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Excitement
Anticipation
Nervousness
Anxiety
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Impatience
Irritation
Annoyance
Frustration
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Restlessness
Distress
Depression
Acceptance?

There we go again...

Went for my routine medical check-up yet again. I honestly thought last week (then again, maybe 2 weeks ago as well?) would be my last routine medical check-up. There we go again.

Updates at 40 Weeks

Kaelyn's Weight: Approximately 3.15kg
Kaelyn's Weight Gain: 0.14kg
Kaelyn's Head Circumference: 33.1cm
Kaelyn's Tummy Circumference: 32.8cm
Kaelyn's Femur Length: 7.2cm
Effacement: 3-4cm

Strapped onto the CTG again today. Nothing more than a couple of tiny surges. Nothing to shout about. Why is it that I have more action at home and waiting in line to see the Doc than during the CTG itself? Performance anxiety... Now nobody (except for G) will believe me when I say I have been experiencing surges. Hrmph.

Anyway, cut off date is this Friday, 28 September 2007.

I really hope she decides to come out on her own before that. I really don't want to do anything to yank her out. Sigh. Only time can tell.

Bun in the Oven

The oven timer has gone off.

The bun has been in the oven for 40 weeks today. Most buns will come out by 36/37 weeks, but this bun likes it in the warm, comfy oven and is still refusing to come out, much to my distress. Maybe she's trying to be obedient and staying in there till today? Maybe its the horror stories G and I have been telling her of what a big bad world it is out there that is scaring her to stay in and seek comfort?

Had a couple of false alarms over the weekend, none of which turned out to be the real thing, and all of which turned out to be just bad tummy aches. How am I supposed to distinguish between the two? Don't they all start off as bad tummy aches?

I have tried several of the old wives' tales ways of trying to get labour to start naturally. I have walked long, far and briskly enough to even tire out cross country runners. I have drunk enough coconut water from coconuts from an entire tree. I have eaten enough pineapples to wipe out an entire plantation. I have eaten enough spicy foods to warrant firemen to be put on standby to put out the many fires on my tongue and in my stomach. I have done just about everything and anything under the sun. Still nothing. Either the bun and/or the oven are very strong-willed, or yet again, the old wives' tales are just a load of crap...

The bun has been given another 3-4 more extra days to face the world, or she'd be forcibly removed against her will from the oven. Not much of a choice left, lil' bun!

Anytime...

... or so I have been told upteen times for the last 2-3 weeks. So when IS anytime? The anticipation and the wait are draining the life out of me.

Updates at 39+ Weeks

My Weight Gain: 0 kg (See! I told you the two big boxes of mooncakes I have almost single-handedly polished off works wonders in keeping the weight off! Mooncakes should be part of all diet regimes from now on.)

Kaelyn's Weight: Approximately 3.01kg

Kaelyn's Weight Gain: 0.2kg

Kaelyn's Head Circumference: Approximately 33cm

Kaelyn's Femur Length: 7cm

Kaelyn's Tummy Circumference: Approximately 33cm

Kaelyn's Average Heartbeat: 130-150 beats per minute

Effacement: 2-3cm

The great thing that came out of today's routine medical check-up was that Kaelyn's weight gain is taken from my (abundance of) fats! Woot Woot!

Doc says Kaelyn is fully engaged (yay!), so I'm just twiddling my thumbs and strumming my fingers, all ten of them, just waiting for D-Day. Dum de dum de dum. I'm sure Kaelyn is doing the same in there too. It sure feels like it all the time.

I was hooked up to the CTG today. It was supposed to only be for half and hour, but I think I moved a bit too much and the readings weren't accurate so I had to do it for a longer period of time. There was only one major surge, the others were just baby ones. Then when the nurse took the machine off me did I get several continuous surges. Arghhh. Murphy's law! How annoying.

Made another appointment with the Doc to see her next week. Hopefully I will get to see her earlier. I was given a deadline (you should have seen the Doc's face change when I asked her what was the drop dead date-- severe occupational hazard on my part-- I should have asked her for the "Long-Stop Date" instead. Means the same thing, but think people in the medical profession don't take too kindly too "Drop Dead" dates. Heh =)). Anyway, the deadline set by the Doc is 27-28 September. Nothing beyond that. I hope Kaelyn is a good obedient girl and comes out way before then (this is her first test of obedience). I want her birth to be as natural as possible and I really don't want to induce her out. I hope things will work out.

