16 may 2014 - marks another big day, another milestone of my life.

A second time mum, another baby induced, yet another waiting game. 

Started on 15 May. Was admitted for induction. Again, the pill was inserted for dilation at 10am. And the bb heartbeat test was done after that, for 1 hour. 

Same as the first time, warded at observatory ward @ delivery suite. Nothing the whole day, just inconsistent mild cramps, and slight spotting. 

And then at about 10ish pm, was pushed to delivery suite 3A. I was so excited. I thought it was gonna happen, but nope, no regular contractions yet. Instead the nurse came and gave me the lao-sai pill, needed me to run the toilet to clear my bowels. And thru the night, I ran toilet 4-5 times!! Couldn't really sleep. Was cramping and baby was pressing onto my pelvis. Painful de lor. The hubby was sleeping soundly in the resting lounge arm chair beside me. 

And I witness the sunrise. Beautiful. And the traffic jam at Lornie road. :) people going to work on a Friday morning and I'm waiting for my baby to pop. 

At about 9ish, the missy came in and checked that my dilation was 4cm! And so she estimated that it would be around 12ish when I can get ready to push. Another few hours of waiting game, and I was so hungry but I couldn't intake any food already :( 

Doc Ho came in at 10ish, broke my waterbag without warning me, ouch! And before I knew it, warm water running down my thighs. Must have felt warm and good inside that's why both my babies refused to come out earlier than edd. Was put on drip to quicken the whole process from dilating to contractions. 

Wait lor. 

Last minute decided to store the cord blood for didi as well, after listening to doc ho's explanation that it's a wrong impression that siblings can share their cord blood. The possibility of matching is only 25%. Ok. So this time round I pay for didi's cord blood storing since the daddy paid for manfred's the previous time. 

Last minute decided to have epidural too. I was still contemplating abit but decided to just go ahead to have a not-so-painful delivery. 

So Doc Chong arrived about 20-30min later after I decided to have epidural. Kept talking about food to me when he was performing the epidural shot. I was already soooo hungry! I knew he was trying to distract me. But once the shot went in, the cold stream shot through my back and spine. Woo! I asked him to give me minimal/lesser dosage as I still wanted to 'feel' didi coming out so that I could push. During manfred's time I couldn't feel anything down there, I wanted to cry. How to push, like that? So this time round, was really minimal. Maybe say I could still feel half the contraction pains. But still bearable. 

Ok, wait again. For dilation to reach 10cm. For contraction to happen every 2-5 min. 

And I could feel the pain coming more frequently to the point I needed to do the breathe-breathe-breathe exercise with the drowning face. The hubby was puzzled, why was I still in pain after epidural. He looked at the monitor and said only 30plus, not yet 90-100 leh. But the pain I felt was definitely in the 90-100. And I was right, the monitor thing at my tummy was off (not in good contact with my tummy) therefore contraction was not true to the number it displayed. 

The nurse saw me suffering also thought it was quite funny to see me breathe breathe breathe after I took the epidural and so she suggested to increase the dosage to another 20%. Anyway the balance of the epidural will go to waste if I don't finish it. I took her advice. So she turned the knob and increased the dosage. Another cold stream ran through my spine. Woo!

Then I wanted to cry... I felt baby pushing his way out. But I couldn't push yet coz dilation has not reached 10cm. Ok, in layman's term, it's like u wan to lao-sai, already reached custom but u haven't reached the toilet. Simply explained. It was really 奔溃。No nurses were around and I really wanna PUSH!! I started tearing. The hubby rushed out to find help. Good. No one is in the ward, and I really wanted to push! What if I pushed and baby really came out?! I controlled hard my muscles NOT TO PUSH. 

Shortly the nurse came in and checked my dilation. It was about 9cm! She and another nurse started to prepare for delivery! Lovely. And they asked me to practise pushing when I felt the urge to. When they saw the "crowning", they called in Doc Ho. In the meanwhile, I was already pushing and pushing. Every push was to my own cue as the contraction sensor was off. So the midwives couldn't cue me to push anymore. 就靠我自己了！

When doc ho came in, it was all ready for him to catch the baby. When he was putting on his gloves and apron, he saw that I was really pushing hard and then he asked me to stop coz he was not ready yet! I stopped for a while. And when I felt the urge, I pushed again. All in about 20min after doc Ho arrived, he asked me to stop pushing, baby wad already partially out. I opened my eyes, looked down and I gave out a loud scream! I saw my baby boy's head and shoulders! I cried aloud (again)! It was a relief. It was a joy. And it marked the end of my pregnancy, starting of my second time mummyhood. 

This time round daddy tong din get to cut the umbilical cord as the cord was near didi's neck so doc ho cut it before it caused more complication. He didn't tell us when he saw, didn't want us to panick. Only told us when didi was out safely. I salute his professionalism. Given my delivery situations with manfred and didi, I would have into emergency c sect if I was with other gynae, I guessed. 

