Overdue

As you might have noticed from my ticker, my D-day has come and gone.

Baby's officially "late" now - so that makes him more Singaporean than German. Hah.

On the other hand, statistically only 5% of babies are born on their Estimated Delivery Date ("EDD"). The other 95% are born in the time period of 2 weeks before and after their EDD.

I'm very thankful that baby decided not to come earlier, because of the wedding we attended recently and the very intense heatwave that plagued Germany last week.

However, now that I'm all ready, I must say that I was a bit disappointed that baby didn't make his appearance on his EDD - as if babies follow schedules.

I've been going to the gynae every two days just to check that everything's A-ok on the inside. Baby's heartbeat is strong and everything's still perfect. Just that there's no sign that baby's gonna make his appearance anytime soon. He's very active and continues to kick as if to tell us, "I'm happy inside here, don't worry about me!"

I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles because I have no idea when the whole thing will start. I just have to keep trusting that God has already chosen the appointed time for our baby to come into this world.

Yesterday was the last day that we needed to finish cleaning the kitchen so our little bundle of joy can really make his appearance soon!

Last week I spent the entire time at home because of the crazy weather and just the thought of having my waters break in public was enough to put me off going to the city. However, after one week of being cooped up at home, I hit the city today with hubby after my gynae appointment. It felt so good to be out, do some shopping, get some fresh air and exercise! :)

Perhaps that's exactly what I need to get baby out! To get on with my life and at some point in time, little boy's going think, "I think I've had it in my Mummy's belly and wanna join her!"

Physically-wise, I'm glad that I don't feel too bad. I'm waddling because baby's head is very low in my pelvic region and have backache on my right side. But other than, even hubby commented that I don't like a woman who's overdue, since I still look energetic and fresh. Notice I used the word "look". 

On a side note: My beloved Sony VAIO laptop has been infected with a very malicious Trojan horse. :( I have no idea how it happened since I was simply surfing the Internet and didn't even download anything! I'm hoping that hubby can repair it soon - Am currently blogging from my hubby's laptop.

Yup, just a short update so that you know that our little baby is still baking and my absence is not because I'm in the hospital already.

Awesome wedding!

One of the young adults in our cell group got married a week ago.

This was a couple with whom we did the Marriage Preparation Course over a period of 2 years. In our church, its compulsory for one to complete this course before one gets married.  It's sorta like a going for driving lessons before one gets a driver's license.

Well, we had really open and honest couple-to-couple sessions with them. Talked about issues varying from finances, to children, to life goals and basically anything associated with being married. Therefore it was such a blessing for hubby and I to be able to witness their holy matrimony after their time of courtship and wedding preparation.

Funny how in the past 5 years of leading our German youth cell, we've witnessed the marriage of 3 couples (!!!) in a group of about 10-15 people! How cool is that? I was talking to my mentor the other day and she said, "Wait until they get married and have kids!". And I was thinking, "Oh, she's referring to me!" - Since she mentored me and my girlfriends when we were in the youth ministry in Singapore. So amazing to see how we've been blessed so that we can bless others in return. :)

Enjoy the lovely photos! 

Church solemnization. The bride in her wedding dress was mesmerizing!

 A special item by the band for the bridal couple

 

The typical dress-up photoshoot for the guests

 

The amazing spread of finger food for the church reception

Couple shots with Christa and Michael, who are new parents too. Their little one is about 5 months old now. So cool that our babies can be playmates soon!

 Our young adults' cell group

 Us with the lovely bridal couple! It was a true-blue summer day and we were all sweltering in the heat. But hey, photos look superb!

 Next to the bridal car. Like this shot cos it "shows off" my huge belly!

 Together with Yvonne and Ari. I do look ultra round compared to both of them!

Together with my honey bunny. We're so thankful that our little baby continued baking in the belly so that we could witness this wedding! 

 You can tell the colour theme of the wedding was purple - same colour as ours 5.5 years ago!

Ok, each balloon was attached to a postcard, which read something like, "Dear Sir / Madam. If you find this card, please send it back to this address". Each of us then had to write something nice we would do for the bridal couple.

 The amazing table decorations which were all D.I.Y!

 Present table. We gave a really beautiful pop-up wedding card plus a red packet! - Gotta add some Singaporean spice to a German wedding right?

 The back of the bridal dress. I love the details and how intricate the workmanship is!

 

Yay, finally a solo shot with the lovely bride!

 Our personalized name tags. Another thing that never fails to impress me!

 The bride dancing the night away. She and her hubby did such a superb rock-and-roll first wedding dance, which I unfortunately didn't manage to capture on video!

Bump Progression

I figured I should do this post before I pop.

Before I got preggy, I always enjoyed seeing photos of other pregnant women and their bump progression. Its mind-bogging to know that the uterus can expand up to 1,000 times its original size!!!! 

First Trimester - Oh man, I had a waist back then!

Second trimester - Getting rounder!

Third Trimester - I like the 30+ weeks because they seem to fly by so quickly!

