Sisterly love

The little girl was pleased as Punch to finally get to carry her even littler brother in her arms. Finally, after months of waiting.



This is how she kisses - on the lips. It almost looks like CPR in progress. :)



Only way to get her to detach herself from the baby was when we asked her to help us to wheel the baby back to the nursery.



Finally, at home. She would be all over him whenever she gets the chance.



She examines the socks that she bought for him.

Very pleased that she can see and touch him with the help of a low stool.

Hugs and kisses.

Smother smother smother.

Close examination now that he is at eye level.

Any closer and she would be lying on him. Heh heh.

Delivery process of B

17 June Thu
9pm to 11pm. B usually moves a great deal daily, especially during this period. He'd be squirming from the time I put K to bed. I would end up playing with him by rubbing him or tapping on the part that sticks out while watching TV and even when I go to bed, he'd still be wriggling. Tonight - there was no movement. I was naturally worried.

18 June Fri
10am. Had called the clinic earlier to ask about going in to the clinic to do a check on B. Went to Dr Sim's clinic. Baby was ok. He was moving alot, again. His heartbeat was also ok. But Dr Sim asked if we want to move the c-section earlier to today.

We talked about it over lunch at Long House. We went through what the plans would be if we had the procedure done today as compared to on Monday as was orginally scheduled. Conclusion was that it would be less traumatic for K if we had it today.

But it was a little sudden and we / I needed time to accept the plan. I had to come to terms with reality that it would mean that I'd never experience a natural birth. It would mean I would miss the Gazillion bubble show. It would mean I won't get to introduce the baby to K.

We picked K up from school early so that I could nap with her. At about 3pm, we called the clinic to ask about the admission procedure and what time we would need to admit. Then everything was set in motion. Sent Dopey for boarding. Aircon repair man finally came. Got Kim to eat her tea. Packed my hospital bag for the last time. Packed Kim's bag for her time at the hospital. Called mum to get her to meet us at the hospital. Called my parents to tell them the plan. Called Ah Chu, the confinement lady.

At 5pm, we set off. The theatre was only available at 8pm so we were to admit at 6pm.

Admission took a while. Senior Nurse Thong went through my medical history with me. We saw Nurse Joan! She was the one who took really good care of me and K when K was born. Both of them tried to engage K. She finally told them her name!

We came to the ward where we got to put down out things. My neighbour was there and she had tonnes of visitors who really didn't have any initiative. I was dressed only in my gown and was trying to climb onto the trolley but they just stood there in the room. Like, hello. Can you leave for a while?!

Peen's mum came along to watch over K. I gave K a big hug and kiss before I went in. I was quite emotional. I mean only God knew the outcome, right? I wanted to keep holding onto my little girl.

I was left in the waiting area while while Peen went to change into his gown. Then at 7.30pm, I went into theatre.





There I met Dr YC Lim, the anaesthetist. He's older than the previous one I had, Dr Wong KH and more chatty too. I got to chat with him about my previous experience and some symptoms that I had experienced. He took time to try to explain why I might have had those symptoms and he would try to prevent some of them this time round.

I told him about the need to keep moving the last time, that I felt very restless. He gave me a white solution every few minutes. I felt the effects of the first dose very soon after. It made me feel high, like I had had a few drinks. It was to counter the restlessness and to counter the shivers. He was also very reassuring.

Dr Sim came in about 8.03pm. I only realised then that she was teochew too. And so was Dr Lim. It turned out to be a teochew conversation throughout. It was quite funny.

P came in shortly after. He kept asking if I was ok. I was. I wasn't too worried either as Dr Lim had already put me at ease. Besides, I had the happy white concoction to keep my spirits up.

Only a few seconds after administering the epidural, I felt its effects. Although I had already gone through it previously, I was surprised at how I didn't have any feeling in my legs and had absolutely no control over them. Tried as I did, I simply could not move a muscle in them! They felt like two dead fish to me. Dr Lim was quite amused when I told him that. He laughed, telling Dr Sim that I had "two see he" (two dead fish in teochew).

Not long after, it was time for the Drs to push the baby out. This was usually done by the anaesthetist. I was surprised at how quick it was this time round and how I didn't feel anything. I could the last time feel the kneading, as if I was a lump of dough.

Out came B at 8.15pm crying. But he wasn't as loud as K. Oh, he really looks like K. P said that he has my ears. And he has P's eyes and nose. Oh no. The same lousy combi that K has. Only hope he'll still turn out as cute as K.



Was wheeled out at 8.51pm. P wasn't with me anymore. He went with B to the nursery, presumably to count his fingers and toes and for B to have his measurements taken.

Weight: 3.035kg

Length: 48cm

Head circumference: 33.5cm

Happy birthday little guy. Welcome to this world. Welcome to this family. Welcome to my life.

