PonyTales

Happy 2nd Anniversary Hubby! (if u r reading this)

Time flies and it has been 2 years since the ‘Big Day’. Actually, I still can remember all the planning details of our wedding (28 Aug 2004). I remember not long after hubby proposed with a platinum diamond ring (my favourite, cost him a bomb!), we sat down one night in McDonald’s to discuss the wedding budget. We have very little then (still not much now, but better la) but we decided on the date boldly and trust that we will make it through.

The whole journey of the wedding preparation was the most enjoying time of my life. We were working together in the same department then, and we have all the time to discuss and share about our wedding preparations. Even our boss and colleagues was giving us ideas (my boss actually created his own wedding photos, 80’s type presentation and showed it to me as a sample). I guess it was like a wedding hype in our work place then. I felt so good and positive all the time that my complexion improved so much and really glow.

When our bridal photos was done, I brought it to the office cause my colleagues wanted to see it, and I realized later that it was circulated all the way to our big big boss to see. I felt uneasy but big big boss commented that he is pleased to see us getting married

Hubby and I went to so many restaurants to check out the dinner tables and we were glad to find a good one (good food and within budget), not too far from church where we will be having our wedding ceremony and solemnization.

I have always visualized my wedding to be in a fairytale garden setting since I am a kid. So, with not much budget for deco, I mainly did a lot of reseach online and made those deco myself (church pew ribbons, staircase deco, ribbons for doors, unity candles, backdrop and etc.). A cousin sister recommended a family florist that charged me a very reasonable price for the flowers and flower arch. I still remember that I took almost a month to hand made our wedding favours, it is Hershey’s chocolate wrapped into the shape of a rose. A lot of work, and sometimes I will do it until midnight and my mom helped me out. Enjoy every moment of it

Ahhh…remembering all this makes me feel good again and now I am mid-way growing our baby inside me. Wonder how I will feel when I see baby for the first time? Will it be as exciting and refreshing as the morning of our wedding day?!

Monday night was another nightmare for hubby and me. I was throwing up every half an hour and hubby sent me to the clinic at 2:30am. At the clinic, the GP gave me a jab to stop the vomitting, at the same time assuring me that the jab will not harm my baby. The jab did not help and I kept throwing up till 5am and that is when the GP gave us a form for hospital admission. I found myself in SJMC again and hooked up to IV fluid in the ER. The ER doctor told me that she could not do anything for me because I had just received a jab less than 3 hours ago. I was still throwing up while the nurse wheeled me to the ward. Poor hubby did not sleep at all and he left at around 7am when things seems to calm down.

This is yet another episode of my pregnancy symptom, most likely this time triggered by something I ate earlier in the day, which is not good anymore.

My pregnancy disorder is known as hyperemesis gravidarum. It is a form of severe nausea/vomitting that affect nearly 10% of preggies. The reason for this post is just to bring awareness what this pregnancy disorder is about. With careful monitoring and treatment, both mother and baby can still stand a chance to survive, but if left untreated, it is life threatening to both the mother and baby. Below is a very useful website that I found on hyperemesis gravidarum:

http://www.helpher.org/hyperemesis-gravidarum/impact-hyperemesis/index.php

Over here in Malaysia, I only start to be aware of this disorder when I come face to face with it. In my struggle to fight it, I manage to find the above website that give me more detailed information on this disease and the various treatments.

Overall, I found that there are very little awareness on this disorder here. It is not my intention to scare others, but I strongly think that women should be more well informed about this especially those who are planning for a baby. My mother had this disorder when she was carrying me 30 years ago, but because she thaught that it is just morning sickness, she was not able to properly caution me when I plan for my pregnancy. This disorder can greatly robbed the women emotionally, financially and physically and the impact to other family member is not to be taken lightly as well.

As for hubby and me, we are just thankful that God is truly merciful and gracious to us. He has prepared the path for us way before we knew all this and we manage to cope this far (physically, financially and emotionally). Thanks to all our supportive friends too. We are looking forward to our bundle of joy, thou there are still so much uncertainties along the way. We will take one step at a time and look to God for strength and courage.

Hehe   The title seems a bit dramatic yea…

I started to felt some movement in the womb last week. Actually, I wasn’t really sure earlier in the week because the sensation is very little. Only when I remain quiet and calm, then it felt like some ‘worm’ movement in the womb.

