Living for two

NOTE: This post is not complete. Apologies for the lack of pictures as this is still work in progress but I guess some thingsin life just don't wait.

Ok guys, here's the secret.

I didn't just get pregnant like a week ago although sometimes it does feel like it.

We actually took the test on 23rd June 2015 and passed with flying colours.

Well, what can I say. We always pass our tests with flying colours. Lol.

Once we found out that we were going to have a baby, we celebrated by camping at Olympic National Park.

Twice.

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And we spent almost a week crashing in tents and sleeping bags in Alaska.

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We went white water rafting.

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Walked on glaciers.

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Kayaked wth icebergs.

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And even decided to take a dip in the icy cold water.

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Now I know how ants feel like when they drown in my cup of coke with ice. Don't bluff lah, I'm sure I'm not the only sadistic one who watches insects struggle in my coke.

We also spend time in Denali National Park, hiking, not bathing, and chasing after Reindeers.

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Before you start going "Tsk tsk, this Belle ah, preganant already still anyhow", I did seek my doctor's opinion about the acitivities I was going to participate in and she gave the go ahead. And these trips were planned way before I conceived so it would have been such a waste to cancel.

Besides, now I can tell baby that we did all these fun things before so that the baby don't need to do anymore next time. Save $$$.

In any case, summer went by quickly and so did autumn. We did say that winter was coming and it is still here (unlike in the Game of Thrones where winter still isn't here yet despite season 6 starting soon).

And that #isababywoo is coming too - definitely within the next 6 weeks.

Oh. My. Gosh.

That is so soon and I feel so unprepared! But as much as I'd like to postpone welcoming her into the world so I can do my last minute mugging of how to be a good Mum, that tummy is really getting a little out of control.

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I know it may seem small to some of you but seriously, try walking around with an extra 10kg all day concentrated on your belly, coupled with untimely jabs to your ribs from within. And not to mention the squished lungs that make you gasps for air even though you are just chilling on the couch, plus a jammed up stomach that became too small to fit much food in which cause all the acid to keep rising up your esophagus.

I THINK IT IS TIME TO SHARE THE BURDEN, MARK.

Ok, before you start thinking that I had such a horrible pregnancy, I feel a need to clarify that I actually have had it better than most. And to be fair, Mark was of such awesome help, I couldn't have asked for more.

As much as I would like to complain about the nausea and fatigue I felt, and my severe distain for garlic and Lao Gan Ma (aka LGM, which Mark spams in every dish he cooks) I experienced during the first trimester, I am thankful that I never had to spend additional time in the restroom making friends with the toilet bowl.

LGM pic

I did lose weight at the end of my first trimester though because my appetitie wasn't good. My diet for the initial 3 months revolved around Khong Guan Biscuits (aka my pregnant biscuits) and sushi (my doctor says ok). There wasn't anything else that I'd like to eat because everything was too flavourful for me.

I pretty much looked like I'm not pregnant at 3 months.

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Then came my second trimester which was plagued by leg cramps which haunted me almost every night. But this was also when I felt the most energised. I went for yoga almost everyday for a month, gorged myself like a pig back in SG (hello Nasi Lemak and Wanton Mee) and fed my ever expanding stomach even though I had to pay the painful price of experiencing acid reflux after all my meals.

This was also the trimester that I felt isababywoo kick! I don't know the exact date she first kicked though, cause it initally felt like gas in my tummy and who knows, it could have just been that T.T

And just when I thought that the belly just couldn't get any bigger, third trimester arrived.

I am now the baby's punching bag. Coupled with very frequent toilet breaks, random hunger pangs, painful backaches and untimely nudges from isababywoo, sleep is elusive these days. I guess that is Mother Nature preparing me for the fourth trimester.

So yeah, I wouldn't say that this pregnancy is a breeze (note: pregnancy, NOT labour) but it has been breez-y enough for me to still want four kids at this moment.

Despite it being rather smooth sailing, we have had quite a few scares though.

Well, I was scared but I can't say so for Mark. He's always so chill haha.

Scare #1

It was a Sunday during my first trimester when I started experiencing lower backaches and abdominal cramps so my doctor decided to admit me into the ER. The first trimester is when most miscarriages happen so I was really freaking out. After taking my blood and an ultrasound, they decided that I was fine enough to go home.

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Well, all that scare for nothing - but I guess it's better nothing than something. My OBGYN did call me in for a checkup the next day though because the ultrasound done at the ER revealed that I had a slightly shorter than normal cervix, which could be worrying.

Scare #2

I was still recovering from the weekend's big hoo-ha when, on the following Saturday, I started throwing up from morn till set of sun (like 7 times or something), cannot stand and cannot eat, cannot rest a little bit.

Haha ok, that is the "Planting rice is never fun" song (with some altered lyrics) but it truly described my day. All that came out towards the end was water and I was unable to take in any food or water for the whole day. They would have all came up again in a couple of minutes I downed them - which meant that my poor baby was starving. Mark took me to urgent care and the doctor put me on drip for dehydration.

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Once my hydration level imporved, my body stopped rejecting the intake of substances. I had to keep my intake of food simple, drinking only broth and eating plain toasted bread for the next two days. I don't think they ever diagnosed my problem but I'm pretty sure it was some sort of food poisoning or stomach upset.

