My labor and delivery story

So.. shortly after updating my blog, and telling dad and mum that i didn't have any regular contractions at around 2pm on 23/9/17... i think around 3pm or so contractions became regular.

Between 5:40-6:40pm i was having 12 contractions in that hour, 3-7 minutes apart (average 5 minutes apart), each lasting 1 minute, moderate intensity.
Between 6:40-7:40pm 11 contractions in that hour, average 5.5 minutes apart, each lasting 1 minute, moderate intensity

Around 8pm i called my midwife and she said it's likely still early and to page her again when contractions were 2-3 minutes apart

Between 9-10pm 16 contractions in that hour, 2-5 minutes apart (average 3.75 minutes apart), each lasting 1 minute, moderate intensity.

After that my contractions got more intense that i had difficulty breathing through but the duration did not get more frequent... some perhaps 1-5minutes apart. and i was yelling out in pain with each contraction. i tried the hot shower and also bath to relief the pain but it didn't really help too. my back hurt the most when i was having contractions, my tummy also hurt from the contractions and also the pelvic pressure... but the back was the worst, felt like a terrible back sprain that is pulling apart all your back bones. i couldn't handle the pain anymore so i decided i was going to scrap that waterbirth plan and just get an epidural.

King had to help me page the midwife at almost midnight as i could hardly talk anymore. Midwife Kala then came over to our place to check and i was already 5cm dilated. we headed to the hospital immediately but as we were getting to the car i felt my waters broke. subsequent contractions in the car were up a notch and i was screaming my head off. i couldn't even get out of the car into the wheelchair when we arrived at the hospital. could only move in between contractions.

once we got to the delivery suite i was put on IV antibiotics as i was group B strep positive. then to get my epidural i needed a drip and also had to monitor baby for about 20minutes. they put this monitor on my tummy to monitor Atty's heartrate. in between that time when contractions came they gave me gas to reduce the intensity but it hardly worked and i couldn't even breathe through the gas at the peak of the contraction, had to get off the gas and yell at the top of my lungs. i felt like i was in a trance and couldn't control my body. the gas also makes you sort of... giddy? like you feel as if you are floating. i could hear noises and people talking to me but couldn't really react. super weird feeling

somehow i ended up pushing to relief the back pain when contractions came (which was a reflex and not something i was doing consciously) and Kala checked my dilation again then she said on the next contraction, to push...and that i was fully dilated. at that moment i was like... are you kidding me?! i want my epidural..!! obviously i missed the window opportunity to get an epidural already (which is at 8cm or before) so i couldn't get the epidural but i was in so much pain at that time it was such a wtf moment. King later said the anesthetist was already on standby at that time.. sighs.

so thereafter i was just in a trance and screaming my head off with each contraction. King kept talking to me and was beside me holding my left hand and i was just squeezing his hand with each contraction. weirdly i seemed not to be able to move my right hand much although i only had the IV cannula in there and a monitor on my index finger. between contractions i just drank some water that King fed to me and had brief glances at the clock on the wall at times. the concept of time seemed to be totally off... i saw about 1:30am.. then around 3:15am or so... which i totally didn't notice the passage of time. the first time i noticed the clock was 1:30am, not sure if that was the time i was fully dilated or it was earlier than that.

i feel as if my body went into auto-pilot mode with each contraction... i kept hearing the midwife say 'push push push'.. but i never felt that i was actually using my muscles, it was more like a reflex action that my muscles were in spasm and doing the pushing. i remember with each contraction, my muscles went into 3 spasm cycles and i could only breathe in during the 2nd spasm cycle, then i was exhausted but then there was a 3rd spasm that just took place on its own thereafter. even the screaming, i couldn't really control it.. to a point that i was so hoarse and exhausted and out of breath between contractions.

but i must say that the pushing stage really feels like you are super constipated and trying to push out poop. i kept pushing for what seemed like ages but King said it was only half an hour into the pushing and then someone checked the position of Atty (King said there was even an ultrasound.. which i totally didn't know about) and said Atty is in a good position. so i just continued pushing for don't know how long... i heard midwife say she could see Atty's head crowning but it seemed to take ages also... King also provided commentary on the size of the crowning but i took a look at the time and i think it was 3+am then. so there's this huge void in my memory of what happened between 1-3+am. King said between contractions i was in an semi-unconscious state then just screaming all the way when a contraction came. and basically that's all i did for that time frame.

