"Relieved and scared. Relieved because I got what I wanted. No more trying and speculation. Scared because there was no turning back. Is my family going to be happy? How's it going to affect my work? Suddenly a whole bunch of questions rushed to my mind. But none of the questions was able to make me doubt about my desire and determination to have this child."
***
The first three months
I am feeling anxious about...
"My baby's well-being. Because I couldn't feel his movement yet, the only way for me to know he's alive was when I saw his heartbeat and body movement during ultrasound scans. The rest of the time I could just hope that he's ok. I couldn't wait to feel his movement. I couldn't wait for this unstable period to be over."
***
The second three months
What I am really enjoying about being pregnant...
"Being with my baby 24-7. We're together while I work, while I'm on business trips, whil I make presentations, while I'm at home etc."
***
The last three months (in my case four months)
The best thing about being pregnant has been...
"Being able to share such a precious little being and the whole pregnancy experience with Steve...Nothing else in the world can replace the bond you share with another person through having a child and really going through every single step together..."
***
The birth of my baby
My biggest surprise about giving birth...
"People always associate birth with pain so I thought that was the most difficult part. But actually the fight to stay energized through out labor turned out to be much more difficult. You need energy to push the baby out. The baby also needs to cooperate to be pushed out. It's not only about you enduring the pain but it's about the teamwork among you, the baby and everyone else who's around to support the birth."
Weight change
Because I didn't gain weight in the first four months of pregnancy, I thought I'd stay slim through out the whole period. Oh well, I was very wrong.
Different countries or doctors have their different standards of the ideal weight a healthy pregnant woman should gain. It also depends on the original weight of the woman. In my case I think I was supposed to gain around 11-16kg (25-35lb). I was hitting the end of that standard toward the end of my pregnancy. But my pregnancy didn't end at the 9th month.
In the overdue 2 weeks I rapidly gained another 5kg (11lb) making my total weight gain to an astonishing 23kg (51lb)!!! But more to my surprise, in only one week after birth, I lost 14kg (30lb) and by the second week I lost another 2kg (5lb). Very dramatic!
The photo above was taken the night before Jamie was born.