored. So say a few books I've read. I couldn't figure out the cause of my baby's predicament. Have I not been eating well? Have I been depriving him of necessary nutrients by eating unhealthy foods? Not really.

Perhaps my busy schedule and irregular eating time have affected him. I spend12 hrs in the office everyday. I work from home on the weekends. Doc said let her know if I need MC to take a break from work. But I didn't.

Skinny Baby

In the 32nd week, doc did a detailed scan to measure the growth of various body parts of baby - head, limbs, tummy - and checked his heartbeat. All was ok except for 1 anomaly. Baby's tummy is smaller than usual. It's only the size of a 29th week old foetus' tummy! She called him a skinny baby and said that we may have to go for an early op to get him out and feed him externally if this persists. I was heartbroken. What has caused my baby to be so malnourished. Doc explained that it could be due to poor functioning of the placenta. It could have stopped performing and thus not giving enough 'food' to baby.

I was told to drink more milk and eat more meat. If situation persists in 2 weeks' time when I visit her again, we'd have to let baby come into this world earlier than predicted...

Daddy's Voice

Now baby responds to Berry's voice more than mine. He even wriggles when my male colleagues talk. I told Berry to speak to baby more often so he doesn't recognise the wrong voice when he's offloaded.

Broken Tooth

When my tooth broke, I was reminded of the "My Two Front Teeth" song. The stronger message that drove home was -- baby has indeed a very strong need for calcium. He has zapped all my calcium that my tooth was affected. It broke into half, leaving a huge stump at the back of my mouth. From then on, I kept to a one-calcium-pill-a-day routine as much as possible. Don't want all my teeth to go missing before baby arrives.