Detailed scanning at week 31

Our last scan was at week 28 and Felin and I have been counting our blessings for every week that the babies remain in Felin's body. We are praying hard for full term babies. We believe that they are blessed babies and will definitely be born full term.

Its our 31st week scan last Monday and everything been going well. The babies weight are 1.887kg and 1.813kg. The result are good but both of them are again not facing the right direction for photo taking. Both babies don't seems to enjoy taking photo.

 

We spent nearly 5 hours in the hospital today because Dr Su need to go for an operation halfway during the check-up. Our Medical appointment ended as late as nearly 7pm. Its tiring today but we were just glad things are just going as we wish for. Our initial plan to go Shopping and Movie was hence postponed.

Last time back to Malaysia as a couple

Few things happened over the last few days. My Parkway Centre office is finally going to be rented out after 8 months. Felt relieved that a tenant was finally found before the babies arrive. Really learnt a lot throughout this process especially when disagreements happened among the directors. There are still quite a lot of work to do before the Tenancy Agreement is signed.  Hope all things goes well and a burden off my mind... My car is also finally converted from the off peak car to a normal car. I'm happy to be able to drive to work over past 2 days too.

Its was our last trip back to Malaysia this weekend and an opportunity to buy whatever needed over there. We visited some of the major stores that sell baby items and spent over RM300. This is equivalent to about $120 but we really purchased quite a lot of small items over there which in Singapore should cost more. Our "Things to Buy" list are nearly completed and glad with it. I also vacuumed my car using FIW's special vacuum machine and now my car seems to be cleaner and smell fresher.

On Sunday, we had dim sum for breakfast. I think it will be very long we will be able to have breakfast like what we usually did today. Its nearly impossible to bring the babies to such places and be able to have breakfast peacefully. For kids to be able to withstand the warm and crowded condition there, we may need another 3 years time. I think I may miss the Dim Sum there in future.

As we were travelling back to Singapore, the Jam in Malaysia customs caused us with a 2.5hrs journey back home. I am wondering if our babies are able to withstand such long journey in future. We are really considering whether to bring the babies back for the next Chinese New Year on 19th Feb. I'm not comfortable to travel under such traffic jam condition for the kids.

We had Domino Pizza at Elias Mall before reaching home at 8:30pm. I started unpacking all the stuffs that we purchased and washed all the clothes. We took the pregnancy photos meant for 8th month. We are about 1 week short of it but we took it nevertheless. We were also going through the baby gifts for babies who will be born in 2015 as part of SG50. We were hoping that our babies can arrive only in 2015, not only for the gift but for our desire that they arrive full term. Pray hard pray hard...

We are going to meet the babies again tomorrow for a detailed scan and hope the babies can cooperate and turn nicely upwards so that we can take a good picture of them tomorrow. Intends to watch movie and some shopping with Felin after our check-up tomorrow afternoon too. We are left with little time to be together as a couple and hope to treasure every moment.

My Wonderful and Loving Mother

I complained to mum that I have no time to wash all the hands me down clothes that was given by friends during a family dinner recently and mum immediately offered to help me wash them. She is free during this period before the new Bedok Hawker Centre open. Felin and I was amazed at the amount of clothes that are handed down to us and I felt its somehow exaggerated. Babies will outgrow these clothes so fast that they may not be able to wear some of the clothes even the 2nd time.

Mum even ironed the clothes before stacking them up. She is such a wonderful mother but groomed a lazy boy like me. I think its my turn to work for my own children in future.

Felin entered into her 31st week today and her tummy is really big. The babies are still growing fast and kicking her more forcefully now. I'm worried about her health and my heart ache when I see her carrying such a big tummy but I'm also worry about the babies that haven't stayed long enough and praying that they are still comfortable in Felin's womb and not tempted to come out yet.

So what is happening to the babies at week 31? Let see from the babycentre website...

