reading pregnancy sites help, i guess, to know that i’m not a freak after all.

“Don’t worry if nausea has made it impossible for you to eat a wide variety of healthy foods or if you haven’t put on much weight yet (most women gain between 2 and 5 pounds during the first trimester). Your appetite will likely return soon and you’ll start to gain about a pound a week.” – babycenter.com

and then there’s a whole thread of comments from women all over about how they’re all gassy and belching and bloated, so yay.

and speaking of bloated, some said they’re only in their 6th week but look like they’re in their 6th month. and i’m not surprised. i’m only in week 11 and i can’t button up pants, barely able to zip some of them all the way up. i was wearing my jeans and at the end of the day, my belly felt bruised from the pressure.

so off we went for some serious shopping.

and we found these groovy pants with an expandable front (kinda like a kangaroo’s pouch) and a waistband at the side with button holes so we can adjust according to how big the belly becomes. yep, all the way to 9 months. of course, we’d have to wear them steve urkel-style – pull em high up till the waistband rests underneath your boobs haha. but damn! they’re SO comfortable, i tell ya! and not to mention, costly. about 70 buckeroos a piece.

so yeah, i got meself a few, as well as some more loose-but-not-tentlike tops. i love empire cuts. got a few from topshop, which erm, ensures some semblance of hipness, no? :p

i still can’t eat very well, and after reading an article in one of those parenting magazines (gasp! no more Q or Spin mags for hana??) i’m quite afraid that i might get that diabetes thingy pregnant women are prone to, coz of all the potatoes, bread, ice cream and candies i’m consuming.

bleugh.

dear lil one, i’m so sorry if i’m unable to provide you with all the nutrients you need right now. i know i’m a bad, bad person. but i’m having a lot of trouble eating anything, and i know you’re always hungry, but there’s nothing i can do. it makes me feel utterly hopeless and useless to know that i can’t do a simple thing like eat. i just… can’t. if you come out all small and undernourished, i know i am to blame. i’m a bad, bad mother.

:(

***

by the way, second time i vomitted this morning. *after* i had my mug of anmum. sometimes, i feel like giving up.

i think the pre-natal blues are here.

:(

i finally had my first spewing moment. at two in the morning. oh my.

i was in the toilet and my stomach churned with extreme hunger and suddenly, i was facing the toilet bowl, regurgitating an amount of unknown liquid sources. talk about morning sickness.

but, just as i knew much earlier, i felt better after that. it relieved the wind somewhat. and i could sleep better. ohh, but be sure that i will take that anti-vomitting pill before my food now. just to be sure.

i wanted to talk about the state of my skin these days. i wouldn’t say it’s glowing. i’d say i oil slightly more than usual, which probably lends to the appearance of glowing. but the zits? gone. it’s so easy to put on makeup these days, not much concealor is required. if only my skin was like this during my wedding (it was a total nightmare then!), but that would mean i would have to get pre-maritally preggers haha.

anyway, two girls called me in the middle of the night wanting to ask me a burning question, and so they did. “kak hana, are you pregnant?” i was so surprised i had a good giggle for a whole minute or two. somehow, one of them had overheard me talking to my SIL about something “due in december” and earlier that day, when they’d asked me to go to KL and weddings in december, i had to say i couldn’t coz i had something on. well, these two girls are too smart, i tell ya. they figured it out on just that. well done, troopers! :D

the moral of the story is: if anyone asks if you wanna do something on the month of your delivery, er, just say you’ll see.

it was another loooong wait at the clinic, despite it being a weekday. what made it loooooonger was the doctor dashing out of the clinic because he suddenly had two deliveries at eastshore. he told us later one was normal, one was caesarian. he was gone for oh, two and a half hours. so we’d waited in total, four hours. and in between, we had a horrible meal at the nearby coffeeshop, which involved one mee soto with a drowned fly and a gado-gado with god-knows-when’s tahu goreng. blech.

so anyways, the moment we waited for came finally, with me holding desperately on to my bladder. we saw this!

well, we saw it unfrozen and in action on the screen, of course. the black broadbean we saw previously (the waterbag) has ballooned! and resting at the bottom was the precious little one, its heart beating (yes! beating! like a hummingbird, can you believe that??), its tiny hands sticking upwards waving at its audience, its round head on the left, its round buttocks on the right, and it was moving! i hope it doesn’t get motion sickness in that big waterbag haha. though i think it’s doing ok coz i haven’t been vomitting. so good for you, little one!

it truly is amazing in all sense of the word to see a heartbeat on that screen. in four weeks it’s grown to a grand size of 36mm and grown all kinds of mini body parts. masya allah.

and so the doc gave us another EDD, which is – get this – 9 dec. hah! looks like i might be spending my birthday in a sterile environment this year. lovely. of course, it could come out anytime between that and the week after. or before. nobody knows of course.

meanwhile, i have two more weeks before this trimester is over. hurrah!