*crossing my fingers, toes, eyes, arms, legs, hair and whatever else I can possibly cross*

Hamburger!

Am getting anxious for the ANYTIME to arrive. Feeling rather full, tight and heavy walking around looking like I ate an entire Osh Kosh B'Gosh Watermelon and its stuck at my gut, undigested and unprocessed.

Being preggers means I invite many stares and comments from everyone, from well-meaning friends, relatives and colleagues to by-passers and strangers. What I realised is that the group that is most intrigued by my expanding waistline are those shorter than 1m tall. They just can't their eyes off the bump.

These days when people ask whether I'm having a girl or a boy, I ask them to guess and most of them think I'm carrying a boy cos of the old wives' tales that if the belly is jiam, its a boy. G thinks that my belly is rounded and jiam at the same time. Confusing.

Anyway, checked with the Doc on numerous occassions, the last one being last week's routine checkup, where the Doc showed us Kaelyn's Hamburger, and confirming that she doesn't have a Sausage and Two Eggs!

Guess that not all old wives' tales are accurate are they? *Grin*

Vastly divergent basic standards of hygiene

Was at Plaza Singapura with Lin last evening as I had my flute lesson and Lin had to pick up some photos she had sent for developing. Walked around a bit and decided to grab some post-dinner snack of Fried Mars Bars at Chippy's British Take Away.

This is where I realised that not everyone's very BASIC standards of hygiene were similar.

There were two youngish persons at the Take Away. I placed my order and the female promptly opened a box full of Mars Bars (which had already been pre-cut), took out 1 bar (consisting of 4 pre-cut pieces) and plonked them into some dubious looking, but extremely yummy, batter. As she was dropping it in, one piece dropped onto the black, oily, greasy floor that both she and her compatriot probably walked on and stepped on at least ten billion times that day.

I stared at her as she promptly picked up the run-away Mars Bar and ran it under the tap for all of 2 seconds before dropping it into the batter to join its other Mars Bar friends. I continued to STARE at her as she mixed it all up.

I couldn't take it. I had to do something.

I gently confronted her and asked her about what she had done. Surely that was a cue that the customer has been watching with eagle eyes and was certainly not pleased. All I got was a defiant stare and a very lame explanation of "yes it was the same piece I dropped onto the floor but I washed it already", "yes I know which piece it was (even though I mixed it all up in the batter)" and "no, I am NOT going to get you a new piece cos I think washing it under a tap would do the trick".

You should have seen my blood boil and the steam coming out of my head at this point. Of course, I blatantly stood my ground and insisted (almost arm-twisted actually) that she get me a new set (I was prepared to walk away cos I didn't want to risk food poisoning cos of her laziness and utter lack of hygiene, but greediness on my part stood in the way). To cut the long story short, I did get a new "set" of Mars Bars, but the "old grimy one" that had wiped the greasy ground with got washed and thrown back into the box of clean Mars Bars.

Good luck to whoever placed the next order. Ignorance is always bliss. I didn't stick around to warn him, but I sure hope he has a strong tummy!

I'm not usually a stickler for hygiene and I can tolerate some degrees of lack of cleanliness, but this...? Geez.

Hometown Minnesota

Minnesota has been the hometown of my brother for many years now. He's been in the States since 1992, when he went over to study. Over the years, he has set up family and settled in Minnesota.

He's got two in his brood now (and counting?). Here are some photos from my parents' last visit to him in August 2007:

(Entire family outside his home)

(Lil' nephew Mason--only 10 months old, but 95th percentile growth for his age -->gonna be a big strong boy!)

(Lil' niece Lindsay, cute as ever, in her little red Chinese outfit)

(Lil' Lindsay sitting by the door waiting for her friends to come to her 3rd year Birthday Party)

(Lil' Lindsay at her Birthday Party, with a Dora cake that Erica baked for her)



(Ah-Ha! Caught in the act)



(A very determined look of a 10 month old)



(Three generations of (King) Kongs)

The Last Leg: 38 Weeks and Counting

One of the best news for some time came at about 10am this morning. G smsed to say that his trial, set to take place till this Friday has just been vacated. Which means that the mantra that we've been chanting to lil' Kaelyn, of "Today is XX of September. Daddy's got to work till 14 September, so you try to enjoy yourself in Mummy's belly till then ok?" can now change. Wooooooopieeee!

