Yesterday, Sung and i went for our first check-up at UMMC. Our gynae recommended UMMC to us saying that most of her patients who deliver there have good reports about the hospital. And since the delivery cost there is very much affordable and the facilities are decent, it didn't take us long before to decide that this was gonna be the hospital for us to deliver #lildotdot in.
Ok, back to our check-up. They did a detailed scan on #lildotdot (for only RM51 by the way), and it made us realise so many things in which we've taken for granted. The sonographer took her time in scanning my stomach and i must say it is by far the longest scan we've had. It feels so good to know that the sonographer isn't rushing through the scan to get her job over and done with, but is actually professional, thorough and detailed. Initially we thought it was just gonna be a normal quick scan, but turns out we were shown most of baby's vital organs during the scan.
These were the words of our sonographer:
"Okay, this is the baby's kidney.....here's one.....and here's another one. Ok, so baby has two kidneys."
"And this is his hand, and this is another hand. Here's his foot, and here's another foot."
"This is the blood and oxygen flow through your baby's heart. Heart is pumping well, and the structure of the heart looks normal."
"This is his brain, the size is all okay. The brain is normal."
"This is the side of his face, and here is his upper lip. His lips look okay, means he has no cleft lip."
"Okay, so your baby is normal lah. You can go outside and collect your scan report."
"Your baby is normal"
On our way out to collect the report, Sung and i were just so amazed and stunned at the same time. We were amazed and impressed by the scan equipment, details of the scan and the sonographer. But what made us stunned was when we realised how much we have taken things for granted before this. I mean, what makes us think that just because baby's heart is beating, he will by default have 2 kidneys, 2 legs, 2 hands, a good heart structure and a normal upper lip? These were things that we literally took for granted. From this experience we learned to be even more grateful for the gift of life that has been entrusted to us. Despite of our ignorance, God has been (and still is) working so miraculously behind the scenes to grow baby to its complete form.
I'm now 31 weeks into my pregnancy! And #lildotdot is more active than ever before, kicking and stretching in my tummy when he hears our voice and when i eat McD ice-cream. Hahahaha. I kid you not. We found out that he especially loves listening to Sung's voice because he becomes extra active when Sung speaks/prays/reads to him. Every night, we will try to spend some time with him before going to bed and strange enough, he is always most active then. Perhaps he looks forward to spending time with us too. Heh.
From time to time, i get asked if i'm ready to be a mom. My honest answer? I don't think i'll ever be 100% ready – i don't think anyone will ever be that ready. It is almost the same thing as getting married. You will never be 100% ready for marriage until you're actually married. And when you are, you just learn to embrace whatever comes your way – be it good or bad, happy or challenging – one day at a time. So my aim is to not overwhelm myself with things that are yet to happen, but do what i can in my best ability to prepare myself in this present time. Some ways that i prepare myself is by reading books: practical 'baby bible' books to equip myself with life skills and Christian motherhood books to prepare myself for the battles ahead that are non-physical. Because we fear what we do not know, hence gaining the right knowledge is so crucial especially in this season. But of course, there's always a struggle with information overload by 'over-Googling'. I'm still learning how to not overload myself with unnecessary information, and it certainly doesn't help that it's so accessible!
So yeap, that's my pregnancy update thus far! We have an English name for baby already, but the Chinese name though... we're still pretty much clueless. Sorry #lildotdot, your parents are hopeless Chinese. Give us some time and we will come up with a kick-ass Chinese name for you. Soon enough. We hope. Will think of something before you're born. Or...maybe a week after is fine too. Somewhere along that timeline. Ok bye!