Yoga-ta believe me....

.... yoga is absolutely fabulous, even when you're preggers :)

I haven't fully utilised my yoga mat ever since Yoga Zone unceremoniously 'shut down' last year. Now that I'm expecting, it was such a great excuse to start yoga again! After patiently waiting for my 1st trimester to pass, I happily enrolled myself at BeYoga.

Although there are a few yoga studios much closer to where I live, I INSIST on BeYoga because of one Ms Ninie Ahmad. Ninie is a good friend of mine and also one of my greatest life inspirations. The instructors at Be, besides Ninie are also a few of the very best in town. So... how can I NOT drive allllll the way to Damansara Perdana just to twist and bend myself into a healthy mommy-to-be :)

I've been enjoying my pre-natal yoga classes with other fellow mommies-to-be every Wednesday and Sunday. I fold, stretch and bend into various pregger-safe yoga positions because I believe I should do all that I can to keep my body healthy for my baby. Also, I hope delivery will be a breeze if I excercise enough, hehe. Oh and I pray that my body will (pleeeeeeeasssssse) bounce back into shape after my delivery. As quickly as one Ms Jessica Alba (she swears it was because of yoga!).

Happiness Rushing Through My Veins :)

Soo many reasons to be happy... Let me count my blessings...

1. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to quit my full-time job and focus all my time on things and activities I enjoy :)
2. I love that I don't have to peer down my bedroom window every morning and be envious of those having a relaxing early morning swim/dip :)
3. I love being able to stay at home and catch Oprah on the Hallmark channel every morning after my husband leaves for work.
4. I love meeting friends over lunch and never have to rush back to the office!
5. I love strolling around Ikea. On a weekday. During office hours. I guess all the women I see at Ikea during this period are as lucky as I am :)
6. I love my job as a presenter :D Check in at 9am and check out by 1pm. Bliss...
7. I love that I don't have to hate Mondays anymore.
8. I love adding baby items to my 'wish list' on Amazon.com. They have amazing baby stuff!
9. I love that I'm not experiencing any morning sickness (so far!). Pregnancy has been quite a breeze... ;)
10. I love being in my 2nd trimester! I've never felt happier! My energy's back. My appetite is back to normal.
11. I love seeing people's reaction when they find out I'm expecting :)
12. I love reading my husband's blog about being a daddy-to-be. Never fails to bring a tear to my eye each time I read it.
13. I love that I can throw a tantrum and hubby understands it's them crazy hormones! He knows exactly how to handle me :)
14. I enjoy predicting my baby's sex from all sorts of quizzes, charts and old wive's tales. Although, we'll find out next month, I just cannot wait!
15. I enjoy all the extra hugs and cuddles I get from my hubby at bedtime. (We used to playfully fight who should get the last hug before we drift to sleep, but now, Mummy wins ;) )
16. I enjoy imagining my baby's silhoutte in my tummy.
17. I enjoy imagining the moments when I first set eyes on my first child.
18. I love seeing Hanif coo-ing to our child in my tummy.
19. I LOVE THAT I'M BLESSED WITH A HUSBAND WHO MADE ALL OF THE ABOVE POSSIBLE :)
20. Finally, I feel blessed that Hanif & I murah rezeki. Syukur Alhamdulillah... May Allah bless all of you with love and happiness :)

Sweet Baby Is Listening to.....

I'm sure moms and moms-to-be might have read somewhere or heard from someone that classical music apparently increases your baby's intelligence, they call this the 'Mozart effect'. True or otherwise, I thought it wont hurt if I played some classical tunes for my lil one. But OH. MY. GOD. Classical music CAN be quite a snooze-fest! (sorry classical music lovers)

Not wanting to torture my baby's delicate ears, I browsed the internet and chanced upon a few numbers that I was rather familiar with. I was like, "Ohhh THIS is Bach...." Finding the right songs for my baby was quite an (musically) educational stint :)

So here are a few beautiful composition that I'm pretty sure you are familiar with too (You probably have heard these either at a wedding or in a cartoon show).

I hope my baby will enjoy listening to them as much as I have.

Happy developing your intelligence lil one :)

Mamamia!

After one year of marriage, my mind started to dabble with the idea of having a child. Although I wasn't longing for one yet, I just liked the idea of having children. Then after Hanif & I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary, each time someone announced "I'm preggers!" my heart sank a little. Then I knew... I was ready. And why the heck was I not pregnant yet!!!

Everyone, from friends, to colleagues, my intern (!!), to the production crew and guests of WHI and a slew of celebrities got or were pregnant! I remember when my friend/colleague Didie announced she was preggers (just after she got back from her honeymoon!), I was so shaken that I almost lost my balance while walking out of Sri Pentas. And soon, people around me were quite hush hush about new pregnancy news just to jaga my feelings.

