I confess! I'm pregnant!!!

Oh alright! I confess, I'm not just fat, I'm pregnant too!!! Due on 28 Jan 2010 :)

Hahahahaa... Finally I have a reason to be fat! kekeke... though frankly, I am hoping not to put on too much weight, since I hadn't shed everything from the first round with Isaac.

We have actually been planning to have our 2nd one for a very long time, but then, we have been trying to try for a long time. What? hahaha... well... it's not easy to TRY when Isaac was still breastfeeding not too long ago, so, everytime we get up to anything, we're invariable interrupted by the lil bugger. Also by the time we get him to sleep, we're tired too! So we sleep too... hahaha..

So anywayz, after much delay, and much hinting from my mother-in-law (who was frankly getting quite worried and wondering if she'd be having more than one grandkid at all from us) and some light hinting from my mum (light - in the sense that she wasn't hinting us as 'urgently' as she was before Isaac was conceived)... we finally conceived! phew!

Dr Ang, our nice gynae whom we adore, told us to use ovulation sticks this time round. She didn't ask us to use them when we conceived Isaac, and we didn't question why she asked us to use them this time round either. But some months later - after months of trying to try - we're glad she asked us to use ovulation sticks - so that we know WHEN to do it! hahahaa... Really useful so that we weren't literally shooting in the dark *snigger*snigger*...

So not too long after we managed to try on THE date as indicated by the ovulation shtick - we conceived! wooohooo!!! confetti!!! We eagerly bought pregnancy test kit to test, and positive it was, yay!!!

By our calculation (see, we experts now, after having one Isaac) we were about 4 weeks plus at the time we tested positive - so we decided to wait. Coz if you see the gynae too early, the baby is too tiny to be seen on the scan, and we'd have wasted money going to the gynae. So... kekeke... we got our appointment on Week 7.

Here's our first scan, at 7 weeks! Yay!!! Got sound (heartbeat) got picture (pls see scan below) = we're pregnant for sure!!! kekeke... "Congrats! You're pregnant!" said Dr Ang. The very next day after the gynae visit, we flew off to Perth for our June 2009 trip :)

Four weeks later, we happily went for our 2nd gynae visit... We always enjoyed gynae visits. Firstly, we can see our baby through the monitor. Secondly, we can take snapshots of the scan of the baby home for keepsakes (and to show to my parents and parents in law). Thirdly, we get to kar cheow our gynae Dr Ang, whom we enjoy joking with and talking to.

I was on the gurney; Dr Ang had just applied the gel stuff on my tummy and was using the scanner to scan my tummy (hubbs was distracted by Isaac) when Dr Ang exclaimed:" Pamela!!!" I was alarmed:"Huh?! What what?! what happened?!" Then she said:"Look!" as we all turned to look at the screen... "You're having TWINS!!!"

It was hilarious! Hubbs and I were stunned for the moment, then I started laughing, causing the gurney to shake pretty violently. Hubbs was stunned a split second longer, and then he was smiling widely from ear to ear, staring at the screen. We both were. It was amazing.

Even to the untrained, albeit one-timed experienced us, we could see that there were obviously 2 babies on the screen. You could see two distinct "bags" - which was the amniotic sac - that had a baby in each. At 11 weeks, it was already evident that they were babies, as in, you could already make out the head and the body etc.

But it was almost unbelieveable! We only had 1 baby four weeks ago! Now, there's another 1?! We were still so stunned that we hardly asked any questions coz the questions just did not occur to us at that point in time! We were just simply stunned and overjoyed with this miracle of life!

Dr Ang pointed out that she could only see one placenta, and hence that meant that the twins were Identical Twins - as one placenta implied that it was one fertilised egg that split into two. Identical twins meant that we would get either 2 girls, or 2 boys.

To answer the many variations of questions that I've had fielded to me...

You can't get one boy & one girl from identical twins coz it's split from one fertilised egg - the fertilised egg already has a gender when it is fertilised, and it won't change gender after it's split. One boy one girl twins are Fraternal Twins - which means they come from two different fertilised eggs, and hence is possibly of a different gender from each other. Each egg would then have their own placenta.

Fraternal twins, who come from different fertilised eggs, are nevertheless brother and sister (or bro & bro, or sis & sis), and so it is possible that they would still look very alike, very similar - but that does not make them "Identical Twins". Afterall, you may be born 3 years apart from your sibling, but you could look very similar/alike, right? The first question that I asked Dr Ang when I finally stopped laughing, was: "They have completely SPLIT, right???" Having twins was great, but having Siamese twins was not funny at all. But thankfully she replied:"Yes yes, completely split already - you see..." as she pointed to the screen. Yes, it was very obvious that the twins were separated and in their own amniotic sac. Dr Ang says it's good that they each have their own sac, that it's safer that way.

The babies also look like they're both of about the same size. Which is good, since I've heard of how one can be so much smaller that it can't survive and might die off. So I was very glad to see that they were both approximately the same size.

We also did their neckfold thickness test on the 11th week checkup, as we were scheduled to do so. Thankfully, both babies passed the test too. This was to test for down syndrome.

