No cake, no candles, no drinking, no travelling, no noisy merry making, no party.

And it was fine by me, because I already had the best birthday present – who was actively making his existence known in my tummy through the day.

Though the husband wasn’t the first to wish me as I had initially hoped, nor was he able to take the entire day off to spend my hatch day with me – he didn’t forget about my birthday after all! He did take a 1/2 day off after some compulsory meetings & company CNY luncheon, shuttled between venues to get my birthday plans & gift sorted out before meeting me for our quality time together – a lovely afternoon tea followed by some window shopping, watched a movie, before ending the evening with a hearty dinner from a delish heartland hawker.

There wasn’t anything fanciful but it sure tugged the heartstrings out of me that despite managing a busy work schedule & mugging for an impending exam – the Bo still made time.

Mom & J.J also pampered me silly with their gifts too (thank you!), and this really made me tear knowing how blessed I was.

And of course, the celebrations with my friends  &  family which led into the following day were nothing short of amazing. The food we shared, the laughs we had, the sweets we ate, the catching up…utterly enjoyable.

I had such a great time that I was practically knackered by the time I got home at about 11.30pm last night (having start my day at 10am in the morning).

{a photo booth shot before starting out my lovely day}

{a sweet surprise from Annie – yummy birthday cupcakes!}

{with my gorgeous mommy friends}

{I had a cookies & cream cupcake all to myself}

{Birthday dinner with the cousin at Zaffron’s}

{finishing off the evening with a cuppa hot choco at Max Brenner’s, which was disappointingly sweet}

{And some tutti frutti waffles}

{with the cousin. note to self: unflattering arms}

What an amazing year of adventure it has been, and I know the year ahead will be an even more exciting, albeit challenging one. Thank you Lord for the many blessings, opportunities, for providing & showering me with oodles of love & grace.

And while I’m still in disbelief that this will be my last birthday celebration become I become a a mommy (and birthday celebrations will  no longer be in the same, carefree fashion since we will obviously keep thinking of the little one regardless whether he will be out with us or not), I’m totally looking forward to my next birthday celebration, where the chungkin will obviously be a part of it!

{happy 31 weeks}

But somehow, it didn’t matter as much as it might have did before. For past years, I remember the Bo either calling me at midnight of 2nd Feb to sing a birthday song (when we were still dating) or surprising me with a birthday cake (once we got married); and it would really melt my heart each time regardless how repeated a gesture it was. I’m old-fashioned in that way.

I wasn’t expecting him to pull up anything fancy this year, seeing how stress was occupying his mind & face…but  someone new & amazing took over in giving me a hearty birthday wish.

It was the little chungkin. He was bouncing around my tummy before giving me a nudge, probably to wish me a Happy Birthday. And that absolutely took the icing on the cake.

The cough has subsided from a chesty one to a dry one. no more gross looking greens coming out though the urinary continence still persists along with each cough. I had an embarrassing moment this morning while sleeping. I was too lazy to get out of bed to visit the loo so I held it in and some 4 coughs later, even my trusted poised pads for urinary leaks couldn’t hold it all in. :(

Glad I recovered about 90% too, because I was really looking forward for some crab feasting and catching-up with some friends tonight. And boy did we enjoy our crabs so much (there was pepper, butter, cream, chilli) that the moment we started getting our hands dirty on crabs, all conversations came to a halt till after we were done!

That’s full crab concentration for you. :p

{deep fried buns vs. healthy steamed ones. guess which ones ran out first!}

{crabs in full display. In butter, pepper, chilli & cream sauces to choose from}

{group shot take 1 – with our happily filled bellies}

{group shot take 2}

And in case you’re wondering, yes we’re all pregnant!!!  :) …which did invite some questions & attention from other residents who saw us in the lift together.

On my way up to friend’s place, I even took a chance & asked a pregnant lady if she was here for the crab party as well (since I was aware that our guest lists were all preggies). And indeed she was! Phew.

It’s amazing how we got to know each other through 6 degrees of separation, and even more amazing was how there’s just an instant spark & connection when one preggers meets another regardless of familiarity. LOL.There’s just SO much to talk about.

Food was really good and was ordered from:

Mellben Seafood 

I’ve been utterly exhausted. My sleeps have been interrupted almost every 30-45 minutes with runs to the sink to throw up all shades of green phlegm that I’ve even resorted to sleeping on the couch nearest to the loo to make the runs back & forth easier. Consequence: stiff neck & back ache by sleeping on the couch, boo.