Baking of the second one

21 Oct 2009 Wed

I wanted to spend the day with Kim so I didn’t send her to school today. We went to Mum’s place to pick up fabric from Maria and spent some time there. Then I brought the little girl to Parkway Parade for lunch and some shopping. In the afternoon while she slept, I decided to take the test.

So I took out the pregnancy test kit which I had bought the day before. Turned out that it was a digital test kit. $30++ it cost! So instead of a minus and plus, it would read pregnant or not pregnant. So weird. Anyway, it turned out POSITIVE! I couldn’t believe my eyes and it took me a while to register that.



I didn’t want to tell P yet. Wanted to wait till 25 Nov (our anniversary) before telling him. What a long wait it would be.

I brought K to Compass Point to meet him for dinner. K ate quite a bit of my rice. She refused to eat what I had apportioned for her initially but when I fed her plain rice, she was happy to eat it. I was happy that she did. I was generally in a happy mood and was smiling widely. Suddenly, P asked me if I was expecting. Like, huh? Where did he get that from?!?! I couldn’t lie so I said yes. He was ecstatic. :0)

Weight 62.7kg

22 Oct 2009
I made a gynae appointment for this morning. I knew it was a little early but I would be working the next three weeks so I wasn’t sure that I would have time to go see the gynae.

I made my way to Thomson Medical to see Dr LN Sim. I didn’t remember her much. She turned out all right. But wasn’t quite as warm as I remembered her to be. Anyway, she said that she couldn't see the foetus from the ultrascan so we did an internal scan. Also couldn’t see anything. But she said that the uterus lining was very thick and my home test was positive so very likely that I was.

I told her that I would be traveling the next month so we scheduled another appt a week before I left just to make sure everything is ok.

We told our parents and Jen tonight. Jen was the most excited one. He was really happy for us and thinks that having a Lim boy would be nice. In my mind, I did think another girl would be nice. But I guess it’s more a case of the known versus the unknown. But I know I would love the baby just as much even if it were a boy.


Can't really see much in the scan above.

23 Oct 2009
I started the day feeling really off. I knew I had to eat but I was feeling so bloated and like there was something stuck in my throat. In the end, I ended up starting my relationship with the throne. Not fun. But since I hadn’t eaten anything, there was nothing to give. But I felt much better after that. For the rest of the day, I couldn’t decide if I was hungry or full. :s

24 October 2009
I’m feeling hungry very often. Oh dear. Not good. Need to watch how much and what I eat.

3 Nov 2009
Today has not been a good day. I was feeling queasy all day. I simply lay around the whole morning feeling unwell. Finally decided to make a trip to Compass Point to have Macs for lunch. That was the only thing I could imagine eating and not feeling nauseous about it. On the way there, P called and said he was on the way home. So we ate at Macs together. But threw up part of it when I got home.

Literally morning sickness was for the whole day today. Also threw up part of dinner. Sigh. But I think when I was pregnant with K, it was very much the same way. If I remember correctly. You tend to forget the bad and remember the good mostly.

9 November 2009
Ok, so morning sickness has been here to stay. Sigh. I truly had forgotten how bad it can make me feel. Told Peen tat we shall stop at two. Unless in my delirious joy from having two perfect kids, I forget once again how bad it can be and decide to have number three.

Anyway, I woke up this morning and found that I was spotting. It never happened with K so I was very worried. Thankfully we were scheduled to see the gynae today. Turned out that baby was ok. Thank God. But need to rest. I was given some hormone pill to help with the pregnancy and it made the nausea much much worse. I was to take 3 pills a day but I could only take 2 a day and even then, it was bad.



The sac is much clearer now on the scan tho' you still can't make out the shape of the tiny one.

Hmm…am worried about the HK trip now. HK trip turned out to be great. Loved the weather. Was mindful to not carry K so much during the trip.

K still talks about HK now, even 6 mths after the trip. She wants to see in an aeroplane again to go to HK. She speaks of HK like it was just a short drive away. It was here that she got to experience various kinds of transportation. She sat in a ferry, double-deck buses and of course, the plane. She still mentions these from time to time and also talk about Disneyland.

25 November 2009

30 December 2009

From the scan above, you can see that baby has developed so much since the last visit to the gynae. God's creation is just so amazing.

25 Jan 2010

P was not able to accompany me on this trip to the gynae and Dr Sim was able to see rather clearly the gender of baby so she indicated it on the scan for P's sake.

23 Feb 2010

I had my detailed scan done. This time at Thomson Medical instead of Mt A. The experience was a lot better. I remember the last time, the person who did the scan didn't want to talk much. Even when I asked her questions about what she was looking at, she merely told me that she would explain later. So that was the end of the conversation. This time round, the nice lady was very chatty and obliging when I asked questions. Baby had his feet facing the scanner at one point and I thought it would make such a cute picture so she actually captured it so that she could print it out for me later. So nice she was.

