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Here’s a rundown of a three more places we’ve tried at Solaris MK…

1. Departure Lounge - This is the second outlet opened by the owner, the first is at Aman Suria if I remember correctly. They serve all day breakfast…light sandwiches, bacon + eggs, french toast…you know the drill. The food is oookkkk…nothing to shout from the rooftops about, but it’s not too bad. The ambiance is nice though…warm and cosy, and it’s travel-themed (something pretty unique!)…it’s the type of cafe you can imagine spending a lazy Sunday afternoon in.

2. Canton Fare - Cantonese cuisine. The salted egg yolk prawns are pretty decent, and I find myself quite partial to the sweet and sour pork. Hubby likes the char siew & siew yoke but I find it to be so-so only (nothing beats the one at Tengkat Tong Shin…oh my god, so to-die-for!). Apparently, everyone raves about their curry mee though…

3. Boston - three words: Don’t go there. Bad bad bad decision to have dinner there…the food was lousy AND expensive. Need an example? Chicken wings that tasted like it’s been boiled without any seasoning, then dipped into BBQ sauce before being served. And it cost RM18. I don’t have a gagging smiley else you’ll see a couple here…gag gag gag.

Oh, and I also found a new dish at Ole Ole Bali - this grilled chicken sandwich/burger thingy (I can’t remember exactly what it’s called, but you can find it towards the end of the menu). The grilled chicken is not great, but I really really love the buns - it’s perfectly toasted with butter, and the coleslaw-salad and the french fries that is served with the dish is lovely as well. I would be perfectly happy eating just the buns, salad and french fries without the chicken, actually…

I know my baby is not the only one that does this, but it never ceases to amaze me when she responds to external stimulus.

Music - definitely gets her moving in my tummy.

Loud voices or noises - she doesn’t like it and will start kicking.

CTG machine - she DEFINITELY does not like it. She was dozing this morning when we reached the hospital. The minute the two sensors were strapped on, she started moving and shaking like Shakira’s hips.

Me patting her with my palm - she likes the patting as she’ll move towards the location of my hands. If I put my left hand at the top of my bump where her legs are, and my right hand at the bottom near her head and start patting with my right hand, I can feel her start moving and ‘rising up’ under my left hand.

Me prodding her with my fingers - sometimes I can see a little mole-like bump moving around my tummy and I just can’t resist touching the small bump with my fingers, it’s so cute! But when I do, she moves to another spot. And if I follow, she moves again…it makes me laugh everytime she does that!

And not to forget, her favourite…the small scratching motion that never fails to make her ‘rise up’ and distend my belly. Works almost every time, though I try not to do it now in case it causes more contractions…

If she’s so responsive and active in the tight confines of my tummy…I really wonder how active she’ll be when she’s out!

Found this song lying in one of my folders awhile ago…it never fails to get me all choked up with emotion, and even more so now!

There’s two things I know for sure:
She was sent here from heaven and she’s daddy’s little girl.
As I drop to my knees by her bed at night
She talks to Jesus and I close my eyes and
I thank god for all the joy in my life
Oh, but most of all

For butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer;
Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair;
“Walk beside the pony, Daddy, it’s my first ride.”
“I know the cake looks funny, Daddy, but I sure tried.”
In all that I’ve done wrong I know I must have done something right…
To deserve a hug every morning and butterfly kisses at night.

Sweet 16 today
She’s looking like her mama a little more everyday
One part woman, the other part girl.
To perfume and make-up from ribbons and curls
Trying her wings out in a great big world.

But I remember
Butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer;
Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair.
“You know how much I love you, Daddy, but if you don’t mind…
I’m only gonna kiss you on the cheek this time.”
With all that I’ve done wrong I must have done something right…
To deserve her love every morning and butterfly kisses at night.

All the precious time
Like the wind, the years go by.
Precious butterfly.
Spread your wings and fly.

She’ll change her name today.
She’ll make a promise and I’ll give her away.
Standing in the bride-room just staring at her.
She asked me what I’m thinking and I said “I’m not sure
I just feel like I’m losing my baby girl.”
She leaned over…

Gave me butterfly kisses with her mama there,
Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair
“Walk my down the aisle, Daddy, it’s just about time.”
“Does my wedding gown look pretty, Daddy?
Daddy, don’t cry…”
Oh, with all that I’ve done wrong I must have done something right.
To deserve your love every morning and butterfly kisses…

I couldn’t ask God for more, man this is what love is.
I know I gotta let her go, but I’ll always remember…
Every hug in the morning and butterfly kisses.

