it’s undeniable – my skirts are getting to be a tad tight. still zippable… for now. enough carbs please!

we went to ntuc and bought a whole bunch of fruits last evening – pears, buah lai, apples, oranges, and even packets of fruit-infused ribena, and raisin bread. i still can’t shake off the wind that’s taken up a permanent place in my stomache (i play it like a bongo every night), i’m refusing to eat the pills for the wind after reading the not-very-reassuring piece of paper about the medicine that says no known effects on foetuses YET. i’d rather not take any chances, thank you very much. i mean, this discomfort is NOTHING compared to what i’ll be feeling during labour anyway, right? physical endurance has to be a good thing.

and back to the physical, the tummy is definitely a road hump now, even when i suck in my breath. i’m pretty sure it’s all fats that have built up over the past few weeks i’ve been stuffing myself to get rid of the hunger pangs, coz baby is hardly the size of a thumb, remember?

i now understand why pregnant women EAT so much and gain all that weight that’s not the baby itself. it’s to fill in this ridiculous hunger that’s ALWAYS there. it’s like we haven’t eaten for years, when it’s only been an hour. terrible.

i’ll have to start rummaging for bigger skirts and pants in my wardrobe, or resort to SHOPPING. urm.

i think people will start noticing soon. *bites nails*

is it true that babies, or little children, with their clear and innocent third eye, can sense a woman who is pregnant?

i think there could be something to it. adam’s face lights up with a toothless smile whenever he sees me, and it’s like he wants to say something but gurgles instead. when my mum or his dad tells him to kiss aunty nana, this five-going-on-six-month-old angel pulls himself towards me to offer his face, then pulls away shyly. when we try the trick on mum, he doesn’t budge. (could be he’s already seen my mum the whole day and wants a cute girl’s face to scrutinize, ie. mine!) my mum reckons adam’s cousin will be a girl, and they’ll get along well. heh. keep praying it’s a girl, mum. with our genetic history, the chances are pret-ty slim.

i say, it’s all written in The Book of Fate, so too late to eat certain foods or do certain things that old wives tell you to in order to determine the unborn child’s gender.

we’re not supposed to believe in predictions of course, but i came across this list a few times on the internet, on how to predict if it’s a boy or a girl. well… if any of these are remotely true, then – it’s a boy! lol.

it’s a boy if…

• You didn’t experience morning sickness in early pregnancy
• Your baby’s heart rate is less than 140 beats per minute
• You are carrying the extra weight out front
• Your belly looks like a basketball
• Your areola have darkened considerably
• You are carrying low
• You are craving salty or sour foods
• You are craving protein — meats and cheese
• Your feet are colder than they were before pregnancy
• The hair on your legs has grown faster during pregnancy
• Your hands are very dry
• Your pillow faces north when you sleep
• Dad-to-be is gaining weight, right along with you
• Pregnancy has you looking better than ever
• Your urine is a bright yellow in color
• Your nose is spreading
• You hang your wedding ring over your belly, it moves in circles
• You are having headaches
• You add your age at the time of conception and the number for the month you conceived the number is even

it’s a girl if…

• You had morning sickness early in pregnancy
• Your baby’s heart rate is at least 140 beats per minute
• You are carrying the weight in your hips and rear
• Your left breast is larger than your right breast
• Your hair gets red highlights
• You are carrying high
• Your belly looks like a watermelon
• You are craving sweets
• You are craving fruit
• You crave orange juice
• You don’t look quite as good as normal during pregnancy
• You are moodier than usual during pregnancy
• Your face breaks out more than usual
• You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread
• Your breasts have really blossomed!
• Your pillow faces south when you sleep
• Your urine is a dull yellow in color
• If you hang your wedding ring over your belly, it moves from side to side
• If you add your age at the time of conception and the number for the month you conceived the number is odd

a colleague just told me that women who look awful during pregnancy tend to get girls. and she said i look good.

i sure don’t feel it.

so we headed down to the famous dr a/z/i/z clinic on a saturday morning, unprepared for the incredibly long wait we had to endure. and what a LOOOONG wait it was indeed! three hours, in fact. the clinic teemed with makciks in the waiting room AND the reception desk. it was geylang central. we certainly looked like young punks in the midst of it all.

