Pregnancy No. 2: My 8 Favourite Things

Ikea pillow
That’s the cheapest you can get. Even though it’s a bit warmer, the softness and springiness feels really comfy at times like these. I love the feeling of my head being burried in this pillow despite having to wash it often due to my excessive sweating.

Kaftan
I wear them everyday at home since they are the ones that seem to fit me during these times. Plus it’s the easiest one-piece, making it easy for me to visit the loo, which happens very often in a day.

Bra extension
I didn’t realize about the existance of a bra extension until my 2nd pregnancy. I guess my ribcage expands greater compared to my 1st pregnancy with Emmet. I tried lots of maternity bras but none of them fits me. So I found this bra extension at Fabulousmom and bought it and can’t live without it now. Makes me breathe more easily eversince I wear them.

Ribena
I guess this is my worst cravings so far. And I think I am addicted to it. There’s this one time when I’m out of Ribena for a few days, I felt so uneasy and kept thinking about it all the time! I made plenty in a jug and keep it in the fridge and keeps refilling the jug when it’s about to empty. But I don’t mix it sweet like the ones selling in shops (they are very sweet indeed). I like it more diluted until I taste more of the sourness. Can’t live without this too…

Buah lai
I MUST eat fruits during this 2nd pregnancy. I wasn’t much of a fruit eater but this time I just can’t resist fruit stalls and fruit carts everywhere. And my favourite is the Japanese sweet pear. Been buying them almost every week at the TTDI pasar malam, 10 for RM10 and they are very big. I also love water chessnut and papaya when I visit the small carts.


Black Motherclub maternity pants
Bought this when I outgrew my ordinary pants and Rizal kept pestering me to buy a new pants, and my other maternity pants just seem so uncomfortable. Found this at a maternity shop in Mid Valley Megamall, can’t remember the name though. Damage is RM89! I just bought it within 5 minutes in the store since I have been in and out of many stores and can’t find one that I like. Loving it eversince because it’s stretchable and out of the T-shirt material, soft, adjustable waistline and most important, it’s V-shaped in front. i just don’t like anything sticking on my tummy this time.

Baggy tee
This is the only top that’s soft and does not stick on my tummy. I guess I’m just not much of a fitted top fan. Makes my tummy itchy and warm. So I hijacked a lot of my sister’s baggy tee from the day we landed in Malaysia. Drives attention away from onlookers as well compared to when I wear my nice maternity top.

Bar stool
Been nagging Rizal from my 4th month because it’s really tiring to stand up for even 5 minutes in the kitchen to cook. So bought a high wooden bar stool at Giant nearby with RM50 or so. Made my kitchen time so much easier, and I just have to reach a bit further to my left to wash stuff in the sink, and I don’t even have to get down the stool for that! All I have to do is get everything from the fridge, lay them on the counter, get my stool and start chopping. Everything else is within reach.

Pregnancy No. 2: 36 weeks

I just discovered on my 4th antenatal check-up that I gained 2.2kg in 2 weeks. That’s how fast my tummy grows during these last weeks and am trying hard to watch my weight (yea right!) as I want to control the weight of the baby so it won’t be as big as Emmet 3.82kg birth.

The doctor was quite encouraging saying that the baby is already engaged and I probably won’t even make it to the next appointment which is due in 2 weeks time. That, I leave it to the Almighty God and won’t comment on the time. All I can do now is pray for a smooth delivery.

My hospital bag is packed, documents are signed and ready for admission. Mom is coming in 2 weeks time. Everything is pretty much ready now that I have learnt how to compromise with the mess in this small apartment, at least until the new baby learns how to pick things up and shove them in its mouth. But now, I just couldn’t be bothered. I refuse to let petty things get to me. Otherwise I know I’d go crazy and moody. Everything is everywhere, toys are everywhere except the kitchen and the bathroom. Laundry is on the sofa. Catalogs are on the floor, newspapers in lots of places. You can even find a clothes peg in the fridge and I am calm about it.

I still cook, clean up the kitchen, do the dishes, do laundry, vacuum once in a while, tidy up the room once in a while. Mostly, I spend time managing Emmet and play with him. I’m afraid I won’t have this kind of playtime with him anymore with the new baby coming. I cuddle with him more on the sofa watching cartoons with him when playing is just too exhausting. He plays really hard and ganas, always bumping into my tummy, so I like cuddling more.

Sometimes I feel so light but most of the time I feel like a whale. My bum hurts when getting up from the sofa, my hip hurts when I sleep, my back hurts even more. I must nap after breakfast for 1 hour and Emmet is so understanding about that, he plays by himself and doesn’t bother me. But once I’m awake, he immediately wants company.