Went for routine medical appointment again today. It has become a weekly affair and these days, it seems I keep appearing and re-appearing at the holding area of the doctor's office.

Weight gain: 0, zilch, zero, kosong (Double Woooooopieeeeeeee -- which means that the mooncakes I gobbled down in the past week had no effect, which means that Kaelyn's weight gain was taken from my stored fats!. Time to gorge myself with more!)

Kaelyn's Weight: Approximately 2.81kg

Kaelyn's Weight Gain: Approximately 0.1-0.2kg

Kaelyn's Head Circumference: Approximately 31.3cm

Kaelyn's Femur Length: 7.1cm

Effacement: 1.5-2cm

Glucose Test: NIL (Woooooppiiiiieeeeee -- these Ritz Carlton mooncakes I have been wolfing down must be health food. [Note to self: can buy and eat more])

Doc checked the amniotic fluid level to ensure lil' Kaelyn had a big enough pool to swim and splash around in. Got the all clear. Phew.

Didn't manage to get a good look at her face today. She was shy (again) and turned away. But we did see her long big feet (yet again, this must be from me) and her hamburger. Yes, she's still a girl. Phew.

So its now really pretty much ANYTIME, depending on when she wants to face this world. Time to start a new chant, "Anytime you are ready, Baby Girl. Anytime."

Also time for me to be able to finally get off my fat ass and power walk. Heard it increases the chance inducing labour. That, and more coconut juice for me. Slurp!

Inflation? GST Hike?

The prices of everything in Singapore have gone up. Is this a result of inflation or the recent GST hike to 7% which started 1 July 2007, or a combination of both?

G and I had lunch with some friends at Golden Shoe Food Centre near work and there was this "tissue paper" peddlers -- a blind man followed by a lady touting tissue paper to the lunch time crowd. We don't usually need the tissue (we can buy an entire SLAB of tissue for slightly above the price they are selling at!) but don't mind helping out these vendors who are trying to make a decent and honest living.

I digress.

As I said, the prices of everything has gone up. 3 packets of tissue which had a standard market rate of a dollar now costs $1.20, which, based on very elementary mathematics, translates to a 20% increase. Now, is this inflation, the effect of the GST hike, a combination of both or blatent day-light robbery? I wonder.

Little Miss Cutes

Was supposed to upload some photos of my lil' niece and nephew from my parents' recent trip to Minnesota, but haven't exactly gotten round to doing that yet.

Anyway, these are some pics of the niece, Lindsay--Little Miss Cutes. I bet if she were in Singapore, she would most definitely win the "New Paper New Face Award" in 13 years time, when she's 16!

Pffffftttttttt.....

Went for the routine medical check-up this afternoon. Kaelyn must have eavesdropped and have been quite excited cos she kept rolling and tumbling about for about 2 hours before we went for check-up, taking a break only during my lunch time. How considerate.

Updates at 37 + weeks

Weight gain: 0.3kg

Kaelyn's weight: Approximately 2.7kg

Kaelyn's weight gain: Approximately 0.2 - 0.3kg

Kaelyn's head circumference: 31.2cm

Kaelyn's femur length: 7cm

Effacement: 1cm

And yup, the bulbous nose and pouty lips are all still there, and probably more pronounced now than at the last visit. G kept laughing. Arrrrrgggghhhhh.

Kaelyn wasn't shy today. She stuck out her tongue at us when she realised she was being watched through the ultrasound. Pffffffttttttttttttttttttttttt... as if taunting us. Cute, and cheeky. Wonder who she learnt that from. Hmmm...

Kaelyn is only 3/5th engaged, so hopefully she'll be a good girl and stay in there for at least another 2 weeks till G is done with his trials.

On a separate note, Lin is in town for the next two weeks. She has a list of all the local food places that she wants to pig out at. I promised to bring her. There goes my diet plans yet again. Oh well. :P

Lin, Mom and I made our first stop (for this trip!) to Blk 85 Fengshan Market where we had the famous bak chor mee, black AND white chye tow kuay (cos Lin couldn't decide which she wanted), BBQ chicken wings and sugar cane juice. Yums. Here's a photo of a very tired us (me from my new weight and her cos her plane landed at 3.10am this morning!) hungry to gobble all the food up:

Lin bought a lotsalotsalegs caterpillar for Kaelyn with alphabets on both sides of its colourful body. *very pleased with new toy--grin*