Interesting traditions

It's been nearly a week since my mom's arrival. Unfortunately, no sign of baby Kia yet. However, the last week's been quite interesting with going around all the shops and buying ingredients to prepare for the 'confinement period'. I have never bought so much ginger in my life.. nearly 10kgs!! There's also 2 small pot of 'sweet wine' brewing in the cupboard, home-made. It is quite amazing to see wine actually forming, and the aroma's quite nice. We also bought guiness stout to bath the baby in, and mom arrived with 2 bottles of DOM for me to drink. Hhmmm... there seems to be lots of alcohol involved. We also fried rice with ginger to make our own 'rice tea' to be drunk after delivery. Apparently, I am only supposed to drink that and red dates drink coz its much healthier. What happened to water?? I wonder if these traditions will follow on for another generation?

The last night

What a scary thought... Tonight's the last night of 'just the 2 of us' for as long as I dare to imagine for now. My mom's coming tomorrow (am really looking forward to it) and then will hopefully be not too long before baby Kia makes an appearance and be welcomed into the world. So, we really should cherish tonight and spend some quality time together. This is why we are both still up now, not wanting the night to end :)

Exactly 38+3 today and still counting

Cotbed in place

Both your daddy and mummy-to-be was hard at work today putting your cotbed together. Boy, was the drop sides hard to fix and get right. Well, that was the last of things to get ready for your arrival. So yes, you can come out anytime now.

Getting into position?

Baby Kia, you did a flip from Right to Left over the weekend. You were always kicking on my Left and in the middle of Friday night, I felt you turn. The whole weekend, the kicking was on my Right side which felt unusual :) I thought it was you getting into position for your head to be engaged deeper and I got excited, thinking that this may be the first sign that labour could happen (although I have never heard of this before). But, nothing happened and you flipped back to your usual position last night and all the kicks are now on my Left again. Was that attention seeking? :)

Mixed feelings

Last Friday was supposed to be the official day of finishing work where this week and next should be my annual leave and then my maternity leave starts. This is not the first time that I say goodbyes and 'leave' a job as I have changed so many hospitals in the past. However, it felt really weird and different clearing the desk and backing-up all my data and information this time as it is not about closing a chapter and moving on to a new rotation. This is still very much an 'open chapter' and I know I will be coming back to this job in about 6 months time after a life-changing event. The problem is not knowing when this 'event' is about the happen and I want to 'complete' as much work as I can beforehand. Thus, I do not know how to feel: happy to finish work? anxious and worried as there's so much 'unfinished business'? torn between preparing for motherhood and 'completing' work? or frustrated at the feeling of uncertainty and not being able to 'close' the chapter of work. I may not be making lots of sense here but its exactly how mixed-up I feel at the moment.

I did wake up late today. However, after checking my email, there were so many things to sort out at work that I went about doing it straight away and worked from home almost the whole day. I did not mind as I want to complete as much as possible before the baby comes, but, where do I draw the line? when all I hear is people telling me to 'put my feet up and rest'.

What's in a name?

We are still toying around with the chinese name. Not only is there the 'han yu pin yin' to suit how to 'pronouce' it in English, there are also lots of chinese characters with the same 'pin yin' which are all meaningful and have to decide on one. There's also the concern about funny sounding names in the different dialects. But, like Richard's aunty said, 'its better to have a good heart rather than a good name as its the heart that makes you YOU' (the mandarin version of this phrase sounds much better and more poetic and this is my feeble attempt at translating it ;0)

Anxieties about labour

Dear Lord.. I pray that You will give me the strength and perseverance to go through the whole labour. Please let it go smoothly and let there be no nasty surprises. Please keep the little one safe through his most dangerous journey in life. Please let the pain be bearable and the delivery be quick. Yes Lord, do be by my side throughout the labour when it happens.. AMEN

I thought I should be well prepared, but to realise that I will be on the 'other end' this time has made labour suddenly very REAL. But, I know there's nothing I can do except to wait for it to happen and when it does, depend on Him and trust Him :)