I'm a full-time mummy

Oh yes! We came, we saw and we conquered! Okay, maybe that's a bit too dramatic and over the top but that's what we felt after we had a short weekend family trip to the north (6 to 8 May 2011). Here are some of the memorable shots taken during our family trip (which was meant to be an eat-all-the-way-to-and-fro trip for me while my bump is still not that heavy and making me too tired to walk far... hehehe..)

On the first day, we stopped by for brunch at Ipoh's Foh San Dimsum restaurant which was recommended by a friend of mine (thanks again Catheryn!). The food is good and the atmosphere is nice too! Picture below taken of Ben praying before he walloped the mango pudding. Not that the pudding is deathly, just that Ben always prays before he eats ;)

I think we took about 4 hours plus to reach Penang, our holiday destination. Picture below of Ben helping us to unpack when we checked into our hotel room...

One of Ben's favorite activities in our hotel room, playing hide and seek at the curtains...

We rest for a while before realising Ben ain't going to nap so we head out to Penang's Youth Park. Look at Ben enjoying the swing at Penang's Youth Park...

We also went to the Feringgi Beach to check out the beach there... Love the shot taken below of the sparkling sea and hubby and Ben enjoying their stroll along the Feringgi Beach.

For our dinner, we went to the hawker stalls along Gurney Drive. Not much pictures taken as I left my trusted camera in the car (way to go to my preggy brain!)

For day 2, Ben woke up all excited and wanted to go to the pool (we can clearly see the pool from our balcony). Picture below of Ben with his out-of-bed hairdo. Awesome eh?

We had our breakfast at the hotel (complimentary with our hotel stay) before we head out to Penang Hill. Waited for a few minutes for our train to come down, check out Ben's bored look below hehehe...

After the breathtaking view from Penang Hill, we went for our chicken rice lunch. Yum yums! And then we proceeded to the Toy Museum. Ben was so excited seeing his favorite toys such as Wall-E, Ironman, Transformers (particularly Optimus Prime and BumbleBee) and Sesame Streets.

It was near evening time when we head back to our hotel. We then got ready the stuff and head to the pool. I didn't join along as my swimsuit is getting a wee bit tight for my expanding Spicy Baby... Ben enjoyed himself at the kiddy pool, watched over by daddy just next to him...

And then we managed to persuade Ben to go to the beach which was just in front of our hotel. Well, Ben was too engrossed with the pool earlier. Again, I got myself a beach chair and settled down and relax while watching the 2 men in my life build some awesome looking castles...

Can't resist taking this shot below. The sun was setting, daddy and Ben still engrossed with building their castles and I was still relaxing on my comfy beach chair... hehehe... I could get used to this kind of living... *wink*wink*

And then this couple of tourists (I think Arabs) stopped by and posed with Ben. Before them, an Arab couple stopped by as well to take pictures of Ben and patted his chin saying some Arabish words which I clearly don't understand...

Carried Ben back to my beach chair and put him on the empty chair next to mine. And snapped this shot of him chillaxing... cute!

Snapped this shot while I was walking with Ben towards daddy who is still building his sand castle...

We went back to our hotel room after that, showered and got ready to go out for our dinner and we went to the night market/bazaar along Feringgi Beach as well. By the time we reached our hotel, it was 11pm plus and Ben fell asleep soon after.

On the 3rd day, we had breakfast at the hotel again. Ben started fussing and wanted to play in the kiddy pool again. Daddy took Ben to the beach and had a stroll while waiting for me to finish my breakfast. 

We played on the beach for a while before Ben had his fun time in the pool. After a while, we got ready and head back to our room. We managed a brief nap before we left the hotel and head back home.

All in all, it was an enjoyable trip, one that I'm going to remember for a long long time (as it's going to be sometime before we have our next family trip as Spicy Baby comes along in a few months time)

I'd like to thank my hubby for driving all the way to and fro, taking care of Ben and carrying him most of the time. I really appreciate the effort and thoughts into making this a memorable trip for me.

Who says being pregnant isn't fun? I get to review more things when I'm pregnant! Anyway, I came across the details on this book  in a press release and tried my luck in requesting for an opportunity to review it even though the title suggests that it's for fathers-to-be. I mean, hey, this book is written by a woman and I want to know whether there are anything being left out or anything that my husband should be aware of this time round! (Not that he's not prepared during our 1st birth but it doesn't hurt to learn more, right?) So here is my review of this educational book from Elaine Atwood Adler entitled: "A Concise Guide to Labor and Delivery for Fathers-to-Be".

Author: Elaine Atwood Adler
Publisher:  CreateSpace (June 27, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-1453611647
Hardcover: 104 pages

Description from the product page:

"You’re expecting a baby! Congratulations! This is a very exciting time in your life – one that will be filled with more joy than you could ever imagine! Maybe you’re not the father, but a supportive friend helping the new mother through her pregnancy. Either way, having a baby is not only a monumental task for the mother, but for you as well! The new Mom needs you to be there with her and for her not only during the pregnancy, but especially during labor and delivery.

Many men are reluctant to be present during the birth of a child. Some might feel they’re too squeamish to witness the actual birth. Others are afraid they won’t be able to effectively provide support to their partners. Most of the time, the hesitation these men feel stems from the fact that they are basically clueless when it comes to the miracle of childbirth."

