Less than 24 Hours

Less than 24 hours, we will be going from couple to family

To meet the little life created.

And I am definitely cleaning up my room & going through all baby stuff one last time before setting out for the hospital in another 4 hours.

It has been 38 weeks & 3 days. We can't wait any longer.

We are ready to begin the next chapeter of our life
We are ready to meet our son
We are ready to be a daddy and mummy

We are so excited that we will be holding our little one in our arms in less than 24 hours!

Week 38 = End Is Near!

Our week 38 scan, baby Xavier now weighs 3.45kg. Singapore average baby size is 3.2kg and anything above 3.5kg is considered big.

Dr Ong dropped a bomb and asked if we are willing to consider inducing labour earlier (EDD 22 OCT) in the hope of letting the baby come out while he is still average size. Hmm, I have never ever thought about it and has assumed that I will go into labour naturally. Baby Xavier is growing really well and putting on weight being a big baby, the doc does not appear comfortable for me to deliver him naturally and definitely not at week 40.

After our discussion, we have decided to induce labour tonight. Brief explanation by Dr Ong: The midwife will insert a tablet containing prostaglandin into the vagina to soften or ripen the cervix. It is the most commonly use method, it often work better with less risks. The cervical ripeness will be monitor throughout the night, the riper it is the more chances that I will go into labour. There will be also chances that there is no reaction to the cervix muscle, in these circumstances, Dr Ong will then have to either use other methods of induce or carry out caesarean.

I pray for a safe delivery and a healthy baby. I pray for God to calm my nerves and spirit and for his angels to be with me as I deliver! God Bless!

My Birth Plan

I have finally done up my birth plan to meet Dr Ong tomorrow. Yeah!

Instead of all the long stories, i just cut it short and only included stuff i am concerned with.

Note: At any stage of my labour, should the need arises please discuss any proposed intervention with my husband before proceeding.

Birth Method: Natural vaginal delivery preferred. Unless there is a medical emergency, I would like to avoid a cesarean

Pain Relief: Natural pain relief (gas) preferred. I will ask for epidural if necessary

Vaginal Examination: Preferred to be kept to the minimum

Upon Baby's Birth: I wish to have my baby brought to me immediately after birth before any administrative procedure is carry out

Cutting of Cord: We would wish for my husband to cut baby's umbilical cord

Cord Blood: CordBlood will be donated to SCBB

Feeding preference: I would like to begin nursing right after birth & would not like any bottles to be given to my baby (including glucose water)

Misc Details: I would like to have photographs taken during labour and birth

Chinese name

New mum and dad to be will always feel excited when comes to naming their little one. The old folks generally belief that names have an influence on the child's life, either better or for worse. So, we have to consider the qualities of the character which make up their name.

Choose the name by the following principles:

Stroke Count for Chinese Names
Elements and Chinese Names
Genealogy and Chinese Names

So far, we have decided on either:

刘瑞凯(Pinyin: Low Rui Kai)
刘杰凯 (Pinyin: Low Jie Kai)

For the naming process, we have to forward Baby Xavier's date & time of birth and both parent chinese names to the Shi Fu that we have appointed. Then, he will take 2-3 days to calculate to get the best character/names. Got a recommendation through a few friends. His charges is kinda reasonable only $88

Yeah! Finally 1 thing settle on my do to list. :)

Group B Strep Test - cleared

Went for my last test in my last trimester of pregnancy - Group B Strep Test. This test is to detect a kind of bacteria that many people harbour in their intestinal tracts. The bacteria may also inhabit at the vagina as well and passed on to your baby during labour and birth. This test is normal screened at the late pregnancy stage, if found positive, it can be easily treated with antibiotic and will greatly reduce baby's risk of becoming infected.

The screening takes less than a minutes, very similar to pap smear, the nurse just need to do a swap to obtain the tissue at the cervix and send it for lab testing. I just got the result today, I'm not positive. Yeah! Yeah! No additional pills for me. Thank God!

15 More Days to Go!!!!

Mask-ING together

3 weeks of advance leave... is for me have lots of rest and to prepare for the arrival of my little one. But no matter how long I slept at night and how many times of afternoon naps I took.... is just ain't enough. I still feel restless. I can feel that my body is getting weaker seems like baby has absorb all my antibodies. I am now having bad flu, my nose is constantly runny and stuffed up. I am wondering is this an early sign of labour? I did a search on web but can't seems to find anything on it. Instead of worrying of labour, Hubby and I did a mask together... our first ever mask together hahaha! Feeling so relax now!!!!

