The creation that the toddler made this week by herself

26 months, 3 weeks old memories and milestones:

• Dec. 1: So glad that my exercise ball has been repumped and it’s actually correctly inflated now.  I can do hip circles and sway and sit on it for labour inducing exercises.
• 36+3!  Baby watch and count down is officially on! 😬 Eager to have this baby before I get induced.  It’s my personal challenge and assignment for the next couple of weeks. Safe labour, final stretch of pregnancy, safe delivery, I can do this 💪
• Bb let me do her hair for the very first time! She actually self-requested it, shockingly. She always refused to let me even put my hands on her hair to tie it up in a faux ponytail, but this morning actually asked for elastics to tie her hair with. I went to get the hair elastic bands and she stayed still and steady as I parted her hair into two and did 2 pigtails for her.  Amazing how things change.  She was content with her hair and liked to feel them occasionally.
• We’ve gone into a habit of letting bb look at photos on our smartphones. She loves looking at past photos.  She will request to see pictures of the “green slide” or the “Halloween cake” (which she’s still scared of — the skull) or “Grace jei jei” or various other things. Again, she has such a great memory of things that happened.
• Dec 5:  Week 37 now!  The past two nights have been marked with slight cramping at night.  I’ve had a little heartburn while sleeping at night too which is uncomfortable.  I found it comfortable to drape one of my legs over the pregnancy pillow for sleeping.  It reminds me of when I used the peanut ball during labour with bb… could this be helping me with early labour somewhat?  I’ve also been emptying my bowels with so much more frequency than before.  I went three times yesterday and five (!) times today!  It makes me think I’m in labour but there are no contractions at all.  Sitting on the yoga ball seems to make me more prone to going to the washroom.  Perhaps it’s the way I’m positioned and it presses on my bowels or the baby is pressing on certain parts?
• Also, when I cough the last two days, it feels different.. like baby is much lower and in a different spot that the coughs don’t feel as contained..
• Now that I’m officially full-term, it’s really baby watch time.  I keep saying that “baby could come any time” and it’s true, but I’m still preggers and no baby just yet… Yet the clearing out of bowels is noteworthy as well as the occasional cramps.  Perhaps it’s the six dates I’ve been eating which have been helping my digestion?
• My belly is so, so, pronounced.  It’s not even a cute bump anymore.  The bump was way cuter and compact at around 30 to 34 weeks.  Now I just look like a huge whale.  Speaking of whale, as with last week, whenever I turn over in bed or to each side, I’m grunting and groaning because of the aches and pains associated with moving.  I am like a beached whale in bed lol.
• I’ve got no new stretch marks despite the added belly growth.  My belly is just shiny and a bit red near the middle, but I haven’t noticed any stretch marks.
• Finally caught the baby moving under my skin as I was laying in bed in the morning.  At least I’ve got this video!
• And despite not taking any weekly photos to mark each new week during this pregnancy, I’ve been more out and about and have more casual photos.  Last pregnancy, we were at home basically 24/7 and I barely took any photos while in public.
• The grandparents got an inflatable Santa for us and bb has been enjoying watching the Santa inflate every time we plug it into the wall.  (It doesn’t stay inflated and has to be plugged in for it to stand, which is kind of annoying and wasteful of electricity — like string lights that have to be plugged in all the time.)
• Bb visited Walmart with DH and actually saw her same dino stuffed animal there!  She was thrilled to say the least.  So amazing that DH can bring her out himself to Walmart and for a pizza lunch and to even Jungleland again for a daddy-daughter date while I had an outing with friends.
• She loves being helpful — things like helping grandma with picking out the vegetables (broccoli, for example) or helping hand the clothing out piece by piece to put on the laundry rack for drying.
• Bb was able to play with the magnetic tiles by herself independently for at least 45 minutes the other day!  That’s amazing.  We have been using the “invitation of play” technique.  DH has been setting up the invitation and bb has been intrigued each day.  I was really impressed that bb could play with the magnetic tiles for that long.  She’s so familiar with playing with them — much more than the Melissa & Doug blocks.  She’s had more exposure to the magnetic tiles.  One day she’s be able to play just as well with the blocks too.  I was impressed that she built a kind of “maze” with the magnetic tiles in a way I’ve never seen her build before.  Open-ended toys like these are the best.
