Days leading up to the arrival of Zachary…

My last day at work was on the 4^th November 2009…It was a day of last minute clearing of my stuff into a box, moving the box under my table, giving last minute tips and ideas to Ratna my replacement, morning tea…etc etc…my colleagues gave me a gift for the baby too…I was touched…when I was leaving the office, it felt rather weird, having the thought of not going to work daily, and sitting at my desk, and doing my daily stuff in the office…when I walked out of the main office door…I had the “that’s it”…feeling…like it’s a move into the next phase of my life…kind of feeling...

 

The 11 days at home waiting for the landing of my little one was really hard to bear…I tried to keep myself occupied as much as I could, but how much television and internet can you use in a day? Did exercises in the house…cleared the house to prepare for the arrival of Zac…pacing up and down the house, to do some walking…did some squats…tried everything…tried doing Wii…but of course, the yoga exercises on Wii was rather impossible for me…haha…even tried eating pineapple to induce labour...silly me...

 

On the 11^th of November was my niece’s (Anne) birthday…I was wondering if Zac was going to come out on the same day as her cousin Anne cece…but…the day went by…with no signs of arrival…so, nope, not gonna celebrate their birthdays on the same day... :)

 

Next few days were just as frustrating as well…you feel the contraction…but apparently, they were just Braxton Hicks…during the wait as well, the slab was finally laid for the building of our new house…everything was happening at the same time…I also remember having to go to the land one day with Dave to clear off the tree stump and the branches for building to commence…while waiting at home, I wonder how many times I packed and unpacked the hospital luggage that I was going to bring just to make sure I had everything…

 

No signs of little Zac…until the 15^th November…in the morning…experienced some strange stuff…so called the hospital…they asked me to monitor and see if there was improvement…after lunch, it got worse…so called the hospital again…they asked us to go in for a checkup…we went prepared…we brought all the luggage along with us…

 

They strapped the fetal monitor to check for contractions…and also to monitor baby’s heart beat…when they first did it, they told me, nothing was happening…they were just Braxton Hicks contractions and nothing more…but because I had the condition, they told me that they preferred me to stay in the hospital for the night to monitor the progress…

 

I ordered food for dinner and ordered some for Dave as well. By 5ish, the food hasn’t arrived, so Dave said he’ll drive home to pick up some stuff that we missed…(after all the packing and unpacking…I forgotten the important stuff like toothbrush and toothpaste!!!!) So Dave left me in the hospital…to go home and get some stuff...

 

530pm…just a few minutes after Dave left…I started having contractions…Havent felt that way before…the nurses told me that it was like period cramps…but I have not really experience much cramps before (touch wood)…so I didn’t know the feeling…but it started to come and go very regularly…

 

I still could laugh and smile and talk and eat and watch tv and lie down and rest, etc etc…but after half an hour or an hour or so…the pain started to heighten…I was starting to feel really edgy!!!!! I had to grab onto something when the pain came…It went on and on…tried to sleep…Dave tried to sleep…but to no avail…the pain was just excruciating…Each time it came, I had to grab the chair next to me…Dave kept telling me to breathe in and out…and I tried to as much as I could…it went on and on from 530pm (starting of mild pains) to about 3am the next day (excruciating pain)…before the labour, I was still thinking, I could probably not take epidural and just go natural with gas…I gave in at 3am…I HAD TO GET EPIDURAL OR I’LL DIE OF SEVERE PAIN…

 

After the epidural, it was just a game of waiting again…I waited till 12pm the following afternoon…before they told me I was ready to “receive” the little one…it went on and on till 3pm in the arvo before I heard Zachy’s first cry…

 

When they first placed Zac on my chest…I was lost for words…the little darling was crying for a while, before looking at me…and we started gazing at each other for a while…he was such a charming little baby…and again I tried to keep my tears in…deep down I was so touched and I couldn’t thank God enough for such an amazing and wonderful “gift” to Dave and myself…our little son, Zachary…

 

The journey of motherhood begins for me…

13th January 2010…

First and foremost, HAPPY 2010 all…hope this year bring new hopes, lots of laughter, peace, love and joy in your lives…

 

From my last blog till now, I did many things and many things have changed...

