Here comes the stork...

Please welcome my baby boy.

Name: Gerard Bradly Adrian
DOB: 19 October 2009 (same birthday with the dad)
Time: 3.11 pm
Weight: 3.3 kg
Length: 50.5 cm

I had a normal delivery. Doing my confinement now. My mom is taking care of me. Busy being a milk factory. Will post more later.

Hahaha...it's almost 2 am and I'm still awake. Just finished my peanut butter sandwich (using wholemeal bread la) and a mug of organic soy drink. Almost tempted to eat KitKat in the fridge but I know someone would be inventoring the chocs tomorrow. Not craving enough as to risk the long and winded nagging later on.

The hubby is fast asleep in front of the tv with the remote firmly in his hand. The wife is still surfing the net. The baby is having so much time kicking and wiggling inside mummy's tummy. Sometimes my ab feels keras2 and then I'll feel the need pee. Now.

Birth plan

First read Hypnobirthing from Farrah's blog when I was still in my 2nd trimester. Thought nothing about it. Last night as I was surfing the net (because I couldn't sleep due to the fact that I had hours of afternoon nap), I came across an article about Hypnobirthing (hypnosis for childbirth) in Baiboo.

It is basically a mind-over-matter technique to ease labour pains minus drugs. The intense pain felt is due to fear of the birthing process (no thanks to your mama friends or SILs that just looove to share their labour stories!) that causes the uterus muscle to tense. Hypnosis (which involves focused concentration) helps women to fully relax in order for muscles to work the way they are intended during labour. Mothers are to visualise having a calm and peaceful birth.

And so the plan would be:

1. No panicking and rushing to clinic the moment my contractions start for real. Instead take my sweet time to take a shower and really clean my hair. Since kk specialist is not far from home, 8 minutes between contractions should be okay.
   
2. Remind hubby not to panic.
3. Upon checking in, must walk around while waiting.
4. Have my "entertainment package" with me all time to help me relax and be comfortable.
5. During labour, visualise the baby coming out gently into the world. Have total confidence in my own body's abilities.

My "entertainment package"

And if God's willing, I'll have a smooth labour.

Is it time?

How does a proper contraction feels like? I thought I was going into labour last monday. I woke up in the wee hour with this burning pain on my upper abdomen. It was cripplingly painful that you just can't even sit down. But nooo, apparently I am not anywhere near labour...cause I'm still here in front of my monitor.

It's been almost 4 days of having some on/off pain at my lower back, sometimes on my upper abs...and that's it. So I'm really hoping it will be soon, very very soon because I'm tired of going to work...and I'm losing weight but baby keeps getting heavier. Yesterday found out baby is currently 3.4kg! Blame that on my hubby - I come from small sized family so it must be his genetic and simply because I want to. Blame someone else. No way I'm going to blame myself.

And how come most people always assume that they have a right to comment on a parent's choice of name? Hey, I'm the one carrying this baby for 40 weeks, dealing with all the pain and sweet moments. So how come I don't have the right to name the little one as I wish? Huh? It's not like I'm choosing Gurangak or something (even I do, what's it got to do with you). Wait for your own baby la...Just save the "apa lah maksud dia tu?".

Something to give me comfort:

It came to me and I said, "OK, this is where I go now." I had diabetes while I was pregnant. I became huge. And I said, "This is what it takes for me to have the baby, and I really want it." Then you don't know if it's going to be healthy; you are completely out of control. So the experience really makes you humble.
( Salma Hayek when asked about her pregnancy)

p/s: that's not my tummy...mine does not look anywhere as beautiful as that.

Menghitung hari...

I have 12 days to go!!! Went to see Dr S on wednesday. After feeling my bump and scanning he told my husband " malam ni pun boleh sudah labour ni". Apa lagi my hub pun ternganga pucat nie...Haha so funny the expression. Hai, boleh juga duktur ni berjokes ah...

Me? Part of me cannot wait, if can I want to go into labour NOW. Sooo impatient already to see the little person. Another part so nervous la - how do you really know you are in labour? Some say like want to berak but cannot nie. Some say extreme lower back pain. And then ada yang got bloody show and water break. But lagi best jawapan Dr S: "You will know." Cess, thats all the answer I got after paying mahal2 ni...

