January 2012

Prequel

Last period was in November 2011, before I went visiting my cousin in Brisbane then backpacking in Sydney. I was already looking forward to my next vacation trip!

Spotting in December 2011. Feeling perfectly fine and wasn't bothered. Was out having fun with colleagues at Zouk and MBS Ku De Ta, letting my hair down and wildly jumping on the dance floor in my killer heels. And alcohol is of course unavoidable. I guess one little drink once a while won't harm, right? I was totally clueless then.

January 2012

The first few weeks of 2012 were a torture. I couldn't sleep well at night. Feeling fatigue, plus my killer timetable of continuous hours of teaching, makes me really tired beyond words. Felt quite depressed sometimes. Vomited once in school after lunch. Always feeling bloated and hungry at the same time. It's a very complex feeling, of wanting to eat and wanting to purge at the same time. Feeling horribly cranky. A close colleague was saying it might be the 'school reopening anxiety'... what's with me teaching all the most notorious folks in school, such tough luck! But after a week he (biology teacher!) commented that I could be pregnant. Felt like murdering him for the comment because it's what I feared most. I still wanna go mambo in the next holidays with him and the rest of my favourite colleagues! We've been talking about the coming party sessions and I hate to be the one being left out of all the fun. =(

21 Jan 2012 Tested positive on the pregnancy test stick. Shocked and depressed. Trying to accept the fact... had reunion dinner with hubby's folks at ECP Long Beach and puked the dinner out after we reached home. Made a fuss when I reached Long Beach all cold and drenched after watching a ballet show at Esplanade. Bought the tickets with my colleagues way way back in 2011 and had to make my own way down to ECP after the late afternoon show. It was raining heavily and I wasn't spared from the rain as my tiny umbrella didn't help much. Was acting like a spoilt brat but I was in no mood to act coy and entertain people. Furthermore SIL's bad parenting was getting on my nerves. Almost rolled eyes at her.

22 Jan 2012 Usually I love coffee, but after breakfast (Pontian noodles at Kopitiam Square, was craving for a dry mee-kia dish) when hubby and I walked around Compass Point wanting to do some last minute shopping for new clothes and we walked pass Ya Kun, the aroma of coffee made me feel nauseous. Had plenty of cravings for soya milk though. Later at home hubby kept asking why I've been feeling so unwell and cranky. I kept saying I dunno, until he finally asked if I'm pregnant and I told him about the positive result. He was ecstatic (in a very mild way). I told him not to tell anyone yet, until we've confirmed with gynae. Started looking out for a gynae on local motherhood forums, reading the raves and decided to go see Dr Benjamin Tham Wai Lum (Thomson Medical, lots of raves on forums and I keep feeling that same surname will 多多关照 =P) and Dr Woo Bit Hwa (Punggol Plaza, with raves and also for the proximity from home), then decide on one.

I was hungry at night and craving for soya milk... so hubby brought me down to 7-11 and we got the instant mash potato and soy milk for me! =)

23 Jan 2012 CNY day 1. I have no mood for anything. I didn't even take a single pic of myself in my new top, bought during our last minute shopping on 22 Jan. I didn't have appetite for any of the goodies. Was munching on nuts a lot though. Hubby's relatives were teasing him when he was giving out angpows, so when will he start collecting angpows again? Hubby laughed and said, "Who knows? Maybe next year!" Hubby's relatives were all at our place and creating a din but I was super tired and went napping in my bedroom. Later hubby told me SIL kept asking him why I have been so unwell, and he just shrugged and said he doesn't know.

