And she's here!

It was a swift delivery. Baby Kaitlyn made her debut last night, within two hours of mommy and daddy arriving at the hospital!

Meet Kaitlyn

born Aug 13, at 10.29 pm

Measuring 20 inches, and...
Weighing in at 3.162 kg , or 6lb 15.5 oz (just 0.5 oz short of 7 lb!), she may not be as big as her 8lb+ brothers at birth, but just as huge a bundle of joy!

Lil Kaitlyn waves a BIG HI! to everyone...


And mommy says:
Thanks so much for your support, it means so much to us! In these last couple of weeks especially, hardly a day went by without someone reminding us we're being thought of, prayed for... we feel so loved, so blessed!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, and His richest blessings be with you and yours!

Right after the delivery...

... and the good hands we were in! And Vern and me, relieved our little girl didn't take her own sweet time with the labour.

Today...

Ben and Jon come in their "I'm the Big/Bigger Brother" t-shirts, excited to see their sister for the very first time! (I'd used iron-ons for their tees, and also got them books as presents -- supposedly from baby to them).



Jon draws a picture of Kaitlyn...

... when "she's only half a day old"!

And isn't that pink ribbon a pretty touch on the hospital's part? Vern asked if boys get blue ribbons... hahaha!

(For the record, these aren't my regular PJ's... but this is the only time it's cool for me to be seen in them)! ;p

New beginnings...
Kaitlyn and I go home tomorrow. My sis -- what'll we do without her already here? -- leaves in a week. And then, my MIL will come when the boys have just resumed school.

With the changes to our schedules -- the new baby and me the tired mommy, summer almost ending and having to get the boys into school mode again, Vern and his pressing deadlines, and MIL will need her rest also because of the jet lag -- I pray we'll all be fit and healthy. By God's grace, we'll take it one day at a time.

Catch you later! Many thanks again for being here for me and my family! Your love and friendship so warm my heart! =)

So, what did it? (the birth story, for those who asked)
We were at the botanic garden when the first painful contraction struck, followed by a second one 20 minutes later. What was not so "textbook" was that in less than 1.5 hours, the contractions would become 5 minutes apart and much more intense, after dropping off the boys and my sis at home, and I was already 7.5 cm dilated when Vern and I reached the hospital!

It was a regular Wednesday otherwise, when I'd take the boys to the library, and I did, with my sis, and we also squeezed in a trip to the mall for a wee bit of shopping for her.

This, while Vern was in school, I drove, and he called with the idea of the garden visit as it was the last time the summer concert was to be held that evening. We headed back home first for an early dinner (I'd left chicken to stew in the slow cooker), before coming back out.

The boys got to play for half an hour in the garden's playground, and my sis caught some of the mosaic Niki sculptures still on display. But we had to roll up our picnic mat just before the band started playing, when that grimace on my face said it all!

Maybe it was all the traipsing around town. Maybe it was the "Ben and Jerry's" icecream that Ben and I had -- as part of the treat I promised him and Jon if they would be more patient shoppers.

The same brand of icecream had apparently "worked" for another mom we heard, to bring on the contractions while, like me, waiting for the induction date to roll around! What'd you know? Maybe Kaitlyn will grow up liking that Mango Sorbet I had! ;p

Anytime now, yeah?

The week's come and gone. No sight of our lil one yet.

I'm hanging in there, trying not to interpret every contraction, cramp in my legs, and backache, as signs of labour. But if you've gone beyond the due date when expecting your child, you probably understand how I'm feeling at this point. Tired, oh yes! But still looking forward, even more forward now to the lil one's arrival!

No two birth experiences are the same, and you must have your own story to tell. And while both Jon and Ben had arrived by this time for both my first and second pregnancies, each was born on the day when the doctor least expected him to. For Jon, my waters broke the same day we'd made an appointment for him to be induced in another week. And Ben, he arrived within hours of me almost sent home after an end-of-day checkup, and had I not asked to stay the night at the hospital, we might have been stuck on the expressway!

Last night for several hours until past 4am this morning, I was pretty sure I had regular contractions that lasted 1 min or longer each. But not wanting to jump the gun, and since it was just a 10-, not yet 5-minute interval, and not knowing how long more before the actual labour would be, I eventually went to bed when the exhaustion swept over me. Only, when I awoke some three hours after that, the contractions had subsided.

Aw, looks like Baby changed her mind. And I'd be lying to say the hubby and I were just a tad disappointed. All day long today, Vern has been asking me if there's any more of those more intense contractions.