And so Mitchell Tong was thrown in my arms, erm, nope, on my chest, still in his white gluey stuff. Keke. He didn't cry, until the nurse took him off me and he started screaming his lungs. Cried louder than his korkor. :) and longer. 

Yay! This time round I could do skin to skin with didi! The previous round manfred needed to go to NICU so I couldn't do skin to skin to him. Anyway didi kept licking me the moment he was on me. So cute!!!

Actually I could do longer but the room was damn cold and I was afraid that he would be cold too. So I asked the nurse to put him back to the warmer.

My second love. 

And so I realized, love can only be divided. It cannot be 1+1=2. Can only be 1/2. I don't know how equal I can love the boys, but I only know that I'm still adapting to having 2 loverboys. I guess manfred is also trying to adapt having a didi to share his parents with. There's gonna be abit of adjustment and adaptation going on here. 

Mitchell and manfred with my favourite gynae!

And I'm starting to miss being pregnant all over again. 

My 30th Bday spent at RWS

It was still memorable and feeling good even one week from when it happened. The downside was the packing part when you are bringing a toddler along - but it was all worth it.

So we set off on Saturday morning, reached there at about 11am++ and we chiong to USS becoz the minion photograph session was at 1120am. We were so lucky, the moment we stepped in, the minions came out, they are Manfred's favourite, nope, BIG FAVOURITE. And once again, he stared in disbelief. He was happy and excited! Yup, and we purposely dressed him as a mini minion too! How cute!!

The weather was HOT beyond words. It was madness. We were sweating inside out - all wet. Poor Manfred was sweating in his pram - we had a thorough wet through minion ;) We had lunch in USS - one of the burger chain. Expensive like maybe $11 a set (not inclusive of drinks, just the burger and fries) but luckily they don't taste too bad so I don't want to complain since I should have expected those rates at a tourist spot. And we ordered nuggets kids meal for Manfred - HE LOVE IT! The meal comes with nuggets + fries + drink (orange juice) and the nuggets are super yummy! Not the common mcdonalds' nuggets. 

And after lunch, we continued to explore USS. We didnt take any rides, just walk around and take pictures. :) I cant take rides due to my big tummy and Manfred wont be able to stand the long waiting queue (somemore in the HOT weather)!

So hot! Drink more water! 

Its only sensible to bring a pram to USS. But either way, if you didn't, you can rent one at US. They even have double sitter pram. :) 

Manfred likes to MOOVE-IT MOOVE IT. 

PUSS IN THE BOOTS! (which Manfred calls it "The Cat")

Far Far Away Land

That sums up our first part of USS! You can see the boy is not in a very good mood liao. 

And then we checked in to Hard Rock Hotel. Hmm... I was rather disappointed for a $500+ 2D1N stay. The room was not very well-maintained. :( It had stains and spots on the wardrobe. The bathroom was just a simple rectangular shaped space for you to bathe, pee and poo with no divider or anything. So if you were to bathe, the whole space would be wet. I had to be extra careful of slip & fall since Im preggy. The sliding door of the bathroom could not be locked so the little boy kept sliding the door opened and wanted to come in when I was taking my shower. 

Not impressive for the price we paid for. :( Thou it was still afterall a decent room to sleep in for one night. 

We rested and Manfred took his nap for like 2 hours.. It was tedious at first and drove his daddy up the wall, coz the boy was so excited running about in the room and he refused to take his nap. And then i realised that when we stopped begging him to nap, and we just ignored him totally, we pretended to sleep, he actually joined us on the bed and KO-ed! The same thing happened when at night during bed time. :) haha! 

After a good nap, we chiong USS again, hoping to meet minions again, and WE DID!! AGAIN, when we entered USS, the minions were there again! How lucky can we get!! But this time round, daddy didnt wanted to queue for the photo. We just stood by the side and watched the 2 yellow potatoes. Wanted to catch Elmo, but we didnt. :( Anyway here are the rest of the photos taken @ USS. 

The closest of Elmo we can get. 

And finally! Im so excited. I met Shrek!!! When we went 3 years ago, didn't get to catch him, I was so disappointed. This time round, I wasn't expecting him, and I SAW HIM!  

So we said byebye to USS at about 7pm, went to my favourite buffet line - The Starz Restaurant located at Hard Rock Hotel lobby. I didnt take picture of any food related coz I was busy stuffing myself with FOOD. I was so hungry. But anyway hubby went to tell the staff that it was my birthday and I got a slice of cake from them. The cake was good. :) Yummy! Always liked it here. They cleared your plates very promptly. Service was good too. 

Happy Birthday to me - with my 3 men (big and small and in-the-making) 

And its bed time. The boy in his PJs. Still not ready to sleep anytime soon. 

Ok, lets try... into lalaland. 