There. Those are his tiny feet. Hope they aren't sweaty.


24 Mar 2010

21 Apr 2010

14 May 2010

26 May 2010

In the above scan, you can see baby's face pressed up against the placenta. You can see his left eye, nose and mouth.

9 June

As you can tell, in most of the scans you can hardly make out what you are looking at. :s

16 June 2010

Baby is facing us. You can see his facial features. Am I hopeful or do his eyes look rather big?

Anyway, this is gonna be the last scan of baby. We spoke to Dr Sim about status. Her measurements show that baby is about 3-3.1kg this week (week 37). By next week, he'd be 3.3kg, which is Kim's birth weight at 39 weeks 6 days. She isn't hopeful that I would be able to deliver him naturally at that weight if I couldn't deliver Kim naturally back then. She is worried about risks that would be involved if we continued to wait till baby gets bigger. So she suggests c-section next week. As I prefer earlier in the week so that Kim will still be able to go to school and follow her usual schedule somewhat, we opted for the Monday slot.

Total weight gain 13.5kg

Am still hoping and praying that baby will come naturally in the next few days while he is still smallish so I don't need an op and take a long time to recover. All in God's hands.

How do I feel at this point? Physically kinda tired of being sluggish and clumsy, where everything takes such an effort. Mentally still trying to get used to idea that we are going to be parents of 2 little ones. Emotionally a little affected to think that my little girl will no longer have all of mummy's attention. Also worried how K will react to B and how will she take my not being at home for a couple of days. Of course, there is the financial aspect of everything happening at the same time - boarding Dopey, hospitalisation, doc's bills, confinement lady, etc. But I know God will provide. He has and always will. That I know for sure.

I just now need to learn to let go and let God. Let go and let God.

Preparing K for arrival of B

K has been looking forward to B's arrival. I say this because she would often talk about wanting to buy things for him or she'd ask me to buy things (specifically socks) for him. We finally took her to choose a pair of socks for him.



He will wear this back from the hospital. I hope that would make her really proud to see him wearing what she had chosen.

She told me the other morning that when B got older, she wants to share the bed with him. I thought that was really sweet.

In order to prepare her mentally for those nights where I would spend in the hospital, I brought up the topic a few weeks ago.

I told her that when B is born, I would need to sleep in the hospital for a few days. She said no. I told her that it would be for the best because in the hospital, the doctors would be able to take care of me and of B. She still refused. When I asked her who would take care of me then. She confidently replied, "Kimberley!"

Due to the extra weight I'm carrying, the tendon from my bum down my legs have been hurting quite a fair bit, K is aware of this. When I try to bring up the topic of my stay in the hospital again just last week, she refused to hear that I would spend a night away from her. Instead, she started to pray," Father God. Pray mommy backside ok. Jesus. Amen."

Parent-Teacher Conference Jun 2010

We had another Teacher-Parent conference and had an update on things that K has been doing in school.

According to her Eng teacher, she drew the picture below. P and I are VERY skeptical to say the least. She is not able to draw circles and definitely can't position them to form facial features.

Yes, she does love playdough.

Our cheeky toddler has a sense of humour definitely. Am glad she also displays this in school.

She has been playing make-belief at home. Did I mention that I've been promoted to grandma? She has two kids apparently. A boy named Fire Engine and a girl named Church. The boy has been hospitalised because he injured his foot. In the picture below, the little one on the left is Renee. She loves playing with Renee. According to her Teacher Catherine, she enjoys being stimulated by Renee who is very intelligent. Apparently K picks her friends who are able to engage her and stimulate her. The other friend whom she enjoys the company of is Nasmin. She was unable to pronounce her name initially and would call her "Dustbin". We were amused but made it a point to try to correct her. We simply can't allow her to go on calling her friend a receptacle!

In the right picture below, the little girl on the left of K is Nasmin.

Here is her Chinese report....which I am sure P hasn't read and which I took a long time to digest. Haha.

She really enjoys painting as I am sure all kids her age do.

This is the art piece from the report above.

This is the piece where she used the pieces she picked up during an outdoor session where P captured the kids going wild. According to the Chinese teacher, it was the one time where the kids were on their absolute worst behaviour and it all got captured on film! She has rather embarrassed. Haha. Nonetheless, the kids really had fun that day.

Discovering her interests & inclinations

We discovered that she has got rather good hand-eye coordination, much to her daddy's delight. He did used to play tennis and table-tennis for school. Now he can't wait to start teaching her tennis. She's got a nice follow through.

K meddling with Ah Foh's Ukelele. She's quite a natural at strumming, after you teach her to use her nails to strum instead of her tiny little fingerstips.