For one, I had gained a grand total of 23kg each for my first two pregnancies but had only gained 16kg for this pregnancy (considered little for me! *laughs*).
I think the weight gain was kept to a minimum because:
1) Pregnancy sickness resulting in vomiting
Unlike my first two pregnancies where I felt nauseous but did not throw up, I was throwing up in the toilet all the time for this one until about 20 weeks of pregnancy! This was new to me as I had never needed to speed walk to the toilet just to get whatever that baby did not like out of my body! 🤢
Although I finally stopped throwing up after 20 weeks of pregnancy, I continued to experience nausea until 32 weeks of pregnancy. Yes, I'm one of the unfortunate women who experience pregnancy sickness for the whole pregnancy 😒
2) Diet
Again, unlike her siblings, this one does not like food that is too oily, too salty or too spicy. I can't stomach things like mala soup, fried chicken, chocolate, jelly and duck meat, just to name a few.
Instead, my baby really loves the plain ole Teochew porridge with salted egg and soda water with lemon! I eat this almost everyday! My baby also loves beef, which is my go-to food whenever I feel nauseated and can't eat anything else. She also likes ice cream and ice kachang, which I gotta have at least twice a week! 😋
Thank God that the nausea finally went away after 32 weeks and I could enjoy most of the food that I have always loved! I gained like 5kg alone in the last month of pregnancy! *laughs*
3) Pilates
Technically, I also did prenatal pilates when I was pregnant with my boy and I still gained weight, but well... for this pregnancy, the only exercise I did other than walking was Pilates and it definitely kept me in good physical shape to handle the pregnancy.
Me doing Prenatal Pilates at my usual studio |
I like to think that Pilates was the reason that I only spent 3 hours in the delivery suite for the birth of my boy. All the exercises we do to strengthen our core definitely helped in pushing the baby out!
(Update: I only spent 2 hours in the delivery suite for the birth of my littlest girl!)
With my colleagues in a dress that showed that I still have a figure despite being 34 weeks pregnant 😀 |
Unlike my previous pregnancies where I felt trapped in Singapore because we couldn't really travel, I did not feel the same way for this pregnancy. Perhaps it was because we had the option of travelling by car to Malaysia even if I couldn't travel by plane.
Some of our overseas trips during this pregnancy:
1) Ipoh
We got to visit the newly opened Movie Animation Park Studio (MAPS) at Ipoh as well as savour our favourite Ipoh food! So yummy!
2) Babymoon in Hong Kong
The hubby and I made the decision to bring our boy for the only trip via air for this pregnancy as we thought he would really enjoy Ocean Park. We had previously brought my girl to Ocean Park but not my boy so it was only fair that it was his turn. In future, we will definitely aim to bring all my kids to both Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland together as I love both theme parks!
3) Batam
You can always count on Batam as a good short weekend trip even when you are pregnant! It was such a relaxing weekend and it did not even cost us a lot of money.
4) Port Dickson
This was our first visit to Port Dickson and we really love it! The kids really enjoyed our very own private pool within our room at Grand Lexis Port Dickson!
Wearing matching t-shirts at the resort |
Getting the kids to take pictures with my baby bump! It's so big now that I can hardly fit into ordinary t-shirts anymore! |
We also travelled regularly in and out of Johor Bahru until I was 37 weeks! After that, it became too risky for me to go to JB as we could get stuck in a jam on the causeway while I was in labour! Definitely not a situation that I would want to find myself in.
Lastly, this is probably the first time that I am not hating pregnancy like I did for my first two pregnancies. For my first two, I would usually be praying desperately for my baby to be born as soon as possible by the time I reached 38 weeks of pregnancy as I was getting tired of carrying such a heavy load everywhere.
This time however, I was not ready for the baby at all. Instead, I was hoping that she be born after 39 weeks of pregnancy as my doctor was on leave during my 38 to 39 weeks of pregnancy!
I suppose having gone through the full pain of labour in order to deliver my boy, you really can't blame me for dreading the pain that is to come in order to deliver my girl.
I'm just taking everyday as it comes and praying for God's presence and strength to be with me in the Delivery Suite. Praying for a smooth and VERY FAST labour and delivery!
Can't wait to meet my baby girl! =)
Very detailed ultrasound scan of my girl's face at 34 weeks of gestation |