Atty seemed to be stuck and they wanted to do an episiotomy but i didn't want one which was in my birth plan so King prevented them from doing so. King said they kept attempting.. and on the 3rd attempt he told them to let me try to push for another minute... and on the next contraction/push cycle suddenly there was relief from the "constipation pressure" and i felt a ton of slimy stuff come out from me and then a baby Atty was placed on my chest. she felt quiet heavy in fact... i was expecting a soft and floppy baby but her head was pretty hard. i looked down and the first thing i saw was chubby cheeks and a chunky arm. from the way she was placed on my chest i didn't get to see her facial features yet, could only see down form the top of her head. her cheeks were bigger than her head lol. anyway i didn't have my glasses on so couldn't really see properly too.

Atty baby was born at 4:18am!

i heard the midwife say she was pretty certain there was a tear as Atty baby came out with an arm over her head. i looked at Atty's chunky arm and thought to myself... of course i would tear with that chunky arm haha.

midwife then delivered the placenta while i was having skin-to-skin with Atty. King said she pulled the placenta out... which was a little painful..

anyway i think my back labor pain was so severe that it overshadowed all other pains. even the pushing, i didn't feel the so called "ring of fire", it was just more of pressure and stretching sensation. and the tear.. i didn't even feel it then.

there was a doctor who came in to check the tear and they gave me gas again which resulted in my floaty feeling. i heard them say to remove the gas but i couldn't react and King said he helped me remove it. i had a 3b tear and had to go to the OT to get stitched up. and they said they would be giving me a spinal block for the procedure which is essentially a form of epidural and i had another speechless wtf moment.... i just gave a bitter smile, like haa.. my epidural... what a joke to only get the epidural after the birth.

i got cheated of my hour skin-to-skin with Atty as they wheeled me off to the OT pretty quickly. King said i had about 15-20minutes of skin-to-skin only.

after the stitching procedure i went to a recovery area for a while before being sent to the postnatal ward. think it was 6:30am by the time i got to the ward, and King and Atty came by pretty soon. i couldn't mobilize at all that day from the epidural effects and also had a urinary catheter in, sighs.

family of 3 <3

cute Atty baby <3

tiny, chubby hands <3

overall, this labor and delivery has been rather traumatizing. nothing went according to my plan. although you can't really plan how labor and delivery goes, my birth plan sort of accounted for variability. but what i didn't expect was that my first stage labor went by so quickly. people always say usually you will be in labor for quite long for your first child, but it seems like my first stage labor was only about 10 hours? and also i basically didn't do any exercise for my pregnancy, i was all prepared to have a long labor.. but who knows it progressed to quickly, jumping from 5cm to fully dilated within a short duration. so please... who says exercise helps you have an easier and quicker labor? come have a conversation with me...

anyway, since i thought i would have a long labor, i wanted it to be a calming one... with music going on (we packed the ipod and speakers in the maternity bag, intending to be used during labor) and soothing waterbirth. reality is, never even got the chance to get any music on, and i was in so much pain and agony i couldn't even stand when each contraction came. couldn't even get my epidural to have a more calm birth experience... and ironically had to get epidural after the birth anyway, pfft. then i didn't get my 1 hour skin-to-skin with Atty :(

and because the delivery happened so quickly, i didn't get sufficient IV antibiotics for the GBS positive (supposed to get 2 doses Abx in 4 hourly intervals.. Atty arrived within ~3hours+ of reaching the hospital), Atty needed to be monitored for 24 hours and would need to get IV antibiotics. poor little baby Atty... her tiny arm had to have an IV inserted and it looked so painful... there was bruising and some blood... my poor baby! T.T then her white cell counts were elevated so the doctors suspected infection and wanted to increase the monitoring to 48 hours.