During your 31st week of pregnancy, your baby's body and brain continue to make the connections that enable her systems to work as a whole. Also when you’re 31 weeks pregnant:

• When you’re 31 weeks pregnant, your baby weighs more than 3 pounds and is 11 inches long from crown to rump, about the length of a bunch of bok choy.
• Your baby's reproductive system continues to develop. In boys, testicles are moving from the kidneys through the groin to the scrotum. In girls, her clitoris is visible, but her labia are still growing to cover it.
• Your baby's lungs are now more developed but are not completely mature.
• As trillions of brain connections develop, your baby is already using all five senses.
• You might notice that your baby has more defined periods of being awake (and active) or asleep

Entered 30th week point with anxieties heating up

We are on route to the babies' 31st week and I'm certainly getting nervous about it. There seems not much time left to get myself prepared to be a Father. A new milestone is going to happen very soon and a whole life different from what I use to live everyday.

From what I gathered, twins tends to be born about 37th to 38th week. In many instances, the babies may arrive early, probably in 34th - 36th weeks. If the pessimistic projection of 34th week is true, it means I may be seeing the babies in about 3 weeks time. Me, Felin, our Cell Group and I are all praying for full term baby. I also requested my sister to join in the prayer. Our prayer is that the babies arrive on 5th Jan 2015 which will be our babies 37th week 4 days if our prayer comes true. We just want to bake the babies for as long as possible so that they can develop fully in Felin's womb.

I still have many things left undone at work. I haven't send all my greeting cards and calenders, I haven't write my year end message. I haven't done up my slides for my next seminar on Insurance Planning. I haven't research on the PIC claims, etc... I also have many usual daily stuffs to do such as HR appointments, Management of advisers and staffs, my usual general insurance renewals, Claims, client's proposals and appointment to prepare, etc...

Moreover, my sales wasn't too good over the past few months and considering a likely next few months of lower activities and lack of sleep ahead are definitely not going to help for my sales for the entire banding year. If sales don't come in over the next 4-7 weeks, it will be difficult to catch up from my lower business in first half of the banding year.

On top of work anxieties, there are parental anxieties on whether I have prepared adequately for the babies arrival and whether I can withstand the feeling of lack of sleep, whether the confinement lady engage is good, whether we can get a domestic helper soon, etc...

Statistically wise, babies may arrive as early as 3 weeks time but I must pray beyond statistics and believe that Joshua and Josiah are blessed babies who will come only in 2015... which means coming in 7 weeks time. I'll pray that Felin will be able withstand the babies weight if they really gets to 37th week.

Pray Pray Pray. Let God take control...

Gift from Great Grandmother

Joshua and Josiah received a gift from their Great Grandmother today. I felt that my babies are fortunate to receive a gift 3 generations down. Happy that Ah Ma's health is still good and is able to buy gifts for the babies. She purchased it during her recent holiday in China.

It is a must that I take picture of my babies together with Ah Ma as soon as they are to meet and if possible, must let Ah Ma carry them in the photoshoot. This photo will be very important for me to tell them about my Ah Ma one day as they gets older.

Ah Ma is a very strong 91 years old lady. I remember her birthdate on her NRIC is just a 1923 without the day and month. However we always celebrate her birthday around August. My last time going for a holiday with her was in 2010 when we visited her hometown in Zhao An. She shared her life story as a 16 years old girl who feed prawns in her hometown before coming to Singapore. I have yet to verify if she was once a Samsui woman during her younger days. Even till today, she still help out uncle at his Hokkien Mee stall with my mother.

I have to personally thanks Ah Ma when I next see her. Above picture was taken in Aug 14 during her last birthday celebration...

Our Staycation in Sentosa

We have been planning for our last vacation before the babies arrive but ended up with a local staycation because it is pretty difficult to travel anywhere else at this stage. Felin can't go cruise, can't take ferry or plane and was not advisable to travel too long on the road.

