A Dedicated Post to My Husband

There are so many things I wanted to say but I thought perhaps the best time to say it is before the birth of our baby boy Tyler, especially when it will no longer just be the two of us. 
I am probably at Mt. Alvernia right now (when i published this post) trying very hard in labour to meet an extremely important person in my life. A brand new chapter will begin and I can't wait to embark on this journey and see how and where it leads me to.

But before I do that, there's something I wanna say to my hubs whom had gone through pretty stressful times with me and still remain as my main pillar of support throughout this entire pregnancy and marriage.

To my husband,

This journey hasn't been necessarily easy and in fact truly challenging. Though you might have always mentioned that you would love a challenge but I know in this very context, these challenges which we had encounter in the past 9 months had pushed our limits way too high. We broke down, quarrelled and tried patching things up. Though pregnancy emotional roller coaster may have contributed a portion of it but for a matter of fact, being with someone isn't that straightforward. We had to deal with differentiation in living habits, egos, the principles, priorities, etc etc and the f*-ing list goes on and on.

In a really short period of time, our relationship evolved to 'it's really not just you and I' but 'us and we and him(baby Tyler)'. We had issues accommodating and accepting and letting go. But I am thankful that every fight that we had, we learn to forgive and forget.

So may I say, I think thus far we had done a great job making this marriage works and I am truly fortunate to have you as my best friend, lifetime partner and most importantly the father of our child. We make a great team :p

Coming ahead of us is another brand new chapter and I am pretty sure life's not going to get any easier and most likely is going to be tougher than one can imagine but I have trust and faith that we'll pull this through as well.

我们一起加油吧! Fighting!

I am thankful it's you who is doing this with me and I love you. 

Thank you for loving me back and let's build a better home together.

From your Preggy Wife

Confinement Rules Dos and Don'ts & Compromises

Confinement is one thing I definitely do not look forward to and the word 'Confinement' says it all.

Either because I'm not one who enjoys following rules (probably a generation thing) or there's simply too many old wives' tales that didn't make sense to me. But not all choices are for me to make especially when you have the older ones around to be nagging at you in complying to those rules.

1. No showering or washing hair

This rule was set to prevent 'wind' from entering the body and I know of some mothers who go around with this by using dry shampoos. BUT delivery in June is no joke. Have you seen the weather lately? How is it possible for anyone to do confinement in the hottest part of the year without showering or washing hair?!

Following/Breaking rules

For the love of all hygiene purposes, I bought my herbs from Lao Ban Niang - Confinement Herbal Bath. Apparently it is always out of stock but the staffs offer great follow-ups on when the stocks will arrive.It's also cool to have a MIL that supports bathing during confinement and she had also bought other brands of herbal bath for me to try. Now, I have almost 40 days or even longer worth of herbal baths to use during the confinement period.

My Compromises

Shower only in warm water and to dry myself thoroughly before moving around the house. Husband also insisted on closing the windows before I head to shower just to prevent 'wind' from entering the body.

2. No aircon and fan

I consider this as another joke part 2 on top of no showering and washing hair.

I strongly believe in making one feel comfortable during confinement especially if I'll be breastfeeding and all and to be emotionally saint after birth.

Following/Breaking rules

After reading the reviews and research I'd done so far, I will go with using the aircon in this case as fan seems more of a major culprit for 'wind' to enter the body. But I seriously cannot imagine the electricity bills. Oh my god.

My Compromises

Not having them blowing directly at me and keeping temperature cool instead of cold.

3. Cannot drink plain water

As it may cause water retention. But I always thought that water retention is caused by insufficient water intake. 

Following/Breaking rules

So I'm not exactly stubborn as it seems. There must be some form of give and take when I have certain rules that I refuse to follow. So for this, I'm giving in. Although not a fan of flavoured drinks but how bad can it go to drink logan and red date tea for 30 days. Actually it is bad but I will give it a try. I have a strong feeling I might cheat a little on this. 

Hmmm, perhaps warm water?

4. No visitors in the house

Simply because if such rules were to be lifted, probably the entire family tree will be paying a visit.