Donation of Cord blood

After doing some research and talking to Dr Ong on Cord blood donation /banking, we have decided that I would donate my baby's cord blood to Singapore Cord Blood Bank (SCBB). The fact is:

1.If the child is already sick, s/he cannot use back his/her own cord blood, so I felt that is pointless in spending money to bank the cord blood.
2.If the cord blood can help someone with a life-threatening disease, I think why not? After all, if not donated or banked, it is simply discarded after the birth of the baby. An utter waste if you ask me.

The process for donating baby's cord blood is very easy. I have just contacted SCBB and we have arranged to meetup at my place tomorrow to go through the donation agreement. very good service indeed!

So happy, I have helped baby Xavier to do his first charity act!!!!

Point to note - Mummies and daddies please note that if you did not pledge to donate your cordblood before birth, the cordblood will be thrown away... it's not a automatic procedure ... so if you are keen to donate, do remember to contact SCBB after week 32 of gestation.

Tel: 6394-5011 Website: www.scbb.com.sg

Signs of Labour

~~~came across this informative article online~~~~

Since you never know when your baby will arrive, it's a good idea for you to be knowledgeable on the signs of labor.

Bloody show - If this is your first pregnancy, you may pass your mucus plug a few weeks before labor actually starts. When you lose your mucus plug, you may notice stringy mucus that is tinged with pink, red, or brown blood.

Sudden burst of energy - Some women go into major nesting mode right before their labor begins. If you've been exhausted, and all of a sudden, you get an unexpected burst of energy, you're nesting. You may have an uncontrollable urge to clean, or reorganize the shelves in your home. Remember not to overdo it. You are going to need your energy for labor and delivery.

Your water breaks - When the amniotic sac breaks, it's time to call your doctor. In most cases, you will already be having contractions when your water breaks. Sometimes, contractions occur afterwards. Unlike on TV, you may not experience a huge gush of water. Rather, you may notice a small trickle of fluid.

Diarrhea - Some pregnant women experience diarrhea in the 24 to 48 hours before they go into labor.

Contractions - At 37 weeks pregnant, if you go into true labor, you will start to experience contractions that get increasingly stronger, last longer, and get closer together. At first, your contractions may be 20 minutes apart, and a few hours later, they are 10 minutes or 5 minutes apart. Sometimes, you may get regular contractions out of the blue and with no warning. Make sure that you talk to your doctor beforehand about when he or she wants you to come in at the onset of real contractions.

Countdown

Waiting for Baby Xavier to arrive is an exciting time. I'm excited,. I'm nervous. I'm anxious. I can't describe my anxiety now but this must be the biggest project to look forward to

I wonder how labour pain will be like? I'm so keen to do it without epidural but now I am having some self doubt. What is my pain threshold??? I think is time to do up my birth plan and discuss it with my doc on the next visit.

Just when I thought I am almost done on my first to do list for baby.... another list popped up

Sort out baby clothings

Repack my hospital bag... seems like I have miss out quite a no. of stuff after talking to some mummies online

Reserve booking for postnatal massage

Venue for baby shower celebration

Get ready all essentials for confinment food

Lookout for newborn photoshots packages

Revamp the entire blog layout for our new journey to parenthood --done

A Little Shock

Well we were a little shock today. Baby has grew so much. He's 3.1kg now at week 37 and at the rate he puts on weight each week, doc predicted that he will be over 3.5kg pretty soon.... Whoo~~ "A big baby to be"

Here's a scan of baby Xavier



Doc comments:
BB has sharpe nose contours
BB has full head of hair
Pouting mouth seems like he is kissing us when the scan was taken
BB maintain at head down position. Much lower than a week ago
Amniotic fluid surrounding baby still sufficient

Will get to see baby in a week's time....

My Round Blessings

Hi Baby Xavier

Good Morning, Daddy & Mummy are going to see you later! It's time for our 37 Weeks ultrasound....

Physically Draining

I'm in my 37 weeks of pregnancy. It is getting physically challenging and tiring to do anything..... anything at all. So, I have officially started clearing my annual leave from 1 Oct before my EDD to stay home, get plenty of rest and get everything sorted for baby Xavier's arrival.