In the day, it gets worse when chesty cough decides to attack. More often than not, I find myself having to hang near a loo just so I can run in and out, spitting out the evil, because I’m just not one that can do it anywhere publicly – into a plastic bag or not unless I really don’t have a choice (i.e.: on the road without a loo in sight).

I must have coughed up about 30 times of phlegm already but right now I’m just wondering how much more is there left to go. Not being able to take any medication to speed up the process is starting to annoy me. Boo.

I can’t believe how far along we’ve come, how I’ve managed to make it without a serious emotional/hormonal breakdown in between, how I’ve enjoyed almost every step of it except for 2 tiny pockets of negative news which turned out good eventually (Amen!) and how I can start counting down to the next 7-8 weeks before we say “anytime, now” to anyone who asks how far along we are.

Baby Chungkin’s presence to our last weeks of couple hood has also been more regular & significant. No longer do I have to let the husband know when baby’s moving actively for him to feel it. These days, all he has to do is start talking, and the little one will respond with a flurry of rolling pins, kicks, and punches before daddy tells him to stop & take a break.

Last night, after the Bo told the chungkin that we were watching ‘Rocky III’ and what the show was about; the little one after being encouraged by daddy to ‘punch & move to the beat’, actually used mummy’s tummy as a punching bag when ‘Eye of the Tiger‘ was playing. Thankfully he wasn’t at 36 weeks yet so ‘em moves were still bearable.

What a daddy’s boy.

The past 2 days have been a reality check for me. Being admitted to KKH delivery suite for monitoring, albeit nothing serious thankfully and no contractions in sight was the closest glimpse and experience I had to knowing what was to come on D-day.

And this morning, after reading about another lady’s labour experience under the same gynae which took place last night, provided me with insight of what to be mentally prepared for. Apparently even giving birth at 36 weeks is considered premature by the PD and baby has to be put in niuc for monitoring due to lungs development despite what the gynaes tell us. Though the mother was assured that there were no big issues foreseen.

It also made me think, that if I do deliver at 36 weeks like this lady, effectively I’m left with 6 weeks from today to be as mentally & physically prepared as I can be!

To my little bub chungkin, thanks for being such a good listener and a strong warrior to fight the recent virus. I know it was a struggle being in that hot oven alone as mommy and daddy desperately tried to cool your environment as much as we could, but thank you for staying strong and responding with movements when we needed you to. Be it 6 weeks, 8 weeks or 10 weeks before you decide to say “hello mom & pop” to us in person, we will respect that and patiently wait to embrace you.

Right now, mommy needs to start getting her things &  hospital bag in order.

Things didn’t turned out quite as planned though.

Ironically being pregnant, I had more new clothes (a Chinese tradition) than previous years (pre-pregnancy) all ready to be worn for at least 10 out of the 15 days of celebration. I had more enthusiasm to spring clean the home than before. And I definitely had more energy to go and bask in the festive atmosphere by hanging out at various Chinese New Year (CNY) fairs with the husband over the weekends. I also had more of a better appetite as I savored pineapple tarts, bak kwa, kueh lapis, deep fried prawn rolls & love letters with the little one returning a powerful kick each time.

And I think I was really embracing this CNY so openly & acceptingly after 2 years of dreading it because baby chungkin was finally with us. I no longer had to answer to anyone; even if I only saw them once a year, why our family planning was not as immediate after the wedding. [p/s: to international readers, CNY is also the time when older relatives think they have a right to grill you about your personal matters/life out of concern although one might think it's to fill their gossip quota for the rest of the year :p] I no longer had to worry about looking the least pregnant or be asked strangely if that extra weight gain was due to a baby being on the way  - which was the case for me last CNY. I no longer had to be nagged about which zodiac aka. animal we should consider to have our baby born by – now we know baby chungkin going to be a ‘dragon baby‘, which is also deemed as the most powerful animal of the 12 in the Chinese zodiac. Not that it matters to the Bo & me because all we want is just a healthy, happy baby regardless of zodiacs.

Doing house visits this CNY posed a different sort of challenge though. We had 5 places (aka. older relatives to visit) to visit on the 1st day, and by the 2nd home, my feet was swelling so bad I could hardly fit into my shoes any more without hurting. We also didn’t get any proper food to eat, mainly just pastries and Chinese goodies that was served till the 5th visit which was at my mom’s place. And being pregnant, that was quite a torture because at one point I really just wanted some real food aka. rice.