So no, it wasn't an "Olympics" or "National Day" baby my MIL was hoping for when she skyped us the other day. But babies will come when they want to, and the Lord knows, for He knows all and knows best, right?

Meanwhile, many thanks to all of you for leaving me your sweet words of encouragement here on the blog, and in my email, and also to the old friend who called out of the blue from back home! I hope my next post will be to share with you our new addition... coming soon, real soon, yeah? =)

One week to EDD!

Counting down to my expected due date now! And my sister -- can you guess elder, or younger? ;p (I have two sisters; I'm a middle child) -- has come from almost halfway across the globe!

And while it's still easier for me, than with a newborn afterwards, to show her around a bit before she'll head back home in a couple of weeks, we took her shopping! The one thing Singaporean gals can't say no to!

At first, it was just Ben and me, whilst Jon was at a chess programme in school. Then, all of us, even though kids, and especially my boys, aren't the most patient shoppers.

Still, I think walking the mall helped some to get their aunt out of her jet lag. And while we were at it, and before the high heat index is now making her feel under the weather, it was the Gateway Arch that we couldn't not let her must-see here in St Louis! Vern is right, shouldn't sightseeing come before shopping?

Left: A kind stranger lay his back on the ground, just so he could capture the top of the Arch, in this group shot he helped us take!

Yesterday, I also gave my sister a crash course on some simple meals -- mostly the noodle soup kind -- that she can fix for the boys while I am in the hospital. It's been awhile since she's cooked. But she'll do fine, I know!

And I'm just relieved, now that she's here and the baby not arrived yet, she can be the one to babysit the boys when it's time for Vern to lend me all the support I need in the delivery room!

That has been a big worry of mine, as it'll be such a huge imposition on friends if we have to call them in the middle of the night should labour strike at an odd time of the day. We were contemplating packing the boys off with us, to go along to the hospital!

To digress a little, in response to queries on what I cook on a daily basis (and because I don't know when I'll blog my next post), here's what I served up for our dinner these last few days.....



And as you can see, cooking a different protein each day is the trick behind my simple meal-planning. If not meat, then fish... like yesterday, I did a simple baked tilapia with winter melon soup to go along (not photoed). And today, we're back to chicken again, my all-time favourite meat to cook, for how versatile it is, and usually goes down best with the kids! Not that they eat everything I dish out though.


This is the first time I'm seeing my sis again after coming here...
And she is also seeing me as the at-home mom that I am for four years now. My hands full with the chores and children, and the driving here and there that wasn't quite up my alley last time. No longer am I the working mom I'd left off as, with domestic help back home and loved ones living near enough we could rely on whenever we needed a hand.

This is the key challenge - the trying to "baokahliao" (take care of everything) between the husband and wife -- in a home away from home. I never said it's easy, and it's true I'm perpetually on my feet (still am!) until the kids fall asleep, and there will still be stuff around the house, like in most homes, that need attention.

But if you see how hard it is for the husband to get his schoolwork done once home, or ask any family in our shoes, as the wife you will also want to get as much of the housework and errands done as possible.

I may have gained some independence as a result of coming here, and through practice, got a better hang of things I either had help doing or didn't need to do before. And not that I'm on top of them, there's still plenty of room for improvement, like the more organized home that eludes me, and kids we want to see better behaved. There's always much to do, more I'd like to do, but so little time!

Nevertheless, and very importantly, there are basic things that I must not take for granted, and lots to be thankful for. The grace of God that takes us from day to day. And the nice and kind people He brings across our path, including those of you I've been blessed to know through blogging, besides our loved ones and dear old friends back home.

After my sis goes off, my MIL will also be coming. Now I appreciate it very much that they are putting aside their own commitments to help us transit into this next phase of our lives. At the same time, I feel bad they are coming all the way here, yet I can't be all the host I like, not to have to bother them with the daily grind.

That's the reason why I've been hoping that the lil one will come sooner rather than later, so that prayerfully, I won't be "out of commission" for too long, but be able to quickly get back into the swing of things. Because there's going to be even more to take care of, and the husband's schedule not getting any lighter.

Will you pray with me, please, that we will be able to cope nicely? Thanks so much!

OK, that's the latest longwinded update from me, in lieu of shorter, more regular posts that I should be doing if I were more blog-savvy, hehe! But better a post, than none, no? ;p

A blessed week ahead, to one and all reading this! =)