On 14th August 2009 (Happy Birthday, Joel!!!), we had our 3rd gynae visit, at 16th Week. We were very excited to have this gynae visit so that we could ask Dr Ang our questions, and also, this was the week when she said we'd be able to find out the gender of the twins! Our friends were almost equally split in guessing whether it was 2 boys or 2 girls.

Hubbs and I spoke about it before the visit, and we both agreed that we'd be happy whether it was 2 boys or 2 girls. 2 boys would be a bit tougher on us since boys are more active, and usually more difficult to take care as compared to girls. But we thought it'd be nice for Isaac to have 2 brothers to play rough with.

2 girls would be sweet, and a nice addition since we already have a boy. Also, hubbs would be pleased to have 2 princesses. The girls would also have no lack of clothes and stuff since my sister could pass me my nieces stuff. But most of all, 2 girls should be easier to handle, which would be good since having 2 at a time would certainly make us very busy!

So guess what?! Think God heard my prayers to give us what he thought we could handle - so he blessed us with 2 girls! :) Well, actually, Dr Ang only saw the gender of one baby (see below) - but then, since they're supposed to be identical twins, so, it is deduced to be 2 girls :p
On this visit, I had my blood drawn for the blood test, which was to test for a whole assortment of stuff. A week later, Dr Ang called me to say that my blood test results are alright - not as good as they were for Isaac's pregnancy, but still okay. Though she did caveat to say that blood test results would not be as accurate now, since I was having twins, but nevertheless, they were a pretty good indicator and it was good that my results were okay.

She did mention though, that even though my iron levels were alright, they were not as good compared to the time when I had Isaac. She said it's normal since I was having twins, and so the twins were drawing whatever iron they needed from me. Thus, she said I should eat more red meat, and stuff rich in iron such as broccolli and spinach.

So it seems... that all is alright :) I have been rather worried, coz when I read up about twins online, it seems like there are a lot of things that can go wrong, and that its considered a high risk pregnancy etc... quite scary! But as Clarine (my colleague who's a mother of twins ;p ) advised me, she said that I shouldn't read and scare myself, and should just pray that everything is alright! :) And so I will! :) Haha!!!

Anecdotes

Anecdote: : a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident (from Merriam Webster online dictionary)

Isaac is now 2 and we're usually full of anecdotes of him, like how he did something, what he said etc. Perhaps we're the perfect example of doting parents to whom whatever their beloved child does, is amusing and cute.

I just wanted to start sharing more of these anecdotes with you, as they're coming on pretty often now. And, frankly, I want to record them down, so that I would not forget them. I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but I am paranoid about forgetting my happy memories, which is why I sorta started this blog to begin with, coz I was afraid I'd forget what it was like with the kids when they were young. For, whenever I asked my mum:"Last time I also like that?" or whatever question it may be, her usual answer is:"I don't know, I can't remember already." I don't think she intentionally forgets, just that, it's so long ago! Some things people ask me now about my pregnancy with Isaac, I can't remember either! And that's just 2 years ago!

So I shall start my anecdote telling. kekeke... pardon me if my anecdotes "doesn't sound like much"... :p

This morning, hubbs decided to take the car. So he has to send me to work, send Isaac to my in laws, then he'd go to work himself. Usually, if we're not too late, we'd have breakfast together, before he drops me off at my office.

This morning, we went to a hawker centre where we both had meepok bak chor mee (erm, noodles, basically). I kept Isaac busy with bread spread with peanut butter that I had prepared at home. He used to eat the peanut butter with the bread. But recently, he 'learnt' to open the bread, and use his finger to just dig out the peanut butter and eat the peanut butter!

I say learnt, coz, I was just commenting to hubbs:" Hummph, dunno where he learn such behaviour from?!" To which hubbs muttered:"Sometimes, such things, you don't need to 'learn' from anywhere one... It's..." "Instinctive?" I offered.

sighz. So, Isaac would dig out the peanut butter and return us the bread peanut-butter-less. So naturally, he didn't, technically, eat very much. When hubbs and I were done and started to leave the hawker centre, Isaac walked along as well.

Suddenly, just as we were about to cross from the hawker centre to the carpark, Isaac stopped in his tracks. We looked at him. He looked kinda concerned and puzzled at the same time. He made the sign for eat (hand with fingers closed, to the mouth), and said "Eat!" He pointed at the hawker centre and said again "Eat!"

Hahahaha... then we realised what/why he was doing that. He was wondering why we were leaving the hawker centre when he was had not had his fill yet! hahahahaa...

So I told him:"You want somemore bread?" He said:"Butterfly bread." I said:"Okay, then we go get in the car first, then Mummy give you butterfly bread, okay?" Only then was he willing to walk to the car.

Yes, he calls peanut butter bread - butterfly bread. When it first happened, I kept wondering what was he saying. Hahaha... guess we know which word he knows first!