• I also bought a set of Jenga blocks for her from, surprise, surprise, Facebook marketplace.  It was only $6 for 54 pieces!  It’s basically like wooden blocks for her to build with.  We haven’t taken them out yet for her, but I’m excited for another set of blocks for her to explore with.
• Bb did so well at a Mexican restaurant recently.  She thought the nachos were “pizzas”.  She liked watching the contractors take down and rebuild some of the customer tables.  She was entertained while eating which meant we were able to sit there for about 2 hours and eat uninterrupted (for the most part).
• We’ve been doing some at-home workouts (walking and walking exercises) and bb has been entertained by us doing them.  She doesn’t necessarily follow them to a T, but it’s good for her to get exposure to moving around.  She also doesn’t know how to control all of her limbs yet and is learning how to shuffle or move according to what the YouTube video shows.
• We visited a friend’s home who has a golden retriever.  Bb wasn’t scared of the 2.5-year-old dog at all.  She was really curious and interested in him.  The only part where she turned her face was when the dog wanted to lick her face (and did).  She didn’t cry though.
•  I had my phone call appointment with the endo.  I’m at 17 units now and have been very consistently getting about 4.6 for my fasting numbers.  Yay!  (The only odd one out was the other morning with 5.2.).  My postprandial numbers have all been great and sometimes lower than the range too.  He said I’m so close to the end of the pregnancy now that there’s no more scheduled phone appointments and this will be the last one.  He didn’t speak about any “final dosage” number that the nurse had mentioned last week.  He said I don’t have to continue insulin once I’ve given birth and I don’t have to check my blood sugars anymore unless I wanted to (and for me to indulge in a postpartum meal that I haven’t been able to enjoy).  For postpartum, the fasting range is anywhere above 7 and above 11.1 for postprandial.  Wow, what a gigantic difference!  I’d be taking the glucose drink again at three months postpartum and getting a blood check.  Those with GD have a high chance of getting type 2 diabetes later in life, unfortunately.  He said that breastfeeding would help lower that risk, as well as continuing a GD-like diet with low fat and high fibre, exercising and walking a minimum of 10,000 steps five days a week (wow), and getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight within a year of giving birth.  I was really shocked at some of these suggestions because they seem so narrow and specific.  However, it makes a lot of sense that being so active (50,000 steps a week basically) and eating low carb would yield a very healthy lifestyle that could ward off type 2 diabetes.
• He said that I can continue to monitor my fasting numbers and increase the dosage as needed.  And then that was that.  He congratulated me in advance and said I could e-mail or schedule a meeting if I had any questions until then.
• He also asked the reasoning for the induction.  I said it was because the OB wanted me to give birth before my 39th week.  He asked if it had to do with the baby’s weight and I said no.  I’m really glad that my OB doesn’t spell some of these things specifically out for me.  I like not knowing some of these risks (because they don’t pertain to me and it wouldn’t even help to know about it).
• Still have yellow phelgm and mucus… this cold is so hard to get rid of!  But also, I think I’m not getting adequate rest each day.  Been preoccupied with other things that it’s difficult to sleep before 11 p.m., nevermind an ideal bedtime of 10 to 10:30/11 p.m….
• Hospital bag is 95% packed.  We even took it in our car to Vaughan on the weekend when we were there just in case..  Just need to add toiletries and underwear.. and find that baby nail trimmer.
• Dec. 6: I have insomnia almost every night in the middle of the night after I get up from peeing.. just can’t fall back asleep and I end up scrolling my phone for up to 1.5 hrs before I get tired enough to sleep again..
• Bb is getting better at the dog puzzle.  She can’t quite finish the entire 9-piece puzzle by herself yet and needs some prompting and guidance on the way, but she enjoys it and attempts it often.
• Nowadays, she doesn’t like the Halloween skull decor, the Lego girl, the newly repaired crochet turtle with the beady eyes, and the old turtle doll that DH has.  She says she’s scared of them lol..  She didn’t used to be before so we are perplexed why the fear came on out of nowhere.
