马上长大 + Baby N's First Month Celebrations!

09 February 2014

Some snippets of what's happening over 马年's CNY + celebrating of Baby N's first month!

大年初一：马上发财！ Enduring my last few days of the confinement period!  Sucha smart boy... just coming to first month of his birth and he already know how to pose "恭喜恭喜"！

大年初二：马年吉祥！ His expressions are "pattern more than badminton"!

 

大年初三：马上长大！ Baby N's first month celebrations at Coasta Sands Pasir Ris Chalet!  *thank you all aunties and uncles who make time to turn up for my baby bash and not forgetting my pretty 姨婆 who spent so much efforts in making red eggs and decorated them up for this special day (they were the best sellers compared to my cupcakes thou')!*  :)

 

 

"Photo booth" at Nathaniel's first month celebrations!

Arrival of Nathaniel Tan!

01 February 2014

Welcoming Nathaniel Tan to the family!

*throws confetti*

05 January 2014, the day we became parents!  

 

Our very first 合家副, shot taken at the operating theatre!

Every sleeping child looks angelic, innocent and beautiful.  Our child, Nathaniel Tan!

No love is greater than that of a father for His son.  A shot of Daddy A and Baby N!

 

 

3rd Trimester - Me and Baby N at week 38!

04 January 2014

My seventeenth & eighteenth appointment - *calendar week 38!

Measurement of Baby N - his head measuring 9.61 cm and weighs 3870gm!  Me now weighs 65.3 kg!  So fat so fat!

Gynae advised us to go TMC for second opinon due to Baby N's weight is on the high side (then we can discuss how to deliver him...).  Everything during the scan was OK until this morning he rang us up to go down his clinic for "delivery" discussion urgently.

TMC phoned him personally the day before and informed him that the scan shows that the umbilical cord was located around his neck!  He advised either we monitor on the progress of the contraction (via CTG scan, which is not the long term solution...) in the next days or have c-section to deliver the baby soonest.  This is to avoid complication during normal delivery.  Also if the contraction starts anytime, it will trigger the "tightening" of the cord and will results in cutting blood/oxygen supply to the baby plus plus, Baby N's head is big and the process of delivering him naturally might take quite awhile or not possible (in the end might still need to go for c-section)...

It was hard to make a decision within/during the consultation... but in the end, we decided to go ahead for the c-section delivery tomorrow after checking on the 吉日 possibility for the better future for Baby N...  So, 5 January is a good day and it will be the day we become Daddy and Mommy!

Gonna go offline now... packing up stuffs for the BIG day tomorrow!

 

Last shot of me with my Baby bump at *calendar week 38!

2014!

01 January 2014

HELLO 2014!

As usual practice, we gate-crash Yeo's stay-cation (it's their 4th wedding anniversary!)... this year was planned at Conrad.  They booked the premier club room and this got us access to their club lounge.  We of course, nibble our bites and drinks at the lounge and had our burgers delivered to the room and waiting to welcoming 2014.

Just us at the lobby waiting to be escorted up to the room...

ah Thiang getting too comfy before the arrival of 2014...

Zhng the Stroller

30 December 2013

ah Thiang's 战车 is here!

Trying to fix the stroller and baby seat... next step is to "dettol" up the whole stroller including all accessories...  Procrastination in progress... because Imma being super cranky right now is super no mood for anything else - reason being; been waking up every now and then due to the cramps and mozzie attacks and... so this is a good excuses to 'take cover' for my lazyness to do anything now...  :S

Jolly Christmas!

29 December 2013

'tis the season to be feasting!

Gathering at Huihui's house - she prepared all the feast, me and Jade pot-lucked the Shepherd's Pie.  Very impressed with her DIY Christmas log cake!  She took lesson at Phoon Huat and baked this the day before from 7pm-12midnight!  Thanks for having us at your pad!

Feasting with the Yeos' - made a special anniversary arrangement with the restaurant staff for a cake for their 'advanced' 4th year anniversary celebration together with our yearly Christmas gift exchange event!