Once I had this conversation with Emmet asking him if he wants to drink my milk when the baby is out…

Me: Nanti ada baby Emmet nak susu Mommy? (pointing at my breast)
Emmet: Bukan…..Susu baby…
Me: Emmet nak jugak tak?
Emmet: Tanak…kinyaaaammm…(patting his tummy)

Hahaha…ape lah Emmet!

Fluoride or non-fluoride toothpaste?

Gosh! A dilemma for me now eversince I got back from Dublin and seeing some TV ads of halal non-fluoride toothpaste and the contradicting ads from Colgate still advocating the importance of fluoride toothpaste and blaming the mother for not giving her son the fluoride toothpaste. The government should do something in regulating these confusing and probable misleading ads campaign.

Even the dentists seem to not have a clue on this issue. At a recent visit to the dentist for Rizal’s treatment, the receptionist handed Emmet a free gift of Pureen non-fluoride toothpaste for children complete with pamphlets explaining about the importance of not having fluoride in your toothpaste. Even I get a sample for pregnant ladies’ toothpaste, also non-fluoride. But when I checked out the clinic’s website, they still believe in fluoride in dental care. How confusing is that?

Apparently it is still a controversy and it is impossible to find facts and figures that can assure you on which to decide. Yet Malaysia is still mass medicating its inhibitants with fluoridated water supply when a lot of European countries have banned fluoride in water supply. Now, knowing Malaysia yang sungguh famous dengan it’s incompettence, how can we be assured that they did not ter-overdose us with fluoride? And then kept quiet about it?

And interestingly, there is no evidence or no difference actually in the reduced cases of cavities among countries that fluoridate their water supply and those that did not eversince it was introduced in the 1940s.

Alas, us mothers are left wondering what’s best for our children. Even if we seek advise from the dentist, how are we sure about the credibility of the dentist? Is he up to date with the current research and issues pertaining dental and oral care globaly?

Luckily, I think I am on the right track. I am not a fan of toothpaste anyway. I don’t squeeze on the toothbrush like they squeeze nicely and generously in the ads or on the box of the toothpaste. I probably use 1/20 of that amount. And for Emmet, I just calit the tip of the tiny brush, again about 1/20 of the pea size recommended by most dentist. Children will surely swallow when they first begin to learn to brush. Even Emmet sometimes ter-swallow.

That’s the dangerous part of the fluoride, apart from the fact that it is used in rat’s poison and other domestic cleaning agents in the market. We don’t have a meter like the weight scale or the digital thermometer to let us know what is the fluoride content in our body.

So I think for children, it is better to use non-fluoride toothpaste since it is safer to swallow. And if you notice, small children’s teeth are not that hard to clean nor are they as dirty as adults’. You just need to brush them properly and they are good to go.

As for Emmet, I ban all kinds of sweets and candy (allergy excuse comes in handy at these times). I also ban all types of junk food like Twisties and the likes. The only junk that he is excused to would be potato chips that contains only potato, vegetable oil and salt in the ingredients list. I hope he will carry this habit throughout his life, which is unlikely I think, once he enters kindergarten or standard 1. He might most probably be tempted seeing all his friends grovelling on all those carbonated drinks, junk food and sweets. Until that happens, I think I’ll stop thinking about it for now…

Emmet: 3 years old

At the beginning of becoming a 3-year-old, Emmet was behaving quite charmingly. I thought all my hard work is paying off by now. Well, it seems likely since almost everything I taught him, I could say I thought I taught him well. Tantrums were no longer an issue. No embarassing episodes in public.

But after a few months,

He says no to almost everything.

Suka cari gaduh.

Screams “No!” or does not like it when others forbid him from doing something or even being scolded.

Make noise/screams when people are talking to each other. Such an attention seeker.

Suke buat aksi mengada-ngada when getting up in the morning or from a nap.

“Nak mikuuuuuuuuuk haaaa!!!” dengan suara tangisan yang amat mengada-ngada.
“Air mummyyyyyy haaaa!!!”
“Ta boleeeeeeeh haaaa!!!” when his blanket is stuck under his feet.
“Aaa jussss!!! Wa-bee-naaa haaaa!!!!”

I usually don’t give in to this kind of behaviour. I said, “Kalau Emmet nak, cakap elok-elok, no crying no screaming macam tu ok.”

And he would go “ Tannnnaaak!!!”

And I would go away and ignore him.

And he would cry even more at my ears, trying to get attention. And I can’t do anything else except wait. Can’t even hear what’s been said in the news on the tele. Maybe I need to stand by with more new magazines.

This would go on like half an hour until he asked me nicely.

Boy am I trying to be patient. I am just wondering how long will this go on until he learns. Or is this even going to work?

Achievements
Can follow instructions when in good mood. Helps me get the remote control or put his bowl into the kitchen sink after breakfast or switch off the tele when going out or get a dvd rom the tv cabinet or paling syok skali is tidying up his toys!!!! Yippie!!!
“Emmet nak ikut mummy ambik daddy tak? Kalau nak ikut tolong simpan semua mainan Emmet dalam bakul ok, kalau tak mummy tak nak bawak Emmet, Emmet tinggal kat rumah ok.”

