Baby at 33 Weeks 5 days

Thursday, I had my bi-weekly check up with my gyne, baby, you have gained a healthy 300g, & now at 2.3 kg. Your head is still down there and still actively moving (Good boy!). Saw your familiar face this time even more hidden by your hand,  I've gained 1 kg in 2 weeks! (wow that's fast). Some blood & cervical cell samples taken to be sent to Lab to make sure Mum is healthy (Result will come out next week). And pre-registered for delivery as well in the hospital, to make sure when the D-day happens, no more admin stuff to be done.
At home, mum experienced a bit of hand swelling/stiffness in the recent mornings but it goes away quickly once shaken (water retention is the cause), legs also feel heavier with the water retention, and feet expand more but I still use my usual shoes, just bring sandals to wear when sitting in the office :). Ow and when baby shakes his head or moves his hands down there, tickles me to pee right away :)
All in all, I have no serious pain, I still get enough sleep (but I've become so easily sleepy esp after lunch),  and when I think of my baby & my husband being on my sides, I just feel so blessed :)

Breastfeeding Class

We went for a one-hour private breastfeeding class in our hospital. It is part of the Parentcraft (parenting) class programme that the hospital holds (RM 180 for 3 sessions covering diet, delivery process, medical choices, newborn healthness, and static exercises + labour breathing techniques (they teach Lamaze).

However the breastfeeding session is actually also free for any couple that go to Gleneagles for obygin checkup (as long as your doctor's clinic register you to them i think, even if u dont take the parentcraft class). The lactation specialist lady also said if later on we have any problem, we can come to her to discuss /consult with her & ha, it's free also :)

The hospital does not advertise much about being a breastfeeding-friendly hospital, but I find this is such an important move & good example to follow.

on Raising a child

As the due date gets nearer, I realized I have only read pregnancy articles or books. So I began looking for books on raising babies/parenting (yes, being book nerd that i am :) ). Many of the books are similar, in a sense that they will give outline on baby's growth benchmark, nutrition, healthcare, babycare etc. Not to say that these are not important, but one book that strikes me as touching a different topic is pictured above. 

Brain Rules for Baby explains & dissects on what are the important factors that contribute to a smart and happy child. And no, it's not about reading him books, playing piano tunes to his ears, or giving him/mother enough vitamin supplements, but he emphasised on the fact that smart & happy can only be one package & must be grown together. I cannot agree more to this.

I've read 1/3 of the book so far & he has touched on the importance of a healty pregnancy (physically & mentally) and happy bonding of the 2 parents. As he quoted novelist James Baldwin "Children have never been good at listening to their parents, but they have never failed to imitate them".

To take a peek on what he talks about in his book, u can try his online quiz. I failed miserably at 25% when responding to hiz quiz. So much that i don't know about parenting :)

The book is written by John Medina, who is also a neuroscientist, so he backs up his points by a lot of couples/babies/parenting studies, but still present the ideas in an easy-to-read manner.

31 weeks 5 days

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Think his nose & his lips are like my husband's :)

His first baby stuff

These 2 little story books are the first things I bought for the little B. I bought it when I was abt 3 months preggie. I've read here and there that it is good to get the baby familiarized with his mum's voice while still in the womb. My gyne said that he can hear pretty clearly starting 24 weeks,
So I've started to rattle stories to him. First ones was in english based on these 2 books. One was short stories on Winnie the Pooh & the other one was little rhyming poems abt Dr Seuss. Then I realized, I had different tones when reading english & indonesian stories. Since I want my baby to first understand his mother language, I began reading some indonesian 'dongeng'/tales found from the internet. Then since sometimes it takes more time to find reading materials, I changed to 3rd method, I just rattle about anything, what I had gone thru the days etc :) - though sometimes I get so tired after work :( .

I also sing 1-2 songs, hopefully he gets familiar with these 2 songs (I promise I will sing them more routinely as the delivery approaches) so that when he cries incosolably, I can sing these songs to calm him down as he will be used to it already :)

In the meantime, I'm now on 30 weeks & I can feel his kicks & turns more pronouncably on my stomach. Even when I run my tummy with my hands, I can sometimes feel some area more hardened, I guess that's either his knuckles or head :) Stay good inside Babe, we'll see you in about 2 months :)