Delivered

Yes! Sophie is finally out!!! I went in for my routine check-up on 11 Aug and my Dr told me I was already 4 cm dilated. So it was straight into the delivery suite, and next thing you know, there she was.

I didn't get to to experience the contraction thing though - I had felt a few very mild menstrual crampy type pains the night before, but they never reached the crawling on floor / throwing up stage. I only realised that day that my Dr's clinic is on a floor with a direct secret passage type connection to the delivery suites in the adjacent hospital building. I thought I'd have to take the lift down, waddle next door, take the lift up... nope. Cool!

The first thing she did was get her nurses to page for an anaesthetist, although I was still half tempted to see if I could cope without one. In the end they had to page 3 different ones cause they were, one after the other, all too busy... I couldn't bring myself to say, "urm, sorry, but I'd like to try without..."

In the end, I think going with the epidural was a good idea... I sailed through my first epidural because I had no idea how uncomfortable it would be, but the second time round I kept flinching because my memory kept saying, "ok, this is the part where it hurts!". The epi went in before Dr broke the water bag, so I didn't feel a thing this time. They kept the dosage at its lowest though, so I did start to feel something towards the end. All in, it lasted about 3 hours, nearly the same as my first. : )

Recovery was much faster this time round, had a great time in the hospital the first two days and was trawling down to the shops on the third day (I stayed four days, for non-medical reasons : P ). Wheee.

Sophie is now 14 days old

Waiting

Five days to go til due date...

Aren't second babies supposed to come earlier? I'm ok, only thing is the itch on my belly is driving me crazy!!! Baby must be growing at tremendous rate, or maybe its because she's moving into a new position - my tummy has been stretched too vigorously in the last few days, hence killer itch. My belly button has also inverted itself. These are parts of my body that have never had direct contact with sunlight EVER in my life. This makes me strangely happy for my belly button - getting an airing, you know, for first time in 30 plus years : ).

Anyway, my Dr says that if I am even a little dilated when I see her tomorrow, she may go ahead and check me in. ? Does that mean an inducement? Because, who knows how long the early dilation process will take? I'm ok with being induced, it just would be interesting to have it start naturally, since James was induced too. I still have no idea what an early labour contraction or a breaking water bag feels like.

On the other hand, I know what bursting the water bag feels like, and am not thrilled to refamiliarise myself again. Yowch.

Haha, I was going to be a hero (well, half a hero) and ask for an epidural on standby. But my Dr said, better just decide to have it cause you're so tense. I think the tension though, was because at last check up, EH was still in HK - for the past 2 weeks had been extremely focused on preventing early baby pop - mainly by (uselessly) tensing up internal muscles and moving about very gingerly. The day EH came back, I started carrying James (that's 13.5 kg plus 13.5 kg from pregnancy = 27 kg!) and throwing him about, going to the supermarket and buying value pack diapers, detergent, milk powder... but to no avail - baby still resolutely in situ.

On dates - I like nice numbers. Not in a superstitious way, but alliterative, I think. Since baby is coming out 08.2006, it would be so cool if she could come out 26th (no chance) or 6th or 16th. 7 and 9 are just so random, like James' - 19.11.04, or EH - 14.05.73. I like mine : ) - 12.5.75 but anything in 05.75 would have been nice (though, 5.5.75 or 15.5.75 might be a little too much), just like anything in 06.06 would have been nice. My current, attainable prefs are for 16. But I don't mind 11 or 12, ok with 10 and 13, and hope not 14 because I don't like 4 for some reason - very smug number, "haha, I'm #4". unlike 3, which is I think, a very friendly, unpretentious number. I'm a little wary of 8, because everyone Chinese likes 8 - sort of like going to watch a movie you really anticipated (X Men 3, for ex) and coming away a bit flat because it didn't quite live up. On the other hand, 8 is such a fat, comfortable looking number that it almost makes up for its overwhelming popularity - it's not its fault everyone likes it!

You can go ahead and call me mad - I would just take it as a compliment : ) .

High Needs / Spirited / Strong willed

So many ways of referring to the more or less the same thing - of course there is also ADD...

IS James "high needs"? I made a quick scan of the babycenter boards, and the descriptions given there are so much "more" than what he is. On the other hand, I have yet to encounter children significantly more intense then he is in real life. As or slightly more, maybe.

I know all toddlers display these behaviours, but he seems to to be so much more intense - extremely impatient; snatches; whines, screams, loudness - whether happy or angry, moves from extremes of emotions instantaneously; intense tantrums. More worrying is his lack of interest - he often doesn't appear to be listening, or engaged the way other kids are; he doesn't focus on one activity for long; it's hard to capture his attention sometimes - you can call him, put your face infront of him and speak to him, but he will be staring off into space, daydreaming.

Now, I've read the symptoms listed, and it all sounds like potential ADHD. But I can't believe that this is all negative. While he is so intense and it often leads to embarrasment for us in public - there is something very endearing about his independence.