Week 27 - Prenatal Class

This is Pipsqueak's latest gift, a Touch and Tug Discovery Book from James and Pauline. Its really quite cute, I think I enjoy playing with it more that Pipsqueak! There are 3 different animals and the book tells stories, sings songs and makes animal sounds. I've been playing the lullabies and wrapping the book round my tummy so that he can listen to the songs and recognise them when he's out. The book can even be attached to the crib!



Pipsqueak also got another gift this week from Eekwang and Benita - a cool Winnie the Pooh outfit! As well as another bag load of hand me down clothes from James and Pauline. I really don't need to buy any clothes for him!

We attended our first prenatal class this week. We missed Lesson 1 and 2, so we jumped straight into Lesson 3. I was down with food poisoning when Lesson 1 was held, and that was the class on pregnancy nutrition and exercises. Lesson 2 talked about early stage labour and Lesson 3 is on labour and delivery. We signed up with Mrs Wong Boh Boi at Thomson Medical Centre based on feedback from friends who said her classes were very good. We rushed down from work on a Wednesday night to find the entire class packed with pregnant mummies and their husbands. We sat on comfy mats on the floor and did various pregnancy exercises. It was quite interesting, and the Husband was aghast that the husbands had to do the exercises with the preggy wives. He was muttering under his breath "But I'm not pregnant, why do I need to do these exercises?" He was sweet about it and aceded anyway.

We had a section on massage and that was really nice - Mrs Wong taught different massage techniques and once again the Husband started muttering "But I already give you massages exactly like this, why do we have to pay money for someone to tell me to do something that I'm already doing". We learnt a game to play with the daddies which is a form of communication between the unborn child and the dad. It involves mummy kneeling behind daddy who is seated cross-legged. A rhyme about raindrops and winds is recited whilst rubbing daddy's back. Then a thunderstorm comes and mummy has to pat daddy's back very loudly. After that, preggie mum presses her tummy against daddy's back so that he can feel baby kick him. Well the funny thing was that no one's baby kicked at that point! Mrs Wong very matter of factly said, "Well, sometimes baby doesn't know what games mummy and daddy are trying to play!"

The key part of the lesson was breathing techniques and relaxation exercises. We learnt how to breathe deeply during labour, the correct position for optimal pushing and how to visualise our babies in "crystal clear waters" and the "opening of canals" to cope with the pain. We went through a mock labour with daddies learning how to support mummies physically and emotionally, but were warned not to start pushing as some women have really gone into premature labour during the mock sessions!

The class ended with a tour of the delivery suite. Although I wasn't going to deliver at Thomson, I wanted to see how a delivery suite looked like so we joined in. Turns out there was a mummy in labour right next door! We heard the nurses counting to 10 to encourage her to push. Mrs Wong said if we were lucky, baby would be out when we finished our tour. True enough, when we walked out, we heard the loud cries of the newborn! Everyone was overjoyed for mother and child. Mrs Wong asked for permission from the daddy to allow us to watch the newborn being weighed and he agreed. She was gorgeous - a baby girl, 3.4 kg and super alert, looking around at the 30 pairs of eyes watching her being weighed. Quite a way to end the class.

I thought the class was pretty helpful and gave us a good idea of what to expect during delivery. The Husband thought otherwise and has been having father and son conversations with Pipsqueak about the happenings outside the womb. The funny thing is that I hear absolutely everything, even when father and son talk about me - so much for confidentiality. The Husband and I can be quite the opposite on various issues, which I must admit is a good thing. I have no doubt that he will stay my pillar of strength and calm should I get hysterical with pain at any point. I'm still optimistic about having a natural labour with no epidural and as the Husband likes to say - "Its all in the mind - half the battle is won if you win the battle of the mind".

I had a super appetite day this week. This is a log of what I ate over 2 days.

Day 1:
Breakfast - cereal
Mid morning snack - 1 slice of bread
Lunch - beef hor fun with sour plum drink
Mid afternoon snack - 1 small tub yoghurt, 1 grapefruit, 1 muesli bar
Dinner - Rice with Pork Ribs (Pai gu wang), kang kong and tofu hotplate
Supper - Longans with sea coconut dessert, 1 slice cheesecake

Day 2:
Woke up at some ungodly hour (it was still dark) absolutely famished. Struggled between eating and going back to sleep, hunger overtook me. Ate 2 Marks & Sparks raspberry tartlets from the jar next to my bed (yes I keep food next to my bed cos I've woken up hungry before)
Breakfast - grandma's nyonya bak chang and iced milo
Mid morning snack - Egg mcmuffin from Mcdonalds
Lunch - Yong Tau Foo & Fruits (I deliberately bought this cos I thought my body would go on overload soon with the amount of food I was eating)
Mid afternoon snack - 1 sardine puff
Dinner - 8 course wedding banquet

I was really amazed at how hungry I was and how much I ate - and I swear it was a growth spurt for Pipsqueak cos he hardly moved the next day! Babies grown when they sleep and he was sleeping alright. I panicked again and told the Husband maybe Pipsqueak was in distress, but he comforted me and told me not to get paranoid. True enough, Pipsqueak was back to his normal active self the next day and so was my appetite. You'll be glad to know I'm eating normally now.

After this week, I will enter my third trimester - the last leg! I can't believe how quickly time flies. I'm feeling heavier by the day and sleeping at night is becoming harder and harder. My hips feel so heavy with the weight and my legs get numb after a while, so I have to switch sides and stretch my feet before the leg cramps hit. My next checkup is at 28 weeks, which is a detailed one to check baby's growth and weight.