03Jan / 2012

My 2011

Dear son,

They say you become a mother the minute you find out you are pregnant. We were in Bangkok when I found out we were expecting you and from that moment on I immediately monitored my every move. I slowed down the pace of my walk, I watched each step so that I wouldn’t fall, I was afraid to get a foot massage and I started heading towards the children’s department each time I walked into a mall.

My 2011 was spent nurturing you in my belly, making sure that everything was perfect. I’d get upset if the someone coughed near me, I did ample research when in doubt of eating something, I made sure my body filtered everything before it got to you. I wasn’t superstitious yet I insisted we wait till I was 3 months pregnant before we announced it. And everyone close who knew were sworn to secrecy!

When you arrived, I dug a moat around our house and summoned the dragons so no one would see you till you were ready. Till I was ready. Yes, I am a protective mother. Protective, paranoid, and not afraid to admit it. I had a great mother and I aspire to be a great one too. Your father jokes saying you were like Michael Jackson’s kid, we were hiding you from the outside world.

You are 8 weeks old on the first week of 2012. I look at you today in your crib energetically kicking your legs, stretching your arms, glancing at me when I speak to you, cooing and smiling when you watch the animals on your mobile rotate, and I can’t help but fall in love with you over and over again.

2012 is going to be an exciting year – it’s the beginning of our lives as a family.

Love,

Mommy

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15Dec / 2011

Reminiscing

He turned to me looking puzzled.

‘What were we doing this time last year?’
‘We were in India, love.’

I couldn’t help but think about our travels so far.

As boyfriend and girlfriend, as husband and wife.

One luggage between the two of us, always checked-in.
A map in one hand, my hand in the other.
Spontaneous decisions on where to go, what to eat.

I remember each trip vividly, right up to the babymoon in Koh Samui.

I will miss it.

Traveling is going to be a lot different now. We both agree that it’s time to start making memories with the new addition to our family. After all, good things are meant to be shared.

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30Nov / 2011

Breastfeeding

“it’s not easy!”

That’s what they told me every time.

An avid believer in the benefits of breastfeeding, I was determined to take up the challenge.How hard can it get, I thought.

When put in play, I found out that as a first timer, it’s really not easy.

There are so many variations to what can go wrong during breastfeeding. My problem was that the baby didn’t know how to latch which caused a lot of anxiety on my end. I kept thinking, if the baby isn’t latching, he’s gotta be starving!

I must thank the nurses at Pantai Hospital’s maternity ward for being so patient and helpful with me. I buzzed many times to get them to help my infant latch-on. They were encouraging and persistent with both baby and I. I stayed on in the hospital for five days as I wanted to master as much as I could before I went home.

Despite books and literature, I wish I knew this before I started:
1. Most moms suffer from cracked nipples. It gets better in time.
2. Invest in a good breastfeeding pillow. My husband bought me My Brest Friend (hehe…funny name but it really becomes a mother’s best friend!) I wish we got it earlier as it would have saved us pain and agony! The pillow positions the baby for a good latch.
3. Have a tube of pure lanolin on standby.
4. It is okay to get some rest at the start by skipping one or two feeds and supplementing to avoid a worsening situation (and pain). in fact, you need proper rest at the early stages. Lack of sleep makes you weepy.
5. Get a good lactation consultant. Pantai Hospitals’s in-house lactation consultants who visit you at the ward were rough and lacked bedside manner. They made me depressed and angry during my stay there. In the end, I opted to only see Sister Elizabeth.
6. Have a good husband. If he doesn’t encourage and understand you, you will feel like giving up! Mine constantly supported me, which brought us all to where we are today!

At 3 weeks old, my son and I have graduated! He prefers to latch-on rather than drink out of a bottle. Our initial concerns on nipple confusion are out the window as we watch our son’s preference towards direct nursing.

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02Nov / 2011

38 weeks

I know! I can’t believe it myself :)

When my OBGYN told us ‘your baby is now full term’, I wanted to cry. I look over at my husband and he’s smiling from cheek to cheek! We will meet him soon.

We currently go for a checkup on a weekly basis. The baby has been developing fine so far but at our doctor’s visit yesterday, he has decided to move and is no longer effaced like the week before. I’m a little upset but I tell myself that maybe it’s safer to keep him in there just for a little while longer.

Like clockwork since the 4th month, I wake up at 5 something to use to loo. I can hear the morning prayers from the nearby mosque just before I settle to sleep again. However, for the past few days, I wake up, pee, and don’t go back to sleep till 7 or 8 a.m. I really dread this. One morning, I was so awake, I got up to cook!

For some funny reason, I’m in love with the smell of popcorn. And this week, all I want to do is eat fried chicken! What an unhealthy craving!

