I'm 4 days overdue and there is still no signs of baby wanting to see this world yet! Dr. Choong's prediction is right! My mom was getting worried about baby being overdue that she called me twice today and advised me to speak with Dr. Choong tomorrow on our weekly visit on our next course of action. She thinks that we should pick a date to induce and we should pick an early date. We have picked a date! It's going to be 18th of July, this Wednesday, about 6 days from my estimated due date (EDD), 12th of July. 18 is a good number for Chinese (means 'sure rich' in chinese) and an ob-gyn specialist friend advised me not to wait more than 41 weeks because baby could be in distress after 41 weeks. I'm feeling a little worried and emotional in these two days, maybe we really should induce labour soon. I know that baby is all ready to come out and I somehow have a picture of baby with a round face, big eyes and a head full of hair in my mind. So happy that I'll be seeing Dr. Choong tomorrow afternoon so I can hear baby's heartbeat again! :)))
The Chong family had a bet on the dates on when baby will arrive. My sister, Jamie Yi Yi is the winner because she chose 15th and the nearest to the date is the winner. My dad, mom and SJ picked earlier dates. So many friends and relatives have been calling and messaging asking about baby's arrival. A client of mine, Fidael was so excited that he called me yesterday just to ask if baby has arrived and when I said not yet, he just said ok and ended the conversation. That was a rather funny phone call. I have been putting up photos and updates of myself in Facebook to let everyone know that I'm still hanging around and baby is not out yet.
I have been eating so much desserts for the past week! I'll definitely have a dessert with SJ almost every night after dinner, thinking that the dessert that we're having that night would be the last in case I go on labour the next day and I would be in confinement for one whole month. Have to go slow on the cold desserts and drinks because many people advised me that it could cause my baby easily to catch a flu and cold in the future.
Let me update what I have been feeling and experiencing in these past few weeks:
Getting out of the bed and turning on the bed for the past few weeks had been really painful and difficult :( The pain in my pelvic/pubic bone has been so bad that I don't think there is anything could be done to relief the pain. I told my yoga instructor for weeks about this pain, which eventually in week 39, she told me that there is probably nothing I can do about it; so, I'll just have to bear with it till delivery. I cannot sleep on my back anymore as baby is too huge and is pressing against my chest which would make breathing very difficult. I couldn't lie on one side for too long because my arm and hip that I lie on would ache terribly; I had to turn to my other side in the middle of the night and it has been such a huge chore every time I do that - I struggle so much, making so much, grunting away while holding my tummy to push it to the other sides that SJ would usually wake up too. When morning comes, I literally had to swing both my legs together out of the bed to be on the sitting position because if my legs were separated, my pelvic bone would ache a lot; almost felt that it is going to break apart. This pelvic pain is making me waddle when I walk and I had to arch my back to balance my huge belly; hence, walking really slowly and like a penguin.
Other than that, my fingers are so swollen with water retention that I could wear SJ's wedding ring! His ring used to be able to fit my thumb only but it can fit my ring finger now. I sure hope my fingers (and my feet!) will be able to get back to its old size so I can wear my wedding ring and my many favourite shoes! My Aunty couldn't get back to her old shoe size after she delivered her children more than 10 years ago. Her feet got permanently a size bigger.
The swell on my fingers has also caused my fingers joints/knuckles to ache, especially in the mornings. The pain is worse on both hands' 3rd and 4th fingers. I would shove my hands to SJ every morning when I wake up and request that he give my fingers a massage. Same goes for my swollen feet too. SJ has been extremely sweet to fulfill my requests; giving me feet massage almost every night and fingers massage every morning :)))
I can deal with swollen fingers and feet or the pelvic bone pain. I think the most depressing part about this whole pregnancy is the stretch marks!!! :(((( Stretch marks beginning to appear in week 36 and I was really sad about it. Since the beginning of this pregnancy, I have tried my best to make sure I apply oil and lotion everyday (morning and night) on my thighs, arms, bust areas and the whole tummy area with the hope that stretch marks would not appeare. There is a guide on where to apply oil in the L'occitane Almond Supple Skin Oil box which I follow closely. I even look and scrutinize my tummy area almost every night after shower for stretch marks; was quite pleased until week 36 when I saw nasty red lines on my buttocks (!!!), the lower part of my belly and both sides of my belly :(( It just caught me by surprise that stretch marks would appear on my buttocks!!?? That's the last place I actually thought it would appear, hence, didn't apply any oil in that area at all :S
Somehow, deep down I know that there is nothing I can do or prevent these stretch marks from happening because I was told that this is genetic, if your mom has it, you'll surely have it. So my mom has it, I would surely have it too plus my bump is really huge compared to many people. I noticed in these 2 weeks that stretch marks appeared around my belly button. My bump is really quite huge, measuring at 43 inches today. So many people been asking me whether am I carrying twins. SJ's theory was that I'll definitely have stretch marks because of these reasons: my bump is huge, baby is huge, I'm been so active walking and moving around which gravity plays a part in pulling and stretching my bump downwards which the skin will definitely stretched. The body needs a much longer time (more than 9 months) to accommodate and adapt such a huge change of the body. I was wondering those fat men with huge beer bellies on whether they have stretch marks or not; SJ doesn't think so because they had years to get to that huge belly, which their bodies can adapt to that changes slowly.
I quickly bought a bottle of Clarins Tonic Treatment in week 36, that is specially applied to treat stretch marks (heard many good reviews but was told that it was expensive) but I guess it's a little too late now because the stretch marks just increased (quite drastically) in these past few weeks. I am not even bothered to look at them in the mirror anymore after shower. Was talking to a friend and she told me that she didn't have any stretch marks because she literally shower in these oil or cream. She used a huge amount Palmer's cocoa butter and Bio Oil until it drips :S Both her boys were also very small when they were born; they were less than 3 kg. My baby is definitely more than 3.5kg. So, her bumps were smaller than mine. If she wasn't as mobile as me, it should be surprising that she didn't have any stretched marks.
I guess there are worse things that could happen in this pregnancy; like having varicose veins, lots of facial hair, terrible acne problem, darkened spots/patches on face or neck etc. I should be thankful that this pregnancy has been good so far because I didn't have any of those mentioned above :))) Well, I guess I can always do laser treatments if I 'really' want to get rid of the stretch marks in the future. I was complaining to SJ that it's not fair that my body has changed to much; stretch marks, putting on so much weight (I'm the heaviest now in both Yong and Chong's family) and so much cellulite on my thighs! Now I know the sacrifices that mothers have to go through to deliver a child. No wonder everyone told me that you'd appreciate your mother more after you become a mother. I totally agree with that statement.
SJ's colleague who has the same EDD as me, we are seeing the same Dr. Choong for our pregnancies, we even attended the same antenatal class with Jenlia; she delivered her baby girl on Saturday, 14th July and her baby is 3.85 kg. We didn't expect her baby to be that huge! My baby is definitely bigger than hers, so now we're expecting our baby boy to be about 4kg or more! :O I am ok that my baby is big, I don't really mind because many people been reassuring me that bigger baby is easy to care for. I'm ok as long baby is healthy ;) Am trying to set a very positive mindset for baby's arrival. I can't wait to meet baby! Now I can't wait to listen to baby's heartbeat tomorrow afternoon!
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