It's a BOY!!

Last Friday was quite an exciting day ;) We were going for my monthly antenatal visit on that day! Don't think anyone gets so happy to see doctor! Haha! My sister, Jamie came as well this time. I brought my thumbdrive with the hope to save the ultrasound visual and audio but unfortunately we couldn't because Dr. Choong doesn't think his machine can do that :( He recommended me to go to FMGC, Jaya 1, Petaling Jaya to get a detailed 3D/4D scan because they are the scanning experts. Dr. Choong had an amused look that we're just so excited because we're first time parents :P

Started that day's consultation with a lot of questions from me:
1. I wanted to know how big is the baby now because many people been asking me this question which I have no idea.
Answer: He would measure and let me know today so I can let my friends know. Expectant mothers of dragon babies are more competitive!
2. Am I too big for my current stage?
Answer: SJ is tall and I'm quite tall myself, so it's quite normal to expect that baby's quite big. He thinks bigger baby is good. So, nothing to worry about.
3. Baby been kicking me on my right side my of belly. What is his position now?
Answer: He said that it's common for baby to kick on my right side but soon, it will be all over my tummy. Baby's position that day was head down and his legs were up horizontally.
4. My mother has been very concerned about Down Syndrome and asked me about baby's neck measurements.
Answer: Dr. Choong did the measurement when I was 3rd month pregnant and it was normal. Plus my blood test also came back low risk. So, it's nothing to worry about. The only way to confirm is by doing an amniocentesis test which has a 1% risk of miscarriage. He had cases where the results came back normal but the baby fell.
5. Also told him about my friend's stillborn baby on the 8th month and I wanted to know what are the causes.
Answer: There could be so many reasons but the main reason is birth defect but most cases are closed with unknown cause because it's just too painful for the parents to find out more from autopsy.

Most of the answers that he gave me that day was sort of expected. I think there is nothing much doctors can say other than keep on reassuring the patients that everything is going to be ok. He probably gets these questions a zillion times in a day and even more with new parents, like myself.

Dr Choong spent a lot of time at the ultrasound that day because he had an audience (my sister!). Jamie stood near him at the ultrasound screen. There were 2 screens; one that Dr Choong was clicking and operating on, and the other was across the consultation bed that SJ and I were looking at. Jamie tried to record the ultrasound with her Ipad2 but I'm not sure if it was clear. I didn't mind looking at the ultrasound all the time because it was fun seeing some black and white images moving around and I was trying to visualise what's on the screen. The first thing Dr Choong pointed out was the heart, which was blinking and beating. The next thing he pointed out was 'it's a boy'! He was showing baby's penis on the screen but I couldn't really see it. Jamie and SJ could see it. So, it's confirmed a boy! We can now start looking at baby things in blue colour, clothes with soccer ball, dinosaurs, aeroplanes designs. hehe.

He measured baby's head circumference and baby is estimated to be 506grams that day. I have gained 7 kilograms and baby is less than 600grams! I was expecting baby to be bigger but Dr said that baby's growing well, so it's all good. Dr also checked baby's heart and other organs and all look good. He also checked the heartbeats (my favourite part!) and the rhythm sounds regular, good and strong :)))))))) I was really happy leaving his clinic that day. Felt so relieved and happy that all is good. I have a 'circle' of worry that goes around almost every month, especially in the past two months. Each time after my dr's visit I would be really relieved but as the time passes (usually between 2-3 weeks later), I'll start to worry again and I've told SJ that I wished we could go for Dr's visit every 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks. I think 4 weeks is a little too long.

Dr. Choong suggested that we go and have a look at the labour and post-natal rooms. We went to the rooms and there were nurses showing us the rooms; what was inside, some of them were like suites with fridge, sofa and tv. I was wondering how long usually the expectant mothers would be in the labour room because it was so nice with all these facilities. Her reply was up to 48 hours :S I really hope I won't take that long. I am going to be in one of these rooms in less than 5 months time and seeing these rooms helped me prepare mentally by visualising that we will be there in July.

We were in the hospital longer than usual that day but it was all good :) I was happy and decided to reward myself by having a few sips of cold Starbucks frappuccino which I shared with Jamie! :)))) I'm not supposed to have cold drinks but I guess a few sips should be ok because I was feeling very happy. I know these happy feelings are going to last for a very long time :))