Visits was very enjoyable though, answering to how far along we were in the pregnancy and how I was feeling. :p

But it wasn’t till the 2nd day of CNY when my festive cheer and mood was dampened. I had barely kick-started my string of celebrations and there I was in the morning, waking up to a very bad throat & headache. I thought it was probably due to insufficient sleep and that it will go away but came yesterday afternoon at the 2nd house visit of the day at my godparents’, my reflux got so bad that entire lunch just came out. I was also starting to run a temperature, was shivering and a bad headache that we had to cut short our visit (thanks to understanding godparents). The Bo also had to cancel a visit to the boss’s place by just hopping over (boss place was just 3 min drive from my godparents’) to explain that I wasn’t feeling well and we were headed for home right after that.

Popped in a panadol, took a nap hoping that the slight migraine & fever would subside by evening time so that I could go to my aunt’s place for our supposedly 4th house visit (plus I was really looking forward to her signature curry & lemak dishes for dinner) and although temperature went away for about an hour, it came back with a vengeance soon enough. Didn’t help that the Bo went out to a nearby coffeeshop with his bestie for a while during the time when my first fever had subsided and by evening time, I started to burn so badly that my eyes were both watery & stingy, and my belly was terribly hot. I quickly placed a cold compress on the belly to bring down the temperature for baby chungkin but the towels would warm up within a minute or so. I was worried sick, more for baby’s health. It must have felt like an oven in there and while I’ve read about fever potentially causing miscarriages mainly in the 1st tri, I didn’t want to take a chance.

I called for the Bo to be back immediately. Said I was burning (he did chide me for not calling earlier), and we headed to KKH 24-hr O&G for some medical attention. I was in tears, in between shivers and burning temperatures, praying that all will be okay. We got to the hospital in good time, and I was quickly sent to the delivery suite because I was over 6 months pregnant. They registered me quickly enough (didn’t go to TMC because I heard that my gynae was away for the holidays and I needed immediate attention), sent me & husband to the delivery suite where I was strapped to the CTG machine to monitor potential contractions and baby’s heartbeat. Apparently any increase in temperature or fever does impact baby’s heartbeat and baby chungkin’s was beating way faster than the usual. I was given more cold compress to bring my temperature down as we waited for the gynae on duty to attend to us. There had been recent cases of H1N1 virus aka tamiflu making its rounds so the staff wanted to make sure that I was clear of it.

We waited for about 15 minutes for the gynae to arrive while I was being monitored and I was praying my heart & tears out that all will be okay. Here we were, with only about 8 weeks to go and I really didn’t want anything to go absurdly wrong – I was asked a few times to confirm that we were about 29 hitting 30 weeks and I kept thinking connecting with the little one to ask if he could bake in there for a while longer as I saw the incubator in the delivery room.

The gynae gave me a body check, tapped the tummy to incite movements from baby, checked my throat (good thing my tonsils weren’t inflamed badly yet) before discharging me. She prescribed some drowsy medication to address every symptom I had and I was told to monitor my temperature over the next 2 days to ensure it goes away or I’d have to come in again for another round of checks.

I was thankful that we had got ourselves checked out early and nothing serious happened to baby. Thankful for the prayers that came streaming in via SMS and whatsapp by concerned family & friends. And happy to received 2 prompt email response from my gyane that he was back in town, asked what happened and  that everything sounded okay after I updated him on heart rate and what the KKH gynae told me. I left KKH still with a relatively high fever, shivering, hungry with no appetite to absorb anything but it was all okay knowing that the chungkin was doing just fine.

The Bo sponged the tummy the whole night and when my belly finally cooled down, we saw a series of movements from the chungkin that absolutely made our night! And as of this morning, the high fever has subsided leaving me slightly feverish and I am just going to make sure I rest up and recover from this one properly. I can’t imagine having to deal with another similar incident apart from labour in the next few weeks.

Not quite the start I was expecting for this Lunar New Year (missing out from all the visiting and feasting) but as long as baby chungkin is going on strong and well in there, that’s all that matters.

And that leaves me with only photos from the celebrations prior to the heart-stopping incident:

{doing our Yu Sheng Spring Toss aka Loh Hey to usher in the Lunar New year at grandma’s place}

{doing the toss. It is said the higher you toss the ingredients, the better the luck and the more your wishes will come true..}

{Bo cuddling baby Michael}

{taking a break post-reunion dinner}

{new shoes to go with our new togs}

{couple shot}

{mom cooks a nourishing pot of bird’s nest for us}

{Bo taking a shot with nephew Joshua}

{Mom taking a shot with baby Michael}

{taking a shot while lying in KKH delivery suite and being strapped to the CTG  machine}

And lastly, here’s me at almost 30 weeks!