On Christmas day - attended Christmas service at HTC then went back for a short nap before feasting with the famfam at Lut's pad!  Noticed my new Kate Spade bag?  Hehe, just realized that I've gotten a Kate Spade bag for myself last Christmas too!  (isit gonna be a new tradition to get a new Kate Spade bag every Christmas...?)
 

Post-Christmas gift exchange with the HXDA - our yearly affair!  This year missing SF (attending a wedding lunch) and Jonette (在做月）... but we have newly additions to the gang - XX and Joel joining us for the gift exchange!  Luckily the package from Amazon.com arrived just an hour before we meet and I managed to have the kiddos presents wrapped in time!

 

 

3rd Trimester - Me and Baby N at week 37!

28 December 2013

My sixteenth appointment - *calendar week 37!

Measurement of Baby N - his head measuring 9.4cm and weighs 3257gm!  Gynae gave me a letter - admission letter so that at any point of time, I am ready... just give him a call and I can admit into hospital!

Boy, experiencing cramps every now and especially during my sleep...  Well, I don't know whether I have lost count on the nos. of cramp per hour or I dozed off while counting... the pain is so real, cannot be dreaming de lah... but I am too tired to focus on my counting and by the time I remembered I have cramps, it's morning already.  :(

Two more working days and I am off to my maternity leave!  Whoooot!

Baby bump at *calendar week 37!
(sorry, couldn't have more time or new wardrobe to snap my baby bump - ah Thiang says they are all about the same sizes already; ooops... caught playing games using my bump as mobile phone holder!)

 

It's famfam time again - celebrated Popa's birthday at a western eatery along Jalan Kayu then back to 娘家 for a mini-cake session!  Couldn't have guessed that that little "yellow angry bird" cake from Polar actually tasted not too bad!  Teedeee!

 

The "in-laws" and "siblings" shot!

 

 

Have a Merry Christmas!

25 December 2013

 

with love from

Arthur, Wendy & Baby N!

 

3rd Trimester - Me and Baby N at week 36!

23 December 2013

My fifteeth appointment - *calendar week 36!

Measurement of Baby N - his head measuring 9.3~9.4cm and weighs 3157gm!  Scan indicated he is in his week 36 day 6 growth (surprisingly now his growth is on the right track as my calendar... so has his growth rate slowed down or I'm catching up with his growth?)  His head position reamins where he is supposed to be still...  :)

Gynae says Baby N's is growing exponentially!  I could be due anytime in the next weeks once I hit week 38 (full-term)... so expecting to deliver by early January instead of the 'forecasted' date on 18 January 2014.  Recalled that the nurse who did the detailed scan weeks ago mentioned that the growth size of Baby N could resulted my delivery date to be re-scheduled earlier than expected, say 5 January 2014... so keeping my fingers crossed!  8 more days to 2014!

Baby bump at *calendar week 36!

Into 35 Weeks (Third Trimester)

19 December 2013

My #ootd worn on my last visit to see Grandpa before he left us for 极乐天堂。

I almost wanted to buy this jumper at original price, S$79.90 when it was newly launched.  But then I held back... and now H&M's on sale at S$50!  Sale came late, but never too late... at least I got to wear a coupla more times before I my EDD.

Baby bump at week 35!

GAWD.  Pregnancy swollen feet.  They are here.  :(  I started to notice it on Monday... and it started to get worse (especially during the evenings...)... or should I say, I am starting to swell all over... even my fingers - wedding band and anniversary band seemed to getting difficult to wear on or take off...

外公 (1927-2013)

18 December 2013

"Be thankful for the breath you just took,

because someone out there just took their last."

It's been quite a roller coaster ride for us the past two weeks, weeping our eyes with tears... and the mourning of our late-Grandpa.

Grandpa was admitted to SGH since 8 December and the family has been traveling in and out of SGH to visit Grandpa since then.  His health deteriorates each day passes since his last admission to SGH sometime in October for flu.

On Tuesday, the speech therapist suggested that he is to be put on tube as the food and drinks intake isn't passing by the 'right channel' which will cause much further complications like lung infections and could have worsen the current condition.  Of course, green light is given so tube was inserted when I was there on Tuesday evening.  He resisted in pain... but with the help of Jade, the tube was inserted and first intake of medicine was administrated thru the tube.  The tube was then eventually taken down by him on that very night after I left even we tried to plead him to have the tube on repeatedly.