On Saturday, very early in the morning while still in bed, I felt it! This time it is different, because I can feel the kick with my hand placed on my womb area. It felt like a soft "thud" "thud" on the palm. I quickly got hold of hubby’s hand and try to let him feel it (hoping that baby is still kicking). Hubby, still in his sleepy mode…told me he felt it too!! Quite exciting!! Baby trying to establish first contact with us…the feeling is nice and amazing

Now, off and on I felt the movement and kick. This gives me a renewed energy and I really feel like talking to baby more now. Sometimes, when I am talking, I felt the movement/kick as if baby is trying to respond (or maybe baby is asking me to be quiet )

It is overall a nice feeling and assure me that baby is growing fine, eventhou I really did not put on much weight yet. I thank God for this because deep inside I know I can trust God to keep my baby growing healthily, despite the earlier sickness I had and the occasional pain I felt here and there.

In another 2 weeks, I will be going for my next check-up. By that time, I am already well into 20th week of pregnancy. Gynae told me that we can check for the baby gender by then…wow…I really wanna know and hope baby is not playing hide and seek with us at that time. Whether baby is a boy or girl, it is not a big deal for us because baby is truly a wonderful gift from God.

Hmm…I normally don’t like to complain or sound negative, especially in my blog. I want to have more happy post. But, I just really wanted to write about this as I have no one or no where to express my thoughts on this matter (at least, without hurting people).

(Warning: Young ladies might not like what I am going to say here)

I have the chance to deal with 2 young ladies (below 25 y.o.) at home and at work. One is my SIL at home who is still studying in college and another is my only colleague in my small dept. She is a fresh grad.

I do not remember or know whether I did behave like them when I was their age. But, I do recall once or twice that my parents got upset because I was ignorant or forgot to do something at home. Overall, I am not a person who ‘live in my own world’ and do not care much about others (especially how they feel). To make this easier to write, I will separately talk about the 2 subject above.

Home - my SIL
Okay, this is gonna be a longer one as we have stayed together for a longer time. I found that my SIL really ‘live in her own world’ sometimes. She is very much part of the household, but whether or not she care about the household stuff is another matter. Btw, she live with us for free and we provide most of the household necessities for her. Even make sure she has her meals when we could.

She rarely (very very rare) help out with household chores, except for her own territory (her room and her bathroom). When I was very sick due to my pregnancy, then only I see her trying to sweep OR mop the floor in the living room and kitchen. That also, after my hubby asked her to do so. She also don’t seem to know where to start sweeping and all I can say is she did a lousy job at cleaning (for a ladies’s standard). She can really live harmoniously with all the dust and dirt in the house, they really don’t bother her at all. She can also lock herself in her room more than 12 hours a day. Other than that, she is out with her friends.

Actually, I kinda know what kind of mentality this young lady has, something in between complacency and ignorance.
"No mood la, someone gonna do it!" or "Is it my job?!?"
Luckily she is smart enough not to say this out, else she gonna get it from me, hard.

She has a boyfriend from the same college that hubby and me do not really like because this fellow told a stupid lie to me before (either he thinks I am stupid or never work before). This boy like to appear in our apartment everytime hubby and me not at home. A couple of times, we bump into them and I personally saw him sleeping in my SIL room once (I was back early with MC that day). I really don’t dare to find out or want to know what both of them do at home, when we are not around. All these just leaves a very bad impression. I hope my SIL know what she is doing and not screw-up her life for him, it is not worth it at all as they are still very young. I have boyfriend too when I was her age, I always made it a point to tell my parents/brother that my boyfriend/friends are coming over so that they are not surprise to see some stranger in the house. My SIL don’t seem to do this or maybe she just simply don’t respect us enough to tell us. Probably, she just treat our home like any other student house.

I still remember the time my hubby told me on my MIL’s request for my SIL to continue to stay with us when we got married. I thot it won’t be so difficult, little did i know then…
I fully understand MIL’s request and concern for her daughters and as a SIL, I am concerned too. But I am in no position to reprimand her or correct her like a mother do. I bet she will hate me forever if I do that. Heck! I don’t think so she like me now anyway.