24 Jan 2012 CNY day 2. Couldn't sleep at night as the mind was super active. I don't know why =( I kept thinking about stuff - work, family, people, things - and then suddenly I would remind myself that I need to rest and I shouldn't be thinking about stuff, and urge my brain to stop it. But my brain wouldn't stop working. It was torturous, and hubby said maybe I should get sleeping pills. =/ Got out of bed in the morning feeling an arising sore throat, which is bad! There's school tomorrow. Had breakfast with MIL. She made coffee for me, told her I just want half a mug instead of a full mug. Had butter cake and the coffee with MIL at the dining table. Hubby still snoozing. And so here I am typing on his PC, creating this blog entry and documenting the journey. Happy CNY everyone! (unfortunately you won't see this entry until I decided to 'release the news' =P at the meanwhile it'll be saved as draft)

25 Jan 2012 First day of school after CNY. Tired! My colleague was right. Although it seemed like we had 4 long days of break, the weekend was spent spring cleaning, having reunion dinners and preparing for CNY, while the next two days were spent visiting relatives and entertaining guests. We need one day to take a real break, but unfortunately we had to be back in school. My four hours were tiring, and I kinda lost my voice at the end of the day. Then a meeting after school assembly, and doing some work and stuff, before hubby came to fetch me. Couldn't reach the two gynaes that I have shortlisted, so ended up at Raffles Medical Women Centre to confirm the pregnancy. Had my first ever scan! Can see the baby's heartbeat already... baby was estimated to be around 8 weeks old. =)

I didn't want to tell others until the first trimester is over. But MIL was in a foul mood. She cooked up a storm because BIL says he's joining for dinner... in the end BIL didn't turn up, FIL went downstairs join his fellow drinking uncles for dinner at kopitiam, plus hubby and I were home late after the scan etc. MIL was fuming, saying if we didn't want to eat, she won't cook anymore... cook already no one wants to eat. I ate very little as usual. I thought over it when bathing, and after bathing I told hubby that maybe we should tell MIL, and get hubby to tell her that is the reason why my appetite is horrible these days and didn't eat much. Hubby went to tell her in cantonese. No reaction except a short uninterested reply. Hubby told me she said she knew it. Maybe from my restlessness or lack of appetite, I dunno. But she seemed unhappy... maybe still fuming over the dinner.

26 Jan 2012 Told my RO, she was more ecstatic than my hubby when she received the news! *LOL* She told me she's very happy for me and will do all she can do help me have a smooth handover when I go away in September. =) I have been drinking soya milk everyday since 21 Jan! I hope it's ok... but I'm really glad that my craving for soya milk overwhelms my love for coffee. I totally stop drinking coffee already! Although my last coffee was only two days ago. =P I only want soya milk now... Had nasi lemak in the canteen for lunch with lots of chilli and Subway veggie patty sandwich for dinner, shared a foot-long with a fellow lady vegetarian colleague. Last night's dinner after the scan was MIL's cooking - hash brown, veggies etc. I didn't like the oily yucky veggies, had minimal veggies and the hash brown with chilli on rice. Hubby dislikes it when I want to eat chilli, he says it's not good. Is it really not good? *shrugs*

27 Jan 2012 When I went down for lunch, canteen stalls were already mostly sold out. Ended up having some rice with some bland curry. Very yucky and made me feel kinda sick. I had a belt on my long shirt, ended up removing the belt... it's making me feel like puking. Headachy and nauseous the entire afternoon while in school for CCA and do some work. This really sucks! MIL bought vegetarian fried bee hoon for me... sucks as much as the food she cooks. I could hardly eat half of the packet... ugh, what a bad bad Friday! Makes me want to cry. (T_T) 

28 Jan 2012 Woke up with craving for carrot cake but MIL bought peanut pancake, which is just as nice. After eating it no more craving for carrot cake =) Followed hubby to UniSIM where he's having a make-up lesson for Tuesday's as it was a CNY holiday... puked out my lunch and sat 3 hours on my own at the study bench reading Chicken Soup: Teacher Tales, then hubby drove me back to my folks' place, so that we can announce the big news to my parents together. He hanged around and went home; tomorrow he's on duty, thus need to be at work the entire Sunday and won't be home at night too. Sigh~ I had dinner with my folks and staying over tonight. My parents didn't appear overly ecstatic when we told them, but knowing them and their conservative ways, I know they are genuinely happy and concerned as they keep telling me to take good care of myself, to watch what I eat, eat well, eat the right things, and so on.