 

Summary of things that I can remember happened since my the last blog…

 

Nov 2008 – Left my old company Kufpec, and joined my current company Mitsui…started to cycle to work with Dave…it was really good…I enjoy cycling…and I enjoy cycling with Dave and going to work together with him…on the bike …I think in Nov as well, we rode down to Freo and back…I nearly died…but it was good fun…

 

Dec 2008 – Attended company Christmas function, attended Edwin (one of Dave’s best friends) and Jing’s wedding in Melbourne and did some travelling in Melbourne…spent Xmas in Melbourne…and of course…shopped in Melbourne…

 

Jan 2009 – Worked late nearly every day at work rushing company Kessan (quarter end), audit, internal audit, SOX audit, etc etc…

 

Feb 2009 – Gave Dave a surprise 30^th birthday party at home…invited some of his close friends…It was good...Got him Coldplay concert tickets...a Pinerello bicycle jersey...a winter cycling jacket...we went for the Coldplay concert at the end of the month too...it was good...I enjoyed it very much...and I am glad that Dave enjoyed it too...

 

Mar 2009 – Went back to Singapore/Malaysia for a holiday with Dave…exciting part was my parents weren’t in JB…so the whole house belonged to Dave and me…and we had to drive around ourselves…but growing up in JB for 17++ years…getting around was not a problem for me… JJJ But a lot has changed though…roads, highways, etc etc…but the good food remains the same…went for the normal stuff that I would go for when I go back for a holiday…the first thing would be my favourite KOLOMEE…J Century Garden kolomee…what else…bakkutteh…ais kacang…Storey nasi lemak…kueh tiaw soup…oh my…I am salivating thinking of the food…Apologies for not looking all of you up…for I only had about a week in JB…and I didn’t have time to do much apart from eating and shopping…

 

From memory we were in Singapore for a couple of days shopping too…and not forgetting our must have Sakae sushi…

 

Oh ya, we actually flew to KL then JB, and then JB back to KL to Perth again…it was a pain…KL’s horrible! Never liked going to KL…the jam was horrible…don’t think we even went for a walk in KL…it was straight to the airport, and then back…and then back and straight to the airport…

 

End of March was the best days of Dave and my life too…we found out that we were going to have a baby by the end of the year…it was a shock to us, as we have been praying hard for a child too…I was diagnosed with PCOS…and hence, it wasn’t easy for me to conceive…I was also on medication for about 6 months for PCOS…and due to the medication, I gained heaps of weight…I think I gained about 8kgs just on that medication…I stopped taking the medication and gave up…stopping medication and continuation of my exercises made me lose back the 8kgs that I gained too…that aside…I believe it was when I gave up, submitted and decided to leave everything to God that He could take over… it was really a blessing from God…praise Him…

 

My life practically changed after finding out that I was pregnant…my usual habits changed…couldn’t cycle, play tennis, drink bubble tea (this was bad…but I controlled myself really well), eat cold stuff…gosh…my life really changed drastically…but just having the thought of having a little something growing in me warmed my heart enormously…still remember myself going to the ladies at work, just to talk to my little one…the scans that we did…when we saw him…kicking and turning in the womb…tears actually secretly collected in my eyes…it’s such a blessing from God…

 

May 2009 – Went on a company trip to the BHP mine site in Newman and Port Hedland…I also had to tell my boss that I was pregnant…the trip for me was really bad…with bad motion sickness that I already have, I was also down with flu…and I was pregnant as well, so I couldn’t take any medication apart from Panadol…but the trip was really beneficial for me…and I really enjoyed and appreciate the trip very much…an eye opener for me…visiting the mine sites and learning how iron ore are processed…gives me a better idea of what I am doing at work too…

 

Sep 2009 – Birthday again…this year birthday, I told Dave that I only wanted to invite a few close friends and I didn’t want a big crowd…and we promised each other that we wont organise anymore big birthdays for each other…going forward…but we’ll see…I’ll still want Dave to celebrate his birthday with some of his good friends though… J It was a nice cosy dinner with a few friends at Dusit Thai…the funny thing I remember for this birthday is…I had 3 birthday cakes!!!! 3 people brought birthday cakes!!!!! We stuffed our face with so much cake…it wasn’t funny…but it was all good!

 

Oct 2009 – Kessan again at work…plus I was busy handing over to the contract person who’s taking over my work while I am on maternity leave…so work for me was just talking and talking and talking…it was really tiring…plus I was already very close to my due date…but…I made a new friend in the process…hopefully there would be an opening for job for her after I get back to work…

 

Nov 2009 – The month finally arrived…worked for another week and was off work officially for 8 months from the time I was off…the wait can be quite unbearable…I was really excited to see the little baby…staying at home was boring too…with nothing to do…everyone asked me to rest as much as possible…but I didn’t really understand why…to me, it was…I AM SO BORED AT HOME!!!!! But now I understand why…

 

16^th November 2009, baby Zachary finally arrived…I’ll write up on what happened to update you guys in my next blog… J

 

I shall type off for now…have typed heaps…will type again the next time I find some time to logon to the internet… J

 

Take care all, and keep in touch…God bless…