P: "Your second?"
Me: "Nope"
P: "Oh your first! How is it?"
Me: "It's my third actually..."
P: (look of shock on the face) "wow!!!" Or "The SG government will be so thankful!"
Lol! I have had many "flattering" remarks about how young I am to have three kids already... How brave, etc and some even asking me if I will venture for another.
This pregnancy had caught hubby and I by surprise. Sometime when baby M was 8 months old (ie September 13), my breast milk supply dipped. Originally I attributed the drop to my flu... After recovering, the supply did not return and instead dipped further. I was absolutely puzzled and upset, since I was 3 months away from my aim of 11 months- N was TBF for 11 mths. The supply had dipped so much that the combined yield from 4 expression sessions and adding another before I went to sleep was simply not enough for a feed. After one week and getting bitten by M three times during one latch session, I gave up breast feeding...
In the same month, I started having smell sensitivities especially fishy smells. I remember returning home one day and exclaiming to MIL that the fishy smell in the house was making me nauseous. That dinner I did not touch the plate of prawns (the culprit) and MIL wondered aloud if I was pregnant.
MIL's comment triggered me to do home tests. Well, who would expect 3 negative results to be false negatives? I tested a total of 3 times over a month - twice using home test kits (w first morning pee) and once at Raffles Medical Group before the pre-employment x-ray...
So how and when did I know I was pregnant? Fast forward to December, I was not feeling well - bad headache and aching body. The company GP looked at me and then my tummy... Part of the conversation:
D: when was your last menses?
Me: (suprised) June?
D: So long ago? You have irregular menses?
Me: I am breastfeeding so irregular menses is kinda "normal"? I am intending to go back to my gynae to make sure I am ok.
D: Hmmm... Did you do pregnancy test after missing your menses?
Me: yes, three times in Sep! All three times negative so I don't think I will be pregnant.
D: That's like 3 months ago... Do you want to re-test?
Me: mmmmmm.... Ok lor...
D: The urine test will be $15, not included in your company insurance. Is that ok?
Me: Ok (since i didn't know when I could get an appointment with my gynae)
After doing the pee test, I went to inform hb - that doc suggested a pregnancy test. I remember saying to him: "aiyah can't be one la... Test 3 times negative..." The nurses called us in (they were smiling widely at me) - I sat down, hb stood next to me. The doc pushed the strip across the table. On it, two dark lines. Oh yes, I know what it meant... But the doctor said it anyway "As you can see. Two lines. You are pregnant.".
Disbelief! I was happy yet in serious doubt... How was I going to face my boss (being in the new job for only 3 months)? Hb's reaction was "So how many weeks is she?". (Yah, funny question from an experienced father. Which test kit tells you the number of weeks?)
After the discovery, I made the appointment with gynae. Hubby was of course elated and I told him I might be more than 16 weeks because I felt movements in my tummy (which at that time, hubby brushed off as "stomach wind- you are hungry"). During the appt, gynae proded my abdomen and annouced "already quite big!". And indeed, the scan indicated that baby was already 18 wks!
The first ultrasound picture:
Hubby was of course shocked beyond words. Pregnant the wife is but 18 weeks is beyond the 1st trimster. All he could say was I watched too much "I didn't know I was pregnant...".
Esentially I had spent the 1st trimster doing things which pregnant mummies would never do:
- eating sashimi however much I liked
- having beer (one count) with my colleagues (one and a half pint)
- taking an x-ray for my pre employment (shld have been 6-8 wks then)
- taking flu vaccination (shld have been 10-13 wks then)
- running 7km SCB Ekiden Run (I can't really run but you know i pushed myself a little more than usual)
- having more than a cup of tea or coffee daily
- wearing a tummy clincher for 4 weeks until one night while lying down in the clincher i felt some movements in my abdomen (the tummy started to stick out and a male colleague actually pointed to my tummy then signaled a pregnant tummy and mouthed "are you pregnant?". I remember laughing out and telling him "NO lah! i am just fat!")
Luckily, the detailed scan at week 23 was normal and that was when I broke the news to most of my friends. Here's an ultrasound of baby's side profile during late 2nd trimster.
Time flies and I am already week 37 plus. Like the first two, I am excited to meet this little one. Maybe because its number three, still feeling cool and "relac one corner".
Even the sign up for the cord blood donation was just completed. Really put it in late this round! But better late than never! ;)
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