Scare #3

Every pregnant woman has to take the one-hour glucose screening test between 24-28weeks to test for gestational diabetes. As its name suggests, it is a screening test, not a diagnostic one, which means that further testing is required to determine if you have the condition if you fail the screening test.

For the screening test, you basically drink this ultra-sweet-super-gross liquid and get your blood taken after an hour.

Glucose drink pic

If your blood glucose level is within acceptable range, you pass the test and you are cleared. Otherwise, you will be made to sit through another three hours of testing and starvation, also known as the glucose tolerance test.

AND I FAILED.

My OB told me that my blood results came back with very slightly too much glucose and not enough iron (which can be solved by taking iron tablets).

I am not accustomed to failing tests and I didn't except to bomb this one so obviously I did my own research to figure out what could have gone wrong.

After Binging it, it seems like doctors give their patients different instructions to prep for the glucose screening test. Some were told to eat normally while others adviced their patients to fast for two hours before drinking the glucose drink.

Well, I ate a VERY HEARTY breakfast of eggs and avocado on toast with yogurt and granola 10 min before I drank that so-sweet-it-probably-casuse-diabetes drink.

Ah, I guess that's how I failed.

To ensure that I wasn't going to make the same mistake the second time around, I checked with the nurse/lab tech who was going to administer the second three-hour test and this was how she said it would go:

1. Fast for 8 hours.

2. Draw blood (T=0)

3. Receive and drink that duper sweet drink (and get sore throat plus an achy tooth in my case) (T=0)

4. Draw blood (T=1h)

5. Draw blood (T=2h)

6. Draw blood (T=3h)

Besides feeling really bad that my baby was not getting enough oxygen (iron deficiency) and worried that I compromised her health with all the extra sugar for the past 6 months, the next thing that was on my mind was the amount of needlework involved =(

My veins + needles = No affinity

But yes, I gotta do what I gotta do.

So I fasted for 8 hous (which was torturous since a pregnant woman is a hungry woman) and went for the test to get it done ONCE and for all...

Can you imagine my horror when I received the glucose bottle at the lab at T=0 and saw "Fast for 12hours" on the instruction label??!?!

I was almost ready to kill someone. I was not ready to fail another test because of lame and lousy instructions. I questioned the nurse/lab tech again and she said that she usually tells people to fast for 8h and she thinks that is ok. LIKE HELLO, WHAT YOU THINK ITS OK. Got instructions on label you don't follow then have instructions for what?!?!?

It wasn't like I had a choice so I took the test anyway.

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My wounds from the battle.

After accumulating six perforations in the largest organ of my body - which, by the way, were each accompanied by extrememly uncomfortable needle-prodding under my skin for at least half a minute (or at least it felt like) - I was finally cleared of gestational diabetes.

Phew.

After this whole saga, I decided to read more about the testing for gestational diabetes and concluded that these whole series of tests are at best questionable. Makes me wonder what percentage of medical tests are just not justifiable (cost, accuracy, pain etc) having but we still do them anyway because we have done them since forever.

Scare #4

At 35 weeks, my OB did a ultrasound to check on the baby's growth. My tummy wasn't big by any means (someone at church commented that she didn't realised I was pregnant and thought that I was only 5 months along) so I wasn't expecting hulk measurements. I have been putting on a healthy amount of weight though so I thought we would do fine.

To estimate a baby's size, three measurements are taken: the head circumference, the wasit and the length of the thigh bone. These numbers are then charted against the expected growth of babies.

Isababywoo's head measurements was at 37 weeks old, waist was 34 weeks and thigh bone was 32weeks. Overall, she came in at 9th percentile of all babies weight, falling under the 10th percenilte cut of for healthy-weighted babes. She would be diagnosed with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) if the readings were accurate.

(I know, we are Asians and the normal curve they use is probably based off America's birth statistics, but we aren't small Asians so there was still some cause for concern. I'd still like to share this picture which Andrew sent us cause I thought was really funny.)

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We were thus referred to the Eastside Maternal and Fetal Medicine (EMFEL) for a more detailed scan. While my OB seemed pretty chillax about it, I was concerned that I was going to deliver a small disproportioned ailen. Causes of IUGR are plenty, but I was most afraid that she could have been infected with toxoplasmosis (given all the adventurous eating I've been doing), or perhaps have chromosome abnormalties.

After an agonising wait over the weekend (it was hard to secure an appointment), we went in for the session at EMFEL.

And after 30 min of scanning, the doctor reported she was doing great, had no funny out-of-this-world measurements, and she came in 43rd percentile for weight -.-

I was relieved. For sure.

But wait. 9th and 43rd difference abit big right?!??!?

Either someone's machine is trying to be funny or really, our current technology is still quite MEH.

What is the point of doing all these scans when the variance is so huge that nothing concrete can be diagnosed from them??

I guess I'll try my best to worry less the next time, given how inaccurate all these tests/scans can be.

But as much as I'll try, I know that these instances were just a primer of how parenthood is going to be like.

These past 8 months of carrying new cells with DNA that does't belong to me have been filled with new experiemces, both physically and mentally. I.. wait.

Wait a minute.

What was that gush of liquid... did my water just break? Seems like it did. Ok got to go guys!