32 Weeks: Maternity Photoshoot at D'Enfant

I am pretty excited this week because we are officially on the 8th month mark. 

26 Sep: Went to see Dr Ang and most probably this would be the last visit there as we had decided to deliver baby under Dr Tan at KKH. Baby was very cooperative and faced up and Dr Ang managed to get a 3D scan for her. According to baby's position on that day, Dr Ang said that about 90% chance, I am able to deliver baby vaginally. Dr Ang said baby's weight should be between 1.5 kg and 2 kg at 32 weeks. Baby's weight was good! She was approximately 2.14 kg. I felt kind of sad that this would be our last visit to Dr Ang. He had actually helped us quite a bit. I wanted to have a proper closure with him but I just didn't have the courage to do so.

Had a nice dinner and catch up session with my primary school classmates at Westgate. 

27 Sep: Scheduled maternity photoshoot at D'Enfant at Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I was very excited about it. We left our house at 9.30 am as the photoshoot was scheduled to be at 10.30 am. But sometimes things in life are so unpredictable. We met with a massive jam at the Singapore custom and were stuck in the jam for about 2 hours. The jam was due to a malfunction of the system. Yeah talk about efficiency huh. 

We finally reached D'Enfant at 12.30 pm. We were very sorry that we were this late as they had another scheduled photoshoot at 2 pm. However, they were very professional about it and upon our arrival, the makeup artist immediately started putting on my makeup and they had also made arrangement for the other party to come at a later time. 

The makeup artist also helped us mix and match the outfits that we brought along. The photoshoot went on smoothly. To my little surprise, the makeup artist actually changed my hairdo thrice for the 3 different outfits. I thought it was indicated in the package that it was only 1 hairdo. 

Had to wait for 2 weeks to select the photographs.

31 Weeks: Slowing Down and More Relaxation

This week we kind of slowed down on our purchases for baby darling as there will be big scale mummy's fair in October. We are waiting for the fair to get good deals for baby darling.

Went for my regular swim again and I improved by swimming a few more laps than my previous swim. After my swim, we went back to my mum's place and had a nutritious dinner. My mum is a real iron chef! :)

My cough was very persistent and I just kept coughing away when I was at work. Almost cough my lungs out whenever I cough. Too much phlegm and I'm someone who doesn't know how to spit out the phlegm. :(

Finally I couldn't take it and decided to take a day's leave on Thursday to give myself some rest and to go to see a TCM doctor for my persistent cough.

I wouldn't say the food is fantastic, given the price. Among the food that we ordered, I think only the beef tenderloin and creme brulee were good. My aglio olio was such a disappointment! The cheesecake was a little hard.

30 Weeks: Collection of Old Clothes for Baby Darling

According to some Chinese belief, people say newborns need to wear some hands-me-down clothes so that they will grow up and it will be easier to raise them up and handle them. Due to this belief, we decided to collect some old clothes for baby darling though we had bought quite a number of new clothes for her. We went to B's cousin's house to inherit her daughter's old clothes. At the same time, we also took a look at their baby cot which they claimed to be as good as new. However, after seeing the baby cot, I had my reservation to inherit the baby cot. First of all, it wasn't as good as new according to my expectation. Secondly, her daughter suddenly just jumped up onto the cot's side grilled bar and I got a shock. No doubt she had done her "quality check" for us but I'm still pretty concerned with the wear and tear issue. So I told B that we should get a brand new cot for baby darling as anything pertaining to her safety, I do not wish to compromise at all. 

We also went to Ikea to look for cabinets to store baby darling's stuff. But we couldn't find anything that was nice so in the end we bought these plastic storage boxes from Citylife Trend at Giant Supermarket. 

I fell sick again and went to see a GP. He prescribed me the same medicine that I took when I fell sick at 20 weeks. 

But I was not recovering. :( Cough was getting worse. Thanks to 2 chocolate chips cookies that I ate! 

Hope I recover soon! :)

給寶寶的日記第二十八篇

親愛的寶寶，

昨天爸爸吃你的醋了。他說我愛你比愛他還多。可是寶寶，你們兩個我都一樣愛！手心、手背都是肉啊！

寶寶，其實我希望你愛爸爸多一點。我也希望爸爸愛你多一點。

再多幾個星期，我們就能夠看到你了！你也可以看到我們了。你興奮嗎？我們很期待你的到來喔！

寶寶，你的表現很好喲！要繼續努力、加油！要和媽媽一起合作喔！我們一起撐到至少三十八周才讓媽媽分娩，好不好？媽媽在分娩的時候，要和媽媽一起努力、一起加油喔！這樣才能順順利利、平平安安地把你生下來呀，讓你好好的看看這個世界！：）

寶寶，媽媽非常愛你！

29 Weeks: More Items for Baby Darling

This week, we went shopping for baby darling's stuff again. We heard that Baby Hyperstore would be having sales over the weekends. We made a trip down and the objective was to get a car seat and stroller for baby darling. 

We asked the staff for recommendations and she recommended 2 brands: Maxi Cosi and Inglesina. Initially we wanted to save costs and that was to buy a car seat that could accommodate baby from 0 to 4 years old. Then I saw a Maxi Cosi bassinet and stroller set and thought it looked very compact and convenient. After enquiring the price which was $800, it was way too expensive in our opinion. Then I started asking the staff if they have similar combination but at a lower price. She told us that currently they were having this sale and that was if we buy a stroller, we can buy a bassinet at $200. 