The home stretch - I think baby had a growth spurt eh?

Week 39

Hmm... feels a bit like a maternity fashion show too, don't you think? Considering that at the beginning of my pregnancy I really worried about not having anything to wear, my new wardrobe looks good enough to worn again in the future! **wink**  Hopefully I can still take another photo at week 40, if baby doesn't make an appearance by then. 

I'm really thankful to God for bringing me so far in my pregnancy. Sure there's been hiccups and I'm not having the most comfortable of all home-stretch pregnancies right now, but there's so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful to even be able to get pregnant and stay pregnant. And there's been no major complications in this pregnancy, such that I've had to be hospitalized or anything. Managed to travel on long-haul flights and go on holiday with my baby belly as well as continue my regular life. For that, I'm truly grateful to God for being with me every step of the way.

39 weeks preggy - 5 more days to go!

Yup yup, I'm still here!

The massive heat and constant sweating is doing nothing to induce labour. Today we had (take a deep breath) 37 degrees celsius!  I'm almost suffocating at home, since I don't open the windows. Thing is, there's hardly any breeze and if one opens the window(s), it would just increase the indoor temperature.

I really should go cool myself down in some air-conditioned place like a shopping mall, but I'm just too lazy to get out of the house. Told myself that once we get our own place, we would install air-conditioning in the bedrooms at least. 

We went for a lovely wedding of one of our youths last Saturday. It was sooo beautiful! And I'm so thankful that our little one stayed put in my belly so that I could attend this event. It was a bit difficult figuring what to wear now that I'm fully-blown. But I did manage to fit into one of my black dresses, which surprisingly enough was worn for the very first time!

So how does it feel to be 39 weeks preggy?

To be honest, very nostalgic! I keep wondering what it'd be like not to have a big belly anymore. No more backaches, no more having to sleep on my sides and no more feeling baby jut me in my ribs. I'm missing it already even as I'm typing this! Oh yeah, no more constant peeing in the night! Nor having to feel like I'm rolling a bowling ball whenever I switch sides when I sleep.

But on the other hand, the anticipation of holding our little one in our arms, looking into his face and studying his features is gripping me more by the day. We're pretty much ready in terms of baby preparation.

My to-do list for this week includes cooking confinement food and freezing it up - which I unfortunately haven't started doing yet.

How do I feel about labour?

I think the anticipation of when I'll go into labour is more "exciting" than the actual labour itself. I guess once the wheel starts turning, there's no stopping it. So there's no point in worrying about labour. And millions of women have gone through childbirth, so I'll just be one of them.

I'm excited to experience the miracle of life. Someone said that a newborn baby is like watching God caught in the act - I couldn't agree with this more!

It's also a bit difficult trying to figure out how to spend your last few days "baby-free". Everybody's telling me to rest more and enjoy my last few days of free time. I know that having a baby is going to change our lives in ways we can't imagine. But I also know that I don't want a baby to rule / control my life. I don't want my centre of gravity to be all-things-baby. I still want my centre to be God. And to be an individual. As Pris. As wife. As mother. As friend.

As I embark on a new season, I pray that God will grant me grace and strength to be a great Mom to our little one and to ride through the waves of adjustment with confidence, knowing that He is with me. And in time, we as a family of three would be able to find our own rhythm and baby would be integrated into our family lifestyle. May we truly experience the meaning of having a child as a gift from God.

My A.W.E.S.O.M.E. babyshower!

Yay! Finally my photos have arrived and I can share with you the sheer joy and surprise I had last Saturday at my babyshower.

Well the long and short story of it all is that I always wanted to have a babyshower.

Ok, I know its neither an Asian nor a Singaporean tradition, but I always felt the idea of celebrating the imminent birth of one's baby with close girlfriends really meaningful. It's sorta like what a hen's night is for a wedding.

Of course there will be girls-night-out when baby's born too, but this is something special. A babyshower is a time when women can be clucky, go ga-ga at baby clothes and talk about pregnancy stuff. To be honest, I don't really know what a babyshower entails, since my only exposure to it is through movies.

Thing is, having a babyshower isn't a tradition in Germany either. It's an American thing. And one doesn't organise it by herself. Usually its one or a few of the pregnant lady's girlfriends who organise the entire event.

I wouldn't have minded organising my own babyshower but I honestly don't have the energy for that. And I wasn't going to target a kind soul to organise one for me. So it was one of those things that fell under the "Oh, it would have awesome, but it really isn't necessary" category.

But God knew my heart. And I know He did. Because when Yvonne, the sweetest angel ever, asked hubby if she should organise a babyshower for me, hubby told her that I mentioned 3 days earlier that it would be such a dream come true if I had a babyshower.

So, Yvonne went ahead to organise the entire babyshower! Being German herself, she had no idea what to do, but researched online and everything just fell into place!!!

