YL's contact number

My office colleague, Lynn is getting very excited for me about the impending birth. She just made me write down YL's contact number on my cubicle white board so that she can easily phone him should I suddenly go into labour!!

Big Baby!

Went to our gyne, Dr Benjamine Tham, at AMK's KK Women's Clinic for our 37th week checkup today.

The queue was so long at the clinic that it really felt somewhat like a supermarket with kids swinging around chairs, etc, and the nurses, pharmacist and cashier calling out the names of patients, trying to compete with the voices of the screaming kids....quite amusing!

It finally got to our turn to go into Dr Tham's consultation room, and in his usual chirpy and charming voice, he asked "How're you and your darling doing today??"... After all the procedural question and chatting, we finally got to YL's favourite activity, going onto the ultrasound machine (so that he can wave and say "hi" to Isaac!).

Dr Tham was measuring Isaac at various positions to estimate how much he might be weighing....To his astonishment, he proclaimed that Isaac had grown lots since the last time (3 weeks ago) he measured him (at 2.2kg). He said that based on the measurements, the conservative estimate of Isaac's weight is 3kg, and said that the ideal weight for a baby to come out naturally should be around 3.2kg.

So I was ordered to stop taking in any tonic, ice-cream and french fries (sob sob!!), not to take too much rice, noodles nor bread!! In my mind i was wondering what then can i eat??? :(

But I also feel that Isaac has grown heavier. Its not so much how my tummy look (cos it still looks pretty compact to me and i am still pretty mobile!), but that i can feel him weighing me down when i sleep at night, if i happen to lay on my back.

According to Dr Tham and the ultrasound machine, Isaac has apparantly began to prepare himself for the big landing, having shifted his position. His head and hands are now on the right side of my tummy, and his legs on the left side of my tummy. No wonder, I felt the little boy gave me a really strong kick at the left side of my tummy yesterday, making me nearly double-over in pain (its the first painful kick that he gave!). Also, now we can really see the obvious movements of his legs on the left side of my tummy...

Oh dear....YL just told me that I need to go on a diet!! sob!

=)

Bassinets

We finally set up the bassinets at both our Marine Terrace apartment (where we are living) and my parents' place at Palm Drive (where I will be having my confinement)! Thanks to Christel and Lynn for lending them to us!!

Contrary to what we thought earlier, a bassinet is NOT a small basin/tub to bathe our kid. It can serve as both a play pen as well as a sleeping cot!

Looking at the bassinet sitting happily in our bedroom brings the reality of the impending newcomer back even closer to home (literally speaking too!).... :)

Prayer received for Isaac

Was in church today and decided to "go up to the altar" and respond to the Word/sermon of the day.

Pastor Adrian prayed for me and then later Pastor Pauline came over to pray for me too (so blessed to have 2 pastors praying for me one after the other!!). Pastor Pauline released to me a word/vision which she felt she had received from God and then proceeded to pray for little Isaac in my tummy. She prayed that Isaac would have the character of David - one who loves God and pursues God...who holds His word to his heart.

Well, its really nice to receive prayer for our little one....also reminds me that we need to prayfully bring up the child, that at the end of the day, he really belongs to the Lord and yl and myself are mere stewards of God's child.

Researching...

With Bambino due in about a month's time, we thought that we should start researching on baby products. We are blessed with YL's sis - Christel, who is passing us several stuffs which her son Joel and daughter Glory have used (and outgrown), such as playpen/bassinet, bath basin, and several baby clothings.

We just went to two big baby supermarkets in an industrial park in Kaki Bukit yesterday night to research on baby car seats and strollers... It was really 大开眼界 for us as the salesperson patiently explained to us the various versions and models and what we should consider in making our decision on what to buy. The prices were also "eye-popping"...the strollers can cost anything from less than S$50 to S$700!!! And the car seats could also cost between S$70s to S$400+!

Well, YL was insisting on keeping the cost reasonable and taking into account the practical aspects of the products, whilst my pregnant mind got rather excited about the potential of the various "cool-looking" models! :)

Will I be able to go or not?

....question pertains to my office Dinner and Dance on the 18th Nov (Friday).