We set off at 11am on 8th Nov (Sat) where we had brunch at Bedok South Blk 18 market before going Sentosa. After brunch, our first stop was Sentosa Cove Village where we had a nice stroll along the jetty. Its a pretty hot day but we enjoyed the scenic and quiet view. There must be a lot of rich people staying there with all the boats and clubs around there. We then had pizza and salad as lunch.

 

 

Thereafter, we proceeded to the Siloso Beach Resort where we booked the deluxe room over 2 nights. The resort is not very new but what I like are the greenery and the pool with that huge waterfall. I swam during the 2nd night and I really enjoyed it. It was really shiok standing under that waterfall and going down the slide heads down.

 

Other than that, I also love the seaside view at the roof-top.

 

We quickly checked in and strolled along the road towards the monorail station and took the monorail to Movenpick Heritage Hotel for our ice-cream. We had their Vanilla and Walnut ice-cream over 10 minutes but we shamelessly sat in the café for nearly 45 minutes drinking their water and read our books. Its really yummy and relaxing...

 

 

We went back hotel for a short rest before taking the Monorail to Vivocity for Dinner. Felin need to buy her contact lens liquid. We had Nasi Lemak at Madam Kwan and we were pretty satisfied with the meal which we don't need to spend too much to enjoy.

 

As it was raining heavily after dinner, we then shopped for a while and rested in Muji till about 10pm. As it was late, we scrambled to buy umbrella but interestingly the rain stopped right after we paid for the umbrella. We took the monorail back and reached hotel at about 11:15pm. We were tired and I slept well but Felin unfortunately woke up quite a number of times throughout the night due to the babies kicks.

 

Our second day started with breakfast where we enjoyed their own grown vegetables and pastries. After breakfast, we went for a short walk at Siloso Beach before going back to sleep till about 12noon.

 

 

We took our instant noodle using the toothbrush from hotel before walking around hotel and laze near the pool area with a book and titbits we brought from home. That was relaxing indeed. We also had a very nice Coconut ice-cream just right outside our hotel.

 

 

 

Initially planned to visit the SEA Aquarium in the afternoon only to find out that the aquarium was closed earlier at 4pm and we changed plan to have the Hokkien Mee and Chendol at the Malaysia food court and bought the Melaka Chicken rice back hotel for dinner. Along the way, we strolled along the Siloso beach and dipped our legs in the sea.

 

 

After the relaxing walk, we went back hotel. I went for a swim and Felin just laze about. After the shiok shiok swim, we had dinner and watched TV together and talked throughout the night till we Zzzz...

 

We had nearly 9 hours of sleep that night and felt refreshed. We had breakfast and ready to check out. We proceeded to Vivocity to park our car before going back Sentosa with our 3 days Sentosa monorail pass to the Aquarium. It was probably a blessing that we did not went on Sunday because Monday morning are less crowded at the Aquarium and we really enjoyed our 2 hours there.

 

 

We officially ended our staycation with lunch at the Malaysia Foodcourt and had our favourite Chicken rice again. We took the Monorail back to Vivocity where I drove Felin back to work and me back to office for the day... Overall, we enjoyed the staycation and had good rest during the 2 nights. We are satisfied with this staycation and shall now look forward the arrival of our babies in 2 months time.



Our decision on Confinement Lady

Our babies had reached their 29th week milestone today and its only 1 week ago that we decided on a Confinement Lady. All along, MIL insisted that she is able to care for the babies and wanted us to trust her. I can see that she is very kind and wanted to help us save the $$$. I know that she keep converting the $4k into Ringgit and that 10kRinggit looks like a huge amount.

I posted a question in twins Babies SG facebook page on whether or not to engage a confinement lady and I received many comments where fellow parents of twins shared their experiences. Some feedback that they managed without Confinement Lady and some couldn't. I had decided that its better to engage so that Felin is able to have better rest during the month especially if she is going to have C-section. We can also take it as a one month course where we can learn from the confinement lady about caring for babies. Its probably also better to avoid letting Mum and MIL to interact too much during the more stressful confinement month. We had hence request MIL to come over to support us during the 2nd month after the Confinement Lady left.