• DH started playing her the Cantonese songs from YouTube again. Last week, bb liked to request grandma to play the “thank you” song and the “Y Y” song that were recorded from the daycare.
• Dec 6:  Bb had her second ever flu shot!  When the doctor came in the room to assess her first, bb turned away from the pediatrician and didn’t want to look at him at all lol.  Good thing the ped understood that toddlers at this age are like this.  And then when the nurse gave bb the flu shot, she actually held still very well.  DH joked that she was so passive about it too and didn’t have any push-back.  After the shot was administered, bb cried because it obviously hurt.  But good thing that after she put her sleeve back on and she were putting her coat on, she was back to normal.  She even loudly exchanged in the waiting room, “Lei dou been dou lei ga?” (What is this place?) lol.  I told her we were at the medical clinic.
• I had my OB appointment in the afternoon.  148 lbs on the scale.  OB listened to the baby’s heart rate, 147 bpm this time, higher than last two times’s 139.  He measured the fundal height and pressed on my belly which I guess he wanted to see where the head was.  I actually really appreciate my OB for not giving me too much information.  I asked him, “What should I expect at the upcoming induction?” He said that going into the hospital, my water will be broken.  I was quite surprised.  I thought I would be getting pitocin first (as that’s what the substitute OB had told me last time), but my OB told me the water would be broken first.  And he left it at that.  I like that not too much information is given to me so I don’t have to worry and that I’ll face everything as it comes.  (In comparison, the endo explained to me why I was getting an induction versus the OB just saying the baby needed to be out before week 39 which is so much simpler.)
• He asked me if my sugars were okay and I said all the numbers were in range so far.
• I scheduled my next OB appointment for next week, which would be the very last one before the baby comes!  So thrilling and surreal to know that.  Again, with the first pregnancy, there was none of this certain date thing.
• I also received a call from the Diabetes Education Centre to schedule my three-month postpartum visit with the endo in April.
• Dec 7:  Bb found the box of jenga blocks and asked me to open it for her.  When I did and she asked me what they were, I told her they were blocks (jit mot).  She held two together, one in each hand, and said they didn’t stick together (a la the magnetic tiles).  This shows how familiar she is with the magnetic tiles and how she prefers to play with those instead.  I showed her how to stack the blocks and arrange them and build the jenga tower but she was just interested in knocking it over and doesn’t know how to play with it much yet via open-ended play.  I’m sure we’ll get there.  She just needs more exposure to it first.
• Three times of pooping again, but no more nightly cramps.  Who knows when this child is coming but for sure the countdown is approaching the single-digit mark very soon!

Full post at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Chmv2mnO8u_/

• I attended my agency’s holiday work party.  This was an event that I initially declined in my head because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to reach it being still pregnant.  However, as the day approached, I knew that I could, one, ask DH to drive me downtown for it (no commuting for this pregnant gal), two, ask a fellow reporter to come with me since we would be driving down, and three, mostly because I would have had FOMO if I didn’t attend.  So since I was feeling all well and DH of course was up for driving us downtown, I attended!  This was our first in-person work party since the pandemic started (the one in 2020 was held virtually, and there was none in 2021 since there was a change in the CEO).  It was absolutely nice to see the staff and fellow reporters again in person.  I wanted to meet the new scheduler, the new CEO, and any other staff (like the production peeps) especially.
• A few things of note:  Received a beautiful compliment from my friend who saw me and said that I looked so good being pregnant and that “being pregnant really suits me.”  What a heart-warming compliment, one that I will cherish and remember forever (just like last week’s compliment where a relative said that I moved so fast for a pregnant woman lol).
• A fellow friend/reporter saw me come in the room and said, “Are you sure you’re not having twins?”  Okay, come on now.  This is one of those taboo comments that you are NOT supposed to say to a pregnant woman.  I ignored her the first time she said it because I honestly didn’t have anything to reply back to her.  When she happened to stand beside me and said again, “Are you sure you’re not having twins?”, that’s when I was like, “You know, you’re not supposed to say that to a pregnant lady?”  And she was obviously naive and said, “What?  How come” kind of comment.  I told her obviously if I was having twins, I would know that and that technology is so advanced that the doctors and I would have known that during all of the ultrasounds and appointments that I’ve had.