Estimated due date is 26th Nov (Saturday), and I am just not so sure if Isaac would be on time or would he want to meet the world much earlier! Heck, I'll just sign up for the DND, and see if I could turn up. Just praying that Isaac doesn't decide to "pop out" during the DND itself! :)

A month's worth of update!

Gosh, its been more than a month since we've last updated the website. All due to the lack of ease of access to internet connection in our new home. But now that we've got the broadband set up, we're back online again!! :)

A couple of things have happened since:

1) FLIGHT HOME (24 - 25 Sep) : We flew across continents back from London to Singapore. Having called London our 2nd home for the past 3 years, it is with many mixed feelings that we're returning back to Singapore for good. We're gonna' miss the weather, the picturesque countrysides, hill and mountains, as well as our several good friends in UK! Before flying, we had prayed to be upgraded to business class with our Kris miles. Well, that didn't get answered but the important point is that sze travelled without discomfort in the economy class....which would have been better than having the business class upgrade but still with discomfort.

2) FAMILY : Our parents were naturally delighted to receive us back as well as being with us with the impending delivery of Bambino. Sze's exuberant mum was so excited that the first thing she did upon seeing one another back in Singapore was to rush to sze and hug sze's tummy rather than sze herself (shouting in joy "welcome back my grandson")!! Sze was naturally amused and somewhat embarassed in the airport, a very public place! YL's mum's showed her joy in her beautiful wide smile as she was hugged by YL when we arrived at the airport.

Since our arrival, we've been spending loads of quality time with both sides of the family, having dinners at their place, going out together and chatting to one another... :)

3) BAMBINO : We visited the gynae twice, first without ultrasound and the second time with ultrasound. YL asked our gynae to reconfirm the baby's gender. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence until the gynae broke in and asked " What did I tell you the last time, boy or girl?" Sze said, "you've never told us anything before this!". Instantly, the gynae heaved a sigh of relief, "I must have confused you with another patient! I thought I'd told you before that the baby was a girl but he is obviously a boy!" We all broke up in laughter and relief. This is a strong double confirmation. As is in YL's trait, he likes things to be reconfirmed again and again.

The gynae confirmed that the baby is growing "on target" and doubted that Bambino would arrive anytime before the estimated date of delivery - 26 Nov 2005! We're still hoping that he would arrive a couple of days earlier, so that sze need not be "confined" over christmas day! :)

Latest ultrasound image shows the ever maturing facial features of Bambino (shot from the left side of his face)!

Meanwhile, sze has been feeling the even stronger kicks and flips of Bambino. One day, whilst working, she saw that the office tag that she usually wears around her neck which was resting on her tummy (as she sits and types away on her office computer) was moving around, and realised that it was actually caused by the "tremours" that Bambino is creating in the tummy...it was a most amusing sight!

[p/s: Another of Bambino's playmate has arrived! Sze's good friend YN has delivered a pretty baby girl in mid October....!! Congrats to the lovely family!]

4) WORK : We've both started work!! YL had 5 days of disembarkation leave (starting from the day we flew from uk) and started work on 29 Sep. Sze on the other hand, had a longer break in between to adjust to the time-difference as well as the hot weather! She started work on 10 Oct, but fell ill two days later and received a two-day order of rest (MC) from her doctor! You should have seen the look of embarassment when she submitted the MC to her boss and sheepishly joked that she must have been allergic to work!! (well, who isn't??? hahaha!).

5) CHURCH : We've quickly settled down in church and even cellgroup. We're now attending a relatively new church called Riverplace Church which meets in one of the function room in Merchent Court Hotel. The church is pastored by Pastor Adrian (who incidentally married both of us when we were in FCBC!). We could feel the presence of the Lord as we worshipped there and learn the truths of life from the bible through the weekly sermons. YL has also volunteered himself in the church band, sometimes playing the guitar or the keyboard. Steadily, we're getting to know the brothers and sisters in the church. We've settled down in our good friend, Melvin's cell which meets largely in the Tampines/Simei area (where nearly half the cell members stay there!).

One thing that struck us about the church is that it is full of kids and babies! Think it must be the anointing of Pastor Adrian, who himself with his wife Lynette has 4 children! We think that the church is going to have a really strong children ministry! And with so many mothers around, there were much advice generously dispensed to us on how to prepare for labour and bring up little Isaac! :)