i didn't have much colostrum to feed Atty too, and Atty didn't latch on well and kept getting frustrated at the breast... i think it is because she didn't have much chance to latch on at birth, she had to have skin-to-skin with King and latched onto King's finger/nipples. she kept crying and struggling and shaking her head in frustration when the nurses/midwives tried to get her to latch on. and when she gets very agitated and cries she has stridor, which is worrying. but the baby doctors took her to investigate and monitor and said there was nothing to worry about.

more on my recovery next...

   

Pregnancy update: Week 39

Weight: 64.4kg (net change 0kg since last week; overall +17.4kg)

Symptoms: braxton hicks, tender breasts, nausea, back/pelvic pain

Summary of the week:

17/9: 39 weeks today! 1 week left to EDD! vital statistics 36-41-40.5. braxton hicks is coming back.. random contractions through the day, but more at night and in the morning. also having some brittle(?) nails, especially my pinky and ring finger... a little on the middle finger. has been like this for a few weeks already. not sure if it's because i'm lacking some nutrients? but i have been taking my prenatal vitamins everyday..


finalized stuff for the final builder's interview with Format on Thursday, including interior and exterior colors. King did some laundry and washed all our bedsheets.. and took a break from bulk cooking today. hmm.. things are more or less prepared already, just need to cook and freeze more food to store hehe.. then get King to be familiarized with the various support strategies as a birth partner.
at night at 10+pm after shower noticed a bit of bloody show... TMI but discharge was more gunky with tinge of light pink. was having some random contractions at night, but did not become regular... anyway we packed most of our stuff into the car just in case i went into labor in the middle of the night. Atty doesn't have a calendar or clock in there so i guess she doesn't comprehend when i discuss with her to wait for a few more days haha.

18/9: random braxton hicks through the day, most frequent at night into the early morning accompanied with pelvic pressure. had nosebleeds today, not sure if related to labor symptoms? in the morning when washing up blew my nose and had a nosebleed... at night after shower wiped away what i thought was nasal discharge but turned out to be a nosebleed. spent most of the day flopping and relaxing so swelling in legs/feet is much better.
King cooked 10 dishes today! he did bulk shopping at costco over the weekend and the chicken/fish were stored in the fridge so needed to be cleared otherwise won't be fresh anymore. and there was lots of leftover rice in the fridge as well as peanuts that had been soaking for 2 days... so lots of food to work with. initially he said only few dishes - fried rice, 2 types of chicken dishes and then steamed fish. but somehow the dishes kept being served onto the table hahaa and it ended up being 10 dishes in total! so impressed! and the dishes all tasted really nice and different! and most of the dishes were his first attempt! wow... so amazing! The 10 dishes he made:

1. Braised peanuts (thermal cooker)
2. Red bean, red dates, barley, longan dessert (thermal cooker)
3. Pineapple fried rice
4. Chinese sausage fried rice
5. Chicken with black fungus
6. Chicken with shitake mushrooms
7. Chicken salad
8. Chicken with pinenuts
9. Stir fry vegetables
10. Steamed barramundi fish

19/9: Not as much contractions compared to yesterday... still sweating in sleep and having pelvic pressure. i have been having a rash on my groin and butt for a while, wonder if it is heat rash or sweat rash. Flopped mostly all day and it is really helping with my feet swelling. King cooked beef stew and pig trotters peanut soup today!

I think we already have enough confinement frozen meals for a whole month! (of the protein dishes)

20/9: Uneventful day. Random braxton hicks as usual. Flopped mostly all day and watched this Korean drama 'Live up to your name' about a time traveling oriental medicine doctor who gets transported to the future - it's quite nice! i finished all 12 episodes that has been released. it has a total of 16 episodes so it's a 2 week wait for the finale.