found out that YET another friend is two months preggers, which means another december babe. baby boom, much? :)

ok, i’ll talk about my skin in the next entry. till then, excuse me while i lie down and clutch my windy stomach in agony.

i’m trying very hard not to whine, which is why i haven’t been blogging the past few days. but i really can’t help it… whineeee!

coz i’m feeling terribly miserable. it’s the (stomach) pits.

i’ve had to cancel on a few people the past few days because i have no energy to socialise and all i can do is lie in front of the tv and imitate a beached whale. however, it only serves to make me feel even worse. i did manage to drag myself out into the world (tampines mall to be exact) on sunday, and ironically, a bit of walking made the discomfort slightly better. but the horrible smells wafting about from food sources and people in basement one was an assault to my heightened senses.

oh my gawd, food. the smells, the smells! i just wanna bury my nose in the ground! (although the smell of soil would probably be just doubly bad.) i’m so sick of the smell and taste of food. nothing i eat tastes the way it should be. the mouth has this bitter taste, and the only thing that i can taste in its intended flavours are ice-cream and sweet drinks like syrup. (to which my mum concludes that it’s a girl. uh-huhhh… *rolls eyes*)

for now, i can only eat bland food, preferably of a soup variety. and still, NO RICE please. turns out i’m not the only pregnant woman in history to have a sudden aversion to the smell of rice, especially when it’s being cooked. my mum, my SIL, they too had the same experience. what a mystery.

rin has generously offered to cook for me today. beefball soup, i believe? that will take the load off izad for a day. :D

ouh, speaking of smells, i know this is gross, but lemme tell you about my pee. it stinks like hell! it smells very suspiciously much like the vitamin pills the doc has given me too. them god-awful pills. i count down the number of pills i have left to swallow, coz it means the number of days left before i see the doctor again. four more to go! yey! maybe i can put on a sad face and beg him not to give me anymore of them god-awful pills. like this –> :(

btw, it’s 11.18am and i have burped 29 times since i woke up. (i’m trying to count my average, see.)

i wish i can tell you good things about this experience so far. but other the extra bit of attention from the husband and mum, erm, there really isn’t much.

my maternal instincts haven’t exactly kicked in yet, huh? :S

Why do I seem to have so much gas now that I’m pregnant?

Everyone, pregnant or not, has some gas. The average person produces between 1 and 3 pints of gas each day and passes gas about 14 times a day. That said, you may experience even more gas than usual during pregnancy. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself belching like a champion beer drinker or having to unbutton your pants to relieve bloating weeks before you begin to show.

Why does this happen? The primary reason is that during early pregnancy, your body produces major doses of progesterone, a hormone that relaxes smooth muscle tissue throughout your body, including your gastrointestinal tract. This relaxation slows down your digestive processes, which can cause increased gas, bloating, burping, and flatulence and create generally miserable sensations in your gut, especially after a big meal. In later pregnancy, your growing uterus crowds your abdominal cavity, which can further slow digestion, and pushes on your stomach, making you feel even more bloated after eating. During pregnancy, you may also start to experience heartburn or constipation, even if you’ve never been bothered by either one before.

Where does gas come from?

Gas gets caught in the digestive tract in two ways: when you swallow air, and when bacteria in your colon (large intestine) break down undigested food. Most stomach gas results from swallowing air and typically is released by burping, though a small amount can continue down to the large intestine and be released as flatulence.

Most of the gas that causes flatulence is produced when bacteria in the large intestine break down food that was incompletely digested by enzymes in the stomach and small intestine. Certain carbohydrates are the main culprits. Protein and fat aren’t major gas producers, although fats, because they slow down digestion, can contribute to a sense of bloating.

How does pregnancy cause an increase in gas? Pregnancy slows digestion, which gives the bacteria more time to work on the undigested material before it’s excreted. This leads to increased fermentation and, as a result, more gas. Actually, anything that slows down bowel function can mean additional gas, so constipation can also make you feel more gassy and bloated.

Some people get a lot of gas from foods that don’t bother others at all. For example, people who are lactose intolerant don’t make enough lactase ? the enzyme that breaks down lactose (the sugar in dairy products) ? so they can get bloated and gassy if they have too much milk or ice cream. Individual variation in the balance of bacteria in the colon, according to some experts, may also affect how much gas is made.

Can I get some relief by changing my diet?

The most effective way to reduce gas may be to cut back on the foods that seem to cause it. But if you eliminated everything that causes gas, it would be hard to eat a balanced diet. Start by cutting out the most common culprits, and if that gives you relief, begin adding those foods back into your diet one by one to try to pinpoint what’s causing the problem for you. Keeping a food diary can help you see the relationship between eating certain foods and having more gas.