{  in my CNY day 1 outfit :)  }

I had a craving for some western brunch after church today and remembered reading about the ‘Croque Madame!’ which Skyve served so off we went – although the Bo did ask me to consider Chalk’s Sunday brunch too, but my mind was quite made up.

We arrived at 10 Winstedt Road (location of Skyve) and took a little stroll around the ex-school compounds before settling ourselves in the relatively un-busy and tastefully modern setting of Skyve. Saw the menu and instantly knew what I wanted – Croque Madame, of course! and was utterly pleased that the staff was able to accommodate my request of ensuring that everything, including the supposedly runny yolk on the sunny side up, would be cooked thoroughly well for their pregnant patron. :D

Food arrived in reasonable time and boy was I sniffing my croque like a puppy, asking the Bo to sniff as well. The smell of melted cheddar cheese, tomatoes, sliced ham grilled on brioche bread was just so so so so alluring. It was also then I think the husband might have regretted ordering his usual classic breakfast over mine (I did share eventually). It tasted so good as I devoured morsel of ‘the loafing breakfast’.

And so, we left 2 happy campers, with our tummies satisfactorialy filled, heading home to complete what seems to be the last 15% of spring cleaning to do.

Have a happy reunion dinner everyone!

Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar

No.10 Winstedt Road
Block E, #01-17 
Tuesday to Friday: 8:30am to Midnight
Saturday and Sunday: 10am to Midnight
Public Holidays: 10am to Midnight
(Monday closed till further notice)

Reserve:+65 6225 6690 

Well, technically I’ve given myself (and the chungkin) a head start already because since more than a month ago, me and 2 other moms (who are also due in Apr) have been actively organizing our own mummies play dates revolving lunch/cakes/coffee/shopping/online shopping amidst other adventures!

Today, we had a reunion lunch meet-up just before the year of the Rabbit ends in 2 days’ time and boy, did time fly by so quickly just eating, shopping, yakking & eating again. Frivolous, I like!

It won’t be long before our all-exclusive mommies play dates will start to involve our little bubs now.

{at PS cafe Paragon}

{rustic potatoes with greens. Our only substitute because this outlet don’t have truffle fries. Boo}

{Ashley’s triple cheese penne}

{My order of all-day breakfast sandwich}

{Group shot of our jelly bellies + Annie’s darling little Kyan}

{After some shopping, we had to stop for some desserts. A must in every gathering}

{Mr. Cutie}

{Ashley was a really good toddler sitter & entertainer}

Not quite the dream that I expected, but it definitely came as a pleasant surprise.

And in that dream, I was all smiles, the gynae was with me every step of the way as I got wheeled into the delivery room, husband was all prepared with his paparazzi equipment and before we knew it, we heard one of the most beautiful sounds floating into our ears – the first cries of baby chungkin as I embraced the little man.

And then *smack* woken up by a very strong urge to pee.

What meant to be an exciting & fulfilling afternoon ended up being a 3 hours wait to see our gynae (who had recently moved to private practice ) which basically threw our initial plans and running of errands into a series of backlog. We did however appreciate the gynae explaining to us that he had 3 deliveries to attend to, with 1 more waiting downstairs so it was comforting to know that come push day, he’s going to be there regardless how many patients are in his clinic. Comforting.

So on to the good stuff. We had a good catching up & chat with the gynae. He spent time addressing all my questions and even more time on the scan machine as we took many looks at b.chungkin. My boy has grown quite a bit in just 2 weeks – we got to peak at his features along with his private parts, spine, hands, fingers…gynae tried his luck at 3D photography but the cheeky little one was sure he wanted it to remain a surprise by having his hands over half of his face throughout the whole time. Plus with his continuous kicking throughout the entire scan – we got a series of blurry, shaking, artistic shots instead. Nice to know that you have that creative streak in you, little man.

We are 29 weeks today, and I just can’t believe how we’ll hit 30 right smack in the middle of our Chinese (Lunar) New Year celebrations in a week’s time and how fast this is going. We’re thrilled to meet our little one in approx. 8 weeks’ time (yes, we are that excited that we’re counting to 37 weeks instead of the usual 40) yet at the same time, anxious in preparing ourselves…environmentally as much as we can.

The whole countdown is getting very real now.