Funny and endearing pregnancy comments

So as my due date looms closer and closer and my belly gets ever bigger and bigger, I've been receiving all sorts of comments and remarks from both people I know and from complete strangers.

I either get smiles and knowing looks from people I pass by on the street or sometimes people might pipe up with a...

"Looks like you're due any day now!"

"Wow... is it a boy or girl?"

"Congratulations!!!" (this came from two little girls who came up to me in a shopping centre and wished me well in unison - very cute)

Then there are the weird remarks which just stop me completely in my tracks because I have no idea how to respond to them, such as...

"Well if you're lucky, you might get an emergency c-section!"

"Make sure you have a GP on hand so you can get access to drugs easily" (Are you sure you don't mean an OB/GYN?) "Nope it's the GP you want"

"Shouldn't you be in the hospital by now?" (this same person asked me this at 28 weeks and again at 35 weeks)

"How can you not have an epidural??? I'm telling you, you'd better get an epidural" (actually we never said we were not having an epidural, we just happened to remark that we were still considering various options)

"Won't you be bedridden or something by then?" (this is looking ahead to 1-2 weeks down the track, apparently I should be sickly and bedridden at 36-37 weeks)

"Don't rearrange any furniture while she's pregnant" (this comment was directed at hubby, and it wasn't about making sure I wasn't lifting heavy things or straining myself, for some reason furniture must stay exactly in the same spot throughout the pregnancy)

All the above comments are shared in the most endearing manner - no offense intended the least!

To underscore my endearing attitude towards such caring and concerned comments, here are more interesting and amusing pregnancy advice from around the world

Happy birthday to me!

So I celebrated my birthday with hubby with very little fanfare but still wonderful… enjoyed an Indian feast for two at Jewel of the Park restaurant. No I didn’t touch any wine… that was exclusively for hubby. I had to drive afterwards! ^_^

Big present from hubby this year… a brand new Yamaha keyboard so I could brush up my rusty skills and play some fun kiddie tunes for baby to start developing an ear for music.

Receiving lots of birthday greetings well wishes throughout the day (thanks everyone!). It's really nice to be remembered.

I decided to round off today's post with this clip. My mum's birthday message said "may you be clothed with wisdom and strength"so I thought of posting this very wisdom-packed clip. if I succeed in achieving at least half of all the good advice in this clip, that would be something! That would be my birthday wish.

Is it possible to say no?

Yesterday, hubs and I had a vigorous ‘debate’ over the issue of “saying no to people”.

What if you were faced with a situation of someone asking for a favour which is either very inconvenient for you or you simply do not want to do? Would you be able to say no?

Hubs view was that there are certain people whom it is impossible to say no to. Especially if it involves family members.

My view was that it is always possible to say no. Even if it involves family members.

Later on while I was in the shower, I pondered the issue again. And then I remembered an occasion some years ago where I found myself in a very awkward and difficult situation being cornered to do a favour for someone…

Imagine you were the youngest person in the room just minding your own business, and some older person asked you flippantly for this seemingly teeny tiny favour in front of a whole bunch of people in a room, using seemingly innocent phrases and word-twists “…since you’re going there/doing that anyway…”, “…since you are such a nice person…”, “…it won’t take too much time…”, “…it won’t be too much trouble…” etc.

Sure they asked if it was okay with you, but the request was put forward in such a way that saying no would basically make you out to be a tremendously selfish, inconsiderate, mean, ill-brought-up, disrespectful et. al. person.

It’s like having a murderer putting a gun to your head and then asking sweetly if it’s okay for them to pull to trigger. They want to kill you anyway, no matter what you say.

I was younger. They were older. I was weaker. They were stronger. What else could I say?

So after my shower, I humbly retracted my statement to hubs. Even though it’s not technically impossible to say no, there are definitely certain people and situations where it is indeed very close to impossible to say no to.

And here we are again, hubs and I finding ourselves in a familiar situation (hence the ‘debate)’. How can you say no to someone who has already made up their mind on what they want you to do for them?

Should we resist knowing it would offend the other person? Or just smilingly say “no problem” and bite the bullet instead?

We bit the bullet.

Lesser know pregnancy challenges

People seem to be clamouring for photos… wanting to know how ‘big’ I’m getting.

So here I am at 32 weeks

Latest ultrasound - the radiologist was able to capture a shot of bub's face and some of his features. He's getting quite chubby and putting on more fat... very different from the alien-like features from the last ultrasound.

Here’s a glimpse of some of his features - the nose and mouth…

And a bit more of his face…

He's now measuring about 40-42cm and weighing about 1.9kg, which is within the normal range (*phew*) one of my fears is having to push a monster baby with a giant head during the birth.

People have been commenting that my belly is very pointy... which has been making the clothes department especially challenging. I'm actually wearing one of hubby's shirts in the photo above.

Some of the lesser known pregnancy 'challenges' I've been facing include:

#1 Sudden leg cramps - especially in the middle of the night (hubs has been very good in his lightning response to such situations - the first time it happened I just suddenly cried out "leg cramp! leg cramp!" and he immediately jumped up and placed upward pressure on my foot to relieve it... almost split second response, wow!)

#2 Swollen feet - especially at the end of the day. My shoes did start to feel tight a few days before, but there was just one day when I got home from work and sat back on the couch to rest a bit before cooking dinner, and I happen to look down at my foot and was just shocked to see the unrecognisable 'elephant feet'. Even hubby was taken aback, but he was very diplomatic in his response to my "look how big and ugly my feet are!!!" lament.

#3 Difficulty putting on pants/underwear - I never realised how much we took this simple task for granted of simply balancing on one foot after another to slip on a pair of jeans/shorts/underwear. Normally we only pause less than a second per leg before transferring our weight to the other leg that we never think of the tremendous balancing power required for this task. Now with my protruding belly shifting my centre of gravity, I usually need to sit down or hold on to something to make sure I don’t topple over!

But don’t stress girls… as long as you have a loving husband who’s there to attend to leg cramps, massage your swollen feet and be ready to catch hold of you just in case you do topple over while wearing your pants… you’ll be just fine!

Garden report

Garden report for mum:

Your tomatoes and beetroot seem to be doing well. The tomatoes have started to flower and some even have started to develop tiny fruits. Some of the beetroots were looking scraggly on top, but overall they seem to be holding up well. The chilli plant is starting to flower again - really can’t keep up with the amount of chilli this little plant is producing!

   

We planted four fruit trees at the back: lemon, plum, persimmon and grapes. The choice of the fruits (except the lemon) mostly revolved around hubby’s dream of being able to enjoy his favourite fruits to his heart’s content some day.

A close up of the tiny grapes that have started budding:

I have no clue about what it takes to grow a successful fruit bearing tree so I really hope we we’re heading in the right direction.