In order to make it a "surprise", even my mother-in-law was brought into play! She arranged to hang out with me at Ikea on Saturday afternoon so that they could get me out of the house while they decorated the place. I'm just amazed at how hubby could keep something like that a secret from me, without me ever raising an eyebrow of suspicion! Either I'm too trusting or hubby is too good at keeping suspense to himself!

It was soo touching for me, because I felt that I had girlfriends in Germany and they all made the effort to make this event so significant for me! Not only did they bring food but they also brought me (or rather baby) amazing presents! We got winter clothes (since I already have an abundance of summer ones), toys, a baby chair and all sorts of baby necessities! Oh yeah and a diaper cake too!

This is truly a "Commit your ways to the Lord and He will grant you the desires of your heart" testimony! It's with this confidence that I know that God will be right there beside me through the birth process. Amen!

My entire living room was transformed into a blue baby palace!

 Food galore! The ladies prepared something to contribute to the dinner and buffet table. We even had alcohol-free Champagne!!!

 Dessert table with personalized "It's a boy" decorations. Tiramisu was made without raw eggs.

 Table decorations - Do you see the mini milk bottles? How sweet is that?

 My beautifully-decorated living room. I loved the decorations so much, they are still hanging there! 

 Lovely view of my garden from dining room. The red roses were given to me!

Pacifiers decoration!

Waiting in anticipation to surprise me

You can clearly see the shock written all over my face!

 All the lovely ladies dressed in the blue colour scheme - I wore something blue coincidentally!

 Presents galore for the little one! 

Love my diaper cake!!!!

Some of the lovely pressies I got! Winter onesies and a baby chair (on the right)

 All the lovely ladies watching me unwrap my presents. Felt like Christmas in summer!

Games we played: Guess what the circumference of Pris' baby belly is + Let's see how well Pris can dress a baby blindfolded! 

Week 38 - Getting ready for baby

Last weekend was incredible!

We got our baby stroller and baby furniture! This is such a blessing because the expected delivery date was at least 2 weeks later. :)

The timing was simply perfect. Hubby took last Wednesday off to clear the study room of its furniture and reshuffle things that we didn't need. And on Saturday he got a call that he could collect the furniture and baby stroller.

Speaking of Saturday, I had the MOST-amazing surprise babyshower ever! It was such a dream come true. I would have bawled my eyes out if I hadn't been so shocked! - Will blog about this when I get the pictures! 

Hubby then spent Sunday, together with the help of Yvonne and Joni (vielen Dank ihr lieben!!!) to set everything up in our newly-emptied baby's room. We also washed baby's clothes, bedsheets and I have started packing my hospital bag. This is suddenly becoming so real to me!

On the pregnancy front, I feel my body is getting ready for birth. I've been getting pretty frequent tummy discomfort that feels like the "I need to run to the ladies NOW!" pain. Most of the time its just a false alarm and the discomfort is due to digestion problems. However, my stomach muscles tighten so much that sometimes I wonder if I'm going into pre-labour!

And last week I got a bit of period-like cramps, which has since stopped. Braxton Hick contractions are a daily affair these days, but they are not as frequent as they used to be a couple of weeks back.

If I could choose, I would like for baby to make his appearance after Saturday (so we can attend a close couple friend's wedding) but before week 40. And definitely not after week 40 cos I don't like the anticipation of "Ok, baby you're late now, when are you finally making your appearance?" But then again, that would just prove that he's half-Singaporean! hahahah.

My last gynae appointment on Tuesday showed that everything's A-ok! Baby's head is fully-engaged and right at my pelvic region. My weight gain seems to have tapered at 12.2kg and I doubt that I will gain any more weight, since I only gained 0.3kg in the last 2 weeks. :)

Only drawback is that gynae wants me to take iron pills to prepare my body for birth. I'm hoping that I don't develop constipation from the iron pills because I really hate that. I guess that's all part and parcel of being pregnant. You need iron - at the expense of constipation. You eat more fiber against the constipation, but develop flatulence because salads / broccoli etc. all cause gas. And the more gas you have, the more you have the "I got to go" feeling. Mommies-to-be simply can't win. But as long as baby is doing fine and great, I guess that's all that matters right? Besides, I've only got 2 more weeks of this....hopefully even less!

Here's some photos of the baby nursery furniture that we got.

  Left: The baby cot, which can be adjusted lower when baby grows bigger

Right: The diaper changing table with a set of drawers to store all of baby's clothes and miscellaneous stuff

We got the mattress and the lining of "Little big boss" too (ain't that cute?) It was a love-at-first-sight affair. Hubby and I were looking around Princess - a huge departmental store for baby stuff and when we set our eyes on this baby furniture, we knew in our hearts that this was it! Price was reasonable since there was a group discount for the entire set.

We also got the matching cupboards

They are really huge! Right now, we use the cupboards to store our stuff. We wanted something practical which could be used by older children too. So this set was simply perfect. Also, the green is neutral and cheery enough such that it would be suitable for a girl (hopefully) in the future as well. The brand is Paidi - which is a very renowned German brand. Another plus point? They have matching beds for baby once he outgrows the cot! How cool is that?