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Wednesday 12 September 2012

Retrospective Wisdom: Week 33

"Your baby is growing a lot. Lung development takes the forefront toward the end of pregnancy, and your baby's body is producing something called surfactant. This detergent-like substance helps your baby's lungs stay open once they inflate with his or her first cry. Pre-mature infants are given artificial surfactant if they are born too early." - excerpt from The Complete Illustrated Pregnancy Companion by Robin Elise Weiss with Dr. Marcello Pietrantoni.

Z and my parents-in-law have all started nesting. The IKEA cot, bath table, changing table and dimmer lights in our room at The House have been set up. Hospital bag for the baby has been packed and contents of my hospital bag is being finalised.

It does not stop there.

The Apartment is also going through a nesting process. The carpet in our bedroom is being replaced with laminated timber floor boards, daylight curtains being shopped for, cot and changing table arrived and ready to be installed with dimmer lights already working.

Looks like everyone else is getting excited but me. HORMONES?

Honestly, I am too hot and too bothered to appear "excited". The temperature is 34 degrees Celcius on average with 65% humidity. All I want is nap in an air-conditioned room where it is cool and dry!

Maybe it is my mood. Maybe it is just my hormones. Truth be told, the selection of breastfeeding bra in Malaysia retail is quite limited and thus disappointing. I am not risking the bad purchases online either as the sizes seem to differ from make to make. As I have 2 pairs of Y front breastfeeding bras at the moment, I am going to stick to this first until after Jr. arrives before purchasing more.

Not all is bad though. A healthy and nutritious lunch at a "baby friendly cafe" that lasted over 2 hours with my former schoolmate who is 9 weeks behind in terms of gestation age of the respective kiddos left us both with very positive feelings of pregnancy. We discussed Pregnancy 101 without either of us losing interest or bored eyes glazing over! Neither of us could ever imagine discussing disposable diapers (plastic landfill) versus cloth diapers (detergent contamination into waters) effects on the environment when we first met at 18 years old! Gifts were exchanged and we made baby bumps promise to "positivise" again in a fortnight.

Good things came to an end. Ante-natal classes comprising of 3 midwives and about 10 first timer parents like Z and I have been completed. We have taken the labour room tour, discussed pain management, laughed and cried over breastfeeding and birthing tips, debated over confinement practices and dealt with other nitty gritty details of pregnancy and newborn care. Now comes the period of anticipation of the arrival of the stork and handling the baby for real!

On the fun side, I outgrew my small sized pregnancy pants at the hips - Jr. has really "relaxed" my hips and pelvic area! The search (read shopping!) for replacement pants led to purchase of larger pregnancy jeans with adjustable waistline. I love it so much I want more! I have to shop for more nursing tops soon too, which is hard to come by in KL. Fashion does not seem to include maternity fashion *bah* but nothing save for my swollen feet will stop me from my retail therapy at this shop!

**Retrospective Wisdom: Rest! Ignore the demands of those around you who are not currently pregnant, if you can. This online shop has staple stock of nursing bras etc. Useful during confinement!**

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