My dear mummy bought this for me! :D

29 Jan 2012 OMG I actually had over 8 consecutive hours of sleep! I love sleeping at my parents' place~ When I'm at home I usually wake up around 4 or 5 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep. But at my folks' place I sleep on the floor next to the toilet in my parents' room, but nothing woke me up, not even my parents getting up and washing up, until I woke up naturally at around 8am for breakfast. Nice!

Dad bought vegetarian beehoon and noodles (mix packet) with springroll and soya milk for me! Super loved~ Mum cooked meesua for lunch, and then I had rice with brown rice for dinner... love mum's cooking to bits. I'll be going back to my parents' place for my confinement. Although my parents are both working, I guess I can cope on my own in the day, and I told mum just to cook my food and leave it for me to warm up when I wanna eat. I guess I can only survive confinement on my mum's cooking. Hee!

30 Jan 2012 Had a super hungry morning today! Once I reached school I had bee hoon, then went to staffroom and made instant organic soy milk, sample from a colleague who's introducing it to me.

It's nice so I'm getting more to store in staffroom =) Then after one hour of PD time I was hungry again! Had a bun and hot milo. Then after one lesson... I was hungry again! Had pineapple tart. Then after the last lesson I was hungry again! Had strawberry love letters. Then in the afternoon went to Carousel for high tea buffet, thanks to my lovely maths HOD! It was an enjoyable afternoon with my colleagues, and my ex-VP (now P of another school) dropped by to say hi, what a pleasant surprise! I whispered my good news to her, can't help it... and she congratulated me and said "You deserve it!" Haha how cute is that?!

31 Jan 2012 Last day of January 2012. Staff meeting, then rushed down to town to meet cousin for dinner at our current favourite eating place - Cedele - for their wholesome meals.

After an enjoyable dinner at Cedele and some brief shopping at Tangs, I took the train home. Gotten a seat and saw a pregnant woman and wanted to give up the seat to her, but she rejected and said while patting her baby bump, "Mine is important, yours is important too!" I guess mine is more of a bloated tummy than a baby bump, but still I whispered a grateful thank you, and after a while, she moved near me and started chatting with me. She asked me how many months mine is, and told me that hers is 4+ months, twin sons. I guess by now the lady beside me is feeling paiseh, and gave up the seat to her. We chatted all the way back. She shared with me her sad story. She had 4 miscarriages due to stress at work, and her husband is 60 years old already! She said with the nursery room all done up and empty after 4 unsuccessful pregnancies, she has given up totally, crying day and night after each miscarriage and blaming herself, but her husband has been very patient with her and she is really grateful. When the doc found out that she is having twins, the husband said that after all the miscarriages, God is now giving her 2 babies, so must really take good care. We also chatted about other stuff, like how she has no morning sickness at all, while I feel like puking once in a while. Fortunately, now the feeling is greatly reduced. She also said that she used to eat fish only, and didn't eat meat, but once she's pregnant she's been craving for meat like crazy, even woke up in the middle of the night asking for steak. Her husband keeps having to ask her if she's ok because previously she avoid meat at all cost. She also shared a lot of other things like how taking more soy milk is good (told her about my crazy craving!) and can add some pearl powder for good complexion (really?!) and while milk is also good, a lot of people are allergic to cow's milk, so maybe getting goat's milk from Hay's is good too. I asked her if she has visited any motherhood forum (I asked because I wanted to keep in contact with her on forum) and she said that she knows a lot because she was a nurse. She stays in Seng Kang but chatted with me all the way to Punggol and took one station back, which is really sweet of her. It's been great chatting with her and may she be blessed with 2 healthy and strong baby boys. =)

While on LRT, I realized there are actually many pregnant ladies around me. Which means, in 7 years' time, everyone will be having a hard time enrolling the dragon babies into a primary school in this region! OMG, stressed!!