I bought myself some more time for $100!

Whoo hoo! My amazing obstetrician Eunice Chua managed to turn my baby last friday when i went for my checkup. It seemed so easy, first she scanned to see where the head was, it was on my right side near the upper rib cage area and the butt was to my left side near my waist! No wonder my tummy was a weird shape that day :p Then she proceeded to massage baby's head downwards and after some pushing and prodding (less than 3mins) she did another scan and viola! baby's head is now in the right position!

Next up was a CTG to make sure baby is not in any distress, it turned out he's ok so i could go home and await natural labour signs! I was super elated as i was worried about the shoots lined up for this week so now i got another week to work :p still beaming, i paid the bill and noticed that the procedure cost me $100 bucks! haha! but i think it was worth it :p

To add to my previous post on turning a breech baby, here are some other methods i found on the internet:

1. Visualizing the baby moving down with the head very deep in your pelvis, several times a day; especially in conjunction with positions and exercises below.

2. Swimming as often as possible. This keeps your body and pelvis loose and relaxed. Do in conjunction with headstand below if you have help.

3. Headstand - with assistance and in a pool frequently as possible.

4. Breech Tilt - begin at 32-35 weeks gestation. Do 3 times daily for 10-15 minutes each time, when you have an empty stomach, and the baby is active. Prop one end of an ironing board securely on a sofa or chair 12 to 18 inches high (or may use slant board). Lie down, bend knees but keep feet flat on board. Relax, breathe deeply, avoid tensing. May also use pillows on a flat surface to raise hips 12-18" above shoulders. Gravity pushes the baby's head into the fundus, tucks it, and baby can then do a somersault to a vertex position.

5. CD/iPod headphones - place them inside mom's pants toward her pubic bone and play classical music for 10 minutes 6-8 times a day.

6. Flashlight - try moving slowly down from the top of the uterus toward your pubic bone while you are in a breech tilt position.

7. Massage - start with your left hand at the bottom of the abdomen and your right hand just above it. Move move your hands clockwise around the right side of your tummy. As your right hand reaches the top of your abdomen, slide the left one over your right and move it down the left side of your tummy. Your left hand leads as you you come full circle, continuing clockwise. Massage gently as you would to apply lotion. Massage for ten minutes or more up to several times each day.

8. Clothespin - place on the small toe of each foot at the outside corner of the toenail; sideways so that the toenail and toepad are stimulated for 30 minutes per day, this is an acupressure point that is a "moving down" point. You can also do this with just finger pressure as you remember to do it.

9. Motion Sickness band - place with the bead four fingerwidths above the inner ankle bone - another acupressure point that is used for stimulation of the uterus. Do not use this point if you are experiencing any pre-term labor.

10. Glass of orange or other juice - follow this with a side-lying position with your hips positioned higher than your feet. Babies move more after a sugar high!

11. Pelvic Tilt- with an ice pack on the top of your tummy on an empty stomach, 10 minutes twice a day. Do this while lying on your back on the floor with knees flexed and feet on the floor with three large pillows placed under your buttocks. Try this in conjunction with headphones and visualization.

12. Cat stretch - start with all fours, then lay your head and chest flat on the floor with your buttocks in the air, as you round your back and return to all fours.

13. Knee-chest position - by kneeling with hips flexed slightly more than 90 degree, but with thighs not pressing against your tummy and your head, shoulders and upper chest are flat on a mattress for 15 minutes every two waking hours for five days.

14. Belly Relaxing followed by Inversion - Partner places a shawl, sheet, towel or rebozo under mom's hips as she lays on the floor. Lift up on the corners of the cloth and shimmy her from side to side moving your hands up and down to wiggle her belly from side to side. These should be very small movements which mom should find very relaxing. Do this for about 5 minutes. Then mother kneels on the stairway landing. Walk your hands down 2 or 3 stairs into an all fours position; have your partner support your shoulders to balance you. Remain in this position for about 5-10minutes or as long as comfortable. Also do this on an empty stomach.

The following techniques to turn breech babies to vertex involve the assistance of a specialist or medical professional:

15. Acupuncture - find a acupuncturist who is familiar with pregnancy and knows the points to stimulate for turning a breech baby.

16. Webster's Breech Technique - see a Chiropractor who is experienced in this technique.

17. External Version - this can be done in the hospital at about 37 weeks; see an Ob-Gyn for assistance and more information.

