OooooOOoooOoooo

We finally redeemed the Pack & Play and Stroller Car Seat combo from our credit card reward points.. AND....

they've shipped the stuff!!!!!

PLAYARD - PACK 'N PLAY	Feb 24, 2009	Shipped
STROLLER - QUATTRO TOUR	Feb 24, 2009	Shipped

Scheduled Delivery: 02/27/2009 ( TOMORROW!! )
( OoOOooooOOoooooOOooo)

And I can't wait to get them and put them together....*goosebumps* :)

Aches and Twinges 33 Weeks 5 Days

Hmm.. where do I begin?

I suppose with the latest aches. Sometimes parts of my tummy ache.. like the parts where you have an elbow shoved into or a knee pressing against.

And my lower ribs, where your bum is against? Well, THEY ache at the end of the day. Speaking of which, you're growing so big now that I have to sit up real straight most of the time just to get a full breath of air in my lungs. Which does great things for my posture, I guess.

My back aches at the end of the day, and daddy helps by giving me little back rubs. There's also the "groin ache"..

And then there's other aches that are sleep related. Like not being able to turn over to one's other side like a non-pregnant person, renders one immobile until woken up by extreme discomfort or achiness on one side of one's body. Not to mention the painful squished ear syndrome on the aforementioned side.

Also, there's the "wobbling in the car on a bumpy road" discomfort - where your tummy wobbles from side to side and you have to hold it steady. I hear some people get belly button pain, believe it or not.. At least I don't have THAT one.. yet.

But you know what? There's light at the end of the tunnel, and there are worse things to be suffering from, for sure. In fact, I shouldn't even call this suffering. Just a "transition period" with its quirks as well as perks.

AND I had another baby dream. This time it was a breastfeeding dream. I don't remember much about it, though. *sigh* But I remember you seemed so tiny. :)

Snoring and Poopy Diapers

1. Snoring

I had mentioned before that I started snoring.. LOUDLY after being pregnant, due to swollen nasal passages with nasal congestion and extra fat around the throat etc etc.

ANYWAY, overheard at our house:

Mummy is laying down with her feet up in the bedroom, playing games on the laptop that's on the nightstand.
Daddy opens the door and peeps in

Daddy : "Heh , I knew you weren't napping cos you weren't sawing logs"
Mummy : "Grr"
Daddy : "And you used to have the cutest little soft snores"
Mummy : "GRRRRRRR"

In fact, I find myself falling asleep sometimes and snorting myself awake.
GAHHH

2. Poopy Diaper Dreams

Last night I dreamt you were a tiny new born and you had made a poopy diaper and I had to change you. I used little wet cotton balls ( as opposed to baby wipes ) to wipe your little bum and I think we did a pretty good job, you and me.

When I told your daddy about the dream, he said "Good, you're getting some practice even in your dreams. Way to go"

*rolls eyes* :)

Reflux Relief, Here We Come

So we had a doctor's appointment yesterday,

and I told her about the "horrible reflux" episode that I had the other night. And also that I had been having more minor episodes since then.

She suggested Zantac, and so we went off and got some "Compare to Zantac" ( because we're cheap and they'll probably work just as effectively seeing how they're the SAME THING ANYWAY ) tablets for me to start taking prophylactically. I started them last night, and so far so good.

Other than that, a new complaint is aching in the groin region ( especially the right groin ) as the day progresses. The doctor said that Junior was in the head down position ( albeit NOT engaged as yet ) with his rump up against my diaphragm. And since the little jumping bean is weighing 4 - 5 lbs by now, the constant pressure against my pelvis causes the ache towards the end of the day.

Since we're catching up on "new pregnancy experiences", I've found that I need a bib or something. My ever expanding belly has become pretty adept at catching all kinds of crumbs when I eat, making me look like cookie monster in the aftermath of a cookie destruction rampage. Besides a multitude of stains on top of that.

