Just before Mini Bun arrives... ...

It has been decided. We are going in tonight, just before midnight, for induction. If everything goes as planned, Mini Bun will arrive on 28 November, Monday - two days shy of being 40 weeks old in my womb.

This will mean that both my labours were induced. For Anya's case, she was 40 weeks and 1 days old when I had show and contractions throughout the night. But when I was admitted, the midwives found that my contractions were irregular, thus calling for induction. For Mini Bun's case, it is simply because I am not against the idea since I have done it before. The baby is already at a good size, and based on yesterday's check, I am 1cm dilated - very suitable for induction, according to my OBGYN.

In the past few days, we managed to clear some of the items off my errand list. As we had expected Mini bun to arrive earlier (given that she was growing at an alarming rate during 35-38 weeks), I had thought that these errands could only be run by The Husband on his own during my confinement, or after my confinement. So it was pleasantly fulfilling for me to check off some of these items, even though I was inviting occasional alarmed stares when we were outside because I had to stop in stride every now and then for the Braxton-Hicks to ease off. Here was what we did:

1. Buying a Christmas tree.

Last year, we had to forgo having a real tree (instead, we had our own improvisation of a Christmas tree on the wall!) as The Husband felt that it would be too much hassle trying to keep a crawling baby out of the tree's way. This year, we believe that Anya is old enough to appreciate having it. Morever, I will be confined at home for a month, so it will be really nice to bring some festive cheer into the house.

To ensure that it would be a fruitful trip, I called up Ikea in the afternoon to check that they still have stock for their 1.6m trees. Mind you, at $45, I believe theirs are one of the cheapest ones on the island and were usually gone very quickly. We knew because we made a wasted trip there two years ago. The lady staff who answer my phone call replied: "If you come down by tonight, I am sure both Alexandra and Tampines will have stock. I can't guarantee for tomorrow though.". And it was only the second day of sale for their Christmas trees! Hot stuff, really!

Together with the tree, we picked up an easel for Anya. This is an early Christmas present for her. Even before Anya was born, I already wanted an easel for her. I thought it will be nice to have a whiteboard cum chalkboard cum easel for papers where she will be encouraged to draw and to make learning fun for her. I know I will love to have it as a little girl! Both The Husband and I were glad we made the purchase! So far, we are having loads of family fun drawing things that she already knows and asking her to guess what it is. More importantly, we can tell that she is having fun with it too. I daresay as much fun as the frightfully addictive iPad as I have successfully tried taking the iPad away from her by substituting with the easel. Minimal fuss from her!

2. Decorating the Christmas tree

Well, the actual process of doing up the tree was not quite what I envisioned it to be. To begin with, my mental picture had some special soft focus effects that made me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. And then there we were, The Husband and I doing up the tree while our little girl helps to pass us the ornaments from the box. The Furkid will lie down in the near distance, watching us, as we 'oooh' and aaaah' at our work-in-progress. At the end of it, The Husband will carry up Anya, as she hang the finishing such of the glittery star on the top of the tree.

The reality? It was pretty much me who did up the tree. The Husband was away at work as he tries to finish up as many appointments as he could before the baby comes along. As for Anya. Well, instead of being Mommy's little helper, she was, well, Mommy's little terror. First she emptied most of the ornaments from their boxes, causing some much noise and racket. Then she caused The Furkid to go ballistic by playing catch with her using those hard ornament balls. Lastly, she discovered the fun of playing with those gold and silver beads and I had to get The Helper to get a close eye on her lest she strangulate herself in the process of dolling herself up as another Christmas tree. By the time I was done with the real tree, there was one casualty in the form of a broken ornament ball that also smell of dog drool, and glitters, ribbons, beads and pine needles spilled all over the living room's floor and sofa.

3. Bringing Anya to the hair salon

 

As it happened, The Husband was due for a haircut as well. So we trooped off to one of those $10 haircut salons yesterday. The iPad helped to captivate Anya's attention while the hairstylist got down to work. In twenty minutes, our toddler emerged from the salon fresh-looking with a bob and The Husband, in his usual clean-cut hair.

4. Last minute prep work with Anya

For months now, we watch real-life accounts of women having babies and families welcoming newborns on Discovery Home and Health. She gets to touch and hold a handful of newborns now as coincidentally, The SIL and some of our close friends just gave birth in the last few months. We refrained ourselves from addressing her 'baby', instead promoting her to being a 'little girl'. And then there were books on welcoming a new baby sibling that we borrowed from the library as well as going through her own baby pictures to understand how far she has grown.

For last leg of prep work, we go through yet another library book that portray welcoming a new sibling. At a particular page of a picture of a mother with her little girl and a newborn in her arms, we tell her this is Mommy, Anya and Arielle. On her new easel, I drew a family of stick figures to reiterate our point. "Daddy, Mommy, Anya, Muffin and Arielle!", we tell her enthusiastically. She gives her all the appropriate responses that we hope for, making us think that she really understand what is to come. However, as to the real extent of her comprehension and receptiveness of the matter, well.. I suppose our guess is as good as anyone's. In any case, we'll take things in our stride when it comes.

5. Savouring the last moments of having an only child (& dog).

Chalking in some last bit of quality as a family of four, we play catch with the dog, we read,  we look at the stickers, we play with her toys, we draw, we go through the photo albums, stack the building blocks, then repeat the whole cycle again. In between all these activities, there has being a great deal of cuddling and kissing going on as well. And all these times, I am trying hard to lock in these moments in my memory bank. After all, what is coming up will be another irreversible change.

Today, we are taking things easy. In between last minute packing and prepping the house for the arrival of the baby, I try to catch some power naps to make up for what is to come. 

Please keep us in prayers and wish us luck. See you in this space after we up-size into a family of five. :)