Yesterday was really bad, my backache was terrible. I was unable to sleep throughout the night. My body is feeling warm despite the aircon. Feeling so restless the whole day. Sigh......luckily, I have done quite a lot of stuff already and I should be able to handle the outstanding items on my list over the next 3 weeks, a little a day. :)

Seems like my bump has grew faster & bigger day by day, I find it diffcult to wear my pants and can't walk without looking like a penguin.... LOL!

Although I love being pregnant at this stage (feeling of Xavier's kicks and punches), I can't wait to hold our precious little one in our hands.

A little regret

one thing i have a slight regret over is not doing a scrapbook for my pregnancy, although i have all the materials, i just can’t seems to get started!!!!!! Argh....

At least i was hardworking enough to get shots of my pregnancy. Now in some ways of making up, I am doing up a little slideshows of photos of my pregnancy and that's about it.

special thanks to Alvia & Ah Tiong

TEN GROWTH MILESTONES AT THIRTY-FIVE TO THIRTY EIGHT WEEKS

Wow! It's almost time, to greet baby into his new world. What is happening now?

1.Baby weighs from 6 to 7 ½ pounds.
2.He measures 18 to 20 inches.
3.This is his "finishing" stage, and baby gains a tremendous amount of subcutaneous fat, filling him out for birth.
4.The lanugo hair has disappeared.
5.Some of the vernix caseosa has disappeared, and it seems that just enough of this cheesy substance remains to lubricate him for a smoother passage during birth.
6.By this time baby has pretty much run out of room and is tucked up like a little ball.
7.During the final weeks inside the womb, baby sucks, swallows, breathes, and blinks.
8.He steps, turns his head, and sucks his thumb.
9.He grasps and clasps his hands, practicing all the movements he will need after he makes his appearance in the world.
10.The air sacs of his lungs are now lined with a substance called surfactant, that keep the lungs expanded after each breath, enabling nearly all babies born at this stage (even early in this stage) to breathe air outside the womb.

Xavier at week 33

Baby Xavier at week 33, weighs at 2.4Kg

Can't believe time passes so fast

counting down ... to EDD (22 Oct 2011) whoo~~~

6 Weeks more to go, Kind of scary!!!!

The scan was taken while Xavier was sound asleep

can you see something near to his little mouth?

Looks like Xavier is blowing bubbles... hahaha so cute rite!

Actual not bubbles lah.... is just his umbilical cord..

Xavier is always so active in the morning, he is kicking now

he knows that I am writing about him ... Heehee :)

Got to go to work liao! Daddy & Mummy love you!

Our Prince Xavier's Nursery

Finally, baby Xavier's nursery is 90% up

Love it to bits.....

Hope Xavier love it too...:)

Baby Xavier at week 31

Went for my 31 weeks ultrasound

Baby Xavier now weighs almost 2kg, 500g heavier than normal

Now the baby is too long to be captured within utltrascan...

The space in my womb gets tighter and tighter and BB Xavier will eventually run out of room to move about, so I will start to experience discomfort or painful when he kicks or his sudden change in movement

BB Xavier have already flipped into the head down position which is the best position for vaginal delivery "thumbs up for Xavier"

Doc also check the level of amniotic fluid - everything is normal

As the delivery date is getting nearer, will visit the doc for follow up in 2 weeks time (5 sept)

We are in the midst of doing up Baby Xavier's nursery... we got him a cot mobile..... purchase from a nice mummy from singapore motherhood... original price $130, we got it only for $50 Very good deal!

Baby Xavier, mummy & daddy Love you

@30weeks Pregnant updates

Belly continues to grow…. Bigger and bigger.

I’m getting clumsier… hard to breath… hard to move… means I’m getting lazier!

I wake up 3-4 times middle of the night to run to toilet

Can’t stand for long, walk for long… means less shopping. Luckily, 70% of the nursery shopping done. .However, not really prepare the things for my confinement month like maternity bras, nursing pads, confinement herbs etc

Baby very active, get to see my belly movement very often, but sometimes just can't figure out whether is bb Xavier's tiny foot or hand

I feel my baby hiccup all the time . It's almost like gas or a thud or beat...with a slow rhythm.

Daddy is getting more & more excited. He always make a point to talk and touch Xavier every night and he always get a response from him.....

During my latest check up on 22-July. Through the ultra scan, every thing is normal.... Baby estimated weight is about 1.2kg which is slightly above average. Is Xavier going to be a big baby? Estimated to be 3.5-3.8kg by full term.

Another milestone is to set up xavier nursery corner... Stage 1: just done with the animal wall stickers..nice rite!



Just pick up the customised bean sprout pillow & pacifier clips, So cute!!!!!

Check this out! Got another video from youtube.