21/9: Atty has been so cooperative! We managed to finish the final builder's interview with Format today! Thank you Atty for cooperating <3 Went for lunch at Little Canton thereafter and decided on a spur to go watch Kingsman 2 in the afternoon. The movie was just released today. The recliner seat cinema is super comfortable. Could sit in there for 2.5hours at 39+4 without feeling uncomfortable. So that was probably our last movie date before Atty gets here? Ok Atty you can come any time now hehee... cannot wait to meet you! I bet its really comfy but don't hang out in your womb hotel for too long ok.. or else you will get issued an eviction notice soon.. midwife is coming on 40+2 to check on your moving out progress hehe. King made sweet sour pork at night, and mee sua with the leftover pork trotters peanut soup... yummy!


22/9: finished up 4 weeks of confinement menu for King to refer to, the entire freezer is stocked up with a month's worth of confinement meals. kudos to King for spending much time and effort looking up confinement food recipes, running around buying groceries, doing food prep then all that cooking in bulk! best husband ever! i'm gonna be well fed postpartum <3


also made a daily task list for him.. so he can keep track of the tasks for honey, the household, Atty and me hehee.

King went out to run errands today - bought fly screen for Honey's playpen as she most likely will have to stay in there when i'm in labor as it may take 1-2 days. too risky for her to be running around in the garden at night, and too pitiful to lock her in her hutch.

and King did more cooking at night, basically to clear old stock of food in the fridge - he made salt and pepper pork ribs and sweet and sour pork ribs. so yummy! most of the foods were his first attempt at making and it's super delicious... looks like he has a talent for cooking!



23/9: woke up at 6am to pee and noticed significant bloody show! at the starting of the week it was just a little bit but this morning's was super obvious... mucus discharge with pink/red streaking. i thought Atty is so punctual... 39+6 today and going to make an appearance on my EDD.. but i still don't have regular contractions yet. since 12+pm have had some contractions accompanied with lower back pain and pelvic pressure.. but it was quite on/off with no pattern yet. Atty, don't troll your mummy so much okay... your new apartment is all ready for move in, you can slowly start your moving out plans hehe <3

maybe this will be my last pregnancy update and the next one will be a post on my labor and delivery! hehee usually take the baby bump photos after the week ends, but the above baby bump was taken on 39+6, just in case 40 weeks is labor day hehe. vital statistics today is the same 36-41-40.5. weight has also been the same so i guess Atty is done developing!

------

(things started to get moving soon after i updated this blog post)

Pregnancy update: Week 38

Weight: 64.4kg (-0.3kg from last week, overall +17.4kg) looks like the weight loss is fluid loss since i have been so swollen...

Symptoms: acne, shortness of breath, braxton hicks, tender breasts, water retention, backpain/pelvic pain

Summary of the week:

10/9: early am before sunrise had braxton hicks/contractions? it was quite painful in my lower back and tummy area, like a bad cramp... woke me from my sleep. King did major housekeeping today - cleaned the toilet, our room, the rest of the house, and also shifted stuff around to make space for Atty's cot bed, and rearranged our room/toilet layout for Atty's arrival (shifted charging outlets away from the bassinet/shifted heater away from toilet door).

Did some major laundry too as the sun was out... 3-4 loads of laundry and all got dried by sunset! Good job to King!

and Honey is as usual looking into the house and jumping onto the window ledge very frequently...

11/9: braxton hicks in morning, night and randomly through the day. breasts are more tender these days, is it a sign of approaching labor? Atty is as active as usual... and stronger haha. in the morning her foot (i think it was her foot) stuck out from the side of my tummy, i tickled her foot and she pulled her foot away hahaha... so cute! water retention is getting worse... especially in my feet and legs.. i have no ankles anymore. King went to buy more groceries today and we froze few portions of fish and also ginger wine chicken soup with goji berries and red dates.