B loves the Quinny strollers. He always has. So we asked if there is any Quinny stroller that allows front and back facing and the staff recommended Quinny Zapp Xtra. It is a very light weight stroller and for the first time, I thought it looks nice. Before this, I have always loved Capella strollers. What's more, the price of this Quinny stroller is only at $399. Definitely a steal! As long as we don't choose a design/colour that is this year's collection, we do not need to pay a premium for it. :) We chose rocking black colour (last year's collection) as this is the nicest colour out of the available colours.

As for the bassinet, I personally prefer the Maxi Cosi ones. According to the staff, Maxi Cosi and Quinny are actually from the same company. So any Maxi Cosi bassinet can be attached to any Quinny stroller as long as there is adapter. Well, Quinny Zapp Xtra comes with the adapter so we need not buy separately. As the name suggests, a bassinet generally can only accommodate baby from 0 to 9 months or 12 months (maximum), depending how fast our baby darling grows. By then, we will need to scout for another car seat for her. I asked B if it's too troublesome and we have to spend again for another car seat. His reply came as a surprise. He said actually for those car seats that can accommodate from 0 to 4 years old, the design itself has been compromised. So he thinks that by buying car seat that accommodates to the different stages of baby darling, it's safer and design wise is not compromised. So we chose a red coloured (last year's collections) bassinet for baby darling and I think it matches the rocking black coloured Quinny stroller perfectly. 

Very proud of myself for finding such a good deal. This whole ala carte mix & match combination only costs us $599.

Also we bought 2 bed linen sets for baby darling at $99 each. Each set comes with 2 pillows, 2 bolsters, 1 blanket, 1 bedsheet and 1 bumper. 

I started swimming as I got heavier. Swimming really does help to relieve some of the weight gained. They say regular exercising can help to have a smooth delivery and keep my weight in check.

We also had our routine check up with Dr Tan at KKH on 9th September 2014. We always feel at ease with Dr Tan each time we see him. He always makes us feel very comfortable. On that day, he awarded B to be the most well dressed husband among all his patients' husbands. He's so funny, right? 

After our routine check up, we went to IMM at Jurong East just to shop around. Guess what? Gelare is having 50% off on any waffle every Tuesday! 

We also bought a few story books for baby darling. :)

Praying hard everyday to God that He will give us His blessings for me to carry baby darling to full term at least 38 weeks before I deliver her. Praying for the whole delivery process to be the most natural, most safe, most smooth and most painless one for us. Thank you, Lord! Hallelujah!

28 Weeks: Eventful Week

We went to see Dr Ang for our routine check up on 29th August 2014. Baby was weighing 1.285 kg. According to Dr Ang, baby should weigh around 1 to 1.3 kg at week 28. I seemed to lose 1 kg from my last measurement. 

Dr Ang also briefed us on the costings for the various methods of delivery. We haven't really decided where to deliver.

On 30th August, I met up with 2 BFFs at Marche at Somerset 313. We had a nice catch-up with one another and enjoyed the delicious food offered there. 

Other than those, this week I also bought quite a number of things for baby darling online via Qoo10, especially scarf bibs. I bought a total of 27 scarf bibs for baby. I love scarf bibs as I think it can double up as an accessory. Hope baby darling likes it too! :)

Baby darling, daddy and mummy are really prepping ourselves to welcome your arrival! :) Everything that we had bought for you is always bought with lots of ♡.  We hope you will love every little gift that we had bought for you. God bless and love you! :)

27 Weeks: Maternity & Newborn Photoshoot Booked

I've been scouting for maternity and newborn photoshoot packages as I want to capture these beautiful moments of my pregnancy and baby's newborn look and expressions. I had enquired a few and finally I signed up the maternity and newborn photoshoot packages with D'Enfant in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. This studio was first introduced to me back in 2012 when my ex boss brought his family members over there and the quality of work was fantastic! I love the studio setup and the photography style, mainly using natural lighting.

However, after signing up the packages, it kind of dawned on me that how I am going to get baby darling's passport done within 2 weeks after her birth and whether it is safe to bring her over to Johor Bahru since she's still so young and her immune system may not be that strong yet as they were saying for newborn looks, it's best to capture them within the first 2 weeks. But I'd signed the package and placed the deposit. If I were to cancel the package, I'll have to forfeit the deposit. 

Over the weekends, there was a Super Mom Bazaar at Suntec City Mall. As we were walking around, I chanced upon this Korean photography studio called BabyU. I took a look at their works and I love it a lot. Again I'm in love with the natural settings, lighting and soft touch of the photos. They were having promotion and the package cost $130 $99 upon signing up at the booth. For more details of the packages, please go to: Baby U International Photo Studio

I signed this up as a backup plan. But in the end, I realised I made the right choice to sign because at least this studio is based in Singapore and its location is very near to where I am staying. I believe bringing baby out for a short while within a short distance, it should be fine. 

At the bazaar, we also bought a play mat and a carrier with hipster seat for baby darling. It turned out that the carrier's brand is from Korea. Looks like I'm a Korean infatuated mama! Haha!

We were deciding between Ergo Baby carrier and this I-Angel carrier. We had decided to go for this hipster seat carrier as it is more ergonomic for baby darling and us. At least some of baby's weight will be transferred to the hipster seat and it won't be that strenuous on our shoulders and back when we carry her around. 

At the same time, I'd also booked a postnatal massage package done by a Malay masseur. Her charges are quite cheap as compared to others. 7 sessions at $450. She will be using lemongrass oil to massage from head to toe and then apply Jamu paste or ginger lotion on the tummy and use a binding cloth to wrap my tummy for at least 6 hours. The purpose of doing this postnatal massage is to help to push the uterus back in place after giving birth and also to aid in slimming down. 

Baby darling, we are all so excited about you! Love you lots! :)