AND as if I was not self conscious about my cheeky ( literally full of cheeks ) face before now, here's what this week's "What to Expect" email tells me...

Look in the mirror — is that you or Alvin the Chipmunk? If your cheeks are looking as round as your belly these days, you're in good company — most expectant women start sporting that gathering-nuts-for-the-winter look in their third trimester.

WHY POINT OUT THE OBVIOUS???

ARGHHHHHHHHHHH

Anyway, I'm sending in my hospital pre-registration forms off in the mail today or tomorrow, as part of preparing for "the big day" ( which has been on my mind more and more as time goes by - or FLIES BY! ) so as to spare all the paperwork and red tape thingies if I arrive at the hospital in the throes of contractions and what not in a few weeks. ( YOIKS!!!) I have to say it's pretty neat to be able to get that out of the way though. I could have done it online, except their "registering a new patient" part of the website was down for maintenance.

Meanwhile, I'm just gonna enjoy and treasure whatever time I have left with our little Jumping Bean inside of me.. :) before we embark on a whole new adventure once he gets here.

Acid Reflux is horrible, HORRIBLE!

Yesterday night, while I was making dinner for the hubs and myself, I started feeling kinda "heartburney". This has been going on for about a week now, because of the pregnancy, and everything squishing my stomach and insides.... so I thought nothing much of it, and just went and popped 3 Maalox chewable tablets.

Unfortunately, the pain got worse and worse and was not relieved when the hubs made me take 3 more Maaloxes.

When I get heartburn, the worst place I feel it is in the back, in the interscapular region, and it like radiates up to my head or something. Anyway, yesterday's acid reflux attack was like nothing I had ever felt before. The pain was extremely excruciating, I was doing all I could to hold back my tears.

That scared the hubs really badly, because I'm usually stoic about such things, and seeing me on my knees on the floor, asking him for help really shook him up.

I had him massage / thump me on the back but the burning from the acid was so bad, I was tensing up with every "backflow". I couldn't talk from the pain, and when I tried to drink some water, it would feel like my throat was closing up on me and I couldn't swallow, with the water coming back up and choking me, not to mention it was friggin' PAINFUL! I couldn't swallow, I couldn't burp...It was really hard to fight back the tears. At some point I felt like I might black out, and all I could do was pray and wait for the antacids to start working.

Junior was pushing up against my chest/ diaphragm, plus the pain made it really difficult to breathe, and the hubs finally brought me to the bedroom, where I was propped up with pillows on the bed, trying to relax. I was breathing so shallow and quickly from the pain and pressure that the hubs thought I might hyperventilate and black out from THAT. He kept coming by to check on me, and would be really worried when I kept holding my hand up to tell him that I just needed some time for this "attack" to abate.

The hubs kept asking me if it was something else other than reflux, and was on the verge of scooping me up and rushing me to the emergency room.

At some point, I DID need him to bring me an empty cup/mug because my mouth was filling up with saliva quicker than I could swallow - a symptom of acid reflux ( water brash or hypersalivation ). That's when I knew it wasn't something more sinister.

After about 45 minutes ( it may have been less, but I wasn't paying attention to the clock at that point ), the pain slowly subsided, and I was able to breathe easier again. Being in constant pain for that long makes you terribly exhausted.

I couldn't help wondering throughout that episode though, about how I would make it through hours and hours of contractions and labour!

We've got a Jumper

Okay.. this has got to be one of the weirdest sensations one goes through when one is pregnant..

when the baby's using your perineum as a trampoline.

It's not painful. Just kinda "woah"

seriously.

Happy Valentine's Day

To both of my boyz...

I love you both so much :)

Overheard yesterday :

Daddy : "Wow, in a few weeks you'll have TWO boys totally dependent on you for EVERYTHING"

Mummy : *giggle* "I LOVE IT !!"

Call me a Penguin

I've officially started waddling.

Your daddy says that watching me waddle and attempting to carry anything is almost like watching someone being abused.

hehehehe..

