Chugging along?

I'm supposedly entering week 9 tomorrow, and have been eating well so far. From the looks of it, I'm going to belong to the 25% of women who don't get MS this time round. Nauseousness does hit me now and then, but the merlion thing hasn't happened and I hope it stays that way. I was puking very badly with P at about this time. It sets me thinking whether #2 is a different gender from P for such a marked difference. On the other hand, I'm also worried whether the little one is growing well. 

The first and second pregnancy is so different. With the first one, I had plenty of time to read up on body changes during pregnancy, what to eat etc. Now, readings are a luxury but I realised time passes a lot faster with#1 to distract me. I used to count down day by day to my next gynae visit, but time is now whooshing by without me realising. 

Christmas is less than 2 months away. I thought I'll share P's version of Jingle Bells: 

Ginger bells, ginger bells, pussy on the bell, yay! One more side, one more side, one more side..."

Haha, plenty of room for improvement. If it does turn for the better, I'll update here. 

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycation

The Tan Family has just returned from a 2D1N staycation at Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. It was such a great experience that both myself and the little one are having withdrawal symptoms. 

I started sourcing for wedding anniversary plans some 3 months back, and came across the Pan Pacific Staycation Singapore Special on their website. Pan Pacific is where we held our banquet 3 years ago and every year I will definitely get onto their website to look for deals. The staycation package was probably a godsend. At $218++ per night, it is even lower than most of the average hotels out there. It even comes with $40 dining credit that you can use in most of the dining establishments within the hotel. With hotels, I often find the check in and check out timings very unfair to stayers. Check in is usually 2pm or 3pm, and check out is before 12 noon. With this package, we get complimentary check out at 3pm, good for us to sleep in, catch breakfast, do a swim and slowly pack our belongings. 

When doing the booking, I indicated that we are celebrating our 3rd anniversary and the hotel went all out to make sure it was a memorable one for us. 3 days before check in, I received an email from Pan Pacific telling me that they are extending a complimentary cake to us in celebration of our anniversary. On the day of check in, the staff assisting us with our check in told us that we have been given a room upgrade from the Deluxe room to the Harbour view King room. How sweet of them! Oh, I also have to mention we arrived way ahead (just after lunch) of check in time of 3pm, but they didn't hold us back as the room was ready. Thank god for that, else I will have to come up with contingency plan for the next 2.5 hours or so. 

The moment we reached our room (3113) on the 31st floor, I couldn't help but do a victory dance. We had full view of MBS, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the CBD skyline and even the merlion. The little one, seeing my excitement, joined in the victory dance. Shortly after, the doorbell rang and a staff passed us a box of chocolate and a letter from their GM congratulating us on our wedding anniversary, also asking us to enjoy our room upgrade. 

We took an afternoon nap and awoke at 3 plus. P couldn't wait to swim after that, so we made our way to the pool at Level 4. The pool was very crowded, but the staff manage to find us a deck chair, passed us 2 bottles of ice water and our towels. Despite the hot afternoon sun, the pool water was quite cold. That being said, barely after 20 min of swim, the sky turned grey suddenly and there was thunder. The staff "evacuated" the pool due to lightning concerns and it was too short a swim for us. We assured P we will be back the next day, and she waved goodbye to the pool unwillingly. 

P and I took our bath and sat on the bed watching movies on the bed. Hubby decided to relax in the bath tub, and watch the movie from the bath tub. Pan Pacific Singapore has undergone a recent renovation and I must say I'm quite impressed with the facilities in the bedrooms. They have a glass window for the bathroom, and you could see the rest f he bedroom from there (and vice versa). That's how hubby can watch the movie from the bathroom. Also, the shower room and the toilet is separated, so you can have multiple people in the toilet doing different things at any one time. The fridge/mini bar is fully computerised. Once you remove any item and didn't put it back within 30s, they will charge the item to your bill. I think that saves a lot of trouble for their housekeeping staff to track the items. Blinds are fully remote controlled, and their phone offers one touch control to many services. 

We went to Suntec in search for dinner. The Convention Centre area has changed so much. I've been there previously, but not hubby, so we went there to check it out. Couldn't find much dining options so we proceeded to Fountain area. Dinner was Peperoni pizza (hehe, #2 was craving for pizza), but the portion wasn't quite sufficient. I should have ordered a bigger pizza for sharing. We ended up at Gelare for waffle and ice cream desserts. 

