Pregnancy Updates: Half way there!

I'm 20 weeks pregnant now! It's a halfway milestone and it has been really smooth *touch wood* so far since the beginning of 2nd trimester. The vomiting and nausea seems to be gone overnight as I moved into Week 14. The very day my iPhone app congratulate me on my milestone, I felt a gush of energy rushing back to my body. And, for the first time in 3 months I felt... hungry! It was such a great feeling, I got ready to work and before heading out, I put up joss sticks to thank god for this miracle. And I kept my fingers, toes and everything crossed this feeling last. I bet my baby is a very punctual baby, just like the daddy.

So with the deadly morning sickness gone, I am feeling myself again and started to enjoy the pregnancy much. My rhintis seems to get better after hubby installed the air purifier in our room and I get good sleeps every night with clear nostrils. My bump is showing and everyone is quite surprised to see a bump at just beginning of 3rd month. I researched bout it and apparently I'm having showing early cause I don't have a firm/athletic/toned stomach muscles. Of course, I have not exercised for like.... forever? 

 

- Me at 15 weeks (left) and 20 weeks (right) -

So when the me is back, I started reading a lot about pregnancy, delivery stories, breastfeeding tips and confinement knowledge. Some of the books I bought and some borrowed by colleagues, some articles read through from the web and much first hand sharing from facebook groups. These knowledge hopefully will arm me with strength when the time comes. Need to be brave for this little one. Of course sharing sessions with beloved besties are always the best and most honest. We now are all excited about baby fairs rather than Charles & Keith sales. We shared experience, knowledge and preference.. what to buy, what not, what to do, what not. It felt lovely that we seems to grow up together, from talking about studies to boyfriends to weddings, husbands and now, babies. 

Another big breakthrough on this chapter, is the quickening happened real quick for me! In pregnancy terms, quickening is the moment in pregnancy when the mother starts to feel or perceive fetal movements in the uterus. Believe me or not, I felt my little one flipped as early as 16 weeks! Some told me cause my build is rather small so it's easier to feel the movement. Or perhaps this little one is really an active one. The feeling is indescribable, like a bubble popped and I thought it was gasses until I asked myself, could it be the baby? And after many repeated popping, I'm certain. Oh how I love this special feeling.

We had the scheduled pre-natal check up with Dr Ang from SDMC at Week 16 and all went well, he commented my baby is indeed very active. I much prefer him than Dr Phang from Pantai Klang, so does my baby that happily sleeping at every nice positions that doctor wanted. At one point, doc gave a little hint, "Oh! Can you see the little thing pointing out?" Me and hubby studied the monitor for a while and finally get it, we are having a BOY! In fact, I don't think it's a "little thing", it looked huge in relative to the baby's body. So we are more or less confirm the baby's gender but doctor told us to double confirm in the Week 20 scan. 

- Ultrasound at Week 16 -

With the baby's gender kind of confirmed, we started browsing around for a nice boy's name for our son. Need to make sure the name doesn't produce any weird nicknames that will stick with him forever. We run through names from Ethan to Jim to Gordon to Lawrence. But just could not fell in love with any of the names. We leave it to my father in law to come out with the Chinese name for our son, since the both of us are bananas (illiterate in Chinese language). Well, we do have another 20 weeks to figure out the best name for our son, let's give it a better thought.

I have also joined pre-natal yoga class since my energy came back in 2nd trimester. Coincidently there is a good yoga centre that offers pre-natal class and located 5 mins from home. I felt the yoga class does help with strengthening the backbone, stretching my muscles and most importantly making me feel good and positive in this pregnancy marathon. Didn't regret joining, it's a great exercise, 1.5 hours per week.

At week 18, me and hubby checked in Hilton KL for a night stay to enjoy a simple getaway. As now I would not have energy for a real babymoon, walking seems a real hard work with the bump growing and we thought perhaps just relaxing at hotel enjoying their facilities would give me a better rest. Just resting on the bed and having a warm bubble bath really relaxes the mind and body much. We feast at the Graze Restaurant that evening, but were a little disappointed with the food quality.

- Simple getaway -

We had scheduled a detailed scan with Dr Patrick from FMGC in the 20th week. It is an important milestone to check for any anomalies in the fetal's physical and his growth. The scan was mostly done in 3D and 4D (video of 3D) with a very clear picture of baby's features. Doctor scanned through his little body and said, "Oh, this baby has very long limbs!" He scanned and said everything is normal and looking very good. Double confirmed with us that we're having a BOY and showed us a good view of his face. We were overwhelmed to see how our son looks like for the very first time. He has this really chubby face like his daddy! And could see that he is already making tonnes of funny facial expressions at this early stage. The feeling is just indescribable. 

- Dr Patrick: Hey look, baby is smiling to daddy & mummy! -

Pregnancy is a really special journey as we venture into parenthood. It's so heart-warming to see hubby lay his ears on my tummy, trying to feel baby's movement and heartbeat. Sometimes baby just gave a flip and we both laugh and agree it's him. This little one has given us so much joy even when he's this little. Mummy & daddy really look forward to meet you in person, baby boy ❤❤❤