Work - My colleague
I realise that young ladies sometimes get real moody/sour face for no reason. And I thot, I am gonna be the one moody/sour face because my pregnancy is difficult and my hormone is going haywire. One moment, we can be chatting happily about work and the next she turn a sour face to me and asked me, "What is that!!? u r eating?" It is only mango, and I wonder what is bothering her. Now that I am preggy, I need to snack so that my stomach acid won’t act up. Heck! She is snacking all the time also and I never once ask her or tell her off like that.
Btw, I have also concluded that young ladies like to pull a sour face anytime they want, cause my SIL at home is also like that…especially early in the morning, really make me nauseated looking at their sour puss face!

Another thing is, young ladies also seem to like to ‘follow ppl’s behaviour’. I realised this at home and at work. If I need frequent break at work because I am running in-out toilet to puke/shee-shee, my colleague will also be like that. If I do my work in a certain way, she will also check out my documents and ask me lots of question about it. I am just wondering whether I am setting a bad example!?!

At home, if I leave some dishes at table/sink, my SIL will also leave hers waiting for auspicious time to wash it. If I leave the trash at the door so that I can gather all the rubbish and remember to throw it, my SIL will also leave her trash at the door hoping that someone will throw for her. I really don’t like all these cause it scares me and annoys me that ppl are monitoring my ways of doing things. I am not a good example.

Well, well…I get all these off my chest now, and life goes on…

Yes…our (hubby & me) waistline is expanding. Yesterday nite after shower, when I sat at the couch, I noticed that my waistline is no more there…almost gone. This morning, hubby gotta change his trousers because the old one is getting too tight.

Hmm…I am glad that my pregnancy is starting to show and baby has finally decided to grow big enough to show that he is alive and kicking (not sure on the kick yet, but sometimes I do feel something and when I asked baby, "Is that you, baby?", the sensation stop. Maybe he is playing hide and seek with me). Does that mean I am eating enough? I really hope so, especially the good nutrients that I am providing baby.

As for hubby, I think he is getting a little worried about his expansion . He used to exercise quite a lot and he were in the fit and slim category. But recently, I started to notice the side of his waistline bulging a bit and he ran away when I try to show it to him in the mirror…hahaha

Hmm…partly because of my pregnancy, I have cut off all our fat burning activities such as jogging at the park (haze is not helping), jungle trekking, swimming and shopping-till-we-drop. Moreover, we stayed at home a lot because of my pregnancy sickness.

Last weekend, we finally had our long-awaited lobster meal in Lobsterman, PJ. My treat to hubby for his career promotion and his TLC for me and baby. Food is good and I was praying that I will keep everything down cause the meal is not cheap. The best part is, the staff there took a photo of us with our lobster meal. I think that is a very good idea because it made the lobster dinner looks like very big deal!

Hmm…I think the above meal contribute to our expansion too!

Wow!

Suddenly, it just dawn on me that things are going to be pretty different and busy in the coming months, especially during festive seasons. Let me just make a list here:

28 August 06
- 2nd Wedding Anniversary
- 20 week pregnant (Two zero liao)
- Siti & Datuk K Wedding in KLCC (need to plot my escape from office on this day)

1st week Sept 06
- Going to Kuching with hubby, SL and JG
- SL will be about 28 week preggy and me 21 week preggy. First time in a AirAsia flight while pregnant. No need to queue this time

13, 14, 15 Oct 06
- Going back to KB (hubby hometown) to show tummy…haa…haa…
- Not forgetting all the yummy Ramadhan food…yum yum…

11, 12, 13 Nov 06
- Going to Langkawi, last time there I was only 19 years old.
- 30 week pregnant, hopefully still can go into the AA flight.

25 December 06 (Christmas)
- 37 week pregnant (Tummy as big as Santa Claus by then)
- Christmas dinner! yum yum
- Hopefully our new home is ready by now….cross finger

16, 17 January 07
- Hubby and my Birthday! Both of us officially enter the 30s club (I am still in denial this year, ok!)
- 40 week pregnant, practically a walking time bomb by now…gonna pop anytime

14 Feb 07 (Valentine’s Day)
- Celebrating our 6th year "pak toh" anniversary with a baby
- Wonder how it’s gonna be like…

CNY 07
- This CNY will be a confinement CNY for me….uhuk…uhuk
- Baby will be receiving ang pow?  hee…hee…my offspring and firstborn

Okay, I can only imagine that far for now…overwhelming already. I hope everything will go well as planned. Just thinking about it gave me renewed energy and in celebration mood…I can hear Christmas songs at the background…haa haa