Sketches of Life

Do you think with a 5.5yo, 4yo and a 2.5yo I can have a bed rest? Bed rest is almost impossible and stopping to lift up (maybe not carrying but I still have to lift him up to sit on my lap, to squat on the toilet bowl, to go up and down the car and letting him watch me prepare his milk) my 2.5yo son is also almost impossible. My only bed rest is my usual afternoon nap.

Now my 2.5yo is down with runny nose and cough. He has hard time sleeping at night and prefers to sleep on my lap because it is warmer. Refused to use any blanky or comforter to keep himself warm. So, how do I sleep at night with someone lying down on my lap? Sitting down of course until my son is sound asleep. And I woke up from time to time to carry him back up on the pillow so that his head is elevated for easy breathing.

I guess due to all this, I still see stain on my panty liner. Not red but brownish. Nothing to worry because it came out only once; an hour after I wake up from sleep. Anyway, will be going for another check-up tomorrow. By God’s grace, everything will be fine.

At 10am, I went to do my big business and the sight of my panty liner gave me a shock of my life. It was soaked with blood! Blood stain on my panty and my pants too. Crying in fear while finishing my business! Once done, I gave a call to hubby and drove myself to my friend’s clinic.

While driving, I cried like nobody’s business, prayed like no tomorrow and for the first time I really have a heart to heart talk with my baby. When you have your first baby, you talk to him almost every minute of the day then it reduces as you have more babies! I think my No.4 felt neglected by me!

Anyway, when I reached the clinic, I was made to lie down in the scanning room for almost an hour without the doctor checking me. Only after half an hour, he came in to tell the reason. By lying down, the uterus will rest and become less cramp and the bleeding will stop. While lying down and waiting, baby moved! That gave me the assurance that my baby is still alive.

The doctor did some cleaning inside and it was so painful! There was still blood inside.

When scanning, he go measure the baby’s head first! I told him to check out whether the baby’s heart is still beating or not and measure later! He was very cool this time (normally, he is the most kuncheong one). I think he is used to my kinda situation.

Praise God that everything looks perfect in there. I was summoned to bed rest and to come back for follow-up check-up this Monday.

Well, it seems that my tummy is still no strong like before. No more carrying my 2.5yo son and no more hot sex!

Can see my baby’s head and spine?

Can’t see the baby sex yet. He was lying on his tummy but I am 80% sure he is a boy.

I was at my friend’s clinic just now. One of the clinic assistants is pregnant again for the 2nd time. Her first baby is only 6 months old. Her tummy looks bigger than mine. When asked she told me that she is only 3 months pregnant. The fats are from her first pregnancy. She did not breastfeed and did not take diet pill to slim down. I think after having 2 kids, sure can slim down faster!

I was extra careful of what goes into my tummy for the past few days and I have no nausea! No food that is cooked in coconut milk and no food that can give winds to the stomach. I even stay away from Guava.

Yesterday, I ate canned Sardines for lunch. The nausea came back!!!

Today, I ate dried cuttlefish which my sister bought from JB. The nausea came back!!!

Looks like I have to stay away from unclean food and canned food too.

Only fresh and healthy food for my No.4 from today onwards.

This means I don’t have to worry about needing any diet pills after I deliver him.

Nyonya Laksa, Nangka Masak Lemak, Cendol

Bila lar gua boleh makan semua ni?

I am a Nyonya and I see food and delicacies cooked with coconut milk almost everyday and they are so tempting!!!

Pulut Tekan and Kaya this Saturday! (Youngest sister house warming party) Mmmmm…yummy. What? I kenot eat Pulut too? Banyak angin?

Can I breathe or not? Angin jugak tu??? Hrrmph!!!

Finally my weight sets in. I am officially 2kg heavier at 16 weeks of pregnancy. With the amount of food I am eating and the frequency of my vomiting, I don’t have to worry about weight loss pills after delivery unless I get back my appetite in a few months times!

Even if I put on weight, I am not worrying much about it because I plan to breastfeed exclusively this time since I am home 24/7. I am already imagining a much slimmer me in by mid of next year! I can’t imagine how skinny will I be by then. Breastfeeding and 4 children! The maid will be leaving by November and if the family does not employ a replacement which I can’t afford to have one with my own income, I think I will run to stay in my small apartment; no leaves to sweep!

Anyway, it is still a long way to go. All I am praying for now is that my morning sickness to go away completely and I can have the old ME back. My eldest asked me this question, “Mommy, why you always get angry when you have baby in your stomach?” I felt so sad that I am not able to control my temper this time around. The pregnancy hormones have really taken over my body and mind!

I am suffering now!

Kenot tahan the Nasi Lemak temptation, I ate one packet for breakfast.

Kenot tahan the Ikan Haruan Masak Lemak temptation at my mom’s, I ate some for lunch.

Kenot tahan the Daging Masak Lemak Chili Padi, I ate some for dinner.

Shortly after, I felt that I am full of gas and started having terrible nausea. Vomited a lil bit around 10.30pm.

Today, for breakfast; I ate Fried Rice and a slice of bread with Butter and Kaya. An hour after that, I vomited ALL out! Felt so good after that but had headache and all I want to do is sleep.

I slept from 12noon to 1.30pm at my mom’s. Then from 2pm to 6pm at home. I felt all my bones are aching, head aching and seram sejuk (felt cold). If I can sleep that long in a day, obviously I am really sick!

Promised my girls to bring them watch HSM 3 tonight but I don’t want to risk vomiting in the cinema. Praise God that I have understanding children; they did not make a fuss about it. Maybe because I told them that we will go watch the movie tomorrow. I hope I will be back to normal by tomorrow noon.