We have bought almost everything for the baby and made several decisions on what we would like to do or how we would parent our child. Right now, Praveen and I are just enjoying the quiet moments we have together, smiling with anticipation that our lives are about to change.

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03Sep / 2011

Tanamera Postnatal Care Set

After months and months of research, I am so glad I found this postnatal care set from Tanamera. It’s a care set that incorporates some Chinese, Indian and Malay confinement practices, and since I’m doing my own confinement, this is going to be extremely necessary. It even comes with the abdominal binder!

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28Jun / 2011

Positively Blessed

Ally’s wedding, April 16th

It’s kinda late, but we would like to announce that we are pregnant! Prav gives me a glare everytime I say ‘we’ because it’s me who’s carrying the baby.

We’re in our fifth month, 20 weeks and 3 days today. The baby is 367 grammes and is developing according to schedule.

When we found out:

We found out we (yes, darling, you’re in on this too!) were pregnant during our second trip to Bangkok at the start of this year.

Morning sickness and things that annoyed me:

I experienced nausea, vomiting, fatigue and heartburn x 1000! The most annoying bit was the heartburn as that was extremely uncomfortable.

We were observing a pantang to not make an announcement before the first trimester (and frankly, it was none of their business) but there were many speculations as to whether I was pregnant as I stopped drinking. To my disgust, these people weren’t even my girlfriends! It took me a long while to ignore them, I was really hurt, and stressed, and annoyed.

But once I stepped into the second trimester, I put all their nosy comments aside and personally told the people who mattered to me, most over a cup of tea or lunch. I smile each time I think about their expressions – the genuine expression of shock and happiness of my cousins and best friends. Those moments were priceless.

Baby bump and maternity clothes:

I managed to get through my sister’s wedding (stepping into my 3rd month) without showing. I attended my best friend’s wedding dinner last weekend. I’m already showing but I wonder why some people still walked up to me and asked why I wasn’t drinking…err…isn’t it obvious? My friends were equally puzzled.

Anyway, I refuse to buy maternity clothes because they aren’t flattering. Instead, I make do with lots of flowy dresses and loose clothing. I don’t know how much longer I can do this

At our previous scan:

At the 20 week anomaly scan, the baby decided to not co-operate- closed legs when we wanted to confirm the gender, covered face with tiny fists when we wanted to get a 3D image. A cheeky baby indeed.

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20May / 2011

A year ago

It’s been almost a year since our religious and civil ceremony. How time flies when you’re having fun. I’m enjoying every minute of my marriage to my best friend, the moments spent together, the discussions and decisions we make, our ability to function as a team despite being physically away from each other, the silent understandings of how we do things a certain way. Of course, there’s also the nagging, the arguments over who washes the dishes and the stress over when and where we should go on vacation.

I have kept the empty angpow packets and cards from our wedding in a shoebox. I reached for it the other day and was touched with the words and well wishes from everyone we knew. I smiled reading them knowing that at the moment they wrote it, they were thinking about us. There were two that made me laugh, one was an incorrect spelling of my name (not sure if it was incorrect or just the handwriting) and the other from a good mate from our days in Sydney where we used to play silly Tower Defense games till 6a.m. (reads: Congrats! Now go forth and spawn your United Colours of Benetton family)!

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15Mar / 2011

Stupid Lizard

I opened the door for the pizza man this afternoon and in walks a lizard as if I opened the door for him! I paid the man really quick and threw P’s slipper on it.

Hun, if you’re reading this, you’ve gotta clean it up when u get back from work (and I’m not certain if it’s dead).

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01Mar / 2011

I’m an SPG!

I’m an SPG! No, not a Sarong Party Girl, but a Starwood Preferred Guest.

Travelling with my husband on his business trips does have its perks:

I get to go to places I’ve never visited before.
I get to enjoy staying in lovely hotels all around the world.
I don’t have to worry about breakfast.
I get to shop without feeling guilty cause he’s waiting outside the shop.
I get to buy anything I like *big fat smile*.
I don’t have to drive to the gym.

Though, there are some (small) drawbacks:

I’m alone sometimes most of the day. I eat alone (I don’t enjoy that).
I have to pack and unpack for him and myself! (despite having lists, I always end up forgetting something (my things, never his) like my face moisturiser or glasses grrr!).
I can seriously be a travel agent with all the planning and arrangements I make prior to our trips *grumble*
I put on weight from ‘over-relaxing’. But that’s not a bad thing, is it?

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18Feb / 2011

On pasta, chicken stew and you

We didn’t iron the apron before the photo shoot. Silly me!

I find it hard to believe that people find it hard to believe that I cook.

But I do! I do cook dinner at least four out of seven nights in a week.

I cooked more often when I was working 9-5 because after a long day, there’s nothing like relaxing in front of the tv with your dinner in hand

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