My pregnancy chronology (Second Trimester)

The second trimester of my pregnancy was another major transition period for me, mainly because for the first time in my life i was taking the step of prioritizing myself and my family to become a full-time stay at home preggie mom. The choice was a fairly difficult one, having always been a perfectionist at work and being able to always draw a decent steady salary at the end of every month, to having to rely on my own savings now going forward with barely any other alternative source of income.

Things were heating up in office with the peak period nearing and with a very slow progress of improvement of my health at the beginning of the 4th month of my pregnancy, i was forced to make a choice of priority. At hindsight, even I did not have confidence to say when things would get better for me and to steadfastly continue down this path of trying to balance work and health could have a detrimental effect on me and the surrounding people soon.

On the flip side, i motivated myself by planning ahead the things i could probably do during my spare time that i normally would not be able to if i had to work a 5-day week job, including reading up on all pregnancy related materials, joining related forums and support groups, studying market prices of products and services recommended, preparing homemade toys and accessories for baby and learning up on future baby food recipes, buffing up on my japanese/mandarin languages and planning a travel itinerary to Japan for all seasons to name a few. Maybe a part-time job or course online? Who knows the opportunity that may be there if only i could spend some time to find out a bit more.

However, actually handing in my resignation letter on week 15 of my pregnancy was no easy task and the frustration was excruciating. The one thought i had was if only i had more time to prove myself before i got pregnant the people around me might have been able to know me better and be more understanding of my situation. This was a very hard lesson learned on family planning that i had briefly thought about before, but never really took it into account until by mere chance i was in this position. 

Nonetheless, once the decision had been made there was no turning back. It felt rather obvious to me that my body and my baby were indirectly signalling to me that i needed to pay more attention to them and with a heavy heart, after deducting all ALs collected thus far, i bid my work life adieu on week 18 of my pregnancy, 8 June 2016.

Focusing my attention now on my pregnancy, i was actually shocked and amazed on the hours of sleep i tried to catch up back on once i began staying at home. This "hibernation"period lasted at least 2 weeks for me, with my sleep hours including naptimes ranging from between 10-13 hours total daily, and made me actually wonder how exhausted my body actually had been in the first 4 months of my pregnancy. 

I took this opportunity to read up on immediate concerns regarding my pregnancy, such as recommended daily nutritional needs, effects from lack thereof, pregnancy symptoms and their meanings, recommended O&Gs and their fee rates, solutions on managing the challenges of a difficult pregnancy, apps to monitor my pregnancy, active local support groups and forums to join, checklist of products to ready for delivery and the baby, and antenatal classes available, as well as potential part-time financial opportunities and courses available online.

I did have a few pregnancy books to read up on, but i ditched them halfway through as googling for information online was much faster, direct to the point of queries i had in mind, and could be shortlisted by how updated and recommended they were, which was a very important factor to consider when we want the best for our growing little bundle. 

Starting out was pretty challenging, considering this surge of information could keep me glued up to 6 hrs daily in front of the computer screen and leave me dizzy from all the information i had absorbed. 

Online offers and courses

In addition, adjusting to a life without a steady monthly income was a nagging concern and in all honesty, after months of searching online, it was near impossible to find a decent paying online job, as most were scams or spams aimed at depriving you of your money instead of helping you gain them on the basis of promises of future wealth for that "minor investment" paid to start out. 

Completing surveys are barely worth the time to be honest, as the chances of you being in the target group to be rewarded was less than 15% chance, whereby you would probably need to do about at least 10 surveys totalling about 3 hours just to probably earn a RM10 or RM20 jusco voucher? Remember this is only if you make it into the target group of the survey or otherwise, you would not be rewarded for your time spent on the survey even if you have gone though it halfway.

Other familiar online schemes would be those marketing schemes that would ask you to pay upfront RM30-RM100 training fee before you are provided the package to begin your work which would net you at least a few hundred weekly if you are hardworking. Or asking you to spam advertisements on your FB page or your email contacts with the promise of payment being made weekly once you have completed the job, but you would not need to report your progress to them as the spamming is at your own time and convenience and they would somehow be able to track it. Detect a scam? Definitely.

All in all, attending online training courses proved to be the most fruitful investment i took up on during my entire pregnancy and yes well, that ended up with me having to spend instead of earn but hey, in the long run, this will be my fountain of knowledge when i join back the workforce post pregnancy.

Ok, back to the topic on my pregnancy:

Searching for the right O&G

Finding the right doctor for me was confusing initially. Family and friends recommended doctors who were either in KL and far from home or from rather pricey hospitals. And as i needed to find one immediately after discovering that i was pregnant, i decided to go for the nearest hospital recommended with a good track record and try my luck there. A summarized depictation of my experience can be found in my linked post here.