• The reality is that most pregnant women probably don’t show up to office parties and to social gatherings in their last couple of weeks of pregnancy that the general public don’t see what the size of a pregnant lady looks like in the final weeks.  I know I look big.  It’s a fact.  But for someone to say something like this is rude and uncalled for.  It’s basically calling someone fat and even almost undermining them that “perhaps wow, you don’t know it’s twins because it’s so big”.  That’s absurd in itself because like I said in this day and age, it would be pretty impossible not to know that there are two babies in the womb after so many appointments and ultrasounds.
• So that was the first ill-received comment and I hope that I educated her a bit to not joke or say that to any other pregnant lady in the future.  It’s not nice.
• Lots of people asked me when I was due and although I could have kept it at “I’m due Dec __”, I included the full story that “I’m due Dec __, but I’m getting induced on the __th”.  Some people left it at that.  There were at least two people who asked me, “Why are you getting induced?  IS THE BABY BIG?”  Okay, again, wtf.  Instead of assuming the reason for the induction, just asking me plainly “why are you getting induced?” would have been better.  When the second question is asked, you’re also basically implying that I’m big or you think I look big.  It’s so unnecessary.  And always the problem with these questions is that they’re always asked by women.  You would assume that women would know better than to ask these glaringly rude questions, especially when they are moms themselves too.  Ugh.  (And my response to the question was, “No.  I’m getting induced because I have gestational diabetes and taking bedtime insulin.”  And to that, they had nothing to respond to.)  Basically, if you don’t know any better about inductions or medical procedures, please just don’t assume.  Just ask and wait for the answer.
• Another thing was when I was asked by another reporter how long my first labour with the firstborn was.  I replied “A day and a half/16 hours of active labour.”  She responded, “Wow, that’s so long and the doctors didn’t give you a C section?!!”  I replied, “No, because I didn’t want a C section!”  I found that assumption for a C section to be “better and more ideal” presumptuous too because C sections are considered a major surgery and surgeries carries risks for both the mother and child.  There’s a longer recovery time too.   It’s an alternative option to birthing usually when vaginal births are not ideal or safe, but not because the baby is taking long during labour to be born.  It’s absolutely normal for women to have long labours, especially when it’s the first child.  I don’t even think my day and a half of labour was considered long or that bad.  Vaginal births are NATURAL and the baby receives protective elements from travelling through the birth canal.  I was talking to DH about this and we both agree that the reporter probably had this mentality because back in the 50s/60s, C sections were probably more normalized than vaginal births (same thing how formula was more normalized than breastmilk).
• Anyway, those were all the qualms I had from speaking with relatively strangers about my birth.  Most comments seem so uneducated and honestly rude.  I wish educated and more positive comments were more normalized.
• One more positive comment was that a staff member congratulated me and wished me all the best for the delivery (lots of people did), but she said that she didn’t know how I was standing for so long still because when she was pregnant in her final weeks for her child, she felt like a whale.  I also appreciated that comment because it showed that she knew what it felt like to be so pregnant near the end.  I felt understood.  Props to her. ^_^
• I AM so big nowadays.  The scale tips close to 150 lbs even.  When I walk down the stairs especially, I can see my belly wiggling back and forth.  My belly absolutely enters the room before I do lol.
• It is absolutely okay for the pregnant woman to comment on her own body and say that she is large, but for others who barely know her, please just don’t.  Again, leave comments to ones like “Congratulations!” “You look great,” “You look healthy”, “Baby is growing beautifully!”
• Ever since coming back from her trip, grandma seems way more relaxed and less stressed when taking care of bb.  I’m so glad.  She really needed that time away from bb and us, I guess.  Or she’s just changed her attitude towards looking after bb and she doesn’t feel as stressed as before.
• Baby continues to be very active in-utero every night and responds to my touches every time.  Sometimes, he/she will kick out or push against my belly and it is prominently hard from the outside.
• I continue to have a hard time turning from side to side in bed because the weight of the belly is so much.  There’s always grunting and grimacing involved. 🤷‍♀️