At Austin, Texas with Garrett & Alyssa

Okay after a long break... and a flash to the present for Isaac's Birthday Special posts, we're now back to continue the past , Dec 2008 trip to America. In this post, we're in Texas, USA and Isaac is about 16 months old.


He's such a big boy now, isn't he? Hahaha... but in these pix from Dec 2008, he still looks so babyish... so cute!!! :p

Zhenguo, hubbs' partner in crime in their secondary school days, whom we visited in Dallas, Texas, has kindly agreed to drive us to Austin, Texas, our next stop, where we'd stay with my friends Garrett & Alyssa. We had a great drive to Austin in good weather. Hubbs and Zhenguo had a nice long chat reminiscing their schooldays, while Isaac and I had a good nap most of the way.
This above, is us going out for dinner with Garrett & Alyssa after we arrived at their place in Austin. Now, in uploading these pictures, I realised something: we haven't taken enough pix!?!? damn!!! Next time we meet up, I'm gonna take TONS of pix, guys!!!

The restaurant we're at is Chuy's, a great TexMex place in Austin. Garrett & Alyssa brought me there in 2004 when I visited Garrett then (just before their wedding, I remember! ;p) I had such a great meal there that I demanded to be brought back there again this time, so that hubbs can try it too!
The next morning, was a Sunday morning. We went along with Alyssa and Garrett to attend their church service, which was held at the local secondary school - Austin High School.
It was interesting to be at the school. It reminded me of a lot of american sitcoms and movies which have scenes of schools before. Unfortunately, the sign below also reminded me of those mass killings by students/individuals who basically went amok, like in the Columbine school incident.
Hey look here below! It's Garrett & Alyssa's house! Nice, huh!? :) Garrett runs a real estate company and essentially got this house built himself, as in, everything managed by him, using subcontractors.
Very nice neighbourhood! Soooo from the movies, isn't it?
Look, they even have a real fireplace in the house! Think it could be lit electronically though, technology!!!
Hehehe... Cute pic huh, pity I have some shadows on my face :p blehhh!
Sighz, if only we could have a house like that in Singapore... kekeke... would probably cost us at least S$1.5 million (approx US$1 million) to S$2million for something like that here...
We went to the park for a lunch picnic! hehehe easier sitting on the bench than on the ground. We packed food from the supermarket before we came.
There was a nice playground where Isaac had a good time...
So did Garrett... *snigger*...
Isaac on the swing! :) Since quite a young age, he could sit on the swing fine, and didn't need any support. He knows how to hold on tight, and even swing himself a little.
Happy Spidey Boy!!! I love the Isaac smiley pix!
We caught the Zilker Zephyr train ride! was fun!!! :) adults got to go on it too!
It was just a simple train ride around a park, but we enjoyed it tremendously.
What's hubbs waving to? Lotsa 'people'!!! Hahaha... cartoon characters to be exact! This was the Christmas display that's just going up. It was going to be lit the following weekend, so it was a shame that we'd miss it. But it was still good fun for us to see it on the train ride.
Look at Humpty Dumpty sitting on the wall! hahaha... It would be so traumatic to watch him fall and be never put back together again!
Ah... Beauty & the Beast - one of my favourite cartoons of all time! Together with Little Mermaid!
Look, we even got serenaded on the ride!
We had a great afternoon, and Isaac slept in the car, on the way back.
Garrett & Alyssa cooked dinner that night. We had a great meal, with freshly baked home made cookies by Alyssa for afters too! We bought chicken drumsticks and cooked chicken soup for Isaac, and he ate that with white rice. He ate A LOT that night! :)
In fact, we had the fantastic cookies while playing Acquire - a fantastic real estate game I bought for Garrett and Alyssa as a gift. It's one of my (and hubbs') favourite games.
Hehehe... this is the morning after. We saved the chicken soup and rice from the night before, and Isaac had it for breakfast as well! Yes, he actually has rice for breakfast!
Then Alyssa brought us to visit the Texas State Capitol! We had a nice time there! We even chanced upon a school chior singing there.
Kekeke... guess who's from Texas...
Isaac was actually so comfortable with Alyssa that he allowed her to hold his hand! :)
Hahaha Isaac was so comfortable with Garrett that he allowed Garrett to carry him, and even gave Garrett a hug! :) It's quite a rarity for Isaac really, he's one that's quite slow to 'warm up'.
Isaac playing with Alyssa's gym ball.
Outdoor BBQ! cool!!! hahaha...
The house is beside this small park, which was nice, coz you could see the dogs playing and running in the park in the evenings.
Dinner outside and after that we kinda chilled out back home. Finishing our game of Acquire from the previous night.
Garrett keeping Isaac entertained with his Ferrari car while we conducted our hotel takeovers :p
This picture below is the last one we took at Austin, Isaac enjoying his bath with hubbs in the nice bathtub in our attached bathroom.
pictures above taken over 7th, 8th & 9th December 2009
Isaac @ 16 months

Looking back, I kind regret not taking more pictures. Especially with Alyssa and Garrett. Sighz, and who knows when we'd get to meet again. Now that I've visited Garrett twice, we're trying to make them come visit us! kekeke...