Today was my detailed scan at 20 weeks, and like the previous time, we did the detailed scan at Dr Chang's clinic. It was not a very long wait, and the whole process was finished in less than an hour, or maybe just about 30 minutes?
Dr confirmed for us that we would be expecting a baby girl and showed us the 3 parallel lines at the genital area. Her weight as of today was 333g. The results were all within the normal ranges and he assured us that there was no cause for worry at this stage. It was a relief to me, because ever since the spotting on week 12, I had been feeling uneasy for this baby.
Both Hubby and I were happy to have a girl for this time, and hopefully, she would not be as naughty as her brother! But it also meant that we had to get some girly clothes, so that she would not have to go out in her brother's clothes all the time. I can finally start to buy things in pink and Hello Kitty!
A retrospection...
We discovered this pregnancy at about the 4th week, using the cheap pregnancy test strip from Amazon. It was good that we did not have to spend $10+ per test kit from local pharmacies. To double confirm the accuracy of our cheap test kit, I visited our family GP to take another test. After the result showed positive again, I called up Dr Tan's clinic to make an appointment at the 7th week.
For this pregnancy, it was probably not as smooth as the previous one with Ian. I had a bad nausea (though no vomitting) for the first trimester, and it was worse than when I was carrying Ian. I had a bad appetite and my taste bud also changed. The smell of certain things that I used to like, was suddenly a turn off. I lost about 2kg in the first trimester, and had to take small meals to keep hunger away. Many people had mentioned that the nausea would be bad if the baby was a girl.
At the 12th week on 27th Dec 2010, just when we thought that the pregnancy was stabilized, I suddenly had a "bloody show". It was shocking to both Hubby and I, and we quickly rushed down to the hospital, leaving Ian with my Mom and brothers. It was "fortunate" that Dr Tan was still in the hospital, but because the clinic was closing, I was told to meet her at the 24-hour clinic instead.
When I arrived, the nurse brought me into the ward to lie down, while waiting for Dr to come. We waited for a while (perhaps half an hour), but it seemed an eternity because of our anxiety. It was the first time I had seen Hubby so worried since we found out about this pregnancy. But, I thought that in both our minds, we were mentally prepared for the worst.
Dr had a solemn face when she reached, and immediately did a check up for me. She was not able to tell us why it had occurred, but said that the baby could be saved since the mucus plug was intact. She ordered a jab for me, bed rest for a week, and 3 doses of Duphaston a day for the week. Before she left, she advised me to take things easy. Hubby had to take over all the duties of taking care of Ian and applied for urgent leave for the week. Although he was officially on leave, he had to continue his work at home.
The staining did not go away for the next few days, and since I was scheduled for a routine check-up 3 days later, we went ahead to see Dr Tan. She did a check on me again and discovered that there was still "some bleeding here and there". She ordered another jab for me and extended my bed rest for another week. The oral medication was already at the maximum dosage, so I had to buy more pills for the next week. The nurse who administered the jab told me to return in a week for another jab. (By the way, as this was an oil-based jab it was more painful than normal vaccines, and the pain would last for a few days.) I dreaded it but it was for the good of our daughter. It was a relief when the staining stopped the next few days, but we returned for the 3rd jab anyway. At the same time, I also bought the fish oil and multi-vitamins supplements from the clinic since I was already in the 2nd trimester.
Our next checkup was scheduled on 27th January, but a week before the checkup, Hubby had been informed to attend meeting that he could not re-schedule, and hence, we postponed the gynae appointment a week later (the nurse on the phone did not allow me to bring it forward because she said I was only supposed to go back a month after the previous visit). We were taken aback during the next visit, because the nurse who always assisted Dr came to us to ask why we did not visit earlier since I had staining. We asked Dr about the gender, and she said she could not see any protruding part from down there. She double-checked and still could not find, and said it looked like a girl, but she would double confirm during the next visit. We were rather happy not to find anything "down there" as it was both our wishes to have a girl this time.
For the past few weeks, we have been telling Ian that there is a
mei-mei inside my tummy (even before we found out the gender), and interestingly, sometimes when he misbehaves, he will say "later mei mei take cane". Once in a while, he will stare at my protruding tummy/belly button which I find quite amusing because of his curiosity.
For this pregnancy, I did not develop the linea nigra like the last time, so I had been having a feeling that it might be a girl. But like the first one, I had an outbreak of pimples in the first trimester, though they disappeared by the 2nd trimester. And also, for both pregnancies, the Lunar Calendar predictor was accurate! Thanks to an ex-colleague who passed the spreadsheet to us!
