Sophia

Swift like the seasons,
Changing, growing, you tickle.
Soon you will be here.

Red Herring

Far from prying eyes,
A silent blank, trace unknown,
The deception fails.

Rock Bottom

Down and further down,
How far can a person fall?
To darkest nadir.

Week 29

Weight: 60kg
Belly: tight as a drum
Feeling: bloated as a whale

This week's worry after visit to the doc: toxoplasmosis. I could have sworn we mentioned to him that we have cats and even asked him about litter cleaning. I remember him telling Rizal that as long as I don't do litter, am fine.

When he saw me on Tuesday, he noticed the scar on my hand. When I told him it was a cat scratch, his face turned. "You have cats?" Oh dear. Was not good. Started to check my blood test results and realised we didn't test for toxoplasma. And at this point, there is nothing much we can do even if I do test and am found positive. If it were true, it's too late for abortion and the baby would have been infected. Great. So I read up all I could about toxoplasmosis and well, decided to do the test anyway the next day. Let's hope my IgM levels test negative. Fingers crossed.

I can see all of my belly button! It's getting shallower and wider by the day. Some time ago I realised that I really should clean it out before it goes on full view to the rest of world. I noticed a huge black spot in there and try as I might, I couldn't get it to scrub off. All I was doing was making the area around it redder and redder. So I stuck my finger in there and tried a bit of scratching. No luck either. Then I took a closer look; duh. Who in the world gets a mole in their belly button? It had to be me, of course.

Getting into bed, moving around in bed and getting out of bed is getting to be a chore. I have to roll myself onto my side and sort of generally roll up and out of bed. If I want to turn from my left side to the right, I'd have to roll onto my back first, with hands on belly and shift my entire weight from lying on my back to my right, all the while hanging on to the belly so I don't sprain a muscle. Ditto going from right to left.

While lathering the heels of my feet with lotion (did I mention anything about cracked heels? Will not even go there) lying in bed, I realised that the orange peel effect on my thighs are even more pronounced. Another legacy I'll have to live with.

Application of baby oil has also stepped up: all over the belly and now even the boobs. So far so good, no stretch marks in sight. We'll see if that's still the case a few weeks from now.

I'm starting to really waddle now.

I don't know if it's the lack of space in my bodily cavity or just the baby getting bigger. She seems to be moving a lot now. Or rather, I can feel a lot of her movements. She's a little dynamo; moves all the time. After meals, in bed, when I'm on the couch, when I'm sitting at the office, when I'm walking, driving. All. the. time. The movements range from little taps to severe jerks. There're knocks on the side of the belly, staccato raps lower down, sudden prods here and there; I'm running out of descriptions. Sometimes she just bumps faintly while turning, or so I think anyway.

My pelvic floor still feels like I've sat on the exercise bike for too long. I don't suppose that feeling will go away for a while. Maybe even after I explode. Do I really need to remember the years I toiled on those bikes at the gym?

My midnight or rather, wee hour morning cravings are coming back again. Lack of sleep is starting to become an issue. How does one go back to peaceful slumber after eating at 3am or 4am and then wake up refreshed before 7am? I for one, have no clue.

I'm also starting lose my brain cells. Memory loss is becoming more acute and all I can think of after a meal is sleep. I bought a succulent piece of cod while grocery shopping at Cold Storage last night. It cost me a whopping RM20. When I got home, I realised I'd left the cod at the checkout counter. Go figure.

Like I tell my friends, nyanyuk already.

One for the Gals

Now that I'm preggers and my boobs are humongo-licious, I find that instead of the guys staring at my headlights, the girls are the ones who let their gazes linger longer.

Maybe it's my bump that's caught their attention too?

Or is it just the fact that I look fat to the guys?

I suspect it may be the varicose veins that visibly snake their way across my breasts forming a sort of grotesque ornament especially when shown off in the various spaghetti tops I wear on the weekends.

Thoughts that probably go off in their heads:

"Euw!! She should just put a shawl over those things!"

"Yuck, what could she possibly be thinking, going out in that?!"

"She thinks she's so hot, doesn't she know she's pregnant?"