Manfred shared the King Bed with us and he slept horizontally, kicking my back (I was facing away from him) from time to time. i didnt have a good sleep coz my pelvic was aching quite bad the whole night. Guess due to too much walking during the day. It felt like I just ran my 2.4km. It felt stiff and ached with every inch I tried to move. 

So we woke up in the morning (at 8am!!) Manfred woke up first I guess the sun shone in. Argh, forgot to draw the curtains the previous night and letting the sun shine in is a no-no! My boy is very sensitive to sound and light. But anyway we went swimming. Ok, this I got nothing to complain about the pool since Hard Rock Hotel has got one of the best themed pool in Singapore. 

Manfred chickened out initially, but after he saw a girl close to his age calmly playing in the water... he braved up! (LOL) And he began his swimming adventure with Daddy! 

Ended manfred's virgin swimming attempt with a HOORAY success! 

Had lunch at Malaysia Street next to USS, and we called it an end to our Birthday staycation. Thanks to the hubby for a wonderful bday staycation! <3

Although it was tiring in a way (packing and unpacking) BUT its all really worth it. I have enjoyed myself very much and it made me happy to see my boy happy! Simple as that. 

Looking forward for more fun moments that I could share with my love ones. :) 

Part 2: update on my PGP

Ok, and so the salt doesn't really help. Not the ice pack. I tried hot and cold, both doesn't really help to ease the pain. 

And so, yesterday I went to Lin sinseh and he commented that the baby was too big for a 7.5 months baby and moreover he is more tilted to the left side therefore pressing my left side nerve. 

He helped to adjust the position of the baby in my womb to a more neutral position. 

I was advised not to eat too much so that baby don't eat too much too. If he becomes too big-sized, may have to go for c-sect. :(

I was also given Pills to 补气 as I become breathless easily. 

This morning I realized that the pain went down quite a bit. There is still pain but at least I don't go screaming all the way ... Or maybe in a way or two I've already adapted to pain over the past 3 days. 

Oh and when the sinseh checked my pelvic, he said that I have got injuries before. Injuries that happened when I landed on my butt. Hmmm... Yes I have a few of incidents like that but didn't think that would actually have a "scar". I need to go back to sinseh after I settle down with giving birth and confinement to heal my hip injuries. :( 

Pregnancy is really no joke. You worry for the baby. You worry for yourself. But whatever you do. It's all for the child. 

Pelvic girdle pain.

Never yet, have I felt so disabled. PGP is no joke. But I'm thankful that it's only happening to one side of the butt and I could still manage to walk. If this is happening to the back, I don't think I can walk already. 

Suspected that Mitchell is pressing on my nerve that connects to the left butt. I can't lift my left leg, I can't bend, can't walk comfortable. If I have to e-brake when walking, I'm gonna scream. 

Was reading through many ang moh websites and they said to do pelvic exercises. I think it's crazy when I can't even lift my leg. and so I went to search for some Chinese website. There was this mummy who shared the heated-salt bag therapy. It has helped her within 3 days. I'm trying at this moment and hope it helps. 

First cook some salt until hot. 

Find a cloth bag big enough to contain to salt. I do not have a salt bag. I use a sock. I wrap the salt in a filter bag before putting inside the sock. 

Find a comfortable sitting position. 

Apply sock on the butt. Sit and relax. 

This is a Chinese method believed to draw the "wet wind" out from that affected area too. 

Let's pray for the best. 

Seriously, every pregnancies are different. 

@30 weeks!

Hi Mitchell! Finally we get to see u in 4d today!

Splendid. It was a last minute decision when we visited doc ho this morning. It wasn't necessary to have 4d scan and it was expensive but since we did for korkor, I think it was only fair that you can have your own 4d scan too. 

And here u go!

And here's a comparison between u and korkor!

Baby, u are 1.9kg as of 30weeks! Well done. Keep growing and we will see u soon! Mummy is 63kg today! Erm... And that would be 8kg gain from pre pregnancy weight. :) still good. Fingers crossed. 

Anyway boss asked me to go for early maternity leave and come back to work early too. Hmm... Actually it does sound good. :) coz mummy is really tired nowadays. Actually it was also my wish to go maternity leave early to stay home relax and 养胎。since boss brought it up today and I shall accept it. Though I wasn't prepared to go sooo early. 

We shall spend some time together then!

Gastric flu hits me.

Not fun at all. All I wanted was to sleep and sleep. Didn't even have the slightest energy to play with the little one. 

No appetite to eat thou I was hungry. :( 

The cutest thing happened was manfred putting a little brunch of flowers (from my deco) and called out "mummy" while I was resting, before running away as fast as he could. So sweet. It melted my heart. Totally. He thought I was about to scream at him. But nope baby, that was really sweet. I dunno where he got that idea from. 

I wished a good night sleep could help me recover. :) 

Good night.