Pregnancy Log: Week 22

Wah, week 22 already uh? I've been thinking I'm just coming to week 21. Well, din know so fast 5.5mths pregnant already! I think I ought to do a weekly entry, at least next time when I dig through my archives it wouldn't be such a hassle.

I've put on about 4.5 to 5kg since I got pregnant, and trying my best to control my diet. I actually put on about 18kg for the last pregnancy! I think by the time I got to mid-2nd trimester, I was already 12kg heavier than before the pregnancy! The weight gain tapered off nearer the end of the pregnancy.

I was told I've got a curved spine, which explains the sharp pain in my right butt/hip. My right leg literally jams up at times, leaving me yelping in shock (and leaving everyone else in shock also), but after minor adjustments to relief the 'jam', the leg would function properly once again.

My abs are not so intact also. It's an odd feeling, but even before I'd gotten big, there'll be this distention (I think) in my right ab whenever I breathe too hard. I'm quite determined to get my body back in shape after the pregnancy - provided I can deal with the leaky/full breasts and toxins released from weight loss into the breastmilk.

I wanna go waaaay much longer with breastfeeding this time. I think Abby's a really obedient kid, and if I had persevered instead of throwing in the towel, I would have been able to coax her NOT to bite me and still be breastfeeding her now. But then again, I wouldn't be pregnant - chances not so high, but still possible though. She was weaned off the breast at 6mths and the bottle at 9mths. MIL wasn't too happy that I didn't want her on the bottle (I've seen kids with a bottle hanging out of their mouths - I'm talking 5-6yos) and I'm really not keen for Abby to go that way. Anyway, she's managing well with drinking from straws and cups, so I'm not so worried about her food intake.

I'm feeling his kicks much more now, and it's quite fun. Have to pray more though, haven't been praying as much. God's blessed us tremendously - baby is healthy and right on schedule, detailed scan shows ALL's well! We've been receiving A LOT OF baby boy's clothings - Ben's now worried about the storage space!

Got quite a bit of maternity clothing too, ranging from the 1980s fashion all the way to 2005! Heh. But I find myself wearing the same few pieces - always the 80/20 rule. I wear 20% of my clothing 80% of the time, and the remaining 80% about 20% of the time (if ever!)

Can't decide on the name yet - need God to impress upon us. The last time was pretty easy coz God told me specifically Abby's name - so before I knew about the pregnancy, I knew it was a girl (from the name, duh...) and what name to give. This time round, a little more challenging. Ben would like a name that starts with 'B', but finding 'B' boy names can be quite a challenge without scarring our little one for life! Suggestions such as - Bedok, etc, are all rejected, and the name has to go well with the surname too... cannot be too much of a tongue twister. We've decided on the Chinese name and might stick to Jonathan if no better B names come up. We liked Brenner, but found out it meant distiller of alcohol. Sad. It's more of a famiily name than a first name.

Sleep is much better compared to first one, where I got up rather frequency just to pee. I don't find myself getting up so often just to pee. The last time - it was routine! Every nite in fact.

Chicken soup is much yummier this time round compared to the last time, and the taste buds' pretty different. That's how my MIL suspected it was a boy. Heh. I can take fish also, but I still can't take the odour in one of the rooms downstairs. Very nauseating.

People have been telling me this and that regarding a wide range of topics they are so interested in - well, all I can say is - to each his own. E.g. one woman in church was telling me about how a 3 year gap is sooooo ideal, that mine is too close. She went on and on about how the older one will take care of the younger one without her worrying too much. Another lady with 2 sons with a 19-month age gap agreed that 19months is too close. Then next, my granny was saying - thank God for her who kept urging us to have more babies (??) otherwise we'll take too long. The last time I remembered, when she urged us to have No. 1 so that she could 'carry' the baby, I asked her who was going to take care of the baby, then she kept complaining she cannot, too old, too tired, too weak. Would I continue to heed her advice and go for no. 2 as she claimed? Well, make her happy, whatever she wanna say. Anyway, this is the best time for me to have coz being pregnant in NIE is reallly a much better option than being pregnant while teaching, contrary to popular belief. (I had one lady in NIE who raised one eyebrow and asked me if I had planned for this pregnancy.) I don't have 12hr workdays, don't have to shout at kiddos, don't have extra duties to do, and don't have loads of marking to lug around. Now, if i'm unfortunate enough, I go school everyday, sometimes for 2hours only, rush for deadlines only at selected days of the semester, can sleep in if school is in the afternoon, bring few sheets of paper to school instead of textbooks and files and just enjoy myself during the breaks between lessons. No wonder it's a privilege being in school. Anyway, we can control NOT being pregnant, but can't control when we wanna get pregnant.

One baby for the diploma, one for the degree. How cool is that? :) Then after that, factory suspended till I get out of the school system. :P Or at least near the end of the school system. ;) Not easy being a pregnant teacher. I tried during practicum and my final posting - and that's not even 1/2 the workload. Eeeps.