Beauty regime

All my life I have always thought I have the oiliest skin ever! Everytime I purchase beauty products I'll always go for combination to oily or acne prone line. But my skin stays oily and at the same time you can see some fine lines. It looks dry but sooo shiny. Tried every product - from expensive one (Mary Kay, Clinique) to cheap one (Ponds, Garnier, Loreal). As for facewash I used Acneaid for a very long time.

Then when I got pregnant, my face become worst. It will seems so dry, yet oily at the surface and I was having breakouts. It went on until I was 7 months pregs (at one point I was contemplating on buying SKII products but sooo very the expensive for me la). Then one day I changed my facewash to this:

This really works on me. My face do not feel tight after washing anymore and it feels much more softer. And guess what? I do not look dry anymore and the surface oil is not so bad. The conclusion that I made: I have self-diagnosis my type of skin incorrectly. I don't have oily skin but the harsh products I used cause my skin to produce more oil.

Time to change all my products than. So these are the products I've been using for about 2 months:

Very good stuff. My skin looks sooo much better (of course I still have the occasional breakouts but it wasn't so bad anymore). Yahoo!

I try to used this scrub and mask at least once a week.

Another great product:

Minyak zaitun Safi

I've been using more than dozen of this minyak since I found out I was pregnant. I use it to massage my tummy, my bum2 and thigh. As for now, I'm still stretch mark free (touch wood!). Why use good ol' olive oil? It is much easier absorbed by skin and much much easier on the wallet. So if I am meant to have some stretch mark at any point in my pregnancy at least nda sakit hati sangat la...

Lesson learned: Great products doesn't have to be expensive.

P/S: I'm taking a day off today eventhough I just had a very looong cuti raya. The reason: I did not sleep well last night and woke up this morning feeling so tired...now okay sudah, can blog already ;)

To do list

Look what I got!

A few girlfriends threw a baby shower for me (it was in august actually but I was so lazy to blog) Thanks girls...Hehehe, my shopping list can be shorten now.

And a friend also gave this last week:

I was thinking of buying MAM bottles but we'll see.

And this arrive last friday:

My Ameda BP!

I've been enjoying cuti since wednesday (until 27th!)...hehe...but I must wash all barang2 baby aand pack my hospital bag. Yesterday I managed to wash my bag (yang dikorek2 di bawah katil dan dalam keadaan yang berkulat dan berhabuk itu...) and finally wash my ringsling (handwash, mind you!) Today managed to wash prefolds, towel and clothes. Yeah!

Still have tons of things to do but finally I can tick something off...
And tomorrow going back to Papar (ILs) to spend the Raya holiday...so there would be no internet, and nothing else to do but watch tv for 4 days. Sadly I won't be going to any open house this year because I do not think I have the strength to resist temptations (in the form of kuih makmur, biskut2 raya, rendang, lemang...aargh!). Rather than menelan air liur di rumah orang, I'll just stay at home lah.

But maybe I can persuade A8 to go shopping for some reading materials tonight...

And this is me at about 6 months:

This is how I look now (36 wks):

P/S: Selamat Hari Raya and Selamat bercuti everyone!

Craving?

This is what I've been craving for the past few days:
My own homemade pisang goreng!

Hahaha...I should have just bought at any stall earlier this week (and that was what hubby been saying eeeverytime). But I want pisang goreng with certain criteria only:

1. Crunchy - bukan yang lembik2 and berminyak lagi tu
2. Using ripe banana - sometime they use this pisang separuh masak yang sangat tiada rasa. I know this one suppose to be eaten with cecah sambal but I prefer to eat my pisang goreng as it is.
3. Well done - boleh pakai ka untuk pisang goreng term ini? Ala, yang ada terbakar-bakar sikit.

So for this weekends, I cook pisang goreng for breakfast 2 days in a row using the banana given by my MIL. Ada ka orang mengandung mengidam masakan sendiri?

And this is a toy I want:

Janome 2049 (RM2499!)

A sewing machine? Hahaha must be going loco...

Hubby punya reaction: Betul2 ko mo jahit sendri semua baju ko ka?
Me: Kelip2 mata ja...

Haiii...cannot wait to deliver. I think I've been pregnant forever...but at the same time really nervous about delivering and being totally responsible with another human...am I nurturing enough? Can I really do this? Another 5 wks ++ to go...