Now, that I AM preggers, I'm just thrilled that I'm finally ONE of the expecting moms :) I am also thrilled that over in La La Land, a string of celebrities are expecting too, from angels to slayers to bunnies! Here's a list:

• Victoria's Secret angels Adriana Lima, Heidi Klum, Karolina Kurkova and the SUPER model of them all - Gisele Bundchen (although she has not officially announced it yet)
• former 'vampire slayer' Sarah Michelle Gellar
• my fashion icon Nicole Richie
• 'retired' Playboy bunny Kendra Wilkinson

Yei! We are all gonna be mommies!

The One, The Baby and The Blood Test

The One
I've finally found the one. The reliable/confident/professional ob/gyn I've been searching for - Dato Dr Nor Asyikin. A lovely lady who got me at 'hello' :) I was impressed at how thorough she was at our 1st meeting (she took note of everything from both our parents' medical histories and my present condition carrying our first child) and how completely bubbly she was (considering this lady has her own medical centre to run, delivers babies at Pantai, a well known speaker in the medical field and somehow manages to give medical related interviews to countless magazines - where does all the energy come from?? She looks ultra polished at all times too btw). Love her!

The Baby
Ahhhh... I've got a feeling my baby will be a naughty one this one. From our latest ultra sound scan, my baby was actively punching his/her fists in all directions and his/her tiny legs were kicking away like there's no tmrw. He/she was happily letting us view and scrutinise his/her tiny frame. But the moment Dr Nora wanted to snap a still shot of him/her wriggling around my tummy, lil one turned his/her back on us! So here you go, a peek at my baby's back :)




The Blood Test
Done with the ultra sound, back to more baby talk with Dr Nora. I was all ears until suddenly she announced, "OK I'm arranging a blood test to be done shortly..." My brain froze, sounds around me were muffled, my blood curdled. My whole body deceased from functioning. I could not focus on a single word she was saying anymore. Everything sort of trailed of.....

Just to briefly explain why the drastic change of attitude - I am terrified of needles. Petrified. The last time I had a blood test was when I was no more than 5 perhaps?

So when I was face to face with the nurse who will be puncturing my delicate skin with a freaking needle, I warned her of my fear. It took me a while to get me seated, and god knows how long it took to get that strap around my arm. By the time she was swabbing my arm with alcohol, my eyes were welling up... Yes I was that scared. Honestly 'welling up' is an understatement lah. My husband then quickly buried my head in his chest and blurted out calming words to me while the nurse was busy drawing blood from my poor vein (I bet he was thinking "Habis lah I (Hanif) during the delivery.....").

In all honestly, it did not sting so much. What hurt more was my upper arm - I had my finger nails jammed into it to kononnya divert the sensation of the needle piercing my skin to the grip of my nails. I believed Hanif when he said it will not hurt. But it wasn't the pain that I feared. It was the thought of a needle puncturing my skin that horrified me. Poor me. What an ordeal. Macamana nak beranak ni? Some more berangan nak epidural ;p Good luck Hanif! And meeeeeeeeeee...!

In The Last 8 Days, I...

1. Chopped of my lovely long locks cause I seriously needed low maintenance hair. If you had no idea, I visit the salon no less than once a week because *I kid you not* I don't know how to blow dry my hair. And. I prefer someone else to wash my hair for me ;) I got this expensive trait from my mom. No thanks Mom :) And this pregnancy is just too tiring for me to fuss over my hair.

2. Went on a fun makan-makan cari jalan road trip to Penang with four other friends. I really mean makan-makan cari jalan and not jalan-jalan cari makan because none of us knew the roads in Penang and had to rely on *gasp* MAPS and a very handy GPS. The 3 guys on the trip played driver, GPS handler and map reader. Haha! The ladies just ate, gossiped and gave the guys extra headache. Burp.

3. Cried and cried over a music icon's passing.. RIP MJ. I still cannot believe he's gone.

4. Attended a Chinese wedding and there was this one dish that really... umm, ter-gezut-ted me? Well let's just say this particular dish had its head and tail intact. But being the very thoughtful hosts our friends were, Hanif and I had a special arrangement made for us - Halal courses. Thanks!

5. Met up with former colleagues at a drama launch in Mont Kiara. Great food and company :)

6. Realised I have a serious problem with my new body image and the side effects of being pregnant. I'm trying very hard to accept that my body is growing and a pimple or ten will appear on my skin.

7. Just learned a new trick to deal with my crazy hunger pangs (and avoid gaining too much weight!) - divide my lunch and dinner into 2 portions each and have the 2nd portion in the next few hours when I start to feel hungry again. Why didn't I think of this earlier!!!

8. Met up with my BFF Intan who just flew back from Bandung. Her bumbling kids kept me wide-eyed as they gave me a grand preview of what my life would be like in about 2 years time. (Son pours water into an already full cup, which of course overflowed. Daughter takes her bottle and frantically plunges it into the overflowing cup of water.) Yay? Hahahah... what have I gotten myself into! Hats off to Intan Juliana *clap clap clap* for getting my vote for the MOST patient mom in the whole wide world :D