Hubby wanted to head back to hotel after dinner, and we were just in time to catch the MBS laser show from our room at 8pm. Pan Pacific has also arranged for our anniversary cake to be delivered while we were out for dinner. The cake came with 'Happy 3rd Anniversary!' Card signed by some of their staff. Really really appreciate the personal touch that the hotel has arranged for us! They have never disappoint us so far, kudos to all the warm and professional staff. 

We turned in early for the night and slept really well. The next day, P surprised me by saying she wants to sleep in, and ask me to turn off all the lights. She must have enjoyed the sleep too. We went to Edge on level 3 for our complimentary breakfast, and the spread was quite commendable. I wished I had 4 stomachs to try all the food, but with #2 taking up space, I can't take in as much as I would have wanted. I liked their fried kway teow and fried bee hoon. Missed the dimsum station until I was too full for anything else, so that was a pity. 

We wanted to take a 30 min break, but P kept chanting that she wants to swim. We had no choice but to change and bring her to the pool. Unlike the day before, the pool was relatively empty today. Water was equally cold (thermal wear recommended for kids), but we had fun frolicking in the water. We stayed till P is willing to leave the pool. 

The $40 dining credit was spent at the Atrium Deli, serving mainly sandwiches and breakfast sets. We chose their set lunch ($19.90) and it came with a sandwich/burger, a salad and a drink. Hubby chose the Corn Crab Burger while I had the Prawn Avocado sandwich. Both were good, and surprisingly filling. We checked out after that meal, also ahead of the check out timing. Hubby has soccer at 3pm, else we would probably have taken a nap before leaving. 

All in all, it was a very nice staycation. We spent a lot of time in the room and at the hotel, relaxing and resting, charging up for the week ahead. The little one was probably the most disappointed when we left. She was expecting us to return to the hotel room after our meal at Atrium Deli. The reality didn't hit her until we reach our void deck. She broke down and cried really hard, telling us she wants to "go back to the hotel room". It took a lot of reassuring for her to finally come to terms with it. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, she would randomly mention "go back hotel room soon ok?" and "next time go hotel room". I wished I could do that too, my dear. Ugh, hope we'll get over the staycation withdrawal symptoms soon!!

P the Whistleblower

Went over to in laws' place for dinner today. We wanted to break the pregnancy news to them, but guess what? P the whistleblower already beat us to it, and they sort of guessed it two weeks before already. 

SIL told us on one of the days when she spends the morning at my in law's place, P randomly spouted "mommy's tummy got baby." SIL and her maid was taken aback and sought confirmation from her by asking whether someone else's tummy has got baby. She replied "no" to all, and insists only mommy's tummy got baby. 

It turned out that the surprise was on me and hubby instead. We didn't expect her to remember what we told her and then "spread" the news to others, haha. My in laws also kept the knowledge to themselves until today, kudos to them. 

Now, we know what NOT to tell P next time. By the way, she also disclosed hubby's iPhone pw during the dinner. It's obvious - P can't keep secrets, haha!

Dear #2

Dear #2,

Papa and I went to the gynae today and saw the little you on the screen. Watching your tiny heart beating and hearing how it sounds really makes me the proudest mom in the world, especially when the gynae says you are looking great and healthy. This makes the wait at the gynae worth for papa, who kept badgering the staff on the waiting time. He's not a patient man, but he's a great papa. The scan put you at 6w2d, which was shorter than what I expected and calculated based on pregnancy apps. It feels like you've been there for much longer. EDD is tentatively on 10 June 2014, but I hope you can come out during the period after the exams and just before the June holidays (so you can celebrate with your friends in school).

Your elder sister is at grandma's place today, and that gave me the chance to do some bonding with you. We went to Bishan Park for an hour-long walk and I believed the fresh air did us both good. I saw people jogging and wished I could do the same. I missed the feeling of the heavy breathing and adrenaline rush. We came across couples strolling, families walking, dogs running, kids playing. We walked past the Powermoves at Bishan Park, and I contemplated whether to take up prenatal pilates. I have no courage to check on the pricing though, it's bound to be expensive. I could do more saving that sum up and buy diapers and formula milk for you next time. For the time being, you just have to make do with my walks in the gym, and hopefully I can find time to come to the park with you more often. 

