13 more weeks left...

Hey Boy Boy!

Your Daddy and Mommy were really running around a lot last week! Kopi was sick, and we had to make multiple trips to the vet. In addition, we had to go see Dr H to make sure you are okay. Plus we had baby classes this week too. Phew!

Kopi is back with us now. No more laboured breathing and yucky mucus, which is a good thing. Your Daddy has to feed him antibiotics twice a day via a syringe. On top of that, because our dear Mr K is not eating well, Daddy has to "force feed" him with baby food (i.e. sweet potato). Hehehe, I guess it is good practice for your Daddy. Next time he will be an expert at feeding you too. In the meantime, we hope Kopi gets well soon. Mommy is learning to be kinder to him too. Like not waking him up just to feed him his medicine, and tip-toeing past his cage when he is sleeping.

As for our visit to Dr H, everything is going well. Dr H kindly offered to let us have a go at the 4D ultrasound again, since we didn't manage to get a good look at your face the last time. Mommy was quite excited, because I just had a cup of coffee (I can explain that...), and I thought the caffeine rush should help us get a better look at you! I was sooo wrong! You head was tucked in the exact spot as when we did the last US, and Dr H said you were yawning! Seems like coffee doesn't really have an effect on you huh... Anyway, Daddy and I were a little disappointed that we didn't get to see you on 4D. Maybe you are really bent on giving us a surprise huh...

On a separate note, we received a package from your gong-gong, who sent us lots of CNY goodies! Although the bak kwa and Mandarin oranges were confiscated at the US customs (long story), we still received the pineapple tarts and kuih bangkit.

Should have taken a photo when the bottles were still unopened. Now this is what is left...

Lastly, if you keep hearing someone singing, it is not me okay. Your Daddy has been humming a lot of funny songs for you, mostly from the PS3 games that he plays (e.g. the "Victory Song" from Final Fantasy). He can't wait for you to grow up and play computer games with him. He intends to teach you some street fighter moves as well, which I suspect you already know from the way you are moving around in Mommy's tummy.

Mommy's random thoughts

Hey Boy Boy!

How is it going in there? Feels like there is a party going on. You seem super active at night, to which your Po-Po has said: Serves Mommy right for being a night owl... Boy Boy, you shouldn't pick up Mommy's bad habits hor, understand?

Nowadays, because of time constraints, Mommy's source of entertainment comes from retail therapy (i.e. online baby shopping). But we haven't bought much stuff for you yet. Just the big items: crib, car seat, stroller, carrier and that cute winter jacket. We also received some hand-me-down toys from kind friends. Tomorrow we will go and look at a second-hand bouncer that a neighbour is selling. Trying not to buy so much till your Po-Po comes, so that we can at least have some activities to do together (garage sales!!), given that life can get pretty boring here...

Next week we will have another appointment with Dr H. Heard that we will be doing a oral glucose test. I have always wondered how those things tasted like. Weight-wise, Mommy is still a little on the light side, but I am not too bothered by it (I hope you are not too!) since it has always been that way, and I don't skip meals anymore.

Right now, Mommy is kinda worried about our pet guinea pig, Kopi, who hasn't been eating well since yesterday. Given that he is a senior citizen (5 years old, which is probably about 50+ years old in GP years), he needs more TLC than usual. Going to bring him to the vet tomorrow if things don't improve. I guess there is one similarity between pets and babies -- you can't get them to tell you what's wrong.

Update:

Brought Kopi to see Dr Wolf today. From the mucus on his nose and paws, and his laboured breathing, it looks like he has a respiratory infection. Poor Kopi has to be hospitalized and given some IV antibiotics. Apparently guinea pigs can't really breathe through their mouth, so when they have blocked nose, they feel reeeeaally suffocated. I heard that guinea pigs don't do very well when they get pneumonia, but Dr Wolf said Kopi's paws still look pink, which means his blood is still quite oxygenated. Hopefully he can make it through!

Kicking Daddy

Hi Boyboy,

Have sort of decided on your Chinese name already. Both your Ah Gong and Ah Ma came up with it independently and it was one of our choices, so it was an easy decision. However, your Ang Moh name is proving to be a tougher choice. Your "uncles", aka your Daddy's good brothers have been offering suggestions and some have been pretty good. We'll keep on shortlisting; maybe you can help by doing what Daddy did when I was in your Ah Ma's tummy - give a strong hard kick to mummy when you hear a name that you like.

Mummy says that you have been very active recently, which is very unlike Daddy, who only kicked once throughout the pregnancy. The other day you even kicked my face! Just don't do that when you come out ok?

Grow up healthy ok!

Daddy

24th week checkup

Hi Boy Boy!

Everything went well today at Dr H's office today. It is always fun to hear your heartbeat on the Doppler, although Mommy always gets teased by Dr H for wearing so many layers. I guess us tropical folks just don't have the functional fats to survive in this kind of cold winter weather.

Anyhow, spring comes in about two months! And soon after that, it will be your arrival!

Daddy and Mommy finally succumbed to temptation and bought your first piece of clothing. The winter clothes at Gymboree were on sale, so Daddy picked out a winter jacket for you. Hopefully it will be the right size for you next winter. Your grandparents (we still cannot decide if it should be ah-ma and ah-gong, or ye-ye and nai-nai) also sent a baby sleeper with adorable paw prints. See how lucky you are! Already so loved, even before you are born. :)


On the logistics side of things, we are grateful that our Medicaid application has been approved. That will really help to save us a lot of money. Daddy and Mommy have also started going for baby/pregnancy classes at the nearby LifeCare services, which is run by volunteers. We really appreciate all their time and effort for conducting all these classes for free. The Baby Bucks which we "earn" from going for the classes can be "spent" on items in their baby boutique, which has a lot of good stuff. We have also been receiving cheques from WIC which allows us to get some free groceries from supermarkets. So thankful. :)