instead of languishing in the waiting room with all the makciks, their husbands and their many children, we escaped to a nearby coffeeshop and languished there instead in the sticky heat and oily smell. we were to wait for the receptionist to call when it’s nearing our turn, but the call never came even after two hours. my pants were damp with sweat and my bladder was bursting to pee, but i’d been told not to pee, so that the scan would be clearer.

never mind the makciks and the noisy children, we went back to the comfort of air-conditioning in the clinic. i probably read through the entire collection of Young Parents magazines available and finished a bag of chips coz the dastardly hunger pang made another attack.

our turn finally came, and in less than ten minutes, we came out armed with this:

the peanut has grown to a broad bean. or kidney bean, whichever way you see it.

the doc’s initial calculation, according to my LMP (last menstrual period) and using this round calendar thingy, i was supposed to be three months preggers. but of course, i wasn’t! because my period was all wonky.

he muttered a bismillah before scanning, and explained to us what we were looking at on the screen. underneath a big black bag that was my bladder full of urine, a shadow slowly appeared. he pointed out my cervix, my womb, and ta-da! found the peanut-that-is-now-a-bean. with his nifty computer, he measured the bean, looked at the chart on the wall of various-sized beans, and concluded that it was 24mm big (the width of his thumb, he says), 6 weeks 2 days old, and its estimated date of delivery is 14 dec 05. insya allah! he gave me more folic acid (ack!), pills for the incessant wind in my tummy, vitamins, a hearty congratulation, and we’ll see him again in four weeks time.

overall, we were satisfied with the doc, despite the long waiting time. he made us feel very relaxed and was very informative. a doc who jokes!

no wonder he’s such a hit with the makciks, i tell ya.

i’d mysteriously received a box of chocolates on my table at work one morning, and asked my neighbour behind if she too received the strange gift. she said no, and neither did any of my other neighbours, but she did notice our boss passing by my workstation and plonking something on it. i suspect that word had gotten around, but didn’t think much about it before proceeding to tear off the plastic film esconcing the belgian chocs i very much needed at that moment.

a few days later, she walked past my workstation again, this time with me present behind it, and asked if i’d gotten the chocs. i feigned surprise, “oh! it was from you?”. she went on to say how it was to make me “feel good inside” or whatever euphemisms the people of that generation use in reference to being preggers.

i had another sweet suprise another morning, this time accompanied with a card. lollies from my ex-colleague, the new mother.

more candies than i’ve ever gotten in all the valentines days in my life combined. :)

i’ve been so full of wind that i could probably belch an entire beethoven symphony (if i only knew how it goes).

there’s this bloated stomach and indigestion that just won’t go away no matter what i eat, and i need to sit or lie down a lot. it’s not very fun.

and this feeling is just all too familiar – i get it when i eat bananas.

so i thought and thought and deduced: the cause MUST be the folic acid i’ve been ordered to take on a daily basis.

now, we know that folic acid is supposed to be good for the baby’s growth and all, but this shows that folic acid *is* found in bananas after all, and the symptoms of too much folic acid fits the bill perfectly:

- abdominal distension
- flatulence (gas/wind)
- irritability
- loss of appetite

i can’t stop taking the folic acid, but i can’t stand the discomfort either.

damned if i do, damned if i don’t.

Comments
ahh yes.. meant to tell u to pop those folic acid but ALWAYS lupa! Someone I know has been telling me to pop those but as ALWAYS.. keep missing them when I pop by those pharmacies.

Posted by: MILF wannabe at April 24, 2005 04:02 PM

so what do you do when your cook – i mean, your husband isn’t around to prepare dinner in your state of weakness?

in my case, the criteria would be: 1) anything that didn’t require turning on the stove, 2) takes less than 2 minutes to prepare, 3) healthful.

and since maggi mee did not meet criteria 3, i settled for quaker oats.

i will make a bad, bad mother.