Following/Breaking rules

I believe most days I wouldn't want to worry about changing out of my PJs, entertaining people whom i'm not closed with, managing sleep timings or feeding time so yes will only limit to close family and friends for this. Will meet up with the rest on his one month birthday (man yue). Guess who's the organiser for this? Hahaha, of course it's my dearest sister. She's too good of an event planner to leave her out of it. :)

5. Chinese Confinement Diet

The nutritional values in the confinement diet is to help regain strength and health after 9 months of pregnancy plus a long and tiring labour. They are usually heavy in ginger, sesame oil, other applicable chinese herbs and alcohol which are deemed 'heaty' so that it can help to purge out 'wind' from the body.

Following/Breaking rules

Okay confession, I'm a picky eater. 

I don't enjoy drinking chinese soup (more of a mushroom soup kind of person) and not a big fan of pork or its parts which is basically what I have to eat during confinement. So thank god for the caring husband to get a confinement lady whom is able to cater to my picky needs. I believe I'll be having lots and lots of fish during the 30 days of confinement. Actually I'm still wondering, other than cod fish/salmon fish, is there any other type of food I can eat? Or it depends how creative the confinement lady can be?

6. Not leaving the house

The word 'confinement' explains it. Probably that's the whole point to this name. Setting this rule is to make sure that mothers had been provided sufficient rest after birth which I simply cannot imagine myself doing this. 

Following/Breaking rules

Actually I really don't know about this. I will try to follow it but if I really 'buay tahan' I know i will find all sorts of reasons to break it. I secretly hope my husband doesn't chance upon this, if not he would probably start nagging at me.

Not sure if I am ready but dreading it to start and can't wait for it to be over.

8 Things I Will Miss About Pregnancy

Currently pregnant in my third trimester - 38 weeks and I'm having mixed feelings. 

First of all, Dr. Loke had announced that Baby Tyler's head had engaged which translate in simple terms, it means 'anytime'. Seriously, this word is scary! Hundreds and thousands of questions swept through my mind. 

Are we ready for this? Ready to be parents?

Have we bought all the stuffs we had to buy?

What happens if it's tomorrow? - which in this case is highly possible

How do I know when I am going into labour?

How does it feel to have contractions? 

And would I be able to tell if it's just braxton hicks or I am indeed contracting?

And the list goes on... ...

I find it harder to keep myself calm as some of the labour symptoms gets stronger each day, such as nausea, diarrhea, cramps and feeling lesser of his movements in my belly. As this journey is about to come to an end while I proceed to a next presumably more difficult (challenging) phase, I would like to take a moment to recognize the things I would miss about this whole pregnancy.

1. His Movements
Getting the punched and kicks. A truly amazing experience anyone could have.
I will miss his frequent movements that cause waves to my belly after I had my meals and his tornado kicks during the night that contributed largely to my dark circles. Oh, and the hiccups!

2.His Heartbeat
My joy and excitement in every single visits to Dr Loke's clinic just to see through his growth condition and most importantly hearing his healthy heartbeats through the scans,

3. The Attention
Being taken care of by the people around you. 
Fortunate and unfortunate, husband had to give the most. Entertaining to my food cravings (luckily for him I didn't have much of this), massaging for me when i'm having my aches which happens throughout the entire pregnancy and dealing with my ever-changing hormones.

4. The Convenience of Having Him in the Belly
I always tell my husband that secretly I hope he stays longer inside. It's easier to feed him and bring him around. I do not have to worry about changing diapers or deciphering the deafening cries (hopefully he is not going to treat me like that).

5. The Anticipation
With my family and friends. 
From knowing his gender to deciding on his name, and finding out how he had grown in the process. Everyone is excited for the same reason together.

6. Pregnancy Excuses
'I think it's because of the pregnancy!'
I find this the best and most useful reason I give to people when I forgot stuff or feeling lazy.
Nothing works better than this :p

7. The 'Oh! Really?!' Moments
Almost everyday it is something new for me. Despite our new age and time where everything can be easily googled, I still find it surprising at some interesting findings I'd gathered during this pregnancy. One of which was knowing that he could actually have hiccups but he can't fart in my belly.

8. The Miracles of a Life
I will never forget.



To my dear Baby Tyler, we will be waiting nervously for your arrival.

Baby Tyler at Week 20