Dear #2, the next time we see you will be in 5 weeks' time. Please stay safe and grow with us. I'm sure as you (and my tummy) grow, P will be speaking to you more often. She's at a chatty phase and says the funniest things. You will enjoy hearing her voice. Till we meet again.

Love, 

妈妈

8 Years Together

8 Oct 2005 - The day we got together. 

Fast forward 8 years later, we spent this day in a truly "memorable" way - A big quarrel complete with shouting and tears. The first time it happened on our get together anniversary, and hopefully the last. 

Totally disillusioned. 

Gynae visit

2 years ago, I spent hours poring over search engines and motherhood forums looking for the 'best' gynae in town. We finally settled on Dr. Adrian Woodworth because he is relatively well known in the online space, and that his clinic in Sengkang is quite near to my Hougang home then. 

With #2, what I looked for is no longer 'famous' gynaes, but rather the proximity to my current home. It's almost a no brainer that the AMK Hub gynae came to mind. Comments about her in the online space are scarce, and I didn't know what to expect. 

During the first visit, I didn't feel much difference than if I were to visit a normal GP. However, today's visit took me by surprise. Upon entering her office, she greeted me warmly with "Hi Jessica, how? Still irregular (referring to my 17-day delayed period)?" When I told her I tested positive, she was so so happy for me, and she remembered I was trying to conceive! She asked me for the first day of last menses and compared to a circular date chart, concluding that I should be in week 5-6 of pregnancy. She asked if I want to do a blood test or a scan, but warned me that we might not e able to see much during the scan as the pregnancy is still in early stages. 

Opted for the scan and it has to be done from below, but she did it very well and I didn't feel any discomfort. I liked the ultrasound set up in her clinic too. She had duplicate screens, one for her and another one diagonally above me, so I don't have to strain my neck trying to see what she was talking about. The first thing she checked was my uterus lining, which she said had thickened and that confirms I'm really pregnant. Then she tried looking for the water bag, but we only saw a small space that should develop into a water bag in a couple of weeks. She was also able to tell me that I ovulated on the right side as opposed to the left, and gave me assurance that she sees nothing that I should be concerned about. 

After the scan, she launched into a barrage of what I should not be eating (raw food, certain cheese etc) and to keep coffee/tea to one cup a day max. We discussed exercise options and to my relief, she passed walking on the treadmill, which means I can still continue going to the gym. There was to be no lifting of weights (I wonder if a 12kg toddler counts) and no jumping. Brisk walking is about the safest exercise, at least for the first trimester. 

The next visit is in 2 weeks' time. I can't wait already!

As Blue as Clearblue

Did the Clearblue test this morning, and the + sign appeared almost immediately. Things are looking up!

Some 2 years back, P's + sign came 9 days after I missed my period. I can hardly believe its been 2 years. 

And oh ya, I couldn't keep the news to myself and ended up telling hubby yesterday night. Happy news indeed :)

Renewed Hope

Some 1 week back during bedtime with P, she pulled my shirt towards her, looked in and asked "妈妈，里面有baby吗？" I didn't think much of it, and dismissed her curtly by telling her to stop talking and go to bed. 

My menses has been late for this cycle again. Based on last month's record of being 17 days late and doctor's hormonal imbalance diagnosis, I didn't want to test for fear of disappointment again. Besides, I was experiencing what I thought was very bad PMS - Bad flare up of acne, super tender breasts, cramps, mood swings and even the feeling down there when menses has arrived.

Today marks 8 days after my expected period and I finally plucked up the courage to test. It was also partly attributed to this nagging feeling that tells me it might be right this time round. The 5 mins spent waiting for the pregnancy test strip to show results is probably the longest 5 mins of my life. 

Results came back with a faint positive line, and my heart leaped! When I reached office, I immediately called the gynae to make an appointment for tomorrow. I didn't dare tell hubby for fear that its a false positive. 

During lunch, I felt doubtful that the strip was accurate, and bought 2 more types of pregnancy tests - 1 Watsons housebrand and a Clearblue. I just tested with the Watsons and it's also showing a faint positive. I will do a final test with Clearblue using first morning urine tomorrow. Cross my fingers!!

I've read stories of toddlers/older siblings knowing his/her mom is pregnant, even before the mother herself knows. Some mothers have even gone as far to reprimand the kid for telling lies. Now I think back on the bedtime incident with P, I wonder if she already knew it at that time.