Happy Belated Birthday

Dear Kieran

Slightly over a year ago, you decided it was time to let us know you were ready to meet us (at 4am in the morning no less). It was exciting and scary (for mummy cos mummy doesn't really like pain very much) at the same time. We finally got to hold you at 7.12pm on 28 August 2009. You were so cute, blowing little spit bubbles within minutes!

Learning to take care of you was a steep learning curve, even with Grandma's help, but we soon learnt. Watching you grow everyday was fun. Discovering new things about you, seeing you learn and explore, encouraging you to try doing all the big boy stuff... it was wonderful! We also took you along on a few trips. KL, Genting and Taiwan. You're a born traveller and plane rides didn't give you any problems!

We saw you getting chubbier, then becoming leaner as you got more active and drank less formula (but more breastmilk). You attended your first lesson in Shichida. It took you almost a term to not cry when we had to give back an item after each activity. But it's okay.

You then attended Playnest at Julia Gabriel. You had loads of fun! Mummy say you pick up heaps of new skills in those 10 weeks - learning how to crawl, pulling to stand, climbing stairs, cruising, walking with support, and even sliding down a slide all by yourself (on your stomach)! You really blossomed in the last two months before your birthday, and in the three weeks after!

You had your first two teeth at 7 months. Then we waited. And waited. Then waited some more. And finally, you got your next two teeth a few days shy of your first birthday! Two weeks later, your 5th and 6th tooth came out. Which is right on time as most 1-year-olds have 6 teeth. :) Now you can bite chunks off a whole banana with your new teeth!

You also developed separation anxiety. Mummy can't go to the toilet without you wanting to come along as well at times! And when you grab mummy's legs and bury your head in because you want to be carried and mummy is busy with something, it's so adorable and funny. Mummy loves it most when she comes home from work and you are so happy to see her.

You're officially not a baby any more. Mummy will miss those baby days, but mummy is excited to see you continue to learn and grow. Mummy loves seeing you learn how to talk, figure things out and try out standing on your own, walking... Mummy can't wait to try out so many things with you in the next year!

Hugs and kisses,
Mummy

Scan 7: 21 April 2009

Patch's mugshot for the day!

Now if only the ultrasound machine doesn't show his eye socket all the time, maybe he would look more like a baby.

Patch didn't have his length measured today but according to the books and websites, he's about 23cm or so. Right now he weighs.... 373g (13 oz). Which is about there I think. Have put on another 1.6kg so it was sort of a relief to me (cos that means I put on about 2.4kg to 2.6kg in total at 5 months).

Patch is proving himself to be a very active baby. Not only has he been kicking up a storm, he also refuses to lie still for his mug shots. His hands keep getting in the way of his face. I also deduced that he likes to be in an upright position, and perfers the right side of my belly.

Oh, and yeah, he definitely wasn't shy enough to proclaim he was a BOY to everyone.



So, based on Patch's size/weight, he's measuring slightly bigger (like only a little over the 50th percentile). Which is good.

The EDD on the result slip says 31 August but according to the doc, we will still follow the 4 Sept EDD set earlier.

So it looks like Patch MAY or MAY NOT share the same birthday as his grandma. Heh heh.



It's pretty clear what's what. Though it looks as though he has huge lips here. Heh.

Patch's head looks a little squashed in these photos (as in it looks as if there's not enough space).



Patch's jaw line is clearly defined.



I don't really know what the first one is. But the second one's the thorax (breathing tube).



So, from the scan, it clearly shows Patch has an oval shaped head when seen from the top.

I don't think he got that from me. :p



Actually I can't really tell that that's Patch's thigh bone on the right. But we'll take the expert's word for it. Hah.



Patch's Spine. After 20 minutes, he decided to turn in such a way that his spine shows up very clearly, resulting in a very delighted radiologist.



Patch's cute little feet. One on top of the other, then side-by-side.

Yep. He has five toes. Now I just hope he's doesn't have flat feet.



This baby clearly doesn't like to show off his fingers. Not once have I seen him open his hands for more than 1 second!



Bladder check. Two kidneys check. Stomach, heart, etc etc etc, all check.

Looks like Patch's organs are all in place. So yay!

Scan 6: 1 April 2009

Meeting #6. Patch at 17w5d. He's getting a little too big for the screen. But the doc did zoom in for this pic. You can see his spine very clearly and the little black spot in the middle is his heart.

Patch was lying face down when we first saw him. We asked the doc if we could tell Patch's gender. So Patch was initially cooperative and the doc pointed out that it looks like a boy. Then Patch got shy and used his feet to cover up. Tsk. But because he was constantly moving, we (or rather the doc) caught sight of er... his boy bits twice more and announced "99% confirm boy!".

So now Patch is a Patch-rick.



This time Patch has 3 pictures. But the second pic is not very clear so I didn't post it up. Anyway, this is Patch's rendition of The Scream. Heh heh.

You can see his head clearly and his arms were initially in front. Then he after waving around for a while he moved his arms up towards his face. That's how this pic came about.

He was super active that day. Turning around, opening his mouth, waving his arms and... kicking the doctor while she was doing the scan.

"He's very strong! I can feel him kicking me." says the doc. Me, I didn't feel a thing. I have to concentrate to feel Patch's little kicks and squirms but his movements are definitely more obvious these days.

In the week before the scan, I was feeling something squirming around but I couldn't be sure except for one night where it was obvious that Patch was kicking. It felt like huge bubbles popping on the right side of the belly. And when I poked the same spot, Patch poked back. Then he decided to kick the left side of the tummy. -_-



As Patch was almost 18 weeks, the doctor did a few measurements. He's about 12cm now.

The measurements also had its corresponding dates, meaning how old the baby should be when he has such measurements.

As you can see, his head circumference (HC) is about there. His Femur Length (FL), not sure how to spell, is his thigh length - a bit short. And the AC (no idea what that stands for but I like to think it's Ass Circumference cos that's what it is for) is... er... advanced.

So yes. Patch at 17w5d has a big butt. Perhaps it's the butt muscles since he has strong kicks. Hah!

So using these three measurements, the ultrasound machine calculates the baby's estimated weight. Patch is 221g. According to websites, he should be weighing almost 5.5oz - that's 190g. So Patch doesn't just have a big butt. He's "heavy" as well!

Good to know that one quarter of the weight gained in the past month (I put on 800g) is due to Patch. Haha.

But babies grow at different rate. So we shall see again in 3 weeks time during the detailed scan.

Next checkup cum scan: 21 April
That will be the detailed scan where the organs, weight, etc will be measured. We'll double check the gender again. Heh.