October is right around the corner!

So, it’s almost October and I’m almost 26 weeks pregnant with our baby girl. I got my steroid shots yesterday and the other day (it’s given in 2 doses) and the purpose is to try to mature the baby’s lungs ahead of time in case we deliver prematurely again. Speaking of that, my 37th week is Dec 18, but my doctor said it depends on my blood flow scans from 30-35 weeks if we need to deliver ahead. Which then made me realise I may only have 2 months left to accomplish what I need to — prepare Christmas gifts, pack up our condo, finalise design details for the renovation, check our baby items inventory and decide what I still need to buy!! Omg! So much to do! 

I also have one last trip this year to “look forward to”. It’s in quotation marks because it’s a work trip per-se but I’ll have most nights off and Dennis will come with me. So it’s also partially a couples’ trip :) Looking forward to it as it’s a great chance for us-time before our lives change again. 

We have a name for our baby girl - Gillian Amanda! Isn’t the name so pretty? I chose both names and got Dennis to agree (hehe). Love love love! 

Another mega update

OK, I've been so unbelievably behind in updating this blog. Let's now manage expectations because safe to say, this is probably how it will be from now on :P Got so much going on and my days are filled with work, taking care of Gibs, taking care of my pregnancy and everything else. Anyway, here goes...

I'm now 14 weeks pregnant, and it's a baby girl!!!! We found out extra early because we did the blood test that checks for congenital disorders and its side benefit is finding out the gender. We're so excited! It was so nice to find out and be validated that it's indeed a girl - I've had that feeling since the start of this pregnancy because it's been so different from my first one. I had extra sensitivity to smells, especially food that's still being cooked- and I had strange night-time nausea that held me back from eating full meals at night. My skin is also extra dry and I've been uncharacteristically kikay lately. So yeah, it'll be a shobe! So psyched :)

Also, we purchased Unit 9F already and the mortgage has just been freshly approved. We're just finalizing the last few steps with the seller, i.e. contract to sell, etc. then we can start planning the renovations. We can't actually renovate until next year though, because Chinese superstition says no renovating and no moving of the mom's bed while she's pregnant. Then, since we plan to be at my mom's house anyway during my 1 month confinement, we figured, might as well offer 9-E to Dennis' auntie who is visiting in Jan-Mar 2019 to stay there for free. Which means we'll only get to start renovation work in March, and give it about 6 months - means we're moving in around Sept/Oct of 2019. More than a year away :p Not too bad too if you think about it - gives us more breathing room with expenses, and it's easy for us to stay with my mom anyway.

My bosses at work have also been extra generous and offered to let me take an extended maternity leave of 6 months! I was so happy to hear that, because I had been debating with myself if I should ask for a longer leave, since I had 7 months off with Gibs the first time around. Happy it sorted itself out, just like it did with Noel back in 2015. SSK really looks out for me. Thank You!

We've also been blessed financially - it's been a good couple of months, and I am so grateful. While our expenses have also piled up, with the IVF round and the doctors' visits and Griffin's big school tuition fees (and some traveling we've been doing!), I was starting to worry about our finances when some big blessings came in. So grateful! Just goes to show, don't stress over the 'small' things. It'll all work out, as long as you're also responsible.

Griffin will start at big school in a few weeks! We chose to try out Laren School, which is a Montessori near my office. We also decided to put him there already rather than put him in the toddler school for another year, because now that yaya has left, it will be a good transition to make for him. No yayas allowed in this new school, and it's a school that some neighbor-kids will also go to, so hopefully the familiar faces will help him acclimatize. We'll see. Hope all goes well.

That's pretty much it! Excited to see how the rest of the year goes, before we reach December and we welcome our little baby girl :)

A mega update!!

ok, I have been so negligent of this blog. Omg! So sorry!!! So, what’s been happening since the last time I posted? Errr, so many things!!!

1. Christmas season 2017 was hectic but fun. It was all about family because my family went to HK and the Chan family went to snowy Korea! It was so much fun to be with family and to have so much uninterrupted time with Gibs. 

2. I “picked up” our last embryo from 2015 and had an FET before then, i.e. Sep/Oct. Didn’t work. Not too disappointed, surprisingly. Must have been because I didn’t “feel pregnant” the way I was so sure I was with Griffin. 

3. Took Griffin to Sydney for Easter week 2018. First overseas trip with just us 3, and it was so much fun! I guess because he’s also older now, and plus Sydney is sooo child friendly! We had a blast. 

4. Should add that before going to SYD, we did our second egg retrieval process, which we agreed will be our last one (unless I change my mind hehe). It yielded us 2 blastocysts from 4 eggs. We had them frozen before going to SYD, and also got one thawed for FET when we came back (early Apr). Which means, fast forward, today was the first beta hcg test for the 1 blasto transferred and the result was... 15! Yay! It’s positive!! I can’t remember what Griffin’s was and thought at first to ask the doctor but in hindsight, I am glad I didn’t. If it was higher than 15, I would definitely be stressing now. A win is a win. A positive is a positive. We live to fight another day :) which is this Friday, to check for the rate of increase. Please pray for us!

Those are the main highlights of the past few months. We’re also considering buying Unit 9F but I suppose we have 1-2 weeks left before making a final decision. Let’s see. Don’t wanna jinx anything. 

Oh and G’s yaya Ron already gave notice :( Probably the only wrinkle in an otherwise really smooth sailing couple of months. We have a plan already on how to adjust but I do hope G takes the change well. 

That’s it! Pray for me!!