***

then again, my appetite’s shot to hell. nothing looks remotely appetising. i’m practically swallowing my rice with asam pedas right now. and i ordered chicken, but then i realised i don’t want chicken. fish, that’s what i want.

i think.

oh! i forgot – hunger pangs.

i get them. but i have grown adept at ignoring hunger pangs in the past, so ignoring these are not so much a problem. except that nagging subconscious voice inside (probably the peanut’s spirit) that says i have to feed the peanut, or it will end up a very small peanut.

i try my best to eat square meals, but i am by nature not a food hunter / gatherer. (which was why i needed a mother who cooks, and later on, a husband who cooks.)

i’ve been feeling short of breath, mostly while eating dinner (black pepper steak!). i’m not sure if it’s normal this early on – there’s hardly a solid bump showing on the tummy, well, other than the usual flabby fatty one that’s always been there.

i have to force myself to draw deep breaths, and despite efforts, am unable to finish off the food. i mean, there were still a handful of fries left! that never happens!

the same happened yesterday while i was out with the (still clueless) girls. we’d walked a short stretch of orchard road, and i was almost out of breath when we reached the holy grail of haagen dazs. and i couldn’t finish off my lovely seafood pasta dinner later, because i was short of breath and too-easily full. i believe the exact malay word to describe it would be mengah.

of course, a little while later, i was hungry again. damn.

no, i did not watch the debut of tv show ‘first mums’. i just need to look around me to find real first mums.

zur is about five months along, and she’s having a girl! lucky her. i not-so-secretly covet a girl myself, to dress up in pretty little dresses and tiny little hairpins with. till she’s sixteen.

i’d asked about zur’s consultation fees because i had a feeling i was being had by dr s/i/d/e/k, who’d charged me $145 for that first consultation. i was taken a little aback when it was time to pay – the second surprise of the day. i’d made a second appointment in two weeks time, but later decided to be a sneaky patient and called to make another appointment with the doctor we originally wanted to see, dr a/z/i/z. i’d heard about the long waiting time at his clinic, and there’s that first consultation fees i’d have to fork out, but i really would like to check out the market. and yes, i think i’m perfectly comfortable spreading my legs to a complete male stranger haha. i mean, a male professional.

anyway, zur blew me away with her first time fees ($189!), which were exorbitant compared to mine. so i didn’t feel so bad. but, she’ll be delivering at raffles hospital, which is where we too would very much like to go to – me for the ambience and comfort, izad for the food downstairs. (such are our priorities in life as well.)

other than zur, her’s also preggers. ten weeks! she’s had horrible morning sickness, the poor dear.

then there’s h jr, who also just found out, much to her and riz’s excitement. if the doctors’ calculations are anywhere near accurate, she is a week behind me. and to think we’re december babies ourselves. :)

oh, and let’s not forget britney. she *is* a first mum too. how real can that get?

a colleague up and asked me if i am expecting good news. upon asking why she had made such a conjecture, she said that i was looking a little “haggard” (gasp! or maybe i heard wrong) and “drawn out” than usual. well, i could not possibly refute her keen sense of observation, for i did in fact feel that i looked like crap of late. pale-faced and sleepy-eyed. on hindsight, it was no wonder that i slept through 12 straight hours on a saturday two weekends ago and still felt like i could sleep some more. something’s already gone awry, biological-wise.

other than that, there is a disturbing absence of morning sickness and faint spells. i feel like i’ve been cheated. all those tv shows and movies where actresses uniformly flutter their hand over their mouths before spewing down a toilet bowl as a universal sign of pregnancy, now what’s that about? if anything, it made me doubt even MORE of my own situation.

so i went and made izad get me a non-Mustafa Centre issue, pharmacy store-bought ‘clearblue’ HPT. and promptly peed on it.

i’d waited and waited and waited for the complete plus sign to appear, the bimbo that i am, coz the picture on the box clearly printed the plus sign as indication that one is pregnant. but the vertical line had already appeared dark blue, and i need not have waited for the horizontal line (which remains mysteriously faint), because that would mean it’s negative (you know, minus = negative? duh).

so there.

other than that, my boobs have been hurting like hell lately. it feels like they’ve run a marathon and didn’t do those stretching exercises you’re supposed to do before running marathons. however, i insist they haven’t been growing any bigger. they’re just… reconfigurating, i suppose.

i lifted my shirt to izad for expert opinion, in any case. he exclaimed in shock, saying the nippies have grown to extraordinary proportions. then i prohibited him from touching them (haha). coz they hurt like hell, of course.

i took a hard look just to make sure. i think they used to be crinkly raisins. they’re somewhat… less dehydrated raisins now.