It's a princess!

Almost reaching half-marathon mark, our little precious is 20-week last Sat. We arrived at KKH for detail scan at 9am. The sonographer began taking measurements on the skull, jaw, limbs, heart etc. and check for blood vessels, umbilical cords etc. Then she showed us the gential area -- nothing pointing out, so our baby will be a princess :) However, due to our baby's position, she couldn't take accurate measurement of the heart. So I took a 15min walk while she attended to the next MTB -- hope our baby will change position. Erhm, nope, our naughty little precious was still in the same position! So I had to go for another walk *wacko* Phew, this time round, our princess changed the position and the sonographer could complete the scan -- the results of the detail scan is good *phew* Haiz, forget to ask about the weight and length of our princess! Well, will check with our gynae when we visit him next week (he was away on holiday).

Gender preference
My parents and in-laws have no preference for gender -- all are happy that our baby is healthy :) TK prefers a princess as he is afraid a prince will be too difficult to handle (like when he was young). Though I wish for a prince (TK is the eldest son and this will be the first grandchild of his family), I am happy that there are more choices for clothes and accessories for our princess :P Time to start shopping... erhmm, where to start from??!!

Baby's movement
Our princess is getting more active. I was lying on the sofa yesterday when I felt her kicking hard. So I observed my tummy closely -- amazingly, I saw a "ponk" protruding from my tummy when she kicked! Observed a few more times before I yelled for TK. Haha, by the time TK came to my side, our princess decided to play a trick on papa and stopped kicking :P

Weight gain
Since I started snacking on museli bar, my weight gain is going north! Total weight gain from 1st gynae appointment is 3kg (though stagnant for the 1st 3-4mths). OK OK, gotta control a bit and exercise more!

Baby Luck

Our little precious is 19-week last Saturday! With baby luck, I won the 4th prize at my company's annual dinner & dance -- SONY digital photo frame (7inch) + $180 cash. This came juz in time as TK was mentioning abt getting one for our baby :)



Weight gain
I began eating museli bar as snack last week. Though appetite was not good, surprisingly, there was a significant weight gain(gosh, abt 1 kg in a week) and "sudden" grow in tummy size!

New Car
We are getting use to driving our new car. I drives to work on weekdays and TK will take over the wheels on weekends. Bought a cute sign "Pregnant Driver -- pls give way" :) Oh, we had our first car wash on Sunday -- gosh, white car is not easy to maintain(so easy to get dirty)!

Happy birthday to TK

Last Saturday, we celebrated TK's birthday and our little precious was 18-week old :) With such good timing, we collected our long-awaited(3 mths!) new car in the morning and had a yummy 3-course lunch at the newly opened Bukit Timah Guild House @ Botanic Gardens.

Weight gain
Though my tummy is growing in size, there was no noticeable increase in my weight -- to date, total weight gain from our first visit to gynae is less than 1kg. TK decided to carboload me and cooked Japanese curry rice with potato, carrot and broccoli. Haha, after that dinner, my weight shot up! TK was so happy that he said he will cook more Japanese curry rice *faint*

Sleep
Nowadays, I tried to sleep on my side but our baby has preference for right side. When I tried to turn to my left, will feel "pain" on my right that prevent me from turning. Not sure whether the "pain" is from our baby's kicking in protest :P

Gender
Many friends are asking about our baby's gender. From my tummy's shape, many guess that it's a girl (TK will be very happy). Hope our baby is not shy when we go for detail scan next week :)

Gum infection
I have a wisdom tooth that didn't grow out completely -- one corner is covered by gum. Usually, I will get gum infection in that area when I "slack" in cleaning that area during brushing. Last week, we watched a late nite movie -- I was tired and "slacked". Haiz, the next day, I could feel the nagging pain -- sign of gum infection :( Usually, the infection will be gone in one week. However, I was cautioned to see the dentist as bacteria may entered and harm our baby! Quickly booked an appointment with the dentist -- he was unable to do much except clean up the pus from the infection and prescribed flouride mouth wash. Our baby was very "kuai" -- no MS for that week when mummy is in pain. This week, I am feeling better and MS resumed *wacko*

Shy shy baby

Our little precious is 16-week old last Saturday! We have scheduled our monthly visit with our gynae on that day -- hopefully can see the baby's gender.

I am slowly recovering from my running nose & cough and took leave on Friday to rest at home. At the same time, tried to sweet talk our baby to show us the "vital points" :P I coaxed baby to open legs like mummy when I did the yoga pose with knee bend & sole of my feet touching...

During the ultrasound scan, baby hid at one corner with legs bend -- erhmm, not enough space to open up *wacko* I felt baby's leg kicking -- haha, dunno whether baby is laughing that we cannot determine the gender or angry that mummy showed wrong demo :) So we gotta wait another 4 weeks for the detailed scan @ 20-week.