12/9: Baby Bunting order arrived today! Here's Atty's Baby Jogger City Select Lux pram, courtesy of the sister-in-law!

with the infant car seat capsule

with the regular pram seat

today also scanned all of of Atty's antenatal records... just have to finish scanning the pregnancy record after midwife's appointment this Thursday.
symptoms are as usual, braxton hicks, tender breasts and water retention.

13/9: made some padsicles today for postpartum. recipe here for future reference:
http://www.whatigather.com/frozen-postpartum-pads-aloe-witch-hazel/
not as much braxton hicks today.. not as painful too. water retention in legs and feet getting worse though

14/9: midwife follow up appointment at home. Atty is doing well as usual, heartrate 140-145bpm, very active... kept moving around and stretching during palpation and when midwife was using the fetal doppler. Fundal height is 36cm. BP 116/60. Atty is already engaged, but lying sideways... midwife said her position is fine and she may only rotate during labor. we discussed the various situations on when to call her. too bad there is no way to predict labor hahaa..
my braxton hicks seems to be much lesser these days though... weird. my stretchmarks have now expanded to above my belly button and to my hips.. belly skin so itchy and painful...

and the thermal cooker pots i ordered were delivered today. hope they make King's life easier with cooking soups/desserts/porridge during my confinement.

15/9: washed all of Atty's bottles and sterilized them. they are now stored away and ready any time just in case if breastfeeding fails.



mummy suggested for Atty's middle name to be 'Irisa', sounds cute and quite unique too. the imagery i get with 'Irisa' is Atty popping up beside mummy "Iris + A" hehee. so that sound be Atty's middle name <3. her Chinese name should be '安羽'.. King came up with 羽 and I came up with the 安 ;)
slept with my feet propped up last night and swelling is better in the morning, but once i get up and walk around or sit for too long it seems the swelling returns. have to flop more often to control the swelling. King helped me to do foot massage <3. Having some braxon hicks randomly through the day and more at night (returning), but not painful.. just like a tightening of the tummy.

dinner today - yesterday's pork rib peanut soup, tomato egg and broccoli with ginger. the combination of these 3 dishes are quite nice!

16/9: braxton hicks have made a return. late night and early am braxton hicks are back.. so my sleep quality is bad again. also have random braxton hicks throughout the day. having some nausea in the day. feet swelling seems better as i have been flopping more.

King did another round of grocery shopping today and made sweet sour fish, egg tofu in tomato sauce and stir-fried sugar snap peas.. yum! few portions of those are now in the freezer. getting more and more prepared with those freezer confinement meals!

and... we are onto 39 weeks! eek... Atty, let's wait till the 22nd at least okay?? so we can go to that appointment with Format on the 21st hehee <3

Pregnancy update: Week 37

 

Weight: 64.7kg (+1.4kg since the past week, overall +17.7kg) haaa... let's see if i will reach 20kg weight gain by the time Atty is here.

Symptoms: Acne, backache, hot flashes, braxton hicks, pelvic girdle pain, shortness of breath, stretch marks (getting worse... has spread to above my belly button and to my hips)

Summary of the week: it's been a frenzy of preparations for Atty's arrival this week... seems to have endless things to do or more things to get that we had previously overlooked. And then making confinement meals in bulk and also washing Atty's clothes and organizing the house~ 

3/9: Oz fathers' day (see related post).

4/9: Mum and dad will be delaying their trip to Adelaide due to mum's health issues, so King will be my confinement hubby after the birth. Quite worried about mum's health and preoccupied with many thoughts so didn't sleep well and forgot to take iron tablets again. Backache and pelvic pain is worse today, likely due to walking more (went to run errands and grocery shopping in the day... went to Coles/Aldi for grocery, Cheap as Chips to pick up stuff needed for water birth and then JB-HiFi to pick up vlogging camera). King's friend Evita also came by our place in the afternoon to hang out and also gave us a bunch of baby clothes and baby stuff, thank you! 