On Thursday afternoon, Moma texted me informing that Grandpa's condition looks pessimistically that he required to use oxygen tank/mask to breathe and get me to ask aunt Linda if she can change her flight back earlier.  That evening, Grandpa was panting very hard even with the help of oxygen mask when I visited him.  He also tried to bring down the mask like how he wanted to pull the tube out and we have to constantly hold his hands down or pleaded him repeatedly "tolong tolong" not to remove the mask.  We even resorted in tying him so that he cannot reach the mask.  It feels so so so pain to see him in this state.  Moma stayed over for the next two nights.

I ignored Moma's order not to frequent my trips to hospital and went down every evening since Thursday (luckily I did...).  I even showed him the past video clips I captured of Baby N's movement in my belly (thanks to ah Thiang reminded me to show Grandpa the videos clips)... at least he was still in 'clear state of mind', nodding his head when I played the video clips to him on Saturday evening.  We constantly reminded him that aunt Linda will be back on that very Sunday morning and baby Bro will be back from HK holiday to visit him on Sunday too.

Forturnately for aunt Linda, she managed to spend the last two nights with Grandpa before he catches his last breathe and left us on the morning of 16 December, 2.43am.

The 3-days wake was held at the void deck of my Grandfam's...  I remembered clearly that the first night's moonlight was super bright and round and it was sunny, bright and windy for the next two days...  Moma also mentioned that Grandpa left us on the same 'lunar date' as our late-great Grandma eighteen years ago.  I was allowed to send Grandpa off the final journery before his body was cremated at Mandai Crematorium.

Only his memories with us will live in my heart now and forever and I believe he will continue to bestow his blessings on each and everyone of us when he reaches that 极乐世界。

I missed you Grandpa.

 

外公走的那一晚 - 农历十一月十四的月亮特别圆，特别亮。外公，您一路走好。

Last family shot with my late-Grandpa (before his health starts to deteriorate) - taken at Grams' place during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival family dinner.

 

 

3rd Trimester - Me at week 34, Baby N at week 36!

09 December 2013

My fourteenth appointment - *calendar week 34!

Measurement of Baby N - his head measuring 9.10cm and weighs 2830gm!  Scan indicated he is in his week 36 day 2 growth!  His head positioned downwards still (...hopefully he remained this position), with his body on my left, hands and legs on the right - that explained the stretching and movements mainly noticed on the right side of my bump and feeling the 'urge' to pee whenever he moves vigorously!

Gynae commented that I put on quite alot of weight compared to the last 2 weeks.  GOSH.  Need to really really really watch my diet - especially that my belly now measured 41" in circumference... never felt so fat in my life!

Baby bump at *calendar week 34!

Psssst...  I was complaining the other day that I'm ache all over, especially on both my calfs.  ah Thiang offered to massage me when I was on bed, scheduled for my nightly “胎叫”...  Who says men cannot multi-task?  My man can!  See, he can play game and massage my calfs at the same time!?!?!

Into 33 Weeks (Third Trimester)

29 November 2013

Still experiencing cramps (or contractions you called it...), especially on both nights, Sunday 2+am and Monday 3+am... super worried and decided to pop a pill before bedtime for the following nights.  I was told it will get worse when it's nearer to my EDD.

I felt like I'm having mini massages whenever the little one moves inside the bump but overdosed with mini massages...  the after-math is, I'm now 'suffering' from belly-ache.  Baby N has been stretching and moving alot these two days, very "violently" and I can see from my bump that "he" was actively on the right then very quickly moved to the left and moments later, he was 'trembling' on the right side again... took many videos but only managed to capture that very short moment from 3 out of 10 tries.  Teehee!

The Quahs have just been "promoted" to parenthood this week!  Baby Gabrielle (pronounced as Gab-bri-L), was delivered prematurely now weighs 1.4kg.  Her EDD was targeted two weeks after mine, but she arrived two months ahead of mine... and we thought Baby N would be the gor gor but now turn out to be the youngest member of HXDA instead.  Fred not, we are not so eager to see him yet... let's wait for another 5 weeks more ok!  Can't wait to see Baby Gabrielle tonight!