Kalau good mood he straight away obey. But if he’s not up to it he would go “Mummy shi-paaaaaaaannnn!!!”

“Emmet punye mainan Emmet kene simpan, Emmet good boy kan?”

“Tanak guk boy!!!”

“Ok mummy tanak bawak Emmet, Emmet tinggal kat rumah sorang-sorang ok?”

“Tanaaaaakkkk!!!”

“Kalau tanak tinggal Emmet simpan ok?”

“Mummy shi-paaaaaannn!!!”

This same conversation would go on another eight to nine cycle before he gave in and start collecting his toys.

Of course a big hug and kisses and praises awaits him if he completed his chore.

He is starting to take responsibility. Take his own towel from the ampaian. Take off his pants. Still have some difficulties taking off top. He wants to comb his hair and reminds me to clean his ears and have his daily inhaler. He wants to lock the car doors. He wants to buckle his own seat belt. He wants to open and close his own biscuit container. Can play games from my handphone. Can take his toys from under the sofa. Wipe his own tears with a tissue. Throws rubbish into the bin. Brush his bottom and front teeth and spit. Knows how to take pictures from a camera. Can identify characters in a cartoon series. Can sing to tunes but does not like other people sing along. Can nap on his own

And the grand finale of his achievement….. THE FIVE W!!!

It has been about a month now and I think in about another month I will go crazy!

“Siape tu?” pointing at the crocodile being disected on National Geographic.
“Crocodile…”
“Huh? Ape tu kwo-kedai?”
“There, crocodile swimming…” the tele showing the live crocodile swimming in the river.
“Huh? Ape tu wimming?”
“Swimming dalam river…” sambil buat gaya swimming.
“Kwo-kedai bla bla bla ape tu?” the researcher was trying to put a tracking device on the crocodile.
Starting to ignore that question…the crocodile was showing off his teeth.
“Bla bla bla wonderpets bla bla bla”
I burst out laughing! Remember the crocodile in Wonderpets who had a toothache and had to find a lonely bird to clean his teeth? Yup, that’s what he was explaining…

But anyway that’s what he’s doing now. ‘Ape tu? Siape tu?’ to almost everything!

Emmet is scared of…
Thunder and fireworks. He would suddenly stop what he’s doing and run to the nearest person and panjat and hug that person tightly at the neck, complete with gaya terketar-ketar. And sometimes if the sound of the helicopter or aeroplane was so loud, he would get scared too but actually wanted to go and have a look. And I don’t know why but he is suddenly scared of cicak sometimes. He likes seeing bugs but got scared when my sister held a cockroach near him. Sometimes he’s scared of big flies.

Appettite
I am starting to worry because he is becoming more curious in what other people eats especially the ones that he is allergic to. He wants to taste our food when we eat something.

He does not like western food and it is quite difficult to get him to eat when we went to a western restaurant. Dah la tak banyak choice for kids menu that he is not allergic to. Sometimes I have to get the manager or chef to explain how the they prepare the dish and make requests to modify the dish so that Emmet can eat it safely. And most of the time, I had to tapau Emmet’s leftovers and hope my sister would eat them. But I’m not up to western food these days and am glad of it because we can save some money since western food is so expensive.

I only started trying roti canai on him. He loved it! And no significant allergic reaction occurs. So lepas ni senang la boleh lepak at mamak and let Emmet be occupied with his roti canai.

Housemom

I’ve always thought having a full time job at the ofice would give a mother more freedom to at least think about her own interest apart from raising a family. Being a full-time housewife just don’t have that privilege. I must be alert to Emmet’s demands and behaviour always.

For example just now as I was typing the above paragraph, Emmet suddenly called me “Mommy, come! Come!”. So kene lah angkat punggung pi tengok what was going on. Rupe-rupenye nak tengok kumbang kat balcony. Oh now the bug wanted to sleep and he was telling me this as he dragged a super huge pillow from the living room to the balcony for the tiny bug to sleep on.

So how am I going to indulge myself into my other interest kalau dah macam ni gayanya. (Emmet hovering me with his Transformers helicopter and fighter jet right in front of this laptop screen)

I am now planning to buy new furniture for our bedroom as I think I will be having my confinement here next year. So instead of moving out to a new place with just basic furniture and we might end up sleeping on the floor and rent will cost us at least RM1200 a month and thinking about boxing and unboxing again, so takpe la, I’ll pass.