 

Braxton hicks+ at night. King made 木须肉 (pork with ginger, black fungus, egg, carrot and snow peas) and we froze few portions as confinement meals. 

5/9: Interrupted sleep again... slept 1-6am, then 7:30-10am. More grocery shopping today... went to Chinatown's asian grocery stores to get confinement foodstuffs and then Costco.

6/9: Having braxton hicks randomly throughout the day... King took the whooping cough vaccine today, it was $34 at the WCH, not $15 like what the midwife told us.. vaccination nurse said midwife's information is outdated haha. 

 

Then we went to Ikea to get more organization stuff for Atty and laundry.

7/9: King fixed the car seat capsule for Atty today!

 

And made mapo tofu... more freezer confinement meals!

8/9: Went out to stock up on more food stuffs to make confinement meals in bulk. Decided to buy thermal cookers so that King can shorten the time he spends on making soups and porridge during my confinement.. visited a stockist but found that the price was much higher than buying online (even including shipping), so just decided to buy them online and wait for the shipment. Then we stopped by Kmart to get more baby clothes hangers for Atty.

Also bought pram for Atty online today. Just nice Baby Bunting was having a 20% storewide sale... the savings were much better than previous discounts we saw earlier in the week which we missed. The sister-in-law wanted to buy the pram for us, but there was some issue with her card and then later when she tried to make the purchase it couldn't go through, maybe because the billing address has to be a local address? So we missed the earlier discount due to these issues... and sis-in-law was just going to transfer the money to us for us to make the purchase ourselves. Then i was scrolling randomly on facebook at night and chanced upon Baby Bunting's sale announcement. Timing was just right and the sale started just as i went onto the website... saw the updated discounted prices which were much better than before and immediately placed the order. 

9/9: Confinement hubby is at work again making freezer meals. On today's menu is 栗子鸡 (Roxy's recipe) and 麻油鸡! King also made dumplings at night. 

 

Finally managed to get the laundry done and dry (had been raining for ~4 days consecutively.. sun has been out yesterday and today so it has been a frenzy of washing Atty's stuff), and organized Atty's side of the closet. 

 

That space used to hang King's and my clothes... but now all that has been moved away or packed away to make room for Atty's stuff hahaa. Slowly taking over our lives and all the space in the house. Very soon everywhere will be Atty land... with all her stuff and none of ours XD

These few days Honey has been behaving a bit differently... she keeps looking into the house by the living room sliding door and frequently jumps up onto the ledge and stays there for some time looking at me. Other times she usually just flops by the sliding door, or jumps up onto the ledge for a short while and jumps off. She has also been biting King's pants/leg... Makes me wonder if she knows something that i don't yet... like if i'm going to go into labour soon and she can smell some hormonal changes or what. I googled it and apparently dogs and cats do change their behavior and can sort of sense if their human is going to give birth soon. couldn't find any thing on rabbits though... but somehow it seems like Honey can sense something and is behaving differently...

 

Joke of the day

 

Bwahahahaa! Wow I didn't know jielun is kangkung! LOL so funny! 

But i think i really need to control my laughter because my laughing is seriously bringing on the contractions... every time i laugh too heartily it will trigger contractions... but...muahahaaa!

King's first Fathers' Day

Today is Fathers's Day in oz - King's first Fathers' Day! Happy Fathers' Day!
And Atty is a full-term baby today! 37 weeks!

But we had no special celebrations today. Originally King wanted to watch Wolf Warrior 2... but we couldn't find any places in Adelaide that were screening the movie *gua gua*. Just ended up staying at home and doing housekeeping. We set up Atty's change table in the bathroom today~ yay, one thing less to worry about.

Also attempted to get some laundry done as the stuff that King's mum sent had arrived yesterday (45 pieces of clothing/towels/handkerchiefs/mittens/socks). 

But today was a rainy day so only managed 1 load of laundry and the stuff didn't even get dry. The sun needs to come out soon... because there are still at least 2-3 more loads of laundry that needs to be done. 