Serilk already now. I MUST abstain from anything that has coconut milk in it!

No matter how cheap I can get life insurance rates, I need to stay alive for my family.

Right after I blog about I Feel Good, I starting feeling nauseous again! But it wasn’t as bad as before and I managed to wallop 8 course wedding dinner that night without having to vomit them out after that! That was the first time I ate so much since I got pregnant.

My nose is still sensitive to smell which causes me to feel nausea but I did not gag.

Still feel nausea when I am feeling hungry but I did not gag. And I don’t get hungry so often anymore.

My weight finally sets in. I am at 54kg now; 2kg increased from my pre-pregnancy weight. At least I know that my baby is growing although my hands and legs are still slim. *ahem*

The only setbacks now are…

I get headache very often when the weather is hot (almost everyday is a hot day).

I get headache in a stuffy room.

My body always feels hot even at 1am in the morning. I bathe 3 times a day now instead of just 2 times. Right after bathing, I will feel sticky again! In my previous pregnancy, I only experience this in my last stage of pregnancy.

This pregnancy is really different from my other 3. I just hope and pray that everything will be smooth sailing from the moment of labour to raising up my No. 4.

The day that I have been waiting for!

It’s 1.30pm now and I have not experience any nausea or headache.

Certain smells still irritates my nostril but I did not gag!

Does that means that the morning sickness have left me??? I really hope so.

I called up my MIL and volunteered to attend a wedding dinner on her behalf. I want to really eat tonight!

Finally I can be normal again!!!

Please God, don’t let this be a false alarm.

Leah was asking me last night when do I feel nausea?

Sometimes I feel nausea the moment I open my eyes from sleep. The only way to get it of it to to force myself to sleep again!

I will always feel nausea when I am about to get hungry. The nausea will come first before the tummy rumbles! And I get hungry every 2-3 hours!

I will also feel nausea when the food I eat does not agree with my tummy or is it the baby is too picky???

I will gag at the smell of fried onions and when I am bathing. Maybe due to the smell of the shower foam or shampoo. Couldn’t be bothered to experiment which one that irritates me. Just bath fast fast then go out.

I will vomit if something wrong with the food like, it give my tummy too much gas, unclean food and spoiled food!

Last night I vomit the bar of Cloud 9 wafer that I just munch while chatting with Leah. The wafer is not fresh anymore; it is a lil bit soft (masuk angin) and I think it has expired! I was hungry and saw the chocolate there; I just grab it and munch away. All I know it has been in the cupboard for quite a while, dunno who’s!

Well, I have to be extra careful what I put in my mouth now.

Apart from feeling nausea, I have constant headache now. It gets worst when the weather is extremely hot!

Well, well…I ate 2 packets of Nasi Lemak today and it gave me gas too!

I guess I have to abstain from Nasi Lemak for the next 7 months!

Can I do it? I doubt coz Nasi Lemak is one of my favorite food and I do crave for it from time to time.

Looks like…”Eat first, Suffer Later.”

People say 2nd trimester is the best part of pregnancy. Well, I can’t remember what I went through during my last 3 pregnancies unless I dig my old blog post. All I can remember is, I don’t have to endure morning sickness at all with the previous 3.

I am now in my 2nd Trimester and the morning sickness still don’t want to leave me!

My sense of smell is extra sensitive, my sense of taste is extra sensitive and my emotion is extra sensitive too!

Due to it, I have not been gaining any weight yet!

My mom said, wait till after the 4th month. It should go away. I hope so.

Not just any Nasi Lemak but this one…

It may not look presentable but it sure taste good. Furthermore, Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaf is hard to find now. It adds that special aroma to the rice.

Let’s take a peep inside…

The rice are steamed and the coconut milk used to cook the rice is just at the right amount; not to little and not too much. The best is the chili/sambal. So far, I can’t find another other sambal that beats this one. I dunno how to describe the sambal.

And I almost didn’t get to eat this Nasi Lemak today. By the time I arrived at the stall at around 7.30am, there was a lady on a motorbike waiting for hers. The seller told me that she is buying all of them; I think there were about 20 packets left. So I used my pregnancy as an excuse to “snatch” some from her! hahaha.

I told them that I was craving for this Nasi Lemak (that’s the truth, I didn’t lie, hehe) and they looked at my tummy and asked how many I want. I told them that I just want 2 packets.

Yahoo! I got my Nasi Lemak!!!

Unfortunately due to my “pregnant” taste bud, the Nasi Lemak does not taste good on my tongue.

Nowadays almost every food does not taste how it supposed to taste like even my mom’s food. I hate morning sickness!!! I want to be normal again!!!!!!!!!

Due to my morning sickness, I feel tired and nausea most of the time and I don’t feel like going anywhere. Even a drive from home to hubby’s shop feel like a thousand miles away. If someone were to sponsor me a trip on one of Caribbean cruises, I will definitely give it a pass. All I want to do now is sleep, sleep and sleep. That is the only time I feel normal.

Look what she got for me. Young/Unripe manggos for me to make mango pickles. And this is only 1/4 of what she got for me.

And I did not asked her to look for it. I was just walking around the house looking at the manggo trees, hoping to spot some young manggo, saw 2 of it but it was too high for me to pluck.

The next day, I saw the big plastic bag filled with manggo. She got my sister to get her kindergarten’s maid to pluck from the kindy compound.

Isn’t she the best?

Unfortunately the mango pickles is not helping much in reducing the nausea.