The foods most likely to cause gas are beans, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and asparagus. All contain the sugar raffinose, which causes gas for a lot of people. Other people have trouble with onions, pears, artichokes, and sodas and fruit drinks sweetened with the sugar fructose. Sodas and fruit drinks should be avoided anyway, as they are empty calories and the carbonation in sodas can increase bloating.

Certain starches ? such as pasta and potatoes, but not rice ? can cause gas for some people. And certain fiber-rich foods ? such as oat bran, beans, and many fruits ? cause gas because they’re normally broken down in the large intestine. One exception is wheat bran, which passes through your system without getting broken down. This makes wheat bran a winner if you have constipation and need more fiber but also suffer from flatulence.

People who are lactose intolerant will find that dairy products give them gas. If you’re highly lactose intolerant, you probably knew this before you got pregnant, especially since dairy may give you diarrhea and abdominal pain. But if you’re only somewhat intolerant and thus unaware of the effect dairy has on you, a dramatic increase in your intake of dairy products during pregnancy may cause you some distress. To avoid this becoming a problem for you, look for lactose-free or calcium-fortified soy milk in your supermarket. If you aren’t drinking any kind of milk, you’ll probably need to take a calcium supplement.

Finally, try to steer clear of very fatty or fried foods. They don’t cause gas, but by slowing down digestion, they can make you feel more bloated.

What else can I do to get relief?

These suggestions may also lessen the frequency and severity of your symptoms:

- Don’t eat big meals. Instead, eat several small meals throughout the day.

- Don’t talk while you’re eating. Take your time and chew thoroughly.

- Limit your fluid intake during meals ? you can make up for it in between meals.

- Drink from a glass, not a bottle or a straw, and don’t gulp your beverages.

- Avoid carbonated drinks.

- Sit up while you’re eating or drinking, even if you’re just having a small snack.

- Wear loose, comfortable clothing, and avoid any tightness around your waist and tummy.

- Don’t chew gum or suck on hard candies.

- Avoid anything sweetened with Sorbitol, an artificial sweetener.

- Exercise – even a brisk walk can help your sluggish digestive tract.

- Avoid constipation, as it can increase flatulence and a sense of abdominal bloating.

- Don’t smoke – this is a habit you should break before getting pregnant.

- Consider practicing yoga or a similar discipline for relaxation and to learn good breathing techniques. Some people who are prone to hyperventilating tend to swallow more air when they’re excited or anxious.

- If the above relief measures don’t help, ask your practitioner if you can take an over-the-counter antigas remedy that contains simethicone. (Activated charcoal tablets, another antigas remedy, aren’t safe during pregnancy.)

Can gas pain ever be a sign that something is wrong?

Call your practitioner if your gas discomfort ever feels more like abdominal pain or cramping or is accompanied by blood in your stool, severe diarrhea, constipation, or an increase in, or a new bout of, nausea and vomiting.

source: www.babycenter.com

***

am having slight abdominal cramps while typing this. my walking encyclopaedia ie. rin said it’s just my uterus cavity stretching as well as the ligaments stretching to support my growing uterus.

gee. :)

btw, i have to unhook my baju kurung kain now. too tight! must be that growing uterus at work. :O

it’s getting worse, i tell ya.

it was burpsville the entire trip to malacca and back. azfar would go, “eh eh, katak dah bunyi.” and mum would go, “sampai hati kau panggil cucu aku katak.” and they’d all chuckle at the noisy frog.

misery.

but i enjoyed myself during the trip despite having to clutch my stomach and munch on something – anything – every two hours. that’s about how long it takes before the stomach churns again. and this is probably how it feels to be a baby who needs to be fed every two hours. the hunger just overwhelms you like a wave of fury. but it’s probably just me. i don’t know of any other pregnant person who has this symptom. i think it’s just as bad as morning sickness if not worse. coz this is ALL DAY LONG.

my new parfum is mr axe oil. my eau de toilette. lashings of it on my tummy twice every night to relief the wind while i lie flat like a dead fish. i even threw caution to the wind (literally) and popped that not-very-reassuring pill, to little effect.

i’m beginning to dislike the taste of food in my mouth. i never finish anything except junk (eg. cheezels, potato chips). the smell of white rice makes me gag. the thought of fish makes me quiver. i swallow whatever i can, and izad laps up the rest. he says no wonder husbands grow as fat as their pregnant wives; they have to finish up all the food. not that he’s complaining haha. in fact, his appetite seems to be improving. mum is forever in awe at his eating ability.

i think i had my first wave of nausea this morning. nothing hurled out though. just that acidic pukey taste at the back of the throat threatening to bubble up.

oh, and my bladder. every morning it’ll be so full it hurts. never happened before otherwise. probably due to all the mango juice, yakult, soya milk, HL milk and milo i keep drinking the whole evening like it’s happy hour.

and all this topped with an expanding hip, extra flesh jutting out sideways, in proportion to the flesh on the tummy expanding frontwards.

dear allah, please get me through this trimester quickly.

better still, get me past the whole nine months – pronto!

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.