In summary, the factors i believe that need to be considered when choosing your doctor for pregnancy and delivery include:

1. Costs per visit, including if supplements and medicines are provided

2. Waiting time per visit, as i understand, a 1.5hr wait at government clinics are fairly common

3. Experience, capability and friendliness of the doctor and nurses on duty, as the last thing you would want is a rushed appointment where your concerns are brushed aside or downplayed when you are already nervous as is

4. Ultrasound facilities, and quality of the scan results and photos

5. Location and facilities of the clinic/hospital available for labor

6. Costs of labor and hospitalization

7. Accessibility to a recommended pediatrician and lactation consultant immediately after labor

8. How contactable are the nurses or doctors in case of an emergency

9. Whether the delivering doctor is supportive of natural birth or cesarean, and how much leeway you will be given to move around before being admitted and "strapped down" for actual labor

10. How comfortable you and partner are when communicating with the doctor

11. If you would prefer a male/female doctor to carry out your delivery

12. If your partner can be with you in the labor room throughout delivery. This is not allowed in government hospitals.

Consumption intake/ outtake pattern

My appetite started to get better by the end of my 5th month of pregnancy and it felt like majority of smells and tastes did not offend me as much as compared to the first trimester. Nausea and vomiting came to a halt as well during this period, and by way of trial-and-error, i discovered the best methods for consuming my supplements - not before or after but in between meals. The only strong aversion i seemed to have was towards onion (in any form), garlic and plain drinking water (which thankfully can be easily rectified by mixing in other flavored drinks/juices in, or infusing it with peppermint, lemon or cucumber). My craving for fruits and berries increased as well to combat my constant constipation problems, which luckily did not result in any hemorrhoids throughout my pregnancy.

High for the period - Was enjoying the fact that my appetite gradually got better until i managed to consume at least 2 decent meals a day. Being able to try out all types of fruits, including dragonfruit, guava, peaches and apricots, really added much fiber and variety to my diet. This made it possible for me to eat out more as well and to meet up with friends and enjoy foods which i have been craving for so long.

Low for the period - Discovering that whilst i liked to consume fried/spicy/flavorful food once in a while, my stomach apparently could not handle any type of indian food, even daal, and I would easily get hyperacidity after the meal. Same went for blackberries and golden kiwis. Discovered on week 24 of my pregnancy that consuming too much concentrated green tea in a day (from drinks and desserts) could apparently be accidentally passed onto my baby, resulting in him continuously kicking up a fit in my tummy throughout the sleepless night until dawn. Seems that my caffeine tolerance plummeted ever since i stopped taking coffee/tea at the start of my pregnancy.

Other challenges during this period

• Managing the ton of information i've been reading up on and counter-checking it with real-life experiences of moms around me.
• Stepping out of my comfort zone and transitioning to a FT SAHM, whilst attempting to juggle my ever-depleting finances and horrific nightmares of being so financially cornered.
• Deciding what to purchase in preparation for confinement, delivery and for arrival of our newborn with our limited budget, including insurance and stem cell storage options.
• Heading out early to officially attend my first baby exhibition fair ever alone to scour some cheap deals, and holding out with a trolley for half a day until family back-up arrived. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience considering i'm already 26 weeks pregnant, as reviewed in my post linked here. 
• Many of my loose clothes were starting to feel snuggly and my range of available clothing was becoming limited. Discovered that body hugging outfits actually irritated my belly leaving it red and itchy.
• Having to start a strict regime of daily moisturizing of my growing belly with stretch mark prevention creams.

"Memorable" moments

• Finding out his gender  at week 21 pregnancy, and boy was he not shy in making this announcement!
• Feeling my baby's first hiccups at week 24 pregnancy. Oh that tickles!
• Felt the strongest kick from him up my diaphragm on week 26 pregnancy when i consumed ice chrysanthemum a little too fast and surprised him with the chill. Oh how the tea nearly splurted out my nose when i choked. Ouch!
• Started out first appointment with Dr Raja at Columbia Asia, Puchong. Felt ticklish when the nurse asked me why i wanted to see her and the look of disbelief when i told her i was already 25 weeks+ pregnant. Guess i didn't look the part yet.
• First 4D and 3D ultrasound of bubs on 1 August 2016, could finally see his cute tiny lil face. Awww...
• Massive moral and financial support pouring in from my families on week 26 pregnancy, really touched. 
• First ever shopping mania for baby stuff for a whole day. Suddenly started feeling so at home surrounded by pregnant moms and their kids and all the commotion around, and also extremely proud of my shopping achievement from the fair by the end of the day. Best marathon ever!
• Got my first nursing bra and bra extension at week 27 pregnancy. He's starting to stretch me out in there.
• Started shopping for maternity clothes and wearing hub's tops when i got the chance for home wear. Who knew raiding his cabinet could be that fun. Tee hee!