39 weeks+.... apparently only 6 days to go

I'm getting a little skeptical that this baby will come before her due date like my OB has predicted. We had another quick visit last week and Baby M is still 1/5th engaged (or 4/5th in my pelvis already). Same position she's been in for the last 2 weeks. My friends tell me that she must be very clever as she's waiting for her Mum to get over her cough and runny nose and for her Dad to finish up at work. The good news is that my cough is nearly gone and tomorrow is a public holiday here in Singapore so it would be an excellent time to come out and meet us sometime on Wed.

I don't have that 'sick of being pregnant' feeling, just bittersweet that this may be my last pregnancy and I'm trying to enjoy feeling the kicks and squirms while I still can.  On the other hand there has been so many babies born recently that I'm getting very very jealous of waiting for my turn. I've had wonderful news from a friend of mine in Brisbane who'd I'd only chatted to as recently as last Friday night, that she had her baby girl Olivia Neve today. She and I have been on this pregnancy journey together from the moment we discovered that we were pregnant (around 3-4 weeks along) at Christmas time last year, so the birth of her baby is particularly special.

Here we are sharing a funny moment in front of the camera on the computer.

Matthew's doing really well and continues to amaze us with his Mandarin speaking skills. He knows his colours and basic phrases in Mandarin. I've had to learn random phrases like 'liú bí tì' (my nose is running) and colours like blue 'Lan Se',  red 'Hong Se', yellow 'Huang Se' and orange 'Ju Huang Se' in Mandarin just so that I can keep up with him. The downside of having a bilingual toddler is that instead of having 'No' yelled at you just in English, I get it in Mandarin too 'Pu yǒu!' - together we are teaching Duncan how to speak Mandarin ;)

Day off school

Matthew and I both have a nasty chesty cough so we've quarantined ourselves once again.

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to in our spare time, as you might be able to notice, he doesnt appear to be all that sick.

Where's 'The Matthew'? (38 week belly shot)

Oh there he is!!

less 3 weeks to go...

I'm still feeling pretty relaxed, though in the last couple of days a little bit of a tickle in the throat has turned into a chesty cough. I'm sure it'll clear up soon but it has made my practice of daily relaxations more difficult. It does however help me practice being able to slip into a state of relaxation in less then conducive situations eg. in a hospital birthing suite situation with nurses and doctors coming and going.

We had a doctors appointment yesterday afternoon and took Matthew along for the first time. I'd prepared a great big tub of baby carrots and another of blueberries in anticipation of needing distractions. Matthew was really well behaved and sat quietly on Duncan's lap while my Dr did the usual checks and scans. He wasnt particularly interested in the black and white ultrasound images, nor did he saw any signs of worry when I hopped up on the bed. He simply sat quietly and watched.

Doctor appointment was super quick and unremarkable. There are no scan pictures this time as Baby M's head is so very low and engaged already that it was impossible to get a 3D picture of her. She's ready and I'm ready so it's very likely that I won't make it to my due date according to my doctor. Doctors notations on my admission letter to the hospital are:

Antenatally: uncomplicated, kiv waterbirth and physiological 3rd stage, (EFW 3.2 - 3.4kg), ROA, No CRN

Let me translate - keep in view that I've requested for a waterbirth and requested for a natural delivery of the placenta. Estimated fetal weight is between 3.2 to 3.4 kg. Baby is currently 'Right Occiput Anterior' which means that she is head down with her spine curved along my right side, kicks can be felt under my left ribs and punches can be felt above my left pelvis - I've become quite the expert in figuring out what position baby is laying in. No CRN means that there is no cord around the neck.

Some of the other things we have decided to do differently this time is to request for delayed cord clamping and for Baby to be 'roomed-in' which means that she will stay in my room for the duration of my 2 day hospital stay rather than taken to the nursery.

My next visit to the doctors is on Tuesday. Will keep everyone posted.

Happy Birthday Mr President!

Hah... I just found out that President Obama and I share the same birthday.

I had both my doula and her trainee doula popped by last night and we did a run through of a unplanned home birth scenario. Duncan now knows all the important things to do if Baby M were to arrive so quickly that there left no time to get to the hospital. It seems that Duncan's main task is to 'catch the baby' and to make sure I don't birth on the loo! There's no running around boiling water or wiping sweat off my brow it seems. We were also rest assured that it's ok if baby is a little blue initially as she will pink up within seconds and given a brief description on how to hold the baby face down under the chin and rub her back to gently encourage her to take breath and cry. Oh yes, and for me to lay down after given birth so I don't pass out. Pretty straight forward (I took notes during our chat)... home birth anyone??

Duncan and I must give off a 'we are very relaxed about the birth' vibe because it's the 2nd time now she's brought up the subject of a home birth. My OB and Doula do attend home births. But we need to decide early-ish whether we are going to head to the hospital or have the baby in the lounge room. Just not somewhere in between like in the car on the expressway or the lift When I laughed, my doula mistook my amusement for disbelief, but I assured her I knew full well that that sometimes can happen as my Mum had two precipitous births (less than 3 hours from first contraction). My sister arrived in under an hour and was almost born in a taxi as Mum tells the story and I took two and a bit hours. This also not the first time it's been suggested to me that Baby M my come quickly. I guess I will find out soon enough if this will be the case. Only 30 more days to go.