How did we spend New Year’s eve?

At the hospital being hooked up to the CTG machine…*blek*

The P.L.A.N. was to drop by DSH around 8+ after dinner for my routine every-alternate-day-CTG-scan, then go back to our apartment and spend the night there (vs. going back to my parent’s place which would be near impossible due to the traffic jam).

My uterus had other ideas though. It decided to start contracting regularly as soon as I was hooked up to the CTG….it’s really strange as I didn’t feel any regular contractions at home throughout the whole day! Anyways, the contractions were about 9-10 minutes apart, and luck would have it that my doctor was doing his rounds at the maternity ward. He dropped by, took a look at the chart, and asked me to bring forward my next round of medication from 12 midnite to 10.30pm, then do another scan at 11.30pm to see if the contractions are still so regular.

I wasn’t too keen to wait for two hours in the hospital, so we took a slow drive out to buy some cakes and KFC, came back to the hospital, had our supper, ate my oral tablet, waited for awhile and did the CTG again at 11+pm. Again, the contractions were still regular, but not very intense. The midwife gave my doctor a call, and he gave us the green light to go home, get some rest and come back again in the morning at 10am the next day for another scan.

For some reason, baby was really really super-active throughout the night, and I didn’t sleep well either as I kept waking up and timing my contractions (but falling asleep before I felt the next one…very counter-productive, I know!). It was a pretty horrible night actually…I think the anxiety kept me from sleeping well, my head was buzzing, and the night seemed to go on forever and forever. I finally managed to doze off sometime close to 4am, I think.

The alarm went off at 6am as I’d set it to remind myself to take the next dose of Britaline. I started timing my contractions again and to my horror, it was about 5 minutes apart! So instead of waiting till 10am, we decided to change and go back to the hospital for the scan.

Again, the CTG machine picked up the contractions, but measuring around 7-8 minutes apart. The midwife called my doctor after the scan, and he came over to the hospital 20 minutes later. After taking a look at the graph, he decided to still let me go home but advised me to come straight back to the hospital the minute I feel the contractions getting closer. He said that putting me back on the drip would only delay the inevitable…the end result once I’m off the drip would still be the same.

Once I got back home, I decided to stop watching the clock each time a contraction came…it just made me even more tense and anxious! Surprisingly, it helped as I could feel less contractions, and when we went back to the hospital on Friday morning for another scan, the graph was completely flat with exception for one contraction at the end of the 30 minutes! So strange isn’t it?

I guess ‘irritable uterus’ is really an apt description though as the contractions started AGAIN on Friday night…about 8 minutes apart, and continued throughout the night till this morning. We had an appointment with the doctor after doing another scan this morning, and after doing an internal examination (still only 1cm dilated, thank god!) and a routine ultrasound, he decided that as baby has reached an estimated weight of 2.3kg + the steroid shots + the fact that she’ll be 34 weeks by Sunday…he’s pretty comfortable with letting nature take its course. So, my oral tablets have now been reduced from three times to twice a day for one week, then once a day for the following week…and we’re now adopting a wait-and-see attitude. So let’s see when this little princess wants to make her appearance!

The fact that the doctor has given the green light for labor to progress naturally, and that I’ve been ok-ed for a natural birth has honestly taken a great load off my mind! It’s a big relief to know that we’ve done what we can to keep her safe, and now it’s up to her to decide when she’s ready. And at least I don’t have to feel so jittery everytime a contraction comes along, and the dark cloud of having to do an elective c-sec is no longer hovering over me! Yes, I feel really squeamish about c-secs…I have mental images of internal stitches popping open or something… Furthermore, recovering from a c-sec is harder, more painful and longer if the books are to be trusted and I really really want to be able to hold and breastfeed my baby when she’s delivered…so fingers and toes crossed…I really hope my labor will proceed fast and smoothly and I don’t end up with an emergency c-sec!!

So my dearest dearest baby…everything is ready and waiting for your arrival! Daddy has been rushing around every day, buying all the last minute necessities. Daddy and grandpa has fixed your cot and it’s waiting in mummy’s bedroom together with your cot mobile. Grandma has washed all your clothes, and they smell wonderful and are all waiting for you in mummy’s wardrobe. Mummy’s hospital bag is packed, and mummy has already picked out your going home outfit…a cute pink polka-dotted footed one piece suit. Camera batteries are charged. Four packs of diapers are on standby. Your playpen and bathtub has been ordered and will be delivered in the next few days.

Anytime now…tick-tock-tick-tock…