So yesterday I took the measurement of our bedroom and start building a flat model out of a Koko Crunch box. I’ve looked up some affordable furniture out of the new IKEA catalog, took their measurement and cut out them models and started arranging them on the bedroom layout. Guess what Emmet was doing? I can only keep my eye on the scissors and cutter. The rest of the items in the stationary box were all over the place. Pens were disassembled in seconds and I didn’t even realized when did that happen. Emmet started scribbling on the leftover of the Koko Crunch box with all pens and pencils of all colours. Even on the tiny bed and cupboard that I made. Sempat jugak conteng tu. I lost count on how many “Mommy!” calls. I just remembered responding with “Wah, pandainye!” and “Wah, cantiknye!” to almost everything.

I do not wish to go into details on the cleaning up afterwards.

So you see, not even 30 seconds of thinking or even imagining, the cloud that was starting to form over your head just keeps on bursting into dust at every “Mommy!” calls which happens practically every 30 seconds. If he is not calling you every 30 seconds, then he would certaily be elsewhere making a mess which you yourself has to take care of later on. Either way there is no way for you to (had to stop to fix Bumblebee) how do I say this….close your eyes and enjoy the breath of fresh air you take in.

I was steaming sponge cake yesterday. During the making of, Emmet was still hovering me with his tandukkan boing boing on my butt and my tummy, hugging my legs, asking for juice, asking “Ape tu? Ape tu?” to everything, “Nak ni!” and “Emmet nak!” to pots and pans, bla bla bla. My gula hangus turned out slightly bitter, I forgot to tapis the gula merah, my cake turned out a bit salty than it should be. I need to have another plan to make home business works...

Suddenly I feel like I need to make my new bedroom happen. I imagine a white theme (most affordable with good quality out of the IKEA catalog) that will match the Laura Ashley fabrics and wallpapers that I bought of which I will turn into curtains and cushion covers and cot bumpers, a runner for the chest drawer, waaah….tingginye cita-cita. Another essential item would be an aromatherapy oil burning its lavander scent all over the bedroom. Maybe then I would be able to unbox the CD player and stereo set and retreat into the bedroom for some time of my own when Emmet is napping…

Oklah signing off to take care of other pending chores!

Pregnancy No. 2 – Progress Update

I am becoming lazier.

The nausea returned.

I need a nap every time after a meal.

I’m up for dishwashing again. But only 3 hours afterwards.

The baby is super active! It is moving hands and legs all over the place, hitting my bladder most of the time, hitting my ribcage, pushing up my diaphragm until sometimes my chest felt tight. The baby gets hickups more often than Emmet. All these are making me more tired, especially during driving. I need to adjust the seatbelt at every red lights.

Notice the no-gender reference, well it turned out, after 2 ultrasound scans (I only went through 2 antenatal visits so far at the clinic practically next door), my GP has yet to discover the gender of the baby. That made me really suspicious of the credibility of this doctor. I really need to register at a hospital as soon as possible and start planning my delivery.

I have outlined 3 checklists for this upcoming new year delivery. Two lists for my hospital bag, my stuff and baby stuff, and another one for the nursery. Quite a relief looking at the list since I already have most of Emmet’s items. I just need to buy confinement stuff, maternity pads and breast pads, nappies and a couple of PJs.

I need a new mattress. Even though I get the feeling it won’t help much but sleeping is so agonizing nowadays. I can feel the steel wire of the bottom of the foam mattress yang sudah berlekuk itu. It hurts my hips to the bone. I can’t lie flat for more than 60 seconds. I can’t sit back at the sofa, it’s really straining my back bone.

I don’t care if I walk like a penguin because I enjoy walking like one. As much as I enjoy walking up the stairs as slow as an old tortoise. In fact I think I enjoy doing everything in slow motion. Coz I just can’t do any faster. The only chore that I do fastest would be bathing and changing Emmet, because I just can’t stand for long, especially when changing Emmet after he poops. I am much better at holding my breath now.

I noticed I am becoming more rabun. Far objects are more blurry now. I can’t read signs until I’m really near. It’s worse during night time.

I really hope my kids read this when they can understand. Mommy went through a lot carrying you each second of the day. Mommy will go through a lot more once you are born. So I really hope you will become a good person and not wasted my hardship ok.

Love you both dearly!

17 weeks

Finally I've visited a clinic for my first antenatal check up. It was just a clinic nearby my apartment. I saw a bubbly lady doctor who took one glance at Emmet and asked if he is asthmatic and allergic.

And before I even realized, Emmet is already up on the exam bed beside me, carefully examining the ultrasound scan machine that was run on my tummy. So together we watched the baby on the tele above us. Emmet joined in the comments about the baby once in a while, fairly excited I supposed. The baby was squirming here and there but unfortunately the doctor couldn't make out the gender yet (maybe because it's a girl) .

I felt so relieved seeing there's an actual baby inside me. I sometimes have fears that I am imagining it or something else is growing inside me. The baby is well, two arms and two legs, a head and a body, very prominent backbone.