Week 33 - Counting Down

its been a long, long break between the last check up and this one. in between, i've been feeling tired but energised, getting less sleep but sleeping so soundly, being so overly hungry but able to eat small meals all the time, waking up early every night but can continue to sleep until midday. its been so extreme that it gets too tiring for me.

i wanted to change my check-ups to weekend appointments after this as i'm a bit tired of driving outside our housing area but her clinic isn't open on weekends. asyraf and ariff have also been following and missing their agama classes the past few appointments, which isn't good now that their exam is nearing. guess we have to make do with monday check ups and pray for the best.

i don't know when i want to target my delivery for. i wanted a good date and on a weekday so that hubby will be able to maximise his paternity leave. we decided on 20 october but the boys would be having their year-end exams that week so that's out of the question then. i would need to get an earlier date but there's no good dates before then. both 3 october (to have the same birth date as akmal) and 10 october (just for the 10/10) fall on a weekend and we're not to keen on weekends. so yes, i'm pretty confused and is very lost compared to the previous four.

at the appointment today, after telling her that i've been feeling some contractions and have been jumping head-first into the nesting phase by reorganizing the wardrobe and kitchen cabinet, my gynae gave me a good stare and said, this won't reach end october. i smiled and she went, i'm not happy. i know, i know…i'm really pushing it so i'll tone it down a bit…where i can. we agreed it should at least go past the 36 weeks mark, which is in 3 weeks time. after that point, she said, she'd be happy with delivering.

the baby's now weighing 2kg. it shot up a bit after the last check up, and if it continues to grow this way, it would be a 3kg baby when its delivered (hopefully in 4 weeks, just to be safe). we're starting the two-weekly appointment now but i've been asked to just come in whenever the contractions start to get a bit too often and painful. alhamdulillah, its still manageable now - i'm actually having one as i'm typing this line.

this time around we haven't been doing any 4D scans and i haven't seen clearly how the baby looks. my gynae is very attentive to 'other' aspects and hardly zooms in to see the face or even the gender. she said boy once and girl twice but doesn't dwell much on it. during today's scan, she was focused on brain (she mentioned left and right side) - which she has never done during the previous four - she talked about spine a lot, and bones and position and placenta. its very different from the 'relaxed' scans and check ups i used to have. its the age and the risk involved, i'm guessing.

because gender is hardly mentioned, and the last she said was 'girl', i brought out the choice of names i have picked out and got everyone to cast their votes. if its a boy, which i'm still praying hard it would be, we already know what he'll be called. but girl, because i am soooo in denial, i have ignored choices of names but have had to face reality of the possibility. i wanted the boys to play a role and got them discussing and expressing their feelings, which was lovely to see.

after looking at everyone's choices, hubby and i roughly have decided on the baby's name, should it be a girl. alhamdulillah, another matter sorted.

during the next 3-4 weeks, i'm planning to look for food i've had the urge to eat (not to up to the craving level, just some urges here and there) and doing another load of laundry, and buying a few more things on the list - cot bumper, flask and formula are highest on the list. i'm also trying to cook before putting up my pots and pans for a couple of months - roast chicken, mihun soup with pegedil, mee udang are the ones i will push myself to make. one each weekend, that's good planning.