Nobody ever told me

That it would be HARD to fill up your lungs to yawn when you're in your third trimester.

Bleh.

Let's do the Dance of Joy on Mummy's Bladder

We went over to your grandad's yesterday night to have a look at your uncle Lin's puter which was having some problems, and while daddy was trying to help uncle Lin burn some pictures onto a disk, I sat in the rocking chair next to grandad to talk to him.

It was THEN, that you decided that you would do the Lucille Ball Grape Squishing dance on my bladder.

Oy

Gang Way

I've kinda gotten to where I can't really see where I'm stepping. And that makes me clumsier than I normally would be. Plus the belly gets in the way of getting close to stuff. Like the sink, for example.

Also, YOU are growing at about 1/2 lb per week now, and boy oh boy, can I tell. Just last week I was still pretty comfortable, but this week, I find my belly pressing up against my chest and get a little short of breath after doing this that or the other. You're getting pretty strong too. At times, when you kick/punch when I'm not quite expecting it, it can be rather startling and quite disconcerting. PLUS I had my first actual leg cramp in bed a few nights ago. Before, it had always been kind of a "cramp threatening to happen", which I would catch quickly enough and flex my foot right away, but that one night, it caught me by surprise. *bleh*

My belly button though, is still stubbornly an innie. I wonder for how long, though.

Your daddy has been sweet about giving me back rubs when he comes to bed at night., which I am grateful for. Sometimes I don't realise how much my back would start aching until I need to make some sort of "I-used-to-be-able-to-contort-like-this-before-I-was-pregnant" move.

Getting Drunk on Amniotic Fluid

In the past few days, you have suddenly become the hiccuping king of the universe!

When I told your daddy that you had been hiccuping on and off , maybe a month or so ago, he got anxious and wondered if it was normal. I assured him it was very normal. Then, since about 3 or 4 days ago, you started hiccuping on a very regular basis, like 3 times a day, each time lasting about a minute or two. They feel like little spasms in my belly, about 3 or 4 seconds apart. We mentioned this to both the maternal-fetal specialist and our OBGYN, and they were both delighted as it was a sign of a maturing central nervous system.

Hiccup on, my brainiac baby! *hugggies*

Also, your daddy has been very supportive of my ever expanding figure but even he could not help being a little bit taken aback when he saw ( he hadn't been paying attention before this to the scales ) the numbers on the digital scale at Dr. Maberry's yesterday.

Daddy : *with very wide eyes* "Did that scale actually say *** pounds?"
Mummy : *sighs* Sadly, yes.

But you know what? He makes me feel soo loved and yes, even beautiful, and really, your MUMMY is the one who beats herself up what with all these body image issues that she's had all her life.

Gah, I love my boys :)

You've got Hair!

We went to see Dr. Maberry today for your ultrasound appointment. He assured us that everything was going well, and you were growing just as you should. The measurements estimated you at about 3lbs 12 oz right now. Like, he ain't heavy, he's my baby!! If you keep this up, you'll probably be a 8ish pounder!

The doctor even pointed out that you had hair on your head!

I tried out the "make a baby" program on the VW Routan website, putting in your mummy and daddy's pictures together to see what you would look like. Of course I know it's just silliness, but I thought it would be fun.

On the first run, you came out looking very Asian!

Then I ran it again, and this time you looked kinda mixed/ more caucasian !

I know that both your daddy and I as well as your aunts, uncle and cousins just can't wait to see you in about 9 weeks or so!!

I know it's getting nearer too, because I've been getting some Braxton Hicks contractions on and off, a few times a day, not lasting very long, but more when I'm feeling tired or towards the end of the day/when I've been on my feet for a long time etc.

We see the regular OBGYN tomorrow for the regular checkup, and probably on to watch the Epidural Video so that I can get the Informed Consent form signed so I would have the option of having an epidural as a form of pain control.