Baby bump at week 33!

3rd Trimester - Me at week 32, Baby N at week 34!

24 November 2013

My thirteenth appointment - *calendar week 32!

Measurement of Baby N - his head measuring 8.64cm and weight 2206gm!  Scan indicated he is in his week 34 day 6 growth!  Best part is, his head position is still downwards!  *good job, boy!*  I am a happy mommy-to-be.  :)

Gynae nowsaday does very fast ultrasound scanning... and he won't even show or leave the measurements on the screen for me to sneak-pix... I have to mentally memorize all the measurements I seen on the screen before it's been wiped out.  Tsk.

Ending this post with a picture of my baby bump before I prepare myself mentally-ready to be back to work tomorrow after being away from office for the last two weeks.

Baby bump *calendar week 32!

Into 31 Weeks (Third Trimester)

17 November 2013

Earlier at Khim's son - Aden's baby bash at Bottle Tree Park!

To overcome the phobia of carrying a newborn and trying to hands on what I have learnt from my antenatal classes, here are some of the snapshots of the "moments" and... this was thirty seconds before he spat up... all over me.  >_<"  (was told/learnt that newborn who was carried by preggie will 比较容易带，don't know how true... but I myself might not be able to get another preggie when it's my Baby N's full month bash wor... how ar?)  *scratches head*

Baby bump at week 31!

3rd Trimester - Me at week 30, Baby N at week 33!

12 November 2013

My eleventh appointment - *calendar week 30 was earlier than expected (okay lah, one day ahead of the scheduled date)... visited Gynae on Friday instead of Saturday's appointment due to acute cramps, some called it "contractions" or Braxton Hicks as early as at 4.17am until I 冒冷汗!  I had this same cramp on Monday at 3+am... but it wasn't that painful as Friday's morning.

After Gynae's ultrasound scan, he found out that Baby N's current position, that is so-called "transverse" position (his head suitated on my right side and legs on the left side) is not ideal for natural delivery, and also means if he remains in this position and kicks harder, he might just break the waterbag.  Either both I will have to go through a c-section delivery or a a pre-term labour.  Depressing right?

We did measurement of Baby N - his head now measuring 8.22cm and weighs 1810gm!  Seriously on the big side as the scan indicates he is in his week 33 growth!  Unable to get a snap of the ultrasound scan for this visit so gonna try my luck on my next visit then.  :(

I was later asked to do a 45mins CTG scan (scanning of baby's heart beat) and resulting that I have interval minor contractions!  Gynae say I have an irratitable uterus and gave me an option to bed rest or admit to hospital for stay-in observation.  We chose the latter option - had a "staycation" at Mount Alvernia for the weekend.

During my stay, I did another round of CTG scan and had my blood pressure taken thrice... everything was OK except very slight cramp early in the mornings, once.  Gynae discharged me on Sunday and granted me a 2-weeks hospitalization leave - and now I am home clearing emails and updating my little e-space.  Not sure of how much my "staycation" gonna cost us... but it's sure yet another hefty bill for month of November.

So so glad that Baby N's head has gone down to the 'ideal' position after my review with the Gynae yesterday!  Credits goes to ah Thiang, who did a lot of homework on how to change the baby's position... he made me do all sort of exercises and practise sitting positions hoping they will help... and miraclely they did!  He is such a dearie!  *muacks!*

Some peektures over my weekend "staycation" in Mount Alvernia!

Eleventh Batch of Loots from Amazon.com!

07 November 2013

Eleventh batch of shipment - - - - and still counting!

The last entry was only counting to sixth batch... suddenly lost count on how many packages were sent so far, then ah Thiang did a check and and myohmy guan yin ma... this was the eleventh purchase!  We've like spent over USD1375 or more already (blame it on the free shipping to SG lah...)!  0_0"  We still have items not cart out yet okay... like the baby wipes, mattress fitted cover protector... and etc!