The only thing we hope is that the confinement lady is good. She was recommended by my mum's friend but when I asked my mum to share what her friend told her, she have no idea at all why her friend said that she was good. We then interviewed the confinement lady over the phone twice and get to know that she was a ex-nurse in Medan (Indonesia), taking care of babies in hospital for 20 years. She is a Chinese and had been a confinement lady for the past 11-12 years and claimed to have twins experience too. She agreed to $3,400 which include her air-ticket from Medan. Just pray that she is really able to help by then...

Below are some extract of those who advised us to engage CL...

Start of Felin's Third Trimester

Felin entered her 3rd Trimester last Thursday and we are on our way to the babies 29th week. We are praying hard for a 2015 baby because if the babies enter 2015, they will be full term babies. Susan and Andy's babies will be arriving today and they are 37th weeks. They are such good and positive examples where twins arrived at full term.

Felin have been experiencing symptoms of a 3rd trimester pregnancy lately. Fatigue and breathlessness after a pretty short walk. Her legs are getting swollen with the weight of her tummy, which looks like a watermelon now. She gets occasional heartburn and more frequent urination.

During the week, I had booked for our first staycation at Siloso Beach Resort. It will be from 8th to 10th November. It cost me $600+ with taxes for 2 days. They include 2 tickets to Universal World but I'd changed it to the SEA Aquarium. I'd planned to visit the Wax Museum and walk around Sentosa Cove. Its been years I last visited the museum. We had prepared drinks and titbits for the trip already too. Really look forward to next week.

During the week, we changed our mind and decided to engage the confinement lady which my mum introduced. She was a retired nurse from Indonesia who claims to work as a confinement lady in Medan for more than 13 years. We will be flying her in from Indonesia and I hope she is able to help out during the confinement month. We are not too sure about her capabilities except a lot of assurance from her so call "Sister" in Singapore.

On Thursday, I did my first Corporate Seminar. It was a resolution that I set for myself during the early days of Felin's pregnancy and I achieved it. I really spent a lot of time preparing for the day with all the slides, research and preparation. It went off pretty successful but with a mistake that I made during Q&A that made me uncomfortable.

During the weekend, we had our final Pre-natal class at NUH. Think of it, I seems to have forgotten what I had learnt over the past 6 weeks. Looks like everything going to be on the job training by then.

It was very relaxing over the past 1 week as I spent quite a lot of time with Felin, especially during the night when we just lay on the bed enjoying the quiet time spent together. We knew that tough days are ahead and we just need to get ourselves prepared for it to come. I talked to the babies and thinking of naming Joshua to Jeshua. As for Josiah, Felin aren't too comfortable yet as she feels that too many people does not know how to pronounce the name. Thinking that I can easily call "Jes and Jo" in future when I need to call the kids.

We packed the babies room and clear some stuffs off the room to prepare more items that are expected to come in. During the weekend, I also played all the 3 musical instrument that I knew for the mummy and babies. I don't play well but I think these sound might be able to stimulate the babies brain a bit. Hopefully. haha... Btw, the Saxophone was purchased by Dad when I passed my O'levels exam nearly 20 years ago. How time flies. The Saxophone was 20 years old already.

The week going to be tough as I need a lot of catching up with my personal Sales. It was extremely slow during the whole month of October. I was spending too much time preparing the seminar and on the baby preparation that I neglected my work. I was also too much with the issues at Parkway Centre where renovation started with quite problematic issues going on.

Am thinking whether I should do the last thing in my resolution which is to start on my ChFC paper  certification after seeing Johnny completing 2 papers within a month. At least I started working on it even if it fails. It will be really tough if I decided to embark on this and I think only God can help me achieve what I wanted and yet providing me with good sales ahead... I am really fearful that it will affect my sales.

First, I think I must manage my time even tighter. I may need to write less on this blog and less time on facebook. I need to stay focused at work and have better idea what I want to do daily. I really need God to be by my side to help me. Lord, I need you. Thank you...