BREECH!

It's my 37th week and baby is still in breech position! I did my own research on the internet and tried some of the suggestions to help baby turn such as
1. Crawl on all fours with back straight/parallel to the ground, then let forehead go down to floor level resting on arms.
2. Shine a light where you want baby's head to be positioned. Apparently babies in the womb are attracted to light and will turn towards it.
3. Play some LOUD headbanging music where you think baby's head is, to irritate him to move away! ha! this one's funny :p

Anyway i didn't try the last suggestion. Not sure if the first two works but #1 almost always guarantees lots of movement from baby which gave me hope! However the next morning i still feel that his head is up near my rib cage. Arrrgh! What a bummer.

If he doesn't turn by friday which is my appointment with my OB, she said she will try and turn him. After the turn, a CTG will be ordered and if the baby shows signs of distress, then it's straight to the delivery ward! So scarey! I am so so not prepared as i still have shoots lined up till end of May :(

Also, i don't think Erwin is prepared too. The big brother Kayden however seems to know! Since Saturday, he has slept in his own bed every night! He had only ever slept in his bed twice before and that was after much coaxing. But on Saturday night, he just suddenly announced to us, as he dragged his pillow and "chou chou" to the bed, that he was going to sleep there! We thought it will just be that one odd night but he has kept it up since ;) We rejoice to more space for us on the bed after more than 2.5years! :D

Mother's Day

It's my 3rd Mother's Day as a mother last sunday. I cannot recall what we did the previous year, but for the first one, our small family of 3 had dinner and cake. This year since i was pregnant, we thought it would be quite nice if we took some family shots before the new addition comes next month.

Using the tripod as a photographer turned out to be a very bad idea! And Erwin was a terrible photographer as well hahaha! Kayden was having a ball and surprisingly cooperative, i think he really likes the Pagoda St studio and was very cheerful :)

Anyway, here are some of the photos. I didn't do many Bloom shots as I was feeling quite bloated and uncomfortable. However i tried to do some shots that other pregnant women will not do, for example JUMP! :P shhh, don't tell my obstetrician!

First week @ Pagoda Street studio

What a week! The first 3 days were spent packing up at Devonshire studio, moving (3 trips!) all our stuff to Pagoda and then the hell of unpacking began. As thursday was May Day, we had no shoots but i still went back to finish up the unpacking. Thanks to erwin, my dad, stepmum and even Kayden for helping! :)

I was also quite nervous as i left the new studio on thursday as i did not get a chance to do a test shoot at the new premises and we had 5 shoots lined up for friday! So i went in early on friday morning to meter the lights and do some last minute arrangements like putting up a makeshift curtain for Bloom shoots. Totally forgot about this! We had a sliding door at Devonshire so Bloom clients can have privacy when doing nude sessions or when changing.

At 10am when the first client stepped in, everything rolled as usual! Little Big Shot Megan, daughter of former Bloom client Jacqueline was the first client at Pagoda :D She's adorable with her full head of hair and cheeky smile. I handled all the shoots for the first day so Ashley can get some orders done as we are getting behind time and the backlog is starting to pile again.

All in all, it was a good first week and i am hoping things will get better as we go along. I am still trying to get used to the smaller working area at Pagoda but it'll be ok :)

How to make your 2 days 1 night vacation go the mile - Bring your toddler along

hahaha, you probably would have guessed from the title that it was not such a great holiday for us three! kay was having a fever that lasted till we got home on sunday evening. he refused to eat anything solid throughout except sunday's breakfast he had some fruitloops with milk. each mealtime was a torturous time for erwin and me :S

BUT, the swimming was great! in the pool that is! he was having a great time in the Clubmed Bintan pool but when we tried bringing him to the beach, man oh man, that boy was terrified of the waves and refused to step on the sand! which is really strange becoz he was fine with the beach when he was younger. looking at the photos now, it's quite hilarious to see his scrunched up face and upward turned toes in contrast to jaeden's smiling happy self sitting on the sand with the waves coming at him.



check out that terrified face and curled toes :(


then minutes later, the happy boy in the pool!








torture on the beach! i swear that is kay's middle finger pointing at me! (the shadow)




Chilling with Daddy in the room


Dancing on the bed


it truly was a disastrous first vacation but we learnt from this experience and i am determined that the next one will be super! :)

thanks Ik Hui for getting this trip organised, you're so lucky to have a vacation loving toddler!