 

Eleventh batch of loots:

> Carter's easy fitted printed crib fitted sheets, safari duck
> Carter's easy fit sateen crib fitted sheet, blue
> Aden + anais muslin stroller blanket, safari friends monkey
> Lamaze cloth book, tale of Sir Prance-a-lot
> Lamaze musical inchworm
> Lamaze early developement toy, Sir Prance-a-lot
> A pop-up book of nursery rhymes: A Classic Collectible Pop-Up
> Luvable friends 4pack washcloths, yellow
> Baby sign language basics: Early Communication for Hearing Babies and Toddlers, New & Expanded edition plus DVD
> Lifefactory 2pack multi sensory sillicone teether, yellow/spring green

Into 30 Weeks (Third Trimester)

06 November 2013

3D scan!

ah Thiang told me he is quite interested in getting a 'preview' of how Baby N looks like before his arrival into our arms.  Thus, decided to check out the various hospitals/clinics that does such 3D/4D scan.  After some callings, we were told that minimum 3 weeks booking in advance is required to make an appointment - having said that, it would means that I will be in my week 31/32 which is not really possible as the baby size will be too huge to be scanned, propably due to the lack of space too... (told by the nurse who did the scan for us yesterday and / plus this is also very much dependant on the baby bcos if he decided to face downwards like what happened during yesterday's scan, there is no way we can capture his visual too... etc), but according to our Gynae, he recommends to do it when I am week 30.  So....

Anyhoots, it was such an amazing experience seeing him from the screen and my bffs were there to share this amazing experience with us too!  :)

We arrived at the clinic earlier than appointment time and tried the first time to see if he is in the right position for scanning - but nope, he is facing downwards... sleeping (that was what happen too when we did the detailed scan at TMC too)!  Then I was recommended to go for a 10mins walk and took some orange juice for the 2nd attempt... but it didn't work on him.  He continued to sleep throughout the scan (except for some blinking of his eyes, and yawning!  however there were some cute moments we saw that his tongue was sticking out too!).

The whole process took us nearly 45mins and many many of tries!  The nurse who did the scan was very nice and paitence thou' and considered this scan unsuccessful (there were too many distraction like hands, legs and umbilical cord blocking the visual making the scan/images very distorted for printing plus there isn't much space for him to move/turn) but yet she still secretly printed out 2 images for us for keepsake!  Nice right?  We paid $50 for the use of equipement (plus two printed images under-table) instead of $150 which includes 5 printed images and a USB drive of the "4D recording" part of the baby.  I would consider this so much cheaper than paying for ultra-sound scanned images from our Gynae - $45 for one!  Hehe.

 

Baby N's - side profile (some say he has Daddy's nose and mouth!)

Baby N's - front profile (some say he has Mommy's chin!), so chubby!

The Son's First Toy Car!

04 November 2013

Title says it all!  Vroom vroom vroomz....

Chanced upon this toy store at I12 Katong last Friday and saw this vintage toy car - it was love at first sight!  Of course, I have storage issue settled before making this wise choice - to purchase lah, since the sales assistant say they only shipped in limited pieces.  Teehehe...!  Anyways, I have the permission to "park" the car at my aunt's place or alternatively the shop allows me to collect my car even though they have to store for me until next year.  So, win-win and YAY!  :)

Vilac - Pearly metal ride on car!  Retailing S$199 (+ Standard Chartered CC 10% discount).

A Week of Birthday Feasting!

28 October 2013

Ended a whole week of birthday feastings - I have specially planned the feast schedules very packed-ly with various groups of friends and family (some photos were taken, some were not...).  And yes.  It's a whole week of celebrations and gatherings for my darling ah Thiang, King Arthur...  King, so must celebrate and feast for a week.  I repeat, a week... OK, the feast only officially started on Tuesday... but himself already started on Monday...  >_<"

Platters with the Yeo's!

... then desserts at old skool eatery, Sinpopo Brand at Joo Chiat!

... with the folks at Ice Edge Cafe!

... with the HXDA at Ba Ba Black Sheep!

... with the Yeo's, Sim Cik and a new friend Jacie and the Lim's at Shabu Sai!

 

... and the feast continues with a date night - just the two of us at Balzac Bar and Brasserie!

I hoped ah Thiang had enjoyed a full blast of celebrations with all the arrangements I have planned for him this year... and many more years to come!  :)