I got interested in this book as I read the list of what you will learn from this book, such as:

# What happens when you get to the hospital?
# What a woman needs most during labor.
# What labor contractions feel like - if you dare!
# What happens during the three stages of labor.
# What you can do to help alleviate her pain.
# What you absolutely must NOT do while your lady is in labor.
# Your role in the delivery or birthing room.
# Suggested items for your "Labor Tool Kit".
# What to do if you believe that some hospital procedures seem not medically necessary.
# What's a spinal block? An epidural? An episiotomy?

As I read through each chapters in the book, I start comparing with how my husband fared when I gave birth to Ben 2 years ago and I realised he did most of the things from the book (thank God!) but there's one thing which was not mentioned in the book when it comes to pain relief methods. Maybe it's not popular or recommended anymore in overseas, but I thank God that my husband realised AND remembered that we could use Enthonox (laughing gas) as a pain relief method. While I was busy trying to remember and focus on my breathing exercises (which was also reminded by my husband!), my husband happened to see the gas mask hanging right above my labor bed and asked our gynae whether I could use it and the moment our gynae said 'SURE! GO AHEAD!' I was hanging onto the mask as if it was my lifeline!

I find the great thing about this book is that the author mentioned about the dangers of pain medication where it mentioned: "pain medications, once administered, cannot be rescinded and you may need another drug or procedure to remedy the ill effects. These in turn, introduce their own risks". (taken from page 42)

I also like the points listed on what makes a great birthing partner where the author mentioned some things that the father-to-be can do (or not do) just to provide support and encouragement for their birth partner.

From this book, I learned something new on the reason why mum-to-be normally get started on an IV drip. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't know why (I thought it's to provide some sort of nutrition or feeding for energy and strength) until I read this book which mentioned that it is done as a preventive measure in the event that medications must be administered later.

What would be great for the book is if it also comes with illustrations or pictures to accompany the points in the book.

 Do get a copy of this book if you want to know more on what to expect and to be more prepared during labor & delivery.

• You can purchase the book (hardcopy version or ebook version) from http://www.fathertobe.org/book/
  
• You can also purchase the A Concise Guide to Labor and Delivery for Fathers-to-Be book from Amazon.
  

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a  softcopy of the book (which looks great as I read it on my iPad) by Jim from the publishing company in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

Ladies and gentlemen, we are cruising into the 5th month of my pregnancy now! Updates for this month since my previous status updates in pregnancy at month 4 are as follow:

#1: This baby is STILL a SPICY BABY!

I'm still wolfing down spicy food at month number 5, so this nickname is going to stay for sometime...

#2: Maintaining increment of 1kg per month

Latest gynae check-ups indicated I have gained an extra kg for this month, making it to 50kg now. I have always been a straight 45kg since I was 17 years old and I went back to this weight pretty fast after Ben was born probably due to me breastfeeding him.

#3: Gynae check-ups

We're continuing on our check-ups at the hospital where I gave birth to Ben 2 years ago.

Apart from being a pro-natural birth hospital, I love this hospital because they are also PRO-breastfeeding! I snapped the picture above while waiting for the lunch time to be over and I'm very impressed with the signage - NO formula, NO bottles, NO pacifier! LOVE IT!

Anyway, back to the check up... this time, we found out it is wayyyyyy faster to have our appointments after lunch! Hubby's theory was most likely people take whole day off to go for their check-ups and they'd rather get everything done in the morning and enjoy the rest of the day, hence the wayyyyy less queue at the registration and waiting. This time, I didn't even have to queue to do my urine test and although we have to wait half an hour (lunch hour until 2pm and we arrived there at 1.30pm), I was the 1st one being called the moment the clock strikes 2pm.

And maybe because of the way lesser crowd after lunch time, our gynae really took his own sweet time to do our ultrasound scan and check every single thing and explained to us slowly and in details. (Not that he didn't do that during our last check-up but this time we don't feel we're holding the queue down or anything!)

During this round of check-up, we get to try out the 4D ultrasound machine and this is the picture taken of Spicy Baby at month 5:

We were kinda impressed and amazed with the 4D machine and can't contain our excitement of seeing Spicy Baby in a different light (as in clearer compared to the usual 2D scans...) The gynae said at this month, baby has yet to develop much fat so we can't see the chubby cheeks and fat much...

#4: Breastfeeding during pregnancy

I think few days ago my breastmilk production has been reduced to almost nothing. I tried squeezing them with my hands but nothing comes out but then again,  I did  the squeezing right after Ben nursed so I might not have anymore milk by then.

So I'm still wondering whether my breastmilk factory is officially closed for now as Ben is still faithfully coming after my breasts to suckle before his daytime nap and sleep at night (he also nursed about once or twice during his sleep at night).

Maybe there is still milk, or maybe he's just suckling for comfort, but whatever it is, I will let him suckle as long as he wants. And I do hope that we can go for tandem nursing when the baby is born. And I'm wondering whether Ben will noticed when my colostrum starts to come back... hmmmmm....

#5: My belly itches like MAD!

Seriously, it is VERY VERY ITCHY!!! And the more I scratch the itch, the nicer it feels, the more I wanted to scratch it, and then I looked down at my belly and saw the red scratches and sore burns... yikesssss! I think my belly is expanding to cater to the growing Spicy Baby and hence, the skin is trying to expand which causes the itchiness feeling. 

So there you go, updates as at 5 months pregnancy... have a blessed week and thank you for reading!

** P.S: Btw, our gynae did mentioned the gender of the baby in this month's check-up but until I see it with my own eyes and convinced of the findings, I will not reveal the gender yet and it shall remained to be unconfirmed results as of now... heheheh...