NESTING.

or least that’s what my pre-natal yoga instructor told me what my sudden burst of energy was about. She said that my nesting instincts have probably kicked in when I mentioned to her during class today that I’ve been feeling very energized of late. Like how birds gather twigs preparing their nest just prior to giving birth, this burst was my body’s way of preparing for labour and baby’s arrival.

And I guess she was right because after yoga class today, me and some girlfriends went to do some baby shopping (at the taka baby fair & at paragon) and I ended purchasing lots of things on the to-buy list, suffice to say the only things that are outstanding are: more towels for bath because a gf chided me that 2 was not enough! and a clothes rack to hang the little one’s clothes. A productive day indeed!

Meanwhile, here’s a preview of the little one’s cot companions along with the new tidy purchased today. I was obviously bored, hence the arranging of animals. (p/s: The Bo has warned me not to expand our little zoo to a safari and that all 4 of them needs to clear out once little man claims his cot, which I will of course!)

I have to admit, I haven’t been willing to be in any photos recently because me thinks me body is starting to develop a weird, odd shape (instead of beautiful round ones like those ladies in my yoga class) due to a calorie growth contributed by milkshakes & famous amos cookies.

Hence the lack of any narcissistic portraits / posts.

Growing a pretty pregnancy belly is not going as per plan for now…. :( But what I can attest is that I feel a lot more active & healthy, even more so than I was pre-pregnancy. I walk a lot more & do yoga twice a week – I can do 5 sets of improvised sun salutations (with plank & downward dog poses) without panting as crazily as I did when I first started. A huge improvement, considering my lifestyle was filled with car/taxi rides & zero exercises in the past 2 years… Having a baby does make you want to do stuff out of your comfort zone aye! That, along with drinking milk (the last I did so was when I was 12 years old).

Anyhoos, enough of the me-talk and here’s a shot of the jelly belly at 23 weeks – for posterity’s sake.

{wearing H&M tunic layered over Cotton On tunic, Promod belt and Naturalizer sandals}

It’s starting to feel a lot more real now with responses & ‘scheduled movements’ (apparently baby chungkin seems to have a schedule of his own). Yay-ness!

Last week, when my yoga buddy decided to take a short trip back to M’sia to visit her family, I decided that it was time for a little break from our twice-weekly pre-natal yoga sessions as well. Technically I told myself that if I could wake up on time for class, I would but subconsciously I ended up sleeping till 11am which was really…nice for a change.

Well, turns out that for 3 days of those 7, I woke up to horrid calf spasms which left me somewhat ‘paralyzed’ for a while. It felt as though I ran a full marathon the night before and the only way I could finally get my legs to move and out of bed was to (sadly) wait it out.

So today, I was back to our morning yoga sessions routine with my buddy, when I shared with the class & instructor that I encountered my first leg spasms/cramps in pregnancy and the solution (see, I didn’t need to wait this long if I attended classes last week!): increase calcium intake AND do a calf stretch just before going to bed.

And if all else still fails, lengthen your calves, flex your toes back to aid blood circulation and well…just wait it out. ;)

In case you’re wondering.

my milkshakes. thank you very much.

It was also through sipping this cup of goodness that I experienced at least 5-7 minutes of continuous movements and kicking from the bubba as though he was enjoying it along with me. Pampered, much?

Meanwhile, here’s me counting to being almost 21-weeks shortly after a stretch & tone session at Mother & Child earlier today:

{Wearing Uniqlo tunic, H&M leggings & Naturalizer Sandals} 

Almost 21-weeks! 

The session was quite different from the other pre-natal yoga classes I’ve been attending but enjoyable nonetheless with lots of breathing, stretching of thigh & pelvic muscles – all to aid us in our natural delivery. Let’s just hope when push comes to shove, I’ll remember all these exercises and deliver[pun intended].

I finally managed to find the discipline to wake up early this morning for my first pre-natal yoga class. Met a friend there, and turns out there was only 4 of us present for the class – which was great because our lovely instructor Sarah had time to address my & Aileen’s back problems (as we were the 2 newbies).

The class was generally more relaxing than the usual yoga class I was anticipating, with lots of tips (such as getting a comfortable posture for sleeping/sitting/standing) and explanation (she did mention that she conducts a less-aggressive class than the other instructors) on usage of our protective muscles and our core.

Today’s main focus was on alignment/posture –  I was told that I had very good body alignment (yay!) but also had a weak core because my body was of the ‘soft’ & flexible type (which is great for gymnasts and yoga enthusiasts). And if I didn’t practice or train up on my core enough, back aches would come haunt me later in pregnancy, especially post natal (boo).

In between we did some deep breathing & stretching in trikonasana and ‘cat’ pose which made me felt so alive as I woke up my lazy muscles since quitting regular yoga classes and exercise some 3 years ago. We also learnt how to do pelvic exercises to incorporate into our daily routine, as strengthening this group of muscles is supposed to help us be able to ‘push’ baby out (easier) during delivery. Apparently, one of my friend managed to deliver drug-free due to these exercises, albeit being in labour for 16 hours. I still don’t know if I can do it like she did…yet! Who knows!

*******

Meanwhile I’m having one of the toughest pregnancy decisions to make (and to think I naively thought it would be natural delivery or c-sect?). I’ve been seeing 2 gynaes for a while (don’t ask me why I did it, probably out of sheer impatience) and in 2 weeks’ time, I will need to make a final decision to drop one and follow the other. The extra visits have been costing a hole in the pocket (which can be easily saved for a lot of other better things), though giving me plenty of assurance that all is going well in addition to being able to see baby more often. I’ve been bouncing this off to a few people, drawing up a pros and cons list between the 2, but each time I’m almost headed towards a conclusion, I end up being back at square 1 after visiting either of them.

Gynae A will save me some money, overall a positive man, the bo likes him; but will be moving to another hospital which I’m not too keen on giving birth at the moment (due to negative feedback). Gynae B will definitely cost us more, but he’s known for his delivery, stitching and team of delivery staff he works with. He’s younger, straightforward and tells you the situation as it is and offers solutions, but not too sure if the additional is worth paying for, since I’ve been told that gynae A’s stitching and delivery skills are commendable too. A friend recently suggested that I go see gynae C, but the thought of having to build rapport all over again within the next 5-6 visits (and gynae C is a person of few words so that makes things a lot harder) is something I would like to avoid doing.

Decisions, decisions. Just hope that I can come to one soon and not have to worry about it for the rest of the journey. Any suggestions/tips/comments? :D

*******

Speaking of decisions, we’ve yet to finalize room renovations plans too! With the constant rainy weather, we’ve been advised that it might be an uphill task getting the extended wing roofing done within a week. So its highly possible that baby chungkin may appear before renos are even done after all; which may end up being a blessing considering that we will be saving a huge chunk of our finances for something else (hospital bills, maybe?) For now, we’ll just have to get creative on ways to create more space for the make-shift nursery etc.

*******

I’m now inching towards 19-weeks, almost half the journey there, hooray! <p/s: very very tempted to organically colour my hair for the festive season…I just might!> And praying, hoping that detailed scan next week will go a-okay! Gynae B mentioned something about thal. possibly causing abnormalities though not all abnormalities are necessarily caused by thal. (ironic!). God will be with me and baby, I’m sure.

Happy long weekend folks,

Nat, x

{Wearing GAP tee, Spring maternity denim shorts & Naturalizer Sandals}

18 weeks going on 19…