"Hey, not bad for a pregnant woman."

"I wonder if she realises she's got THREE bulges?"

"I wouldn't wear THAT if I were her."

"I wonder how many months she is?"

What can I say? We women really can be very unkind to our own gender. I should know, after all, I'm one of them too.

Another one for Sophia

Here's another ode to Sophia from budding poet/singer-songwriter, dear friend Eve. This was written after I'd told her that Sophia must have enjoyed the extra flow of blood circulation during my foot massage.


Foot Massage

Tickle me timbre
Tickle me quick
Tickles when she giggles
Iggly, wiggly, hic!
I'll tumble, and she'll mumble
And I guess she's wondering why
But I love it when it tickles
Aye-aye-aye!

Copyright 2007 © Evelyn Heng

The Slow Ride to the Long Way Down

They say that having kids will deplete your financial resources and probably sink you into the depths of bankruptcy.

How true.

A few weeks ago, we splurged on a Peg Perego stroller + baby car seat combo package. Let's just say I could probably get an iPod Nano and more with the amount we forked over. We have yet to get the breast pumps, bottles, teats and other nursing paraphernalia that we will need later on. Since Rizal will be in Singapore during June, and those items are slightly cheaper across the causeway, we may just wait for the Great Singapore Sale to kick off then before we buy anything related to bottles and teats and pumps.

Just today, we schlepped from one end of 1U - Jusco - to the other end - Parkson - just so we could take advantage of the sales at Parkson for some baby clothes. Not that there was much of a price discount. Would 10% be considered reasonable? We ended up with two pairs of Pigeon brand front-button-down t-shirts with pants and two pairs of booties + mittens, the sum amount of which came up to about RM55. That's just two pairs each. I refrained from buying any other items because I know for a fact that the Parkson at Subang Parade has a 50% discount on some Anakku garments which I could possibly live with putting on my child.

Of course, she will have to alternate between blue and pink items. In this day and age, they still produce items of clothing in stereotypical blue or pink. You'd think that baby garment manufacturers would wise up and just make clothes in multi-gender colours like green or yellow or white. Well, actually they do. It's probably because parents are wising up and buying clothes in these colours that they have to heavily discount the ubiquitous pink and blue items.

So it will be back to Subang Parade to buy a piece each of blue and pink shirts at a bargain RM5 -RM6 per piece. Two for the price of one!!

I am all for bargains. After all, we haven't even gone into the kid's education fund yet. What about further follow-up visits to the paediatrician and other important things in life we will have to spend on her? And the other kids?

God help us all.

Left out of the Loop

"Have you checked in to the hospital yet?"

"No..."

"Are you in the hospital?"

"No!"

"Have you left the hospital yet?"

"No...oi! Am not due till end July la!"

"How was I supposed to know? You are supposed to tell your friends about developments like these! I suppose I would have had to find out from someone else AFTER you'd popped."

"Err...sorry. I was going to look you up if I'd driven to Penang as planned over the weekend! Swear!"

"Right."

Nothing works

It's been more than two weeks now and our Streamyx at home is still busted. An email sent to TMNet's customer service department drew lukewarm response. I am fed up. To get online I either go to Hollys Coffee at Cineleisure Damansara (way quieter and more conducive to writing than Starbucks over at The Curve) or head to Havana Estudio to leech off their Wi-Fi.

To top it off, Astro's dead as well. Has been ever since the satellite signal turned up a bright red on the screen about a week ago.

Everything electronic and IT is turning into a nightmare at my place. Or maybe it just goes to show that a monopoly is the most inefficient way to be running things around here.

S'pore vs. M'sia

Compare hubby's experience with the S'pore government and that of mine with local Immigration.

Hubby took the bus down to S'pore yesterday and today went to S'pore's Ministry of Manpower to submit his work permit application in the early morning. There were about 40 people in line and he was served in under 20 minutes. He was told to return later before lunch to collect his work permit.

SHORT. SIMPLE. EASY.

Now go back to my experience with Immigration at D'sara Heights and you tell me why M'sia is lagging behind in so many ways.