"Supernatural Childbirth"

Recently, my pastor's wife passed us this book called "Supernatural Childbirth".

I recalled friends who are Christians and themselves mothers all having read this book and getting very inspired by it. There was a friend WHL who even experience it herself and told me that she didn't feel much pain during the labour and even managed to laugh through it! WOW!

The stuff in there were really quite inspiring to both YL and myself and if we were to act on it, it would be a really faith-building event! I will readily confess that whilst I believe that it happens, it is difficult to claim it for myself.

Well, we've still got about 5 months away before D-day, so have got plenty of time to build up my faith level! :)

Result of maternal serum screening blood test

Received a letter today from the hospital to inform us that the recent maternal serum screening blood test has shown that bambini is not at high risk for Down's syndrom or an open neural tube defect.

Totally forgot about having done this test during our 1st NHS visit....but certainly thankful of the outcome.

:)

1st encounter with NHS Maternity - 15th week scan

Yuan Liang has tentatively called our little one "Bambini", which means "multiple children" in Italian, but we know that we are only expecting one. We do not know yet whether it is a "bambino" (little boy) or a "bambina" (little girl) and therefore gave it a more neutral/generic term.

Today's our first encounter with NHS maternity system. We have registered with the Maternity Department of Queen Charlotte and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith. They are supposed to be one of the newer hospital and therefore are better equipped with supposedly high tech machines...

After a short wait, we were called upon by a midwife, who happened to be a Chinese Malaysian lady. The UK system is much more personal...the midwife patiently explained to us the various procedures and did the various tests (apart from blood test and ultrasound), and gave us stacks and stacks of free magazine, and brochures to read. Over in UK, u don't see the doctor/gynae himself/herself at such an early stage, and only do so if you have a problematic pregnancy or are about to give birth. Praise God that so far, the pregnancy has been really smooth.

Unlike the Singapore system of "public hospitals" (which only admitted the mother into the ultrasound room, at least that was what happened to us in KK Hospital), Yuan Liang was allowed into the ultrasound room this time, and had the pleasure (for the first time!!) of seeing his Bambini stretching his/her hands and feets and sucking his/her thumb, all these "live and real time". It was all very exciting for him! The nice ultrasound lady printed two images for us, one of which is shown below.

You should be able to spot his/her facial features and clenched left fist...the legs are curled up and cannot be seen clearly here.

The baby is currently approximately 15cm long head to toe. Too bad, we couldn't yet spot the gender. The ultrasound lady said we should be able to have a better look at it when we next come back at the 21st week. We're now only in the 15th + week.

Beginning of 2nd Trimester!

Yay, the baby and me have passed our first trimester together with FLYING COLORS!! :)

Things that we need to thank God for:
a) No morning sickness! Actually, my appetite has been pretty normal!
b) No food craving...(can u imagine, if i crave for singapore chilli crab, YL has to fly back to Singapore to buy that for me???)
c) No bleeding scare
d) No skin blemishes/outbreak
e) Not much discomfort of any kind....

Subtle experiences which didn't really bother me:
a) Sleepiness: Just kept feeling extremely sleepy and was taking daily afternoon naps!
b) Frequent Urination (thats common 'cos the womb is pushing down the bladder)
c) Slight backache : Need to adjust sleeping position to sleep at the side.
d) Slight nose bleed for a short while
e) Slight sore eye for a short while

So we have done pretty well so far! *Pat tummy!*
....ok, lets now move onward, and outward into the second trimester!! :)

Looking forward to tomorrow's checkup

Looking forward to tomorrow...
Wonder if our child would be as vain?? :)

What to expect when you are expecting!

Inspired by our first prenatal checkup, we decided that we need to read up more about pregnancy to prepare ourselves for the weeks and months ahead.

We were at MPH and saw the book "What to expect when you are expecting". As lots of our friends have recommended us this book, we purchased a copy.

So now, we're armed with the so-called "pregnancy bible"!! :)

First Hospital Checkup - KKH (8th weeks)

As we're back in Singapore for my bro's wedding, we took the opportunity to register with a local hospital, since we are likely to already be back home from London, for the delivery of the baby.

Based on friends' recommendations, we decided to approach Dr Benjamin Tham of KK Women's and Children's Hospital in Singapore (thats where both YL and myself were borned!!) ...

The wait at KKH was rather long...so many pregnant women around with their partners/husbands.... After registration, we waited and then were told to go to various places to have my weight and blood pressure taken as well as to go for a urine test. Then it was finally time for our first ultrasound scan, but to YL's disbelief, daddies were not allowed into the ultrasound room!! ;(

I went into the room by myself, rather scared and wondering to myself, "what if the ultrasound finds nothing in my womb?" So far, the pregnancy has seemed really unreal to me as there has been no pregnancy symptoms (e.g. no nausea) and we have really been relying on "just four positive pregnancy tests"!!

The ultrasound lady told me to lie on the table, and then proceeded to scan my naked tummy. In a very unemotional tone, she then told me "see, only one baby hah", as she pointed to me the this little sac like shape, and single flashing light on the screen. I think she meant "you're are not expecting twins"...but thought that she could have put it across in a warmer manner. She then took the measurement of the baby/ fetus, and reported that it was 19mm long!! Wow, "how small", I thought!! Pointing out the flashing light again, she told me that that was the baby's heartbeat and it was "good and strong". The whole experience finally convinced me that there is indeed a life beating well in my tummy!

The ultrasound lady then printed out one image for me as a momento (but of course we have to pay for it!), and then gave me my records and asked me to wait outside Dr Tham's consultation room. YL was quick to ask to have a look at the picture. You can just see his eyes light up when he looked at the photo...lots of love, lots of joy and anticipation!

After some wait, we finally got to see Dr Tham. He was really nice, jovial and patient with us. He told us that based on the ultrasound scan report, we are 8+ weeks pregnant, and the estimated due date is 26 Nov 2005.

Coincidetally, Dr Tham has experienced the NHS maternity system himself, as his wife was pregnant when he was in London for six months for some training earlier on . He said that whilst the NHS may do certain things differently, they would nevertheless provide us with the appropriate care needed. Also, he assured us that we have nothing to worry about the baby, as he/she seems to be very healthy and normal at this stage. He then give us a list of things to note, his email address (in case we need to contact him urgently) and an "open date" to go back to him when we return back to Singapore in September.

Wow, 26 Nov 2005....Christmas this year would be so different!!! =)