Pregnancy update: Week 36

 

Weight: 63.3kg (+0.8kg since last week, overall +16.3kg)
Vital statistics: 36-40-41(on 3/7/17) (was 35.5-37-37 on 27/6/17... apparently my hips also expanded quite a bit)

Symptoms: acne, abdo pain, braxton hicks, shortness of breath, nausea, hot flashes

Summary of the week:

27/8: early am braxton hicks. slept around 2-6am, then managed to sleep again ~8:30-11:30am. nausea seems to be coming back. also have abdominal discomfort and gassy colic. started with the Epi-No birth trainer today ~4cm.

28/8: midwife appointment at home~ my usual midwife is on leave so another midwife who is covering her duties came over. Honey hid at the corner of the window by the dining area and kept periscoping to see what's going on in the house haha. usually she would jump up the ledge but she decided to be a sneaky busybody and hid by the corner to peak in. i could see her from where i was sitting but don't think the midwife saw her hehe. my blood test results have all improved and now in normal range - ferritin 40 (up from 11, normal >30) and vit D 61 (up from 38, normal 60-80). so those supplements and vitamins are really useful... gotta be diligent and take them consistently hehe. also took a swap for the group B strep.. results will be back in few days. fundal height is 35cm, BP 100/60. Atty is pretty much in the same position... head down with her hands and feet to my left side. midwife forgot to document Atty's heartrate though... and i forgot to ask thinking it would be written on the pregnancy record. sighs... her heartrate sounded similar to previous times though. King took a video and listening back to the video it seems her heartrate is around 140bpm~

abdominal pain++ today. Atty seemed to have shifted positions after the midwife did palpation. her hands and feet are likely facing inwards now (usually they face outwards and her movements are extending out to my tummy) and when she moves i bet she is kicking my internal organs... super painful! i was in so much pain i forgot to take my iron tablets at night...

29/8: the hot flashes are making a comeback. these days at night it is 2-4 deg C but i have been sweating at night and when asleep, so ridiculous. have especially lots of sweat in the armpit and feet area. i'm in my summer sleepwear and King is sleeping beside me under 3 layers of blankets. what a visual contrast. the nausea is really back too... i thought the nausea may have been due to gassy colic, but apparently not... i googled and it seems quite common for nausea to return during the last few weeks of pregnancy due to hormone changes. hate the nausea... urgh.. appetite is worse these days and just don't feel right no matter what i eat.

30/8: interrupted sleep again.. due to braxton hicks/need to pee.. slept 12-6am, then 8:30-11:30am. went to cut my hair short today! now washing and drying hair is so much faster... my head feels much lighter too! other than the time savings... one other motivation to cutting my hair was the postpartum hair loss that i've heard about. hopefully the hair loss won't look so scary when my hair is short, haha.

31/8: the usual.. braxton hicks and nausea.

1/9: interrupted sleep~ slept 1:30-5:30a. then 10:15-12:15am. got a call from midwife that i tested positive for group B strep. sighs.. i'll need to get IV antibiotics when i'm in labour. that's a bummer since i wanted an active labor. not sure how the IV is going to limit my mobility. trauma from my dengue days are back to haunt me... i hated the IV fluids then.. i remember it hurt to even move my arm :( how irritating, that's the last thing i wanted to worry about when i'm in labour.

2/9: was about to drift off to sleep in the early am but i sneezed. Atty woke up with my sneeze and started to wiggle around quite a bit hahaa.. oops. these days i've been wondeirng if Atty is really awake at night or whether she is actually asleep but active in her sleep... especially when i see King flip and roll about when he is sleeping. epic moment when Atty was kicking/jabbing me and then King rolled over and gave me 2 knee kicks. hmmm maybe Atty takes after King...

packed my maternity bag and also Atty's baby bag today! about 95% packed... just gotta stuff a few more items into Atty's bag after laundry is done and get a few more maternity items for myself.