Our baby is growing well (10.5cm at 16- week) but my gynae is concerned that I have no weight gain. Haiz, how to gain weight when I am still having MS(especially bad during dinner time)?! Hope my appetite will come back soon!

Ultrasound pic of our little precious @ 16-week

Flu bug

I m having slight running nose on most mornings but usually it will stop before noon. Thot that's part of the morning sickness thingy :)

Last Friday, I got on the bus and took a seat at the last row. A lady sat next to me and starting sneezing n coughing without covering her nose/mouth! The guy on my other side and me tried to look the other way to avoid breathing in the "virus". Haiz, it was an air-con bus -- guess it cannot be avoided. When I reached office, I started sneezing non-stop and my running nose got worse. It became unbearable and I took PM leave to go home to rest...

I slept through the whole of Saturday and drank tons of water. Surprise, surprise, MS stopped! Guess our 15-week baby knew mummy was sick and let me take a break :) We decided not to see the doc as we wanna avoid taking medicine. Hope my body will be strong enough to fight out the flu virus!

I felt good enough to go for the Southern Ridges walk with my friends on Sunday morning. Weather was cool and we had a great time -- it was great to sweat it out! I cooked a Japanese lunch for them at our place -- Yamagata udon & fruit salad with wafu & goma tare sauce.

P.S. TK sprained his ankle after playing basketball with his friends :( Hope he will recover speedily!

Yogamama

Last night, we went for a trial lesson for pre-natal yoga. Father-to-be(FTB) can accompany mother-to-be(MTB) -- TK joined me for the class :)

Yogamama Class @ La Vidal loft
http://www.lavidaloft.net/index.html

It was a small size class conducted by Regina(a mother of a toddler son) -- 5 preggy ladies + 2 FTB. 2 MTB are 7mth+, 1 MTB is 5mth+ and 2 MTB are 3mth+ -- am one of the small tummy 3mth+ MTB :)

The poses are modified to suit preggie ladies -- with lotsa of stretching for the back, shoulder, inner thigh, calves etc. Gosh, after 2 mth+ of inactivity, I am very stiff and inflexible! TK had to help me with some poses... MS was at full swing and I felt uncomfortable with the puking feeling inbetween poses... urghh...

Regina and some of the MTBs were sharing birth experiences throughout the session. Upon hearing about my MS, Regina suggested using breathing to control and also try out different food.

After the trial class, we signed up for 10 lessons and plan to continue at the west studio near our place.

P.S. I was so tired after the class -- had a good sleep thru the nite (without interruption of toilet visit at 3-4am like I used to)!

Naming our little one...

My darling nieces Hui(7 yo) and Ying(5 yo) have been my life's little joy -- as I watched them grow up from tiny babies till today. Talking to them always bring much laughter -- by their innocent and funny response :)

Last Saturday, we were home for lunch at my parents' place and Hui & Ying greeted me with a loud "Ah Yee" when they saw me at the door. Then they would rush to give me a hug and kiss :) After a sumptous lunch, we adjorned to their bedroom for chit-chatting.

Ah Yee : Do you prefer a boy or girl for my baby?
Hui & Ying : (in unison) GIRL!
Ah Yee : Why?
Hui : We don't like boy, coz he will pee on you! LOL
Ah Yee : Huh, how do you know??
Ying : We watched "Ten Brothers" on TV -- the babies pee onto their father when he changed diaper for them!
Ah Yee : Hahahaha...
Ying : Ah Yee, what name do you call your baby?
Ah Yee : Erhmm, we have not decide on the name yet. Now my baby's nickname is Yuan Yuan coz uncle TK said Ah Yee is round round :) What do you like to name our baby?
Ying : I like to call your baby "Nicole" -- coz the baby in the "Nanny Father" TV series is very cute :)

And the sweet darling came over to rub against my tummy and whispered "Nicole" :)

Sharing of good news :)

Last Saturday, we sent out a message to our friends :-

Subject : After 1 wedding & 3 honeymoon trips...
Dear friends,
We like to share good news with you -- we are expecting our first baby :)
Today, our baby is 13th week old -- we hope our little one will join us on 13 May 2009 :)
Here's a blog to share the marathon-like journey to welcome our life's little joy
http://tkdo-lifeslittlejoy.blogspot.com/
Regards,
Doreen & TK

Wow, received many congradulatory replies -- everyone is happy for us :) Thank you for sharing our joy & baby tips!

First Trimester : Lifestyle change...

From being active in sports, my lifestyle took a drastic change. Being our first baby, TK, the protective and cautious father-to-be(FTB), "forbids" me to run -- so I have to hang up my new running shoes for a good 1 year. Swimming is limited to leisure waddling in the pool instead of laps. We spend most of our evenings after dinner strolling at the garden at our place -- to help to relieve indigestion. During the weekends, we will go for long walk at nature parks.

I feel tired easily and will be in bed ard 9pm(my usual bedtime is 12midnite). Morning sickness(MS) sets in from week 6 onwards (yet to subside @ week 13 now) -- the constant nauseous and bloated feeling lasted throughout the day! Unable to withstand the smell of oil, we have to avoid food centre and do only light cooking at home. Lost my interest and appetite in food... We have to prepare small meals(bread & fruits) for me to bring to work -- I have to eat something every 1-2 hours to stop the nauseous feeling. TK jokes that seems like we r going for picnic :)

Thanks to my darling and supportive hubby, the almost unbearable first trimester is over! Now, we look forward to second trimester (after MS eases) -- the so-called honeymoon period of pregancy :) Hope to have some of my energy back and become more active!

P.S. TK does not want me to take any flight throughout my pregnancy -- it is with much regret that we canceled our Nov trip to Japan. We are sad to miss Mamiko & Tachi-san's wedding and have to forgo running at Yokosuka Seaside Marathon...

How the story begins...

After we signed up for Yokosuka Seaside Marathon in November 2008, we bought a new pair of running shoes and ready to start training in September 2008. I began to experience lower abdominal pain during running but put it off till I began to feel more discomfort. We visited the GP near our home and I was tested positive for pregnancy test! Instead of feeling happy, the doc suspected that I may have conceive outside of the womb(ectopic) and refer me to A&E immediately. That got us worried but both of us braved ourselves to face the obstacle ahead.

We arrived at NUH A&E at 9.37pm. Paid a consultation fee of $80 and the nurse took my blood pressure and asked me some questions (allergies, intensity of pain etc.). A nice friendly female doc was in the room and asked me about my medical history and my purpose of visiting A&E. Upon hearing that I increase of weekly mileage from 9km to 37km within a weak, she suspected I had ligament strain. Next I lied down on the bed and she pressed on various part of my abdomen -- no pain at specific area (center is urintary tract infection, right/left is conceived out of the womb etc.). Usually, if I have any complication, I would be having fever, dizziness, and severe pain when she pressed on the abdomen. She assured me that I am fine and should see a gynae. Phew, that was great news! Gosh, a false alarm! I was discharged at 11pm and we reached home at 11.20pm. TK would like to keep the good news to ourselves and immediate family until my pregnancy is stable (after 1st trimester).

Ultrascan pictures of our little one ...

We look forward to our visits to the gynaecologist -- to see our baby's progress and watch it's movement. Here's some ultrasound pictures of our little one.

Sept 24 : 6.5 weeks @ 4.3mm

The tiny dot is our precious little one!

Oct 22 : 10.5 weeks @ 35mm

Amazing that we can see the eyes, nose and mouth! Such joy when we see our baby waving at us and seems like it is doing it's own marathon :) Hmm, is that why mummy is feeling tired easily??!!

Nov 5 : 12.5 weeks @ 61.7mm

Double growth in 2 weeks! A slight cough and baby will flip over!

After 1 wedding & 3 honeymoon trips...

After our wedding in March 2008, we immediately set off for our 1st honeymoon trip to Japan. It was romantic trip as we visited a ski resort in Iwate, famous onsen village in Kusatsu, bustling city in Sendai, scenic Hakone and a short stay in Tokyo to catch up with our Japanese friends. Oh, how we missed the yummy & fresh Japanese food!

Our 2nd honeymoon trip was to USA in June 2008 and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on the road trip from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon, Yosemite, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- beautiful beautiful scenery! We experienced some heart-stopping moments when our car almost ran out of gas in the desert and when we drove through thick smoke from a mountain on fire! Very happy to meet up with my friend Wally who warmly welcome us to stay at his lovely place in Mill Valley.

Our 3rd honeymoon trip was a short getaway to Koh Samui, Thailand in August 2008 for snorkeling, island hopping & ATV adventure.

Our plan for 4th honeymoon trip to Japan in November 2008 to attend my good friend Mamiko's traditional Japanese wedding (and run a cool climate race at Yokosuka Seaside Half-Marathon) was canceled unexpectedly -- a pleasant surprise by the discovery of the "fruit" of our love :)

I juz enter my 2nd trimester and hope my morning sickness(which last through the whole day) will subside soon :) If everything goes well, our "fruit" of love will join us in mid May 2009 :) Being